topic Re: Problem with arcpy.MakeXYEventLayer in Python Script in Python Questions

Problem with arcpy.MakeXYEventLayer in Python Script

JasonBartling — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 07:01:52 GMT

I'm working on a project to add point locations to a map using the arcpy.MakeXYEventLayer_managment tool in Python. This tool is acting unpredictable and causing a fatal EOFError (End Of File) exception every other time I run my script. Half the time it completes normally with no modifications. I've tried different inputs to the MakeXYEventLayer tool consisting of a .csv file, .dbf file, and a table view. None of these seem to make a difference. This is a current short snippet of the latest attempt:

import arcpy

basePath = 'C:\Users\Jason\Documents\SchoolStuff\GEO 4393C'
workspacePath = basePath+'\FinalProject\Project.gdb'

arcpy.env.workspace = workspacePath
arcpy.env.overwriteOutput = True

locationsFilePath = basePath+'\FinalProject\Locations\MiniGolfLocations.xls'
locationsTable = 'MiniGolfLocations'

arcpy.ExcelToTable_conversion(locationsFilePath,locationsTable,'MiniGolfLocations')
print 'Done converting spreadsheet to table'

arcpy.MakeXYEventLayer_management(locationsTable,'LONGITUDE','LATITUDE','USpoints')
print 'Done creating xy event layer'

arcpy.CopyFeatures_management('USpoints',workspacePath+'\USpoints')

print 'Done creating USpoints'‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

Has anyone else run into this problem before or have any suggestions?

Re: Problem with arcpy.MakeXYEventLayer in Python Script

DarrenWiens2 — Wed, 25 Apr 2018 23:15:21 GMT

Whether or not this is your problem, you're playing with fire using backslashes in file paths (e.g. "\t" = tab). In short, don't use backslashes, unless in a raw string. See here for three options - don't use the fourth option.

Re: Problem with arcpy.MakeXYEventLayer in Python Script

DanPatterson_Retired — Thu, 26 Apr 2018 00:08:14 GMT

and for visual examples of Darren's choices on the survey...

Filenames and file paths in python

is a good place to get the reasons why

Re: Problem with arcpy.MakeXYEventLayer in Python Script

forestknutsen1 — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 07:01:54 GMT

You could try using an InsertCursor—Data Access module | ArcGIS Desktop

It is way faster and more stable then using an events layer in my experience.

This is how I like to do paths. As in Dan and Darren links point out.

import os

path1 = r"c:\stuff"
path2 = r"more\and\more"

full_path = os.path.join(path1, path2)

Re: Problem with arcpy.MakeXYEventLayer in Python Script

JasonBartling — Thu, 26 Apr 2018 01:59:27 GMT

I tried using double backslashes, raw strings with backslashes, forward slashes, and raw strings with forward slashes. None of those options changed my execution results.

Re: Problem with arcpy.MakeXYEventLayer in Python Script

JasonBartling — Thu, 26 Apr 2018 04:14:02 GMT

Using an InsertCursor instead looks to have fixed my problem. It's quite a few more lines of code in setup of the feature class and a SearchCursor, but at least it works consistently. Thank you for this suggestion.

Re: Problem with arcpy.MakeXYEventLayer in Python Script

DanPatterson_Retired — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 07:01:57 GMT

In a very short period of time you will have to move to python 3, so be aware of future pitfalls regarding path constructs since there are more pitfalls ahead...

basePath = 'C:\Users\Jason\Documents\SchoolStuff\GEO 4393C'
workspacePath = basePath+'\FinalProject\Project.gdb'

  File "<ipython-input-1-bc7a010eb6d9>", line 1
    basePath = 'C:\Users\Jason\Documents\SchoolStuff\GEO 4393C'
              ^
SyntaxError: (unicode error) 'unicodeescape' codec can't decode bytes in position 2-3: truncated \UXXXXXXXX escape‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

So you remember the 'pirate' thing and raw encode the first bit then try to use that subsequently

basePath = r'C:\Users\Jason\Documents\SchoolStuff\GEO 4393C'  # ---- cleverly 'r'r'r'ed
workspacePath = basePath+'\FinalProject\Project.gdb'

# ---- big check ---- looks good ---
workspacePath
Out[3]: 'C:\\Users\\Jason\\Documents\\SchoolStuff\\GEO 4393C\\FinalProject\\Project.gdb'

# ---- on to append in Copy_management ----

workspacePath+'\USpoints'
  File "<ipython-input-4-393953a8a67e>", line 1
    workspacePath+'\USpoints'
                 ^
SyntaxError: (unicode error) 'unicodeescape' codec can't decode bytes in position 0-1: truncated \UXXXXXXXX escape

# ---- it's back again‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

And unless you are trapping errors you will get nice silent failures or unrelated error messages.

Python 3 opens a whole new world called Unicode when it comes to working with text.

Re: Problem with arcpy.MakeXYEventLayer in Python Script

JasonBartling — Fri, 27 Apr 2018 03:47:38 GMT

Ok. Thanks for the information.