What data type is a Value Table in a geoprocessing tool?

Question

I am trying to run CalculateGeometryAttributes_management, but I can not figure out what data type to use for the geometry_property[[Target Field, Property],...]. It appears to be an IEnumerable>. I tried to use a dictionary, as it has this value type, but it gave me an error. Here is what I have:Dictionary items = new Dictionary { "Area", "AREA" }; arguments1 = Geoprocessing.MakeValueArray(floodShape, items, "FEET_US", "SQUARE_FEET_US"); gpResult1 = Geoprocessing.ExecuteToolAsync("CalculateGeometryAttributes_management", arguments1, enviroment, null, null, GPExecuteToolFlags.None); Anyone know what data type to use?

MK13 · Answer

@Asimov You sir, are the real mvp. You saved me from pulling my hair out lol. I tried so many things but none was working. To think that a value table equated to a simple string! If you go by the documentation, it looks like a list of lists...

Asimov · Answer

I'm definitely late in the discussion, but it may help someone who's looking for this topic.

I had the exact same problem as @BenRufenacht and I couldn't really understand the given answer since in the geometry_property only a pair of parameters are required and type is not part of the data. So what I did was to display the tool in the geoprocessing pane, put in some parameters and from there copy the python command as shown in this screenshot:

Python command resulted as follows:

arcpy.management.CalculateGeometryAttributes(
in_features="ct Particelle",
geometry_property="AREA AREA",
length_unit="",
area_unit="SQUARE_METERS",
coordinate_system=None,
coordinate_format="SAME_AS_INPUT"
)

Then I just passed the same to MakeValueArray as follows:

var tool_name = "management.CalculateGeometryAttributes";
var geometry_property = "AREA AREA"
var areaUnit = "Square Meters";

var val_array = Geoprocessing.MakeValueArray(new object[] { _layer, geometry_property, null, areaUnit });

return await Geoprocessing.ExecuteToolAsync(tool_name, val_array);

Turned out it works as intended.

Sometimes it is really so much harder than it should be to find some reference about ESRI SDK issues, like this one. I found dozens code samples about using GeoProcessing tools, repeating the same key concepts again and again (usually with using the same tools, also), but I couldn't find any documentation/reference explaining how a "ValueType" parameter should be constructed and passed...hope this helps someone.

gpnobbir · Answer

Okay, I got it now. Here is the code that runs successfully for me:

var fields = "AAA TEXT 'A A A' 255 # #;BBB LONG 'B B B' # # #;CCC DOUBLE 'C C C' # # #";

# within double quote: field_name, field_type, field_alias, field_lenght (for string)

# for multiple fields (AddFields tool), separate two fields by semicolon

I got this syntax by running the tool via tool dialog and then drag-dropping the result from History tab to Python window.