Stranger Error on Autopopulated File Path in various functions

Question

Hi all --

Recently I've had a recurring, but not consistent, issue with the autopopulated file path for various tools and functions in Pro.

When I would generally expect a file name: "CP25_FranklingTel_source" to appear

this appears: "CIMPATH=Franklin_Telephone_Co/CP25_FranklinTel_source.json"

In this case, I'm using the Export Features tool from right clicking on the layer in the Contents pane. But this issue has arisen in several other tools over time. Also it doesn't happen EVERY time. It was bad for a while then it stopped and now it's back! Fun times for me.

As with so many problems in life, I hope I'm not alone in this.

Anyone have this experience?

CS_VT · Answer

Thanks, @RTPL_AU. It's something sort of like this. As though a "wire" is temporarily crossed. Can't quite figure it out, but sometimes even a click to export on a layer to the GP tool yields this result. It's weird!

And I agree - it seems to be a post 3.5/3.5.2 issue.

Fun times! Thanks for your reply. Gave me a little chuckle.

CS_VT · Answer

Hmm - - this hasn't been the workflow that generates this error. It's hard to pin down what's going on when it happens because it's not consistent.

@RTPL_AU 's answer more aligns with my experience. As in it seems like Pro is somehow occupied and trying to do too much at once. Although from a user standpoint, it doesn't SEEM like it's doing a lot. This whole process feels a little like a door in a familiar hallway suddenly only opening every fifth time you try. Not often enough to figure out what's going on just enough to make me feel a little crazy... Thanks for sharing.

RTPL_AU · Answer

@CS_VT  I've seen this reasonably frequently  after dragging a source dataset into the GP tool and Pro was out to lunch at that moment. After it wipes its mouth and looks up, the dataset will work as expected.

This seems much more frequent in 3.5/3.5.2 as this version seems particularly prone to being distracted by other things instead of focusing on user input.