topic Re: Spatial Reference grab not working... in Transportation Questions

Spatial Reference grab not working...

Anonymous User — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 18:32:07 GMT

Original User: SStrand

I have a large metadata generating script that is working great, except for some reason the spatial reference of the data being grabbed and wrote to a Word file is not working.

First, the portion to write text to word (this works fine for all other instances in the script):

def search_replace_all(newword, find_str, replace_str):
    wdFindContinue = 1
    wdReplaceAll = 2
    app = win32com.client.Dispatch("Word.Application")
    app.Visible = 0
    app.DisplayAlerts = 0

    app.Documents.Open(newword)
    app.Selection.Find.Execute(find_str, False, False, False, False, False, \
        True, wdFindContinue, False, replace_str, wdReplaceAll)
    app.ActiveDocument.Close(SaveChanges=True)

    app.Quit()

search_replace_all(newword, olddate, newdate)

Here is the code that isn't working:

spatialdesc = arcpy.Describe(newlayer)
sr = spatialdesc.SpatialReference
newspatial = sr.Name

search_replace_all(newword, oldspatial, newspatial)

I've also seen this as/tried unsuccesfully in my code:

sr = arcpy.Describe(newlayer).spatialReference
newspatial = sr.name

search_replace_all(newword, oldspatial, newspatial)

All I get is a generic script error failure response when it gets to this point. Any ideas as to why it won't complete this part correctly?

I am using ArcGIS 10.0 SP3, Windows 7, Python 2.7

Re: Spatial Reference grab not working...

MathewCoyle — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 19:54:10 GMT

How are you generating the oldspatial variable? Can you print out all the names you are passing to your word writing function in the interpreter before you attempt to call the function?

Re: Spatial Reference grab not working...

Anonymous User — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 18:32:10 GMT

Original User: SStrand

So the way it works is I have a template word file that is copied and then edited with metadata information from a variety of sources, including the layer I am working with. 'Oldspatial' is the filler text in the template word file that is replaced by the actual spatial reference 'newspatial'.

newlayer = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(0)
newlayername = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(1)
newdate = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(4)
tempword = "K:\\SDE_System\\metadata\\AGS10_Metadata\\_gis_metadata_template.doc"
tempdir = os.path.dirname(tempword)
newword = os.path.join(tempdir, newlayername + ".doc")
olddate = "06/09/2000"
oldspatial = "ie: State Plane California 6 Feet"

These are all related to what I have posted code wise.

Re: Spatial Reference grab not working...

Anonymous User — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 18:32:13 GMT

Original User: SStrand

Just ran the script with

arcpy.AddMessage("test")

before the

search_replace_all(newword, oldspatial, newspatial)

and it failed without displaying the name. There is already an arcpy.AddMessage("The document is X% complete") right before

spatialdesc = arcpy.Describe(newlayer)
sr = spatialdesc.SpatialReference
newspatial = sr.Name

so something is going wrong in there...

Re: Spatial Reference grab not working...

MathewCoyle — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 20:30:30 GMT

How are you passing this parameter to your tool? Object, string, something else?

newlayer = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(0)

Re: Spatial Reference grab not working...

Anonymous User — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 20:37:56 GMT

Original User: SStrand

In the script properties it is a Layer data type, to allow for a drop down of available layers in the ArcMap document. In the ArcGIS help under describe it made it sound like that wasn't an issue.

Re: Spatial Reference grab not working...

DarrenWiens2 — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 18:32:16 GMT

Does it work with the capitalization shown below?

sr = spatialdesc.spatialReference
newspatial = sr.name

edit: I should add, this works for me

Re: Spatial Reference grab not working...

Anonymous User — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 18:32:19 GMT

Original User: SStrand

Does it work with the capitalization shown below?
sr = spatialdesc.spatialReference
newspatial = sr.name
edit: I should add, this works for me

Nope, that is actually how I originally had it until, while researching possible issues, I came across this page which had it the current way.

Edit: I don't believe the code is wrong...but I have no clue why it is failing.

Re: Spatial Reference grab not working...

MathewCoyle — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 18:32:21 GMT

This code works fine for me.

import arcpy


def main(layer):
    spatialdesc = arcpy.Describe(layer)
    sr = spatialdesc.SpatialReference
    newspatial = sr.Name
    arcpy.AddMessage(newspatial)

if __name__ == '__main__':
    layer = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(0)
    main(layer)

The only other issue I can think of it being is something wonky with your 2.7 install and arcpy not playing nicely.

Re: Spatial Reference grab not working...

Anonymous User — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 21:05:43 GMT

Original User: SStrand

The only other issue I can think of it being is something wonky with your 2.7 install and arcpy not playing nicely.

I'll try it out on another computer here and see how it goes.

Re: Spatial Reference grab not working...

Anonymous User — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 21:18:32 GMT

Original User: SStrand

So the other computer I have access to here is running 10.1 so I'm not sure if that is a major issue. It shouldn't be in regards to what I am doing.

Running the script on 10.1, it still fails in the same spot but I get a real error!

Traceback (most recent call last)
File KSDE_SystemlayersAGS10_Layers_LayerCreation.py, line 139, in module
    spatialdesc = arcpy.Describe(newlayer)
File cprogram filesarcgisdesktop10.1arcpyarcpy__init__.py, line 1200, in Describe
    return gp.describe(value)
File cprogram filesarcgisdesktop10.1arcpyarcpygeoprocessing_base.py, line 374, in describe
    self._gp.Describe(gp_fixargs(args, True)))
IOError AnnexationAreas_SOI does not exist

Failed to execute (LayerCreation).

AnnexationAreas_SOI is the file I am testing the script with.

Re: Spatial Reference grab not working...

curtvprice — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 18:32:24 GMT

Check to see exactly what is getting passed. Repr() is very handy for this.

arcpy.AddMessage("newlayer: " + repr(newlayer))

it sounds from your error message that "AnnexationAreas_SOI" is what got passed. If your script is running within the ArcMap context (ie as a script tool in Arcmap) the Describe should be able to identify that string as a layer and successfully find it and retrieve it's spatialReference.

If not, it's just a string and what you should have passed a dataset instead.