Get Web Map Layer by title removed in 2.4.0, bring it back!!

[Clubdebambos]

In the API version 2.3.X and lower there was a lovely WebMap object method called get_layer() that allowed you to retrieve the layer definition using a title parameter and supplying in the name of the layer as a string. See the docs here.

With 2.4.0 this neat functionality has been removed. We now access the layer via m.content.layers[index_position], which means I need to know the index of the layer in the first place. I now have to write a custom method to get the layer of interest based on the title!

Please reinstate this functionality and bring back a way for us to get the WebMap (Map) layer by the layer title!

[NanaeAubry]

Thanks for posting this. When making such a big shift it's difficult to gauge the importance of certain methods and properties that were previously available.

Since a lot of methods now rely on layer index we will make a method that allows you to get the layer and the index of said layer more easily.

[Geraldine]

Yes please, bring this back!

[jkarmon]

I second this! Any word on when this will be resurrected?

[BBarbs]

I'd also like to add my voice to bring this feature back!

[RichardHowe]

Why would you remove this? Please bring it back

[NanaeAubry]

Hello everyone,

Thank you for adding your voices to this. At version 2.4.1 of the API we have brought back the `get_layer` and `get_table` methods so you can search by title.

To make layer indexing better as well we added two new methods called: `layer_info` and `table_info`

You can call them like this: 

```

m = Map()

m.content.layer_info()

```

This will return a dataframe of the layers, their index, and some other info.

Hope this helps!

[RichardHowe]

@NanaeAubry Excellent!

[Clubdebambos]

Hi @NanaeAubry,

Unfortunately this is not what the get_layer() functionality used to be. This function now returns a FeatureLayer object, which is pretty useless when dealing with WebMaps, instead of the layer definition (Dict/JSON). We can create a FeatureLayer object from the url in the layer definition if needs be. Returning a FeaturLayer object from the get_layer() for a WebMap offers no advantage when you want to get/manipulate/update the layer JSON definition, which is what I expect most workflows would entail.

Maybe another method called get_layer_def() perhaps?

All the best,

Glen