Is there a way using arcpy to grab feature classes directly from an SDE and copy to a folder? I have a real chunky way to do it, namely using these functions: arcpy . mapping . ListDataFrames ( ) arcpy . mapping . ListLayers ( ) arcpy . mapping . AddLayer ( ) arcpy . FeatureClassToFeatureClass_conversion ( ) The script overall adds features from an SDE to an mxd then saves them as shapefiles in a folder. How can I avoid using the mxd as a sort of springboard?

Just fill in the blanks: import arcpy # full path to connection file: infeatures = r 'T:\GIS Documents\AddressPOC2017\AddIn\SLCOGIS_Joe.sde\slcogis.GDB_ADD.Quadrants' outpath = r 'C:\TestFolder' outfeature = 'Quads.shp' arcpy . FeatureClassToFeatureClass_conversion ( infeatures , outpath , outfeature ) Result 'C:\\TestFolder\\Quads.shp' > From the help page: FeatureClassToFeatureClass_conversion (in_features, out_path, out_name, {where_clause}, {field_mapping}, {config_keyword}) If you only want a few features, say the first 10 features, use a where clause like this: where = 'OBJECTID arcpy . FeatureClassToFeatureClass_conversion ( infeatures , outpath , outfeature , where )

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arcpy: copy feature classes from sde to folder?

JaredPilbeam2

Is there a way using arcpy to grab feature classes directly from an SDE and copy to a folder?

I have a real chunky way to do it, namely using these functions:

arcpy<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>mapping<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>ListDataFrames<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN>
arcpy<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>mapping<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>ListLayers<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN>
arcpy<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>mapping<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>AddLayer<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN>
arcpy<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>FeatureClassToFeatureClass_conversion<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN>‍‍
<SPAN class="line-numbers-rows"><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN></SPAN>

The script overall adds features from an SDE to an mxd then saves them as shapefiles in a folder. How can I avoid using the mxd as a sort of springboard?

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JoeBorgione

Just fill in the blanks:

<SPAN class="keyword token">import</SPAN> arcpy
<SPAN class="comment token"># full path to connection file:</SPAN>
infeatures <SPAN class="operator token">=</SPAN> r<SPAN class="string token">'T:\GIS Documents\AddressPOC2017\AddIn\SLCOGIS_Joe.sde\slcogis.GDB_ADD.Quadrants'</SPAN>
outpath <SPAN class="operator token">=</SPAN> r<SPAN class="string token">'C:\TestFolder'</SPAN>
outfeature <SPAN class="operator token">=</SPAN> <SPAN class="string token">'Quads.shp'</SPAN>
arcpy<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>FeatureClassToFeatureClass_conversion<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN>infeatures<SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN>outpath<SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN>outfeature<SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN>
<SPAN class="operator token"><</SPAN>Result <SPAN class="string token">'C:\\TestFolder\\Quads.shp'</SPAN><SPAN class="operator token">></SPAN>
‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍<SPAN class="line-numbers-rows"><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN></SPAN>

From the help page:

FeatureClassToFeatureClass_conversion (in_features, out_path, out_name, {where_clause}, {field_mapping}, {config_keyword})

If you only want a few features, say the first 10 features, use a where clause like this:

where <SPAN class="operator token">=</SPAN> <SPAN class="string token">'OBJECTID < = 10'</SPAN>
arcpy<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>FeatureClassToFeatureClass_conversion<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN>infeatures<SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN>outpath<SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN>outfeature<SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN>where<SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN>
‍‍‍‍<SPAN class="line-numbers-rows"><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN></SPAN>

All comments

JaredPilbeam2

When I run it in regular mode both print statements are printed twice. I've attempted to use break after the for statements, but then it only runs the loop enough to print one of the two variables. I also tried to exit the loop with continue and pass, which didn't do anything.

JoeBorgione

Nothing jumps out at me; if you run it in regular mode, or even copy and paste it into a python window, is it still slow?

JaredPilbeam2

That worked great, thanks. I adapted it to save two files as you can see in the variables, and it works fine. However, after running the debugger on it I noticed it's looping through the whole thing numerous times and taking longer than it should to complete. Maybe you can spot why that is?

