Passing ArcMap layers to a Python script inside ArcToolbox

AnthonyCheesman1

Hi

I've got a small script that I've turned into an ArcToolbox tool / script / thingy.

I would like to be able to pass ArcMap layers to the tool (ie drag the layer directly from ToC into the tool, and have the tool run only on the selected features).

By and large, I have this running the way I would expect. However, if I'm trying to pass a layer to the tool that has been renamed in the ToC (ie given a 'proper' name rather than just the feature class name) the tool fails.

For reference, I'm using arcpy.GetParameterAsText to pass variables from the tool to the script, and the particular parameter that is causing issues is a type 'Feature Layer' and is a multivalue parameter.

Does anyone have any crazy suggestions that may fix this issue? I'm out of my depth!

Thanks

XanderBakker

I don't think it has much to do with the spaces in the names, but more that when you get the list of layer names as a string, you have to turn it into a list and each element will be a string (or unicode). You can avoid this by using the GetParameter (not as text) and use that instead:

Example code this does not run correctly:

<SPAN class="keyword token">def</SPAN> <SPAN class="token function">main</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">:</SPAN>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <SPAN class="keyword token">import</SPAN> arcpy
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; list_txt <SPAN class="operator token">=</SPAN> arcpy<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>GetParameterAsText<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN><SPAN class="number token">0</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; lst <SPAN class="operator token">=</SPAN> list_txt<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>split<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN><SPAN class="string token">';'</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN>

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <SPAN class="keyword token">for</SPAN> lyr <SPAN class="keyword token">in</SPAN> lst<SPAN class="punctuation token">:</SPAN>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; arcpy<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>AddMessage<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN><SPAN class="string token">"Layer names is {0}"</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>format<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN>lyr<SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; count <SPAN class="operator token">=</SPAN> getCount<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN>lyr<SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; arcpy<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>AddMessage<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN><SPAN class="string token">"Layer has {0} features"</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>format<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN>count<SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN>


<SPAN class="keyword token">def</SPAN> <SPAN class="token function">getCount</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN>fc<SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">:</SPAN>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <SPAN class="keyword token">return</SPAN> int<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN>arcpy<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>GetCount_management<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN>fc<SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>getOutput<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN><SPAN class="number token">0</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN>


<SPAN class="keyword token">if</SPAN> __name__ <SPAN class="operator token">==</SPAN> <SPAN class="string token">'__main__'</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">:</SPAN>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; main<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN><SPAN class="line-numbers-rows"><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN></SPAN>

Using these inputs:

Will throw the following error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "D:\Xander\GeoNet\LayerNames\layer_names2.py", line 28, in <module>
main()
File "D:\Xander\GeoNet\LayerNames\layer_names2.py", line 19, in main
count = getCount(lyr)
File "D:\Xander\GeoNet\LayerNames\layer_names2.py", line 24, in getCount
return int(arcpy.GetCount_management(fc).getOutput(0))
File "c:\program files (x86)\arcgis\desktop10.4\arcpy\arcpy\management.py", line 15779, in GetCount
raise e
ExecuteError: Failed to execute. Parameters are not valid.
ERROR 000732: Input Rows: Dataset 'A Test Layer That has spaces' does not exist or is not supported
Failed to execute (GetCount).

But when you change the code to this:

<SPAN class="keyword token">def</SPAN> <SPAN class="token function">main</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">:</SPAN>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <SPAN class="keyword token">import</SPAN> arcpy
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; lst <SPAN class="operator token">=</SPAN> arcpy<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>GetParameter<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN><SPAN class="number token">0</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN>

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <SPAN class="keyword token">for</SPAN> lyr <SPAN class="keyword token">in</SPAN> lst<SPAN class="punctuation token">:</SPAN>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; arcpy<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>AddMessage<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN><SPAN class="string token">"Layer names is {0}"</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>format<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN>lyr<SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; count <SPAN class="operator token">=</SPAN> getCount<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN>lyr<SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; arcpy<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>AddMessage<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN><SPAN class="string token">"Layer has {0} features"</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>format<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN>count<SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN>


<SPAN class="keyword token">def</SPAN> <SPAN class="token function">getCount</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN>fc<SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">:</SPAN>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <SPAN class="keyword token">return</SPAN> int<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN>arcpy<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>GetCount_management<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN>fc<SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>getOutput<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN><SPAN class="number token">0</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN>


<SPAN class="keyword token">if</SPAN> __name__ <SPAN class="operator token">==</SPAN> <SPAN class="string token">'__main__'</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">:</SPAN>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; main<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN>
<SPAN class="line-numbers-rows"><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN></SPAN>

It will result in this: