Method to create unique values for two related attributes and make two variables

CPoynter

Hi All,

The situation:

1 FC / 3 related columns / definitionQuery on one field has ' as part of field name for only some records which is causing problems

Column 1 = numeric code
Coumns 2 and 3 = text (both have troublesome ' when it comes to definition query)

I want to use Column 1 value that relates to Column 3, use Column 1 value for definition query to get around ' issues, but then need value of Column 3 for layout text element.

How do I get a unique listing of the related column 1 and 3 and then seperate their values for two subsequent operations?

I am thinking da.SearchCursor but unsure how to get fields in, make unique values and seperate values.

Thankyou in advance.

Using ArcGIS 10.1

Regards,

Craig

CPoynter

Code is working nicely that Arek supplied, but I think I need to clarify a bit more.

Column1 / Column3

1000 : PlaceA

1000 : PlaceA

1005 : PlaceA

1005 : PlaceA

1009 : PlaceB

1009 : PlaceB

After running the dictionary code I found similar named places in Column 3 but with different codes in Column 1. This was something I wasn't aware of until now. I will need to distinguish between same name using different codes.

I could not get the original definition query code to work:

'fldCode in (%s)' % map_dict[str(fldName)].join(', ')

so substituted with:

queryStr = "\"" + fldCode + "\" = " + str(row[1])

My complete code follows, but needs further work to achieve my desired output.

import arcpy  fc = r"D:\Locations.gdb\Places" fldName = "Place_Name" # Column 3 = row[0] fldCode = "Place_Code" # Column 1 = row[1]  map_dict = {}  with arcpy.da.SearchCursor(fc, (fldName, fldCode)) as collector:     uniqueValues = sorted(set(collector))     if not row[0] in map_dict.keys():       map_dict[row[0]] = []     if not row[1] in map_dict[row[0]]:       map_dict[row[0]].append(row[1])      queryStr = "\"" + fldCode + "\" = " + str(row[1])      mxd = arcpy.mapping.MapDocument(r"D:\Places.mxd")      elm = arcpy.mapping.ListLayoutElements(mxd, "TEXT_ELEMENT")[0]     elm.text = "Place: " + row[0]      df = arcpy.mapping.ListDataFrames(mxd, "Layers")[0]      for lyr in arcpy.mapping.ListLayers(mxd, "", df):              if lyr.name == "Places":                  if lyr.supports("DEFINITIONQUERY"):                     lyr.definitionQuery = queryStr      arcpy.RefreshActiveView()      arcpy.mapping.ExportToPDF(mxd, r"D:\Places\Output" + "\\" + row[0] + "_" + row[1] + ".pdf")   del mxd

I am trying to make map outputs that will only show places based on their unique code values.

I think I may have what I need now, but will notify forum if issues remaining.

Will investigate dictionaries further.

Regards,

Craig