Latest Contributions by AbelDean

I will be a dissenter in this. Absolute paths make sense when users move the MXD and not the source data. For me, the source data (geodatabase) always stays in one spot, but the MXD can move almost anywhere (we have a large network of related projects). If I am unlucky enough to have "Store relative pathnames to data sources" checked, then all of my layer links will be broken when I move the MXD. Maybe I am a minority, and the majority should win one way or the other, but a solution to satisfy all parties would be to have a respective checkbox within AdvancedArcMapSettings.exe to change the default setting, and to have this program easily accessible to users (like put it in the Start Menu folder). ... View more

To add to what Hardolph said, be sure that you select just a geographic coordinate system (lat and lon) and not a projection. If you select a projection, the "Add XY data" function will assume that the coordinates are the linear grid coordinates of the projection, not the angular lat and lon. I use "Add XY data" all the time, but I reverted to a copy of 10.0 instead 10.1. Someone at ESRI thought that "Add XY data" was too useful, so they decided to screw it up. Now in 10.1, it reads numeric values as text, or text values as numeric (even within quotation marks), it adds fields (with indecipherable numeric values) that take an existing field name and add a "_D" suffix for no discernible reason, and it sometimes makes some numeric fields completely <null>. ... View more

Chris Fox, the script works for 9.2 (reportedly), but not for later versions. As of 10.1, there is absolutely no way to do this. ... View more