topic Re: create attachments with scripts in Geoprocessing Questions

create attachments with scripts

LauraTellechea — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 16:33:46 GMT

Hi,

I was wondering if it is possible to attach several pictures to a set of points using scripts.

I have different point locations (structures) and many jpgs for each structure. I would like to have an automated attachment process in which by clicking the point, the point will already know which pictures to show.

I already tried using the attachment manager in ArcMap10. However, my supervisor wants to make it an automated process. Does anybody know how to do this?

Re: create attachments with scripts

KevinHibma — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 19:01:48 GMT

This isn't currently something you can do with scripting.

From what I understand you can control and work with attachments using ArcObjects.
You could write something with native ArcObjects, or you could conceivably use Python and ArcObjects together to accomplish this.

Attachments via Python/Arcpy is something we're looking at for the next release. However, at this time no promises, its just under consideration.

Re: create attachments with scripts

KevinHibma — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 14:44:01 GMT

Actually I was just made aware that you can do this if you have the Data Interoperability extension.

There is mention of it here around slide 18:
http://proceedings.esri.com/dvd/uc/2010/uc-index/uc/workshops/tw_557.pdf

Sorry, I couldn't find this presentation on the video channel. I'm not sure if it exists in video form.

Re: create attachments with scripts

RussellBrennan — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 14:47:35 GMT

Laura,

We are looking at an implementation of this for the next release of the software and are working on user requirements for the new tools. We would be interested in knowing how you would like to see this tool work?

Specifically, how would you like to see the association between an individual feature and attachment take place in an automated process?

Re: create attachments with scripts

Dr__EleeDumas — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 14:21:05 GMT

I would like to see this possible. We want to use this in several locations in our County GIS environment. I have thousands of utility inspection reports that i would like to autoload into a feature class as individual attachments to a specific feature. We also have site plands, and dozens of othre types of documents that we would like to load and be able to access thru map services by various end users within the county. All told I have about 5TB (yes Terabyte) of .pdfs that need to be accessed by endusers to support their job functions. to do this I have tables that relate my .pdf's to a specific feature. I just need a process to autoload them into the attachment tables within an .sde
Please consider this a high priority in your next update.
Thanks Elee

Re: create attachments with scripts

RussellBrennan — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 14:34:28 GMT

Elee,

Do your attachments have any type of 'key value/key field' that would associate them to the record in the feature class or table you want to attach to?

For example: Does the name of the utility inspection reports have some sort of unique id that would be able to be related to the actual infrastructure record in the feature class? Perhaps you have a unique feature ID that you use to name the inspection reports?

Currently in ArcGIS 10, we have a manual option through ArcGIS Desktop for adding attachments one record at a time. We looking at methods for attaching multiple attachments to multiple records in a batch operation.

Re: create attachments with scripts

CaseyBentz — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 13:08:32 GMT

Is there a way to edit the attachment once it is created? I am thinking a text document.

Re: create attachments with scripts

richardBurdett — Thu, 05 May 2011 11:57:18 GMT

Yes I have this issue I have ~7000 sign post pictures of our highway network and a GDB with a signs layer. The unique photo file reference is named in a Photo column in the data but all I have is a file full of photos. I dont want to have to upload each picture to each asset is ther a way of loading the lot into the GDB and then pointing / configuring the software to pull up the correct photo based upon the unique id?

Re: create attachments with scripts

RussellBrennan — Tue, 10 May 2011 16:43:54 GMT

Yes I have this issue I have ~7000 sign post pictures of our highway network and a GDB with a signs layer. The unique photo file reference is named in a Photo column in the data but all I have is a file full of photos. I dont want to have to upload each picture to each asset is ther a way of loading the lot into the GDB and then pointing / configuring the software to pull up the correct photo based upon the unique id?

Richard,

In the next release of ArcGIS we are looking at adding a geoprocessing tool that would give you the ability to use a key field to match a record in your table/feature class with a file stored on disk.

For example if you had a feature class containing sign posts with a photoID of 'sign1234' and you had a photo on disk named 'sign1234.jpg' you could attach photos based on this type of relationship.

Would these tools be useful with the way your data is currently stored?

Re: create attachments with scripts

KenMorefield — Fri, 27 May 2011 19:28:13 GMT

Would these tools be useful with the way your data is currently stored?

Hi Russel,
I'm not the original poster, but I will state that the functionality that you have described would be very useful. I'd like to be able to attach documents to a file geodatabase feature class using ArcToolbox tools or python scripts. My ultimate goal is to expose the attach file functionality through a geoprocessing service in ArcGIS Server. That way, users could add attachments to features by way of a web mapping application. This can currently be done very easily if your data is in SDE. I'd like to use a file geodatabase for my applications...

Re: create attachments with scripts

BrennaSterling — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 15:50:27 GMT

Instead of attaching the actual document to each feature and storing it in the geodatabase, is it possible to only store the LINK or PATH to the file in the geodatabase?

