topic Re: Can Arcpy accept input as file-like object? in Python Questions

Can Arcpy accept input as file-like object?

Jay_Gregory — Wed, 10 May 2023 14:37:53 GMT

I'm curious if arcpy methods that take as input a CSV or text file can accept a file-like object instead, so I don't have to write to disk before invoking.

For example, if I have a dataframe df:

import pandas as pd from io import StringIO import arcpy s_buff = StringIO() df.to_csv(s_buff) arcpy.management.BearingDistanceToLine(s_buff, "memory\\output", "x", 'y', 'd', bearing_field="b")

This generates an error: Error in executing tool. s_buff.read(), s_buff.seek(0) also generates errors. I know I could write to a temporary file, but I'd rather not.

Re: Can Arcpy accept input as file-like object?

KenBuja — Wed, 10 May 2023 14:49:58 GMT

You are able to use the memory workspace in geoprocessing tools, according to the documentation.

Use of memory-based workspaces in Python is only valid for geoprocessing tools. Memory is not a general-purpose virtual directory where you can write files or other data.

Re: Can Arcpy accept input as file-like object?

Jay_Gregory — Wed, 10 May 2023 15:10:11 GMT

Indeed, but I'm just working with a vanilla pandas dataframe. The memory workspace is limited to the output of arcpy operations it seems.

Re: Can Arcpy accept input as file-like object?

DannyMcVey — Wed, 10 May 2023 15:40:35 GMT

What about something like this?

import numpy as np import pandas as pd import arcgis data = np.random.randint(5, 35, size=11) df = pd.DataFrame(data, columns=['random_numbers']) df.spatial.to_table(r'memory/processed_df') arcpy.GetCount_management(r'memory/processed_df')

Re: Can Arcpy accept input as file-like object?

Jay_Gregory — Wed, 10 May 2023 17:17:02 GMT

That works! Thanks! just have to deal with the overhead of importing the python api to access the GeoAccessor 🙂