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Enable <dyn type="page" property="expression"/> to fully support Display Expressions in Map Series Layouts

SteveIrving

ArcGIS Pro currently documents the dynamic text tag: "<dyn type="page" property="expression"/>"

as a way to display the Display Expression from the map series index layer. However, this functionality does not work in layouts—it only works in pop-ups and attribute tables.

This is a critical limitation because Display Expressions allow users to combine multiple fields and text using Arcade, which is essential for creating meaningful, dynamic page titles and labels in map series exports.

Why this matters:

Reduces redundant workflows (no need to precompute fields for formatted text).
Aligns with the documented behavior and user expectations.
Improves flexibility for dynamic text in layouts, especially for complex map series.

Requested Enhancement:
Fully implement <dyn type="page" property="expression"/> so that it evaluates the Display Expression for the current page’s feature in map series layouts. This should support Arcade expressions and formatting as configured in the layer’s Display Expression settings.

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Status: Open

Comments

AubriOtis

Have you tried the Value dynamic text tag? That supports attributes and expressions on a layout. It should give you the results you are looking for.

SteveIrving

Hi @AubriOtis ,

Unfortunately, i don't think that is applicable, and, moreover, after over ten years of public development, 'pro' should be at least as capable as ArcMap. In my case i am trying to avoid creating unnecessary data (data management 101), instead simply wanting to parse an existing text field for the bit i need in a dynamic label. The 'expression' function is perfectly suited for this. Just unfortunate basic items like this continue to break workflows and insert inefficiencies.

AubriOtis

The Value function allows you to do that. It supports Arcade expressions and reads information directly from the table, filtering it to Map Series rows. Maybe I'm not understanding what you are trying to do.

SteveIrving

Likely i who has misunderstood. the documentation indicates this is for building tables dynamically. I am simply wanting to parse the first half of a value based on a split(). It is not clear how Value would function in the context of a simple page driven dynamic label. I can access the fields directly too, but that is not sufficient.

SteveIrving

basically always short of time and don't understand disabling clearly useful functionality.

AubriOtis

The documentation can be a bit confusing for that topic. Basically we added the Value dynamic text tag to ArcGIS Pro to expand the Attribute tag beyond map series. In ArcMap there wasn't an easy way to display values in an attribute table on the layout without data drive pages. The ArcGIS Pro Value tag solves that. It can be used for regular layouts, or map series pages, and supports expressions and ordering capabilities.

SteveIrving

Ah ok, i get the value (sic) in that but still don't understand why you would deprecate the 'expression' as it is far more intuitive and doesn't require a tool interface. why not have both?

SteveIrving

So follow up question then,... what would be truly useful would be to say sum the values of all identified rows of a given field (eg. acreage). is that posible? looks like this mostly lists.

AubriOtis

I see how deprecating the existing functionality is frustrating. A lot of things were changed in the shift from ArcMap to Pro, and I don't the reasoning for all of them unfortunately.

You can do sums! Not with the Value text element, but just below it on the Dynamic text dialog are lots of statistic tags supported in Pro that didn't exist in ArcMap.

SteveIrving

Understood. Apologies for not first noticing the rest of those options. Thank you for the insightful and patient guidance!