topic Re: Is it possible to do a geoprocess automatically with all the layers of a folder? in Data Management Questions

Is it possible to do a geoprocess automatically with all the layers of a folder?

Jose_AlbertoNúñez — Mon, 23 Jul 2018 10:50:39 GMT

I have 200 shapefile in a folder. all fo them are similar. I need select by atribute and them aply eliminate tool and save the shapes files.

Is it possible to do automatically with all the layers from model builder or arcpy? How can I do?

thnak you very much

Re: Is it possible to do a geoprocess automatically with all the layers of a folder?

DanPatterson_Retired — Mon, 23 Jul 2018 12:26:09 GMT

Do your process once so you can get the scripting syntax for each step.

Check the documentation on iterators in Modelbuilder if you aren't used to python.

Create a basic model to see if it works once. I would suggest having a separate destination folder from the input folder it you are going to iterate all shapefiles in one folder.

Perhaps get a model started and people can leap in to see whether a model or script would be simpler in your case

Re: Is it possible to do a geoprocess automatically with all the layers of a folder?

Jose_AlbertoNúñez — Tue, 24 Jul 2018 08:43:17 GMT

Thank you @Dan Patterson,

.I tried it with Iterate Files in model builder but i can not connect output with the next step (Selec layer by atribute). I use connect icon but only can use precondition option. How can I upload a screenshot to show you?

Re: Is it possible to do a geoprocess automatically with all the layers of a folder?

DanPatterson_Retired — Tue, 24 Jul 2018 08:59:50 GMT

The easiest is to do a screen grab of the model, then insert it with the 'camera' (insert image) option into the post

Re: Is it possible to do a geoprocess automatically with all the layers of a folder?

Jose_AlbertoNúñez — Tue, 24 Jul 2018 09:18:47 GMT

Dan Patterson‌

That is I want to do with 190 files. I did with one shp example, its name is "Rod_inter_Masa_156_16.shp"

I want select polygons ❤️ ha, them use eliminate tool, by merging them with neighboring polygons that have the largest area or the longest shared border and finally save the result in a folder.

Doy you know how can I automate it?

Thank you

# Import arcpy module
import arcpy

# Local variables:
Rod_inter_Masa_156_16 = "Rod_inter_Masa_156_16"
Rod_inter_Masa_156_16__2_ = "Rod_inter_Masa_156_16"
Rod_inter_Masa_156_16_Elimin = "C:\\Users\\info\\Documents\\ArcGIS\\Default.gdb\\Rod_inter_Masa_156_16_Elimin"
prueba_shp = "C:\\Prueba_subrodal2\\prueba.shp"

# Process: Select Layer By Attribute
arcpy.SelectLayerByAttribute_management(Rod_inter_Masa_156_16, "NEW_SELECTION", "\"Superfic_1\" <= 3")

# Process: Eliminate
arcpy.Eliminate_management(Rod_inter_Masa_156_16__2_, Rod_inter_Masa_156_16_Elimin, "LENGTH", "", "")

# Process: Copy Features
arcpy.CopyFeatures_management(Rod_inter_Masa_156_16_Elimin, prueba_shp, "", "0", "0", "0")

Re: Is it possible to do a geoprocess automatically with all the layers of a folder?

Jose_AlbertoNúñez — Tue, 24 Jul 2018 09:23:24 GMT

I tried to do it in model builder but unsuccessfully. I can not connect file.shp with select layer by attribute...

Re: Is it possible to do a geoprocess automatically with all the layers of a folder?

DanPatterson_Retired — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 10:55:20 GMT

Completely untested... but basically, set your workspace to the geodatabase which contains your data.

Set an output folder (note the 'raw' formatting)

cycle through the featureclasses, do a select by attributes, then eliminate.

import arcpy
import os

arcpy.env.workspace = "C:\\Users\\info\\Documents\\ArcGIS\\Default.gdb

fcs = arcpy.ListFeatureClasses()
out_folder = r"C:\SomeFolderForOutput"

for fc in featureclasses:

    out_name = "{}\\{}_elim.shp".format(out_folder, fc) 
    arcpy.SelectLayerByAttribute_management(fc, "NEW_SELECTION", "\"Superfic_1\" <= 3")

    arcpy.Eliminate_management(fc, out_name, "LENGTH", "", "")

‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

Re: Is it possible to do a geoprocess automatically with all the layers of a folder?

Jose_AlbertoNúñez — Tue, 24 Jul 2018 11:16:36 GMT

Dan Patterson‌ thank you very much.

