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arcpy.md vs. arcpy.metadata ???

davedoesgis

I wrote down "arcpy.md" in my notes from the Esri User Conference, with little context, except to look into using that to fiddle with metadata. I can't find any arcpy documention on this "md" sub-package in ArcGIS Pro's documentation, but Google takes me to "arcpy.md". I can import both of them in Python, but without any documentation, I'm not sure what the arcpy.md functionality is. Or is this just a shortcut to arcpy.metadata?

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danretired

multidimentional tools

C<SPAN class="punctuation token">:</SPAN>\<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>your install path<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>\Resources\ArcPy\arcpy\md<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>py
<SPAN class="comment token"># ---- vs</SPAN>
C<SPAN class="punctuation token">:</SPAN>\<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>your install path<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>\Resources\ArcPy\arcpy\metadata<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>py

<SPAN class="line-numbers-rows"><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN></SPAN>

Just don't import them both and expect to use *md* as the shortcut

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davedoesgis

Hi Aletta. Is the USGS tool you mentioned included in ArcPy functionality, or is that a separate package?

Aleta Vienneau

The Python examples provided in the metadata module's documentation are just examples, provided independently of any other module. The alias a person uses in their own script should be suitable for their work given whatever toolboxes and modules they are using. If someone is writing scripts for processing and managing multidimensional data, I would imagine any part of that script dealing with the data's metadata might be a small contribution and unworthy of even assigning an alias to the module. Certainly, the people I know who write Python scripts for managing metadata are not processing and managing multidimensional data at the same time. In the metadata world, the mp (metadata parser) utility provided by the USGS that has been in use for ~25 years is so ubiquitous it would have been an obvious choice as an alias, but that obviously has a conflict with the word mapping and arcpy.mp. I think if it was easier to find out what a toolbox's arcpy alias is, this question wouldn't even exist. That is something to work towards.

danretired

I still think *met* and *mud* would have been better choices to avoid potential clashes with the doctors (md)

Aleta Vienneau

Just in case anyone else stumbles across this thread, here is the overview of the Multidimension toolbox. The tools have Python examples showing use of the toolbox's alias arcpy.md.

danretired

multidimentional tools

C<SPAN class="punctuation token">:</SPAN>\<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>your install path<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>\Resources\ArcPy\arcpy\md<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>py
<SPAN class="comment token"># ---- vs</SPAN>
C<SPAN class="punctuation token">:</SPAN>\<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>your install path<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>\Resources\ArcPy\arcpy\metadata<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>py

<SPAN class="line-numbers-rows"><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN></SPAN>

Just don't import them both and expect to use *md* as the shortcut

davedoesgis

Yes, I've seen that convention, which further adds to the confusion. But there is a sub-package named arcpy.md (not just an alias), and my understanding is that it's pretty new.

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Python <SPAN class="number token">3.6</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN><SPAN class="number token">9</SPAN> <SPAN class="operator token">|</SPAN>Anaconda<SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN> Inc<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN><SPAN class="operator token">|</SPAN> <SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN>default<SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN> Jul <SPAN class="number token">30</SPAN> <SPAN class="number token">2019</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN> <SPAN class="number token">14</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">:</SPAN><SPAN class="number token">00</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">:</SPAN><SPAN class="number token">49</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN> <SPAN class="punctuation token">[</SPAN>MSC v<SPAN class="number token">.1915</SPAN> <SPAN class="number token">64</SPAN> bit <SPAN class="punctuation token">(</SPAN>AMD64<SPAN class="punctuation token">)</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">]</SPAN> on win32
Type <SPAN class="string token">"help"</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN> <SPAN class="string token">"copyright"</SPAN><SPAN class="punctuation token">,</SPAN> <SPAN class="string token">"credits"</SPAN> <SPAN class="operator token">or</SPAN> <SPAN class="string token">"license"</SPAN> <SPAN class="keyword token">for</SPAN> more information<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>
<SPAN class="operator token">>></SPAN><SPAN class="operator token">></SPAN> <SPAN class="keyword token">import</SPAN> arcpy<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>md
<SPAN class="operator token">>></SPAN><SPAN class="operator token">></SPAN> arcpy<SPAN class="punctuation token">.</SPAN>md
<SPAN class="operator token"><</SPAN>module <SPAN class="string token">'arcpy.md'</SPAN> <SPAN class="keyword token">from</SPAN> <SPAN class="string token">'C:\\Program Files\\ArcGIS\\Pro\\Resources\\ArcPy\\arcpy\\md.py'</SPAN><SPAN class="operator token">></SPAN><SPAN class="line-numbers-rows"><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN><SPAN>‍</SPAN></SPAN>

danretired

Metadata—ArcGIS Pro | Documentation

An abbreviation like the commonly used >>> import numpy as np

<SPAN class="keyword token">from</SPAN> arcpy <SPAN class="keyword token">import</SPAN> metadata <SPAN class="keyword token">as</SPAN> md‍<SPAN class="line-numbers-rows"><SPAN>‍</SPAN></SPAN>

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