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Avoiding errors when adding rows to blank table using ArcPy?

DavidSouth2

I am having problems when using ArcPy with ArcGIS Desktop to add in a set number of rows into a .dbf table.

What should I do to prevent these errors?

Here is a sample code that gives me errors:

##########setup###########
import arcpy, os
from arcpy import env


##########parameters##########

ws = r'C:\Users\ddsouth\Documents\Python_tests'
env.workspace = ws

newFile = "adding_table_rows_test_5"
newFileFull = os.path.join(ws, newFile) + ".dbf"

###########code###############

#create the table
arcpy.CreateTable_management(ws, newFile)
arcpy.AddField_management(newFileFull, "RouteName", "TEXT", "", "", 15)
arcpy.AddField_management(newFileFull, "DepotName", "TEXT", "", "", 15)

#edit the table
cursor = arcpy.da.InsertCursor(newFile, ["ROUTENAME"])

for q in range (0,10):
 cursor.insertRow((str(1),))
del cursor

print "Completed."

The creation of the table goes fine the first time, then when it comes to the edit portion I get the following error message:

<SPAN class="" style="color: #2b91af; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">Runtime</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;"> error </SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #2b91af; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">Traceback</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;"> </SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">(</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">most recent call last</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">):</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">&nbsp; 
</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #2b91af; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">File</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;"> </SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #7d2727; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">"<string>"</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">,</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;"> line </SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #7d2727; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">26</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">,</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;"> </SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #101094; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">in</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;"> </SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;"><</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">module</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">></SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #2b91af; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">SystemError</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">:</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;"> error </SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #101094; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">return</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;"> without exception set</SPAN>

Then if I run the program again, I get a different error, this time during the creation of the table, even if I have the "Overwrite the outputs of geoprocessing operations" option selected:

<SPAN class="" style="color: #2b91af; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">Runtime</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;"> error&nbsp; </SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #2b91af; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">Traceback</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;"> </SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">(</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">most recent call last</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">):</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">&nbsp;&nbsp; 
</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #2b91af; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">File</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;"> </SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #7d2727; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">"<string>"</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">,</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;"> line </SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #7d2727; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">18</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">,</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;"> </SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #101094; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">in</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;"> </SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;"><</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">module</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">></SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">&nbsp;&nbsp; 
</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #2b91af; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">File</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;"> </SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #7d2727; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">"c:\program files (x86)\arcgis\desktop10.4\arcpy\arcpy\management.py"</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">,</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;"> 
line </SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #7d2727; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">15715</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">,</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;"> </SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #101094; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">in</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;"> </SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #2b91af; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">CreateTable</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #101094; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">raise</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;"> e </SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #2b91af; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">ExecuteError</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">:</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;"> ERROR </SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #7d2727; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">001143</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">:</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;"> </SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #2b91af; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">Background</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;"> server threw an exception</SPAN><SPAN class="" style="color: #303336; border: 0px; font-size: 13px;">.</SPAN>

I also noticed that while the tables I created appear in ArcCatalog, they do not appear in Windows Explorer, there is only a LOCK file while ArcMap is open.

What should be done? Thank you!

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Accepted answers

curtvprice

Just to be clear, the change you need is to set the output pathname with a #dbf extension. This is only necessary when the output workspace (ws) is a folder, with no extension there is an assumption you have created an info folder with the CreateWorkspace command or by running a tool that creates an INFO directory. This is historical compatibility; these days you should avoid INFO table format unless you have no way around it (for example, coverage and Esri grid formats).

newFile = "adding_table_rows_test_3.dbf"

I also would not use this:

cursor.insertRow((str(1),))

but instead, this. (I just like lists over tuples, you can simply do more with them.)

cursor.insertRow(["1"])

All comments

DavidSouth2

dBASE would work just fine

curtvprice

newFile = "adding_table_rows_test_3.dbf"

I also would not use this:

cursor.insertRow((str(1),))

but instead, this. (I just like lists over tuples, you can simply do more with them.)

cursor.insertRow(["1"])

JoshuaBixby

Do you mean to be working with Info or dBASE tables? Your code as written is still creating an Info table and trying to insert records into it. Before I get into explaining Info-related issues with cursors, I want to make sure you want to be working with Info tables. Do you have to be working with Info tables or would dBASE work as well?