I have a street feature class that i am attaching hundreds of as built .pdf documents to. Because the geodatabase stores the actual file..it is getting very large very quickly. And it's redundant because the files are already stored on the server. The attachment feature is key because many of our users have arcgisexplorer and can view the documents as html pop ups from there. However, I am running out of space!

Each street segment has a unique segment number but the as built documents are randomly numbered. I have an access table that stores the segment number and it associated "asbuilt ID's" but they are not the same number.

It would be VERY useful if we could just attach several "hyperlinks" to a feature and have those links stored in the geodatabase.

Is this currently possbile or will it be in future releases?

And I hope this makes sense to all of you 🙂

Re: create attachments with scripts

RebeccaRidley — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 13:11:05 GMT

Hi Russel,
I'm not the original poster, but I will state that the functionality that you have described would be very useful. I'd like to be able to attach documents to a file geodatabase feature class using ArcToolbox tools or python scripts. My ultimate goal is to expose the attach file functionality through a geoprocessing service in ArcGIS Server. That way, users could add attachments to features by way of a web mapping application. This can currently be done very easily if your data is in SDE. I'd like to use a file geodatabase for my applications...

Yes, I am trying to accomplish the very same task. This would be very useful for my operation, as well.

Re: create attachments with scripts

EdDempsey — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 20:46:43 GMT

I was challenged with the same issue, so here's some psuedo code that may help. Using the active layer, in an Edit session, this code will loop through a featureclass reading a value from a Filepath field. Most people already have a column like this in their data, particularly if they use Hyperlinks. If the filepath value is not null, the associated file is loaded as an attachment for that feature.

Dim pApplication As IApplication
        Dim pMxDocument As IMxDocument
        Dim pFeatLayer As IFeatureLayer
        Dim pFeatureclass As IFeatureClass
        Dim pTable As ITable
        Dim pContentsView As IContentsView3
        Dim pfeature As IFeature
        Dim pFeatCursor As IFeatureCursor
        Dim OID As Integer
        Dim filepath As String

        pApplication = m_application
        pMxDocument = pApplication.Document
        pContentsView = pMxDocument.CurrentContentsView

        Dim selectedItem As System.Object = pContentsView.SelectedItem
        If Not (TypeOf selectedItem Is ESRI.ArcGIS.Carto.ILayer) Then
            Return
        End If

        Dim layer As ESRI.ArcGIS.Carto.ILayer = TryCast(selectedItem, ESRI.ArcGIS.Carto.ILayer)
        pFeatLayer = TryCast(layer, ESRI.ArcGIS.Carto.FeatureLayer)
        pFeatureclass = pFeatLayer.FeatureClass

        Dim tableAttachments As ITableAttachments = CType(pFeatureclass, ITableAttachments)
        Dim attachmentManager As IAttachmentManager = tableAttachments.AttachmentManager


        pTable = pFeatLayer
        pFeatCursor = pFeatureclass.Search(Nothing, False)
        pfeature = pFeatCursor.NextFeature()

        Do While Not pfeature Is Nothing

            OID = pfeature.OID
            filepath = pfeature.Value(pfeature.Fields.FindField("FilePath"))  'the field where you store the filename

            If Not filepath.Equals("999") Then 

                ' Open a file as a memory blob stream.
                Dim memoryBlobStream As IMemoryBlobStream = New MemoryBlobStreamClass()
                memoryBlobStream.LoadFromFile(filepath)

                ' Create an attachment.
                Dim attachment As IAttachment = New AttachmentClass With _
                                                { _
                                                .ContentType = "image/jpeg", _
                                                .Data = memoryBlobStream, _
                                                .Name = filepath _
                                                }

                ' Assign the attachment to the feature with ObjectID (OID) = 1.
                attachmentManager.AddAttachment(OID, attachment)

                pfeature.Store()
                pfeature = pFeatCursor.NextFeature

            Else
                pfeature = pFeatCursor.NextFeature()
            End If

        Loop

        pFeatCursor = Nothing

Re: create attachments with scripts

AdamCottrell — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 20:46:46 GMT

Dim pApplication As IApplication
        Dim pMxDocument As IMxDocument
        Dim pFeatLayer As IFeatureLayer
        Dim pFeatureclass As IFeatureClass
        Dim pTable As ITable
        Dim pContentsView As IContentsView3
        Dim pfeature As IFeature
        Dim pFeatCursor As IFeatureCursor
        Dim OID As Integer
        Dim filepath As String

        pApplication = m_application
        pMxDocument = pApplication.Document
        pContentsView = pMxDocument.CurrentContentsView

        Dim selectedItem As System.Object = pContentsView.SelectedItem
        If Not (TypeOf selectedItem Is ESRI.ArcGIS.Carto.ILayer) Then
            Return
        End If

        Dim layer As ESRI.ArcGIS.Carto.ILayer = TryCast(selectedItem, ESRI.ArcGIS.Carto.ILayer)
        pFeatLayer = TryCast(layer, ESRI.ArcGIS.Carto.FeatureLayer)
        pFeatureclass = pFeatLayer.FeatureClass

