topic Single MXD Broken SDE Links in Python Questions

Single MXD Broken SDE Links

lelaharrington — Mon, 31 Aug 2015 18:19:10 GMT

i have a mxd that has broken SDE links ( well i have a lot of them) i am fine running a script one mxd at a time to repair the broken sources. some of the features are now in feature classes, to clean up the SDE location. some are still there. how do i write a script that will look to the mxd i want it to and repair the SDE connection to find the feature.

also if the feature had been renamed how do i tell the the script to look for (old) and replace with (new)

i have looked at the generic "repair broken sources script" and i just cannot wrap my head around how to use this.

Re: Single MXD Broken SDE Links

JakeSkinner — Mon, 31 Aug 2015 19:15:12 GMT

Hi Lela,

Have you taken a look at the following help doc?

Updating and fixing data sources with arcpy.mapping—Help | ArcGIS for Desktop

This will give you script examples for different scenarios.

Re: Single MXD Broken SDE Links

lelaharrington — Mon, 31 Aug 2015 19:37:58 GMT

i have and i honestly cant understand it.

i have the connection it needs to go to and the connection it came from but i an not sure how to actually write it

Re: Single MXD Broken SDE Links

JakeSkinner — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 12:59:24 GMT

You would need to write something like below:

import arcpy
mxd = arcpy.mapping.MapDocument(r"C:\Project\Project_default.mxd")
mxd.findAndReplaceWorkspacePaths(r"C:\Project\Old Connection.sde", r"C:\Project\New Connection.sde")
mxd.save()
del mxd

Re: Single MXD Broken SDE Links

lelaharrington — Mon, 31 Aug 2015 20:11:19 GMT

yes! that is the script i am using however the part on it that says mxd.findAndReplaceWorkspacePaths(r"C:\Project\Old Connection.sde..."

that is the part i cannot seem to get right. if my SDE is a database connection in arc catalog how to i write the C:\Project. part?

Re: Single MXD Broken SDE Links

lelaharrington — Mon, 31 Aug 2015 20:21:59 GMT

if it helps these are sql servers i am trying to basically tell the script

if the old connection is something like WBlmnpoGOGIS04 server then now connect to the KCF GIS PROD on KCF-GLE-SQL1.sde. i just don't know who to write the connections in.

Re: Single MXD Broken SDE Links

RebeccaStrauch__GISP — Mon, 31 Aug 2015 22:31:25 GMT

I just posted a python addin Python addin for data inventory and “broken-link” repair. If nothing else, using the first three tools will help you see all the FGDBs, feature classes, and broken links.

There is no such thing as a once size fits all when it comes to fixing broken links, but this can fix changing types, changing paths, updating .sde and .ags layers, etc. The repair requires a modified .csv file that is output from the broken link tool. I do not have any good samples of the file yet, but will try to get something posted by end of business.

Re: Single MXD Broken SDE Links

JakeSkinner — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 12:59:27 GMT

To access your SDE connections under 'Database Connections', you can use something similar to:

r"Database Connections\SQLServer.sde"

Ex:

import arcpy 
mxd = arcpy.mapping.MapDocument(r"C:\Project\Project_default.mxd") 
mxd.findAndReplaceWorkspacePaths(r"Database Connections\Old Connection.sde", r"Database Connections\New Connection.sde") 
mxd.save() 
del mxd