Adding a scale and changing its position

Question

I'm having trouble getting this script to run. I get errors saying line 4-list index out of range, and when I comment out the [0] I get an error saying 'list' object has no attribute 'parentDataFrameName'

I'm trying to actually add the scale bar and add in titles, author etc... with python but I was first trying to get an already inserted scale bar to change its position.

Please help

>>> 
#The following script will find the mapsurround element named ScaleBar and change it's position.
import arcpy
mxd = arcpy.mapping.MapDocument(r"C:\Courtney\TEST.mxd")
scaleBar = arcpy.mapping.ListLayoutElements(mxd, "MAPSURROUND_ELEMENT", "ScaleBar") [0]
df = arcpy.mapping.ListDataFrames(mxd, scaleBar.parentDataFrameName)[0]
scaleBar.elementPositionX = df.elementPositionX + (df.elementWidth / 2)
mxd.save()
del mxd

LukeWebb · Answer

You cant do what you asked.

You can however achieve the exact same results by:

Add 10 scale bars with unique names 'Off page', in different styles and stuff, and then use python to move them onto the

page as needed for different maps.

OR

Create 10 "MXD" templates with different page setups, and use the code to determine which template to use.

OR

Think of something else ..be creative!

Rohit_Venkat_GandhiMendadhala4 · Answer

Hi Lucas,

Can you please let me know if we can change the existing style of a scale bar or North Arrow to another style in a layout programmatically using Python. I have searched all over the internet but could not find a methodology for this. Hope you can help me out.

Lucas Danzinger · Answer

No there won't be python syntax to add the scale bar to the map. Broadly speaking, the mapping module is for manipulating existing maps and not for building new maps, so typically you will need to build a template map (i.e. a map with all of your layers and layout elements), and you can then manipulate that to your liking and save a copy to a new MXD.