topic ValidateTableName function in Python Questions

ValidateTableName function

Trans-TelCentral — Fri, 21 Jun 2024 16:00:27 GMT

Hello, I am relatively new to Python scripting, and trying to automate a task at work. Basically, the script is supposed to copy a shape file [named 'backbone'] from the env.workspace into the specified file GDB. The script works fine, but I am trying to run this script numerous times by changing the env.workspace and re-running the script.

With that being said, if there was a feature class in the file GDB already named 'backbone', the original script would copy the new one over the original. I thought that arcpy.ValidateName() was the function used to prevent this from happening, and it would rename the new feature class so the original would not be written over; is this a misconception on my end?

After some trial and error, I was able to add a nested if statement that checked for a feature class named 'backbone', and if true, would add a '1' to the end of the new feature class's name. Here lies the problem: if I change the env.workspace to another file location, it will just restart my counter variable and overwrite 'backbone1'. I'm sure the solution is simple, just beyond my elementary knowledge base; any help would be greatly appreciated! I have copy and pasted the script below:

import arcpy
from arcpy import env

env.overwriteOutput = True
env.workspace = 'C:/Users/MWright/Downloads/YaleToSC/'
outputEnv = 'M:/Drafting/IECcoop/PhaseIII/PawneeToYale/PawneeToYales.gdb/'
x = 'backbone'
count = 1

fclist = arcpy.ListFeatureClasses()
print(fclist)
print('\n')

for fc in fclist:
fcdesc = arcpy.Describe(fc)
fcname = fcdesc.basename
if fcname == 'backbone':
if arcpy.Exists(x):
fcout = arcpy.ValidateTableName(fcname, outputEnv)
arcpy.CopyFeatures_management(fc, outputEnv + fcout + str(x))

print('\n' + fcname + ' has been copied to GDB.\n')
x += 1
else:
fcout = arcpy.ValidateTableName(fcname, outputEnv)
arcpy.CopyFeatures_management(fc, outputEnv + fcout + str(count))
else:
print(fcname + " feature class does not need to be copied to geodatabase.")

print('\nBackbone feature class copy process complete.')

Re: ValidateTableName function

HaydenWelch — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 19:12:20 GMT

You're really close, you just need to store the index in the feature names themselves:

import arcpy from arcpy import env env.overwriteOutput = True env.workspace = 'C:/Users/MWright/Downloads/YaleToSC/' outputEnv = 'M:/Drafting/IECcoop/PhaseIII/PawneeToYale/PawneeToYales.gdb/' outName = 'backbone' fclist = arcpy.ListFeatureClasses() print(fclist) print('\n') # Iterate FCs in workspace (YaleToSC) for fc in fclist: fcdesc = arcpy.Describe(fc) fcname = fcdesc.basename # Check if the FC name contains the substring 'backbone' if 'backbone' in fcname: # Split the FC name into a list of substrings separated by '_', Use *_ to consume any additional substrings beyond the first 2 # Add None to end of list to prevent ValueError if the FC name does not contain '_' and the list has only 1 element name, index, *_ = fcname.split('_') + [None] # If the name is just 'backbone', initialize the index to 1 if name == 'backbone' and not index: arcpy.CopyFeatures_management(fc, f"{outputEnv}{outName}_1") # If the name is 'backbone' followed by a number, increment the number by 1 elif index and index.isdigit(): arcpy.CopyFeatures_management(fc, f"{outputEnv}{outName}_{int(index) + 1}") # Ignore all non-backbone feature classes else: print(f'{fcname} is not a backbone feature class.') print('\nBackbone feature class copy process complete.')

Here's a version that runs as a script and takes a list of workspaces:

import arcpy from arcpy import env # Iterate FCs in workspace (YaleToSC) def copy_backbone(outputEnv, outName, fclist): for fc in fclist: fcdesc = arcpy.Describe(fc) fcname = fcdesc.basename # Check if the FC name contains the substring 'backbone' if 'backbone' in fcname: # Split the FC name into a list of substrings separated by '_', Use *_ to consume any additional substrings beyond the first 2 # Add None to end of list to prevent ValueError if the FC name does not contain '_' and the list has only 1 element name, index, *_ = fcname.split('_') + [None] # If the name is just 'backbone', initialize the index to 1 if name == 'backbone' and not index: arcpy.CopyFeatures_management(fc, f"{outputEnv}{outName}_1") # If the name is 'backbone' followed by a number, increment the number by 1 elif index and index.isdigit(): arcpy.CopyFeatures_management(fc, f"{outputEnv}{outName}_{int(index) + 1}") # Ignore all non-backbone feature classes else: print(f'{fcname} is not a backbone feature class.') def main(): env.overwriteOutput = True outputEnv = 'M:/Drafting/IECcoop/PhaseIII/PawneeToYale/PawneeToYales.gdb/' outName = 'backbone' workspaces = ['C:/Users/MWright/Downloads/YaleToSC/', '<wsp1>', '<wsp2>', ...] for workspace in workspaces: env.workspace = workspace fclist = arcpy.ListFeatureClasses() print(f'Processing {workspace}...') print(f'Feature classes in {workspace}: {fclist}') copy_backbone(outputEnv, outName, fclist) print('\nBackbone feature class copy process complete.') if __name__ == '__main__': main()

Re: ValidateTableName function

Trans-TelCentral — Wed, 10 Jul 2024 20:00:31 GMT

This helps so much - thanks for pointing me in the right direction!