Calculating the length of a line

Question

I want to have to just click on a line, say a parcel line, and just have the length of the line automatically popup on that line in my map. And then be able to do other programming with those values? Is there anyway to do this in the Python window? I've never done programming in ArcMap other than writing labeling scripts in vbScript

ChrisSnyder · Answer

You could get fancy and do this using a Python Toolbox and the onClick method. Otherwise, you could simply use the out of the box Identify or the HTML popup tools, right?

My instinct is to usually try to teach users how to use the existing out of the box tools before I go off and make a custom one.

AmyKlug · Answer

I want to have to just click on a line, say a parcel line, and just have the length of the line automatically popup on that line in my map. And then be able to do other programming with those values? Is there anyway to do this in the Python window? I've never done programming in ArcMap other than writing labeling scripts in vbScript

You can calculate the length in a field and set a display expression-under the display tab of the layer (a box with information when you hover over the line). Python can be used to iterate through your parcel layers and populate the fields.