topic Make XY Event Layer tool not reading fields from .xlsx & fails when importing from .csv? in ArcGIS Pro Questions

Make XY Event Layer tool not reading fields from .xlsx & fails when importing from .csv?

JakubSisak — Tue, 23 Apr 2019 18:16:33 GMT

When I create an XY event layer in ArcMap from an .xlsx sheet it automatically reads X and Y fields OR I am allowed to choose those from a dropdown menu. PRO does not read XY fields from .xlsx nor does it read the field names into a similar drop down menu. This small difference makes importing XY data into Pro very cumbersome. When I re-save the spreadsheet as a CSV file, PRO will read the field names and pre-populate X and Y fields but then it fails on execute with: ERROR 000055: Cannot create a Query Table for this workspace Failed to execute (MakeXYEventLayer).

Both identical .xlsx and .csv succeed in ArcMap without a glitch.

Why?

EDIT: As Kory pointed out the issue with reading field names from an Excel file is an existing bug. I was able to successfully create an XY event layer after reviewing the source data and again and ensuring all values in X and Y columns were numeric.

Re: Make XY Event Layer tool not reading fields from .xlsx & fails when importing from .csv?

KoryKramer — Tue, 23 Apr 2019 18:35:02 GMT

My guess with the Excel file is that it is related to this bug: https://support.esri.com/en/bugs/nimbus/QlVHLTAwMDEwNzg0OQ==

The behavior is related to the fact that Pro uses a different driver than ArcMap when reading Excel files.

https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/help/data/excel/work-with-excel-in-arcgis-pro.htm#ESRI_SECTION1_CFEF9994188849D89C6F74552D58C271

There is development work happening around this now which will hopefully provide a better experience. As for the conversion to CSV and that not working, I can't be sure. We'd probably have to look at the file.

Re: Make XY Event Layer tool not reading fields from .xlsx & fails when importing from .csv?

JakubSisak — Wed, 24 Apr 2019 13:27:05 GMT

Thanks for the response. I subsribed to watch the bug status.

Also, I just tried saving the .xlsx as CSV and running Make XY Event Layer again and it succeeded but I further cleaned up data and ensured data in X and Y columns were in fact numeric and valid.