topic Re: Capitalizing Fields in Geoprocessing Questions

Capitalizing Fields

MaxSwiatkowski — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 13:22:08 GMT

Hi Everyone:

I'm hoping to get some assistance from minds that are better than my own.
I'm new to python but I'm trying to cobble together a script that will let me capitalize first letters in certain fields of shapefiles that I have.

Here is my code:

import sys, string, os, arcgisscripting
gp = arcgisscripting.create(9.3)
gp.AddToolbox("C:/Program Files/ArcGIS/ArcToolbox/Toolboxes/Data Management Tools.tbx")
gp.Workspace = "C:/Max/Bathymetry_Cleanup/vector/zone17"

gp.OverWriteOutput = True

vectorlist = gp.ListFeatureClasses ("17*", "all")

for vector in vectorlist:
    updateRows = gp.UpdateCursor(vector)
    updateRow = updateRows.Next()
    while updateRow:
           newString = ""
           for word in updateRow.Units.split(" "):
              newString = word.capitalize() + " " + newString
           updateRow.Units = newString[:-1]
           updateRows.updaterow(updateRow)
    updateRow = updateRows.Next()
    del updateRow
    del updateRows

    updateRows = gp.UpdateCursor(vector)
    updateRow = updateRows.Next()
    while updateRow:
       newString = ""
       for word in updateRow.Units.split(" "):
          newString = word.capitalize() + " " + newString
       updateRow.Srvy_Meth = newString[:-1]
       updateRows.updaterow(updateRow)
    updateRow = updateRows.Next()
    del updateRow
    del updateRows

    updateRows = gp.UpdateCursor(vector)
    updateRow = updateRows.Next()
    while updateRow:
        newString = ""
        for word in updateRow.Creat_Meth.split(" "):
            newString = word.capitalize() + " " + newString
        updateRow.Creat_Meth = newString[:-1]
        updateRows.updaterow(updateRow)
    updateRow = updateRows.Next()
    del updateRow
    del updateRows

    gp.CalculateField_management(vector, "Accuracy", "str(!Accuracy!).upper()", "PYTHON", "")

When I try to run this process, I get an error reading:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "C:\Max\python.py", line 17, in <module>
    updateRows = gp.UpdateCursor(vector)
RuntimeError: ERROR 999999: Error executing function.
General function failure

I also tried running it with quotation marks around vector but that gives me the following error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "C:\Max\python.py", line 17, in <module>
    updateRows = gp.UpdateCursor("vector")
RuntimeError: ERROR 999999: Error executing function.
A locator with this name does not exist.

Thanks for any help,

Max

Re: Capitalizing Fields

BruceNielsen — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 15:02:13 GMT

Use the title() method to capitalize the first letter of each word in a string. For example, 'abc def'.title() returns 'Abc Def'.

Re: Capitalizing Fields

MaxSwiatkowski — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 15:31:25 GMT

Hi, thanks for the help!

However, I'm now getting an error about a locator not existing, and I've triple checked that my location path is correct. Is there any way to deal with that?

Re: Capitalizing Fields

BruceNielsen — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 17:35:17 GMT

Could you post your updated code, preferrably within a CODE block (click the # above the text entry window).

Re: Capitalizing Fields

MaxSwiatkowski — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 20:03:10 GMT

Here's my new code, although I managed to figure out the problem with capitalizing on my own.
Now I'm trying to figure out how to put an if statement into the field calculator without using VBA (my python shell doesn't run it for some reason).
Thanks for any help Bruce.