<SPAN class="keyword token">import</SPAN> arcpy

arcpy<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>env<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>overwriteOutput <SPAN class="operator token">=</SPAN> <SPAN class="token boolean">True</SPAN>

<SPAN class="comment token"># full path to connection file:</SPAN>
infeatures <SPAN class="operator token">=</SPAN> <SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">[</SPAN>r<SPAN class="string token">'Database Connections\Jared to Plainfield.sde\gisedit.DBO.MGU_Will\gisedit.DBO.Street'</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; r<SPAN class="string token">'Database Connections\Jared to Plainfield.sde\gisedit.DBO.MGU_Will\gisedit.DBO.Address_Points'</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">]</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN>
outpath <SPAN class="operator token">=</SPAN> r<SPAN class="string token">'\\gisfile\GISstaff\Jared\Test'</SPAN>
outfeatures <SPAN class="operator token">=</SPAN> <SPAN class="punctuation token">[</SPAN><SPAN class="string token">'WillCounty_Streets'</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN> <SPAN class="string token">'WillCounty_AddressPoints'</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">]</SPAN>

<SPAN class="keyword token">for</SPAN> infs <SPAN class="keyword token">in</SPAN> infeatures<SPAN class="punctuation token">:</SPAN>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <SPAN class="keyword token">print</SPAN> infs
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <SPAN class="keyword token">for</SPAN> otfs <SPAN class="keyword token">in</SPAN> outfeatures<SPAN class="punctuation token">:</SPAN>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; arcpy<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>FeatureClassToFeatureClass_conversion<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN>infs<SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN>outpath<SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN>otfs<SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <SPAN class="keyword token">print</SPAN> otfs
<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>

JamesMacKay3

You can use the workspace environment variable and ListFeatureClasses() to step through your classes:

arcpy.env.workspace = r"Database Connections\YourConnection.sde"
for fc in arcpy.ListFeatureClasses():
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; arcpy.FeatureClassToFeatureClass_conversion(fc, targetFolder, fc)‍‍‍<SPAN class="line-numbers-rows"><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN></SPAN>

ListFeatureClasses has some optional parameters for filtering feature classes by name and type as well. Depending on your naming conventions it may not be a bad idea to look into ValidateTableName() as well, you can call it before calling FC to FC to make sure the table name is valid for the target (usually is but doesn't hurt to check).

JoeBorgione

Just fill in the blanks:

<SPAN class="keyword token">import</SPAN> arcpy
<SPAN class="comment token"># full path to connection file:</SPAN>
infeatures <SPAN class="operator token">=</SPAN> r<SPAN class="string token">'T:\GIS Documents\AddressPOC2017\AddIn\SLCOGIS_Joe.sde\slcogis.GDB_ADD.Quadrants'</SPAN>
outpath <SPAN class="operator token">=</SPAN> r<SPAN class="string token">'C:\TestFolder'</SPAN>
outfeature <SPAN class="operator token">=</SPAN> <SPAN class="string token">'Quads.shp'</SPAN>
arcpy<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>FeatureClassToFeatureClass_conversion<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN>infeatures<SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN>outpath<SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN>outfeature<SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN>
<SPAN class="operator token"><</SPAN>Result <SPAN class="string token">'C:\\TestFolder\\Quads.shp'</SPAN><SPAN class="operator token">></SPAN>
‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍<SPAN class="line-numbers-rows"><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN></SPAN>

From the help page:

FeatureClassToFeatureClass_conversion (in_features, out_path, out_name, {where_clause}, {field_mapping}, {config_keyword})

If you only want a few features, say the first 10 features, use a where clause like this:

where <SPAN class="operator token">=</SPAN> <SPAN class="string token">'OBJECTID < = 10'</SPAN>
arcpy<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>FeatureClassToFeatureClass_conversion<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN>infeatures<SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN>outpath<SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN>outfeature<SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN>where<SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN>
‍‍‍‍<SPAN class="line-numbers-rows"><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN></SPAN>

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