I did it:

import arcpy

from arcpy import env
env.overwriteOutput = True
import os

arcpy.env.workspace = r"E:\PLANFOR\PD_G000053VA_N\Carto\A_Monre\Tipos_masa\Prueba_subrodal\Rodales_tipmas.gdb"
fcs = arcpy.ListFeatureClasses()
out_folder = r"E:\PLANFOR\PD_G000053VA_N\Carto\A_Monre\Tipos_masa\Prueba_subrodal\Salida"

for fc in fcs:

out_name = "{}\\{}_elim.shp".format(out_folder, fc)
arcpy.SelectLayerByAttribute_management(fc, "NEW_SELECTION", "\"Superfic_1\" <= 3")

arcpy.Eliminate_management(fc, out_name, "LENGTH", "", "")

but it is there an error:

I do not know why.

Re: Is it possible to do a geoprocess automatically with all the layers of a folder?

XanderBakker — Tue, 24 Jul 2018 12:01:52 GMT

In order to use "arcpy.SelectLayerByAttribute_management" the input must be a layer. See the help:

The input must be a feature layer or a table view. The input cannot be a feature class or table.

So you will have to use Make Feature Layer—Help | ArcGIS Desktop before arcpy.SelectLayerByAttribute_management

In ArcGIS Pro the reference to the featureclass can be used and a layer is automatically created for you.

Re: Is it possible to do a geoprocess automatically with all the layers of a folder?

DanPatterson_Retired — Tue, 24 Jul 2018 13:17:00 GMT

good catch... that's what you get for coding blind

Re: Is it possible to do a geoprocess automatically with all the layers of a folder?

DanPatterson_Retired — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 10:55:22 GMT

so before the select by attributes you have to squeeze in a line

arcpy.MakeFeatureLayer_management(fc,"fc_lyr")
‍

then change 'fc' to 'fc_layer' in the selectbyattributes line (going blindly again)

Re: Is it possible to do a geoprocess automatically with all the layers of a folder?

Jose_AlbertoNúñez — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 07:01:33 GMT

Hi @Dan Patterson

I think understand you:

import arcpy

from arcpy import env
env.overwriteOutput = True
import os

arcpy.MakeFeatureLayer_management(fc,"fc_lyr")

arcpy.SelectLayerByAttribute_management(fc_lyr, "NEW_SELECTION", "\"Superfic_1\" <= 3")

out_name = "{}\\{}_elim.shp".format(out_folder, fc_lyr)

arcpy.Eliminate_management(fc_lyr, out_name, "LENGTH", "", "")

But I have a error. I do not find it. Do you see it? Thank you very much

Re: Is it possible to do a geoprocess automatically with all the layers of a folder?

NeilAyres — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 07:37:32 GMT

In python code blocks like this loop are marked by indentation of the code, see Dan's original code snippet.

Re: Is it possible to do a geoprocess automatically with all the layers of a folder?

NeilAyres — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 07:38:50 GMT

So those 4 lines following "for fc in fcs:"

should be indented, usually 4 spaces

Re: Is it possible to do a geoprocess automatically with all the layers of a folder?

Jose_AlbertoNúñez — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 08:01:20 GMT

@Neil Ayres @Dan Patterson

I use spaces, I did not that are so important in python, sorry. I think that know is correct but i have a new error,

Re: Is it possible to do a geoprocess automatically with all the layers of a folder?

DanPatterson_Retired — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 08:22:07 GMT

"fc_lyr" in quotes do the same for it on the last line

Re: Is it possible to do a geoprocess automatically with all the layers of a folder?

Jose_AlbertoNúñez — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 08:51:00 GMT

Hi @Dan Patterson.

I think that the script does not generate errors. I think it performs the same process with all the layers (190). The problem is that since the output file has a unique name "fc_lyr", all the files are rewritten and at the end there is a single file instead of 190. How could I do it to keep the original name files + a sequence so that it does not overwrite?

Thank you very much

Re: Is it possible to do a geoprocess automatically with all the layers of a folder?

DanPatterson_Retired — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 08:56:57 GMT

in the out_name line...the... fc_layer ...there should be... fc

we got carried away replacing fc with fc_layer

Re: Is it possible to do a geoprocess automatically with all the layers of a folder?

Jose_AlbertoNúñez — Wed, 25 Jul 2018 09:16:17 GMT

Excellent !! I think it works perfectly
Thank you very much to all the people who have helped me, especially @Dan Patterson.
This is a problem that I had in my workflow and that saved me a lot of work. So far I was doing the process manually.
Thank you!!

Re: Is it possible to do a geoprocess automatically with all the layers of a folder?

DanPatterson_Retired — Thu, 26 Jul 2018 00:04:00 GMT

Glad it worked out Jose