import sys, string, os, arcgisscripting

gp = arcgisscripting.create(9.3)

gp.AddToolbox("C:/Program Files/ArcGIS/ArcToolbox/Toolboxes/Data Management Tools.tbx")

gp.Workspace = "C:/Max/Bathymetry_Cleanup/Vector/zone17"

gp.OverWriteOutput = 1

vectorlist = gp.ListFeatureClasses ("17*", "all")

for vector in vectorlist:
    print vector
    gp.CalculateField_management("C:/Max/Bathymetry_Cleanup/Vector/zone17/" + vector, "Units", "str(!Units!).title()", "PYTHON_9.3", "")
    gp.CalculateField_management("C:/Max/Bathymetry_Cleanup/Vector/zone17/" + vector, "Units", "str(!Units!).replace('Meters', 'Metres')", "PYTHON_9.3", "")
    gp.CalculateField_management("C:/Max/Bathymetry_Cleanup/Vector/zone17/" + vector, "Srvy_Meth", "str(!Srvy_Meth!).title()", "PYTHON_9.3", "")
    gp.CalculateField_management("C:/Max/Bathymetry_Cleanup/Vector/zone17/" + vector, "Creat_Meth", "str(!Creat_Meth!).title()", "PYTHON_9.3", "")
    gp.CalculateField_management("C:/Max/Bathymetry_Cleanup/Vector/zone17/" + vector, "Accuracy", "str(!Accuracy!).capitalize()", "PYTHON_9.3", "")
    gp.CalculateField_management("C:/Max/Bathymetry_Cleanup/Vector/zone17/" + vector, "Depth", "abs(!Depth!)*-1", "PYTHON_9.3", "")
    gp.AddField_management("C:/Max/Bathymetry_Cleanup/Vector/zone17/" + vector, "Metres", "DOUBLE", "6", "1", "", "", "NON_NULLABLE", "NON_REQUIRED", "")
    gp.CalculateField_management("C:/Max/Bathymetry_Cleanup/Vector/zone17/" + vector, "Metres", 'if str(!Units!) = "Metres": (!Metres!)=(!Depth!)', "PYTHON_9.3", "")
    gp.CalculateField_management("C:/Max/Bathymetry_Cleanup/Vector/zone17/" + vector, "Metres", 'if str(!Units!) = "Feet": (!Metres!)=0.3048*(!Depth!)', "PYTHON_9.3", "")
    gp.CalculateField_management("C:/Max/Bathymetry_Cleanup/Vector/zone17/" + vector, "Metres", 'if str(!Units!) = "Fathoms": (!Metres!)=1.8288*(!Depth!)', "PYTHON_9.3", "")

Re: Capitalizing Fields

BruceNielsen — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 20:03:12 GMT

Max,

I think you were on the right track earlier when you were using an Update Cursor. And as someone else stated recently, leave CalculateField to the modelbuilders. This code should do what you were trying to accomplish:

import arcgisscripting
gp = arcgisscripting.create(9.3)

gp.AddToolbox("C:/Program Files/ArcGIS/ArcToolbox/Toolboxes/Data Management Tools.tbx")

gp.Workspace = "C:/Max/Bathymetry_Cleanup/Vector/zone17"

gp.OverWriteOutput = 1

vectorlist = gp.ListFeatureClasses ("17*", "all")

for vector in vectorlist:
    print vector
    gp.AddField_management(vector, "Metres", "DOUBLE", "6", "1", "", "", "NON_NULLABLE", "NON_REQUIRED", "")
    rows = gp.UpdateCursor(vector)
    row = rows.Next()
    while row:
        row.Units = row.Units.title().replace('Meters', 'Metres')
        row.Srvy_Meth = row.Srvy_Meth.title()
        row.Creat_Meth = row.Creat_Meth.title()
        row.Accuracy = row.Accuracy.capitalize()
        row.Depth = abs(row.Depth) * -1.0
        if row.Units == "Metres":
            row.Metres = row.Depth
        elif row.Units == "Feet":
            row.Metres = row.Depth * 0.3048
        elif row.Units == "Fathoms":
            row.Metres = row.Depth * 1.8288
        rows.UpdateRow(row)
        row = rows.Next()

Hopefully, I interpreted your logic correctly, and all you will find are syntax errors.

Good luck

Re: Capitalizing Fields

DaleHoneycutt — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 22:16:38 GMT

See also this blog post about using Calculate Field. It contains examples of capitalizing values.