idea Support VB expressions in Calculate Field in ArcGIS Pro Ideas

Support VB expressions in Calculate Field

GS3 — Wed, 09 Feb 2022 18:58:00 GMT

To calculate field there is no more VB option. I'm missing it so much ! As a frequent user but no geek, it took me years build with searching and to accumulate some useful scripts to execute most of the calculations i needed. Now it looks i have to start again with Python.

>> Please add VB option to calculate fields.

Re: Put VB back - Status changed to: Under Consideration

DrewFlater — Wed, 09 Feb 2022 18:57:13 GMT

Re: Support VB expressions in Calculate Field

JoshuaBixby — Wed, 09 Feb 2022 22:48:23 GMT

As much as rewriting expressions into a new language can be a headache, or at least time consuming, I can't say I support Esri Development spending time on implementing this functionality when I believe there are so many other suggestions/ideas/functionality that will add more value to ArcGIS Pro than adding back VB support.. Python has much broader implementation and use than VB, both in and out of the geospatial realm, and Python has been supported in ArcGIS Desktop/ArcMap for more than a decade allowing plenty of time for transition.

Re: Support VB expressions in Calculate Field

Bud — Wed, 19 Apr 2023 15:00:09 GMT

I know VBScript gets a lot of hate, but I actually find it less fiddly than Python. I’ve got lots of VBScripts that would take too much work to rewrite in Python. +1

Re: Support VB expressions in Calculate Field

DrewFlater — Wed, 19 Apr 2023 22:17:54 GMT

Hi all, the implementation cost for this development was not enormous, and given we want users to be able to transition easily from ArcMap (where VB calculator expressions were the default) to Pro, we feel this is an important enhancement idea. We have a working version in our open development builds and are testing assorted VB script calculator expressions. There is a significant caveat that if you were writing VB expressions that used ArcObjects functionality, such commands will not work in Pro as ArcObjects functions are not available.

@Bud you seem like you might be willing to provide example VB expressions that we can use for testing and evaluation? If you are able to provide some sample with reproducible data, that would be helpful for this development work.

Re: Support VB expressions in Calculate Field - Status changed to: In Product Plan

DrewFlater — Wed, 19 Apr 2023 22:18:09 GMT

Re: Support VB expressions in Calculate Field - Status changed to: Implemented

MargaretCrawford — Mon, 18 Dec 2023 16:21:05 GMT

This Idea has been implemented in ArcGIS Pro 3.2. On the Calculate Field tool, you can find the VBScript option under the Expression Type parameter drop-down

Please see the What's New documentation for more new features in Pro 3.2.
The Your Ideas in ArcGIS Pro 3.2 blog and video have been posted to the Esri Community blog. You can take a look at these to see your idea and all others that were implemented in this release of ArcGIS Pro.