Using subprocess to call another script but get an error

ClaireParsons

OK - I'm basically trying to batch process a number of shapefiles in one directory, first clipping them, then multiple bufferring.
I thought I would use the subprocess module to call a second script to do the buffering; however, i get the following error;

WindowsError: [Error 193] %1 is not a valid Win32 application

I've posted my code below;
#This is the initial script that calls the second
import arcpy
from arcpy import env
import subprocess

# Local variables:
env.workspace = "C:\\Users\\Claire Parsons\\Documents\\Projects\\site_Selection_Testing\\Clip"
fcs = arcpy.ListFeatureClasses()
clipout = "_clip.shp"
clipFeature = "C:\\Users\\Claire Parsons\\Documents\\Projects\\site_Selection_Testing\\Clip\\East_Mids.shp"

for fc in fcs:
    dsc = arcpy.Describe(fc)
   
    arcpy.Clip_analysis(dsc.catalogpath, clipFeature, dsc.catalogpath.rstrip(".shp") + clipout,"")

           
    subprocess.Popen([r"C:\Users\Claire Parsons\Documents\Projects\Python\Multiple_buffer.py"])

StacyRendall1

Do you need to use subprocess? Perhaps you should look into writing Python modules, which you can import and then run. They seem a bit more robust than Subprocess (I think subprocess is actually designed for running other programs from Python, not other Pythons), and have the advantage that you can easily pass arguments (paths, buffer sizes, etc.) to them. I have included a basic description of what you would need to do for that, but let me know if you need more info.

In Multiple_buffer.py you need to indent all the code and in the top line have a def statement, like so:

#Multiple_buffer.py
def doBuffer():# empty brackets as no arguments are passed
    ###
    # whatever your buffer code was all goes here - all indented...

Then your main script could import it (both .py files must be in the same folder):

import arcpy
from arcpy import env
#import subprocess # no longer required
import Multiple_buffer

# Local variables:
env.workspace = "C:\\Users\\Claire Parsons\\Documents\\Projects\\site_Selection_Testing\\Clip"
fcs = arcpy.ListFeatureClasses()
clipout = "_clip.shp"
clipFeature = "C:\\Users\\Claire Parsons\\Documents\\Projects\\site_Selection_Testing\\Clip\\East_Mids.shp"

for fc in fcs:
dsc = arcpy.Describe(fc)

arcpy.Clip_analysis(dsc.catalogpath, clipFeature, dsc.catalogpath.rstrip(".shp") + clipout,"")

Multiple_buffer.doBuffer() # calling the doBuffer module in Multiple_buffer - this will run the contents of the def statement (basically your Multiple_buffer script)

Let me know how you get on...