DavidSouth2

Hello Curtis,

Thank you for the response. I have changed my code to look like this:

<SPAN class="comment token">##########setup###########</SPAN>
<SPAN class="keyword token">import</SPAN> arcpy<SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN> os
<SPAN class="keyword token">from</SPAN> arcpy <SPAN class="keyword token">import</SPAN> env

<SPAN class="comment token">##########parameters##########</SPAN>

ws <SPAN class="operator token">=</SPAN> r<SPAN class="string token">'C:\Users\ddsouth\Documents\Python_tests'</SPAN>
env<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>workspace <SPAN class="operator token">=</SPAN> ws

newFile <SPAN class="operator token">=</SPAN> <SPAN class="string token">"adding_table_rows_test_3"</SPAN>

<SPAN class="comment token">###########code###############</SPAN>
<SPAN class="comment token">#create the table</SPAN>
tbl <SPAN class="operator token">=</SPAN> arcpy<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>CreateTable_management<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN>ws<SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN> newFile<SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN>
tv <SPAN class="operator token">=</SPAN> arcpy<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>MakeTableView_management<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN>tbl<SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN> <SPAN class="string token">"tv"</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN>
arcpy<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>AddField_management<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN>tv<SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN> <SPAN class="string token">"RouteName"</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN> <SPAN class="string token">"TEXT"</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN> <SPAN class="string token">""</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN> <SPAN class="string token">""</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN> <SPAN class="number token">15</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN>
arcpy<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>AddField_management<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN>tv<SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN> <SPAN class="string token">"DepotName"</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN> <SPAN class="string token">"TEXT"</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN> <SPAN class="string token">""</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN> <SPAN class="string token">""</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN> <SPAN class="number token">15</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN>

<SPAN class="comment token">#edit the table</SPAN>
cursor <SPAN class="operator token">=</SPAN> arcpy<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>da<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>InsertCursor<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN>tv<SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN> <SPAN class="punctuation token">[</SPAN><SPAN class="string token">"ROUTENAME"</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">]</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN>

<SPAN class="keyword token">for</SPAN> q <SPAN class="keyword token">in</SPAN> range <SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN><SPAN class="number token">0</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN><SPAN class="number token">10</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">:</SPAN>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; cursor<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>insertRow<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN>str<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN><SPAN class="number token">1</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN>
<SPAN class="keyword token">del</SPAN> cursor

<SPAN class="comment token">#clean up tv</SPAN>
arcpy<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>Delete_management<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN>tv<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>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN></SPAN>

print "Completed."

Yet I still get the error on the "cursor.insertRow((str(1),))" line:

Runtime error
...
SystemError: error return without exception set

Is there a way to fix this? I really appreciate the help.

DavidSouth2

Thanks, I will remember this for next time. I am still getting used to how this site works.

curtvprice

PROGRAM SECTION EVEN and RELATE FILL ORDERED... those were the days!

AML forever, brother!

NeilAyres

Sorry for hijacking this thread....

Back in the day, my bookshelf contained a photocopied version of "Understanding Info" by Henco software.

It was my bible in those days.

curtvprice

I noticed you opened the cursor on newFile, not newFileFull, which is missing the .dbf extension. Mr Bixby is right on that a table path in a folder with no .dbf tacked on is interpreted as an INFO table path. Good old INFO. A humble personal financial database put into service mapping the world.

I really like to make table views both for performance reasons when I run multiple tools on a single input (speedier validation) but also this can insulate your from path specification errors like that.

<SPAN class="comment token">#create the table</SPAN>
tbl <SPAN class="operator token">=</SPAN> arcpy<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>CreateTable_management<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN>ws<SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN> newFile<SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN>
tv <SPAN class="operator token">=</SPAN> arcpy<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>MakeTableView_management<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN>tbl<SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN> <SPAN class="string token">"tv"</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN>
arcpy<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>AddField_management<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN>tv<SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN> <SPAN class="string token">"RouteName"</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN> <SPAN class="string token">"TEXT"</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN> <SPAN class="string token">""</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN> <SPAN class="string token">""</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN> <SPAN class="number token">15</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN>
arcpy<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>AddField_management<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN>tv<SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN> <SPAN class="string token">"DepotName"</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN> <SPAN class="string token">"TEXT"</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN> <SPAN class="string token">""</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN> <SPAN class="string token">""</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN> <SPAN class="number token">15</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN>

<SPAN class="comment token">#edit the table</SPAN>
cursor <SPAN class="operator token">=</SPAN> arcpy<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>da<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>InsertCursor<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN>tv<SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN> <SPAN class="punctuation token">[</SPAN><SPAN class="string token">"ROUTENAME"</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">]</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN>

<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>

<SPAN class="comment token"># clean up tv</SPAN>
arcpy<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>Delete_management<SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN>tv<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>

JoshuaBixby

Do you mean to be working with Info or dBASE tables? Your code as written is creating an Info table and trying to insert records into it. I am surprised the Add Field calls aren't generating errors.

JoshuaBixby

Cross-posted to StackExchange: Avoiding errors when adding rows to blank table using ArcPy?

Since this is a question, it is best to mark it as a question instead of a discussion.

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