        Dim tableAttachments As ITableAttachments = CType(pFeatureclass, ITableAttachments)
        Dim attachmentManager As IAttachmentManager = tableAttachments.AttachmentManager


        pTable = pFeatLayer
        pFeatCursor = pFeatureclass.Search(Nothing, False)
        pfeature = pFeatCursor.NextFeature()

        Do While Not pfeature Is Nothing

            OID = pfeature.OID
            filepath = pfeature.Value(pfeature.Fields.FindField("FilePath"))  'the field where you store the filename

            If Not filepath.Equals("999") Then 

                ' Open a file as a memory blob stream.
                Dim memoryBlobStream As IMemoryBlobStream = New MemoryBlobStreamClass()
                memoryBlobStream.LoadFromFile(filepath)

                ' Create an attachment.
                Dim attachment As IAttachment = New AttachmentClass With _
                                                { _
                                                .ContentType = "image/jpeg", _
                                                .Data = memoryBlobStream, _
                                                .Name = filepath _
                                                }

                ' Assign the attachment to the feature with ObjectID (OID) = 1.
                attachmentManager.AddAttachment(OID, attachment)

                pfeature.Store()
                pfeature = pFeatCursor.NextFeature

            Else
                pfeature = pFeatCursor.NextFeature()
            End If

        Loop

        pFeatCursor = Nothing

This is going to sound stupid but did you use VBA to run this code? I'm trying to avoid VBA now since it will be no longer supported in future releases.

Re: create attachments with scripts

richardBurdett — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 11:47:18 GMT

Richard,

In the next release of ArcGIS we are looking at adding a geoprocessing tool that would give you the ability to use a key field to match a record in your table/feature class with a file stored on disk.

For example if you had a feature class containing sign posts with a photoID of 'sign1234' and you had a photo on disk named 'sign1234.jpg' you could attach photos based on this type of relationship.

Would these tools be useful with the way your data is currently stored?

Yes thats it! that would be perfect! Please hurry as this would be Indispensable to me!. Many thanks!

Re: create attachments with scripts

RussellBrennan — Tue, 03 Jul 2012 20:56:16 GMT

Yes thats it! that would be perfect! Please hurry as this would be Indispensable to me!. Many thanks!

This is in ArcGIS 10.1, it will be shipping soon.

http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/main/10.1/index.html#/Working_with_the_Attachments_geoprocessing_tools/00170000017z000000/

Re: create attachments with scripts

RachelOser — Tue, 31 Jul 2012 17:17:51 GMT

ArcMap 10.1 Standard
Windows 7 Professional
12.0 GB Ram
64 Bit

I am trying to use the following Data Management Tools: Attachments: "Generate Attachment Match Table" and "Add Attachments". The "Generate Attachment Match Table" tool works perfectly, but my computer cannot seem to execute the "add attachments" command. I tried reducing the size of the Match Table all the way down to three rows, but it still gets stuck. Does anyone know what I am doing wrong?

Re: create attachments with scripts

RachelOser — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 12:21:57 GMT

In answer to my own question, I was creating an INFO table. When I put the output match table inside the geodatabase instead, everything worked great.

customize the path where I want to save the attachment

AuraRamos_Lora — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 16:59:47 GMT

Instead of attaching the actual document to each feature and storing it in the geodatabase, is it possible to only store the LINK or PATH to the file in the geodatabase?

I have a street feature class that i am attaching hundreds of as built .pdf documents to. Because the geodatabase stores the actual file..it is getting very large very quickly. And it's redundant because the files are already stored on the server. The attachment feature is key because many of our users have arcgisexplorer and can view the documents as html pop ups from there. However, I am running out of space!

Each street segment has a unique segment number but the as built documents are randomly numbered. I have an access table that stores the segment number and it associated "asbuilt ID's" but they are not the same number.

It would be VERY useful if we could just attach several "hyperlinks" to a feature and have those links stored in the geodatabase.

Is this currently possbile or will it be in future releases?

And I hope this makes sense to all of you 🙂

Someone found how to do this, I have the same problem, help please.

Re: create attachments with scripts

RhettZufelt — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 15:41:32 GMT

Richard,

In the next release of ArcGIS we are looking at adding a geoprocessing tool that would give you the ability to use a key field to match a record in your table/feature class with a file stored on disk.

For example if you had a feature class containing sign posts with a photoID of 'sign1234' and you had a photo on disk named 'sign1234.jpg' you could attach photos based on this type of relationship.

Would these tools be useful with the way your data is currently stored?

This would be a great option, if designed correctly. As is, if I have a 20 square signs called s_sign with photos s1.jpg, s2.jpg, s3.jpg, etc. Would be nice if it used the key/value pair in the lookup table to do the relate. Instead, it takes the OID from the FIRST occurance of the feature (squaresign) and will attach every photo to the first occurance of s_sign, and all other s_sign features have none. Seems like it completely defeats the anything to many relationship. Seems that if, instead of converting the key value to the first OID that matches and using the actual key value column for the relate would actually give us what it claims.

R_

Professional ESRI beta tester