CalculateFieldManagement failing after upgrading to arcgis 10.8.1

[Anonymous User]

I'm getting an error in Python when executing script:

Python syntax error: Parsing error SyntaxError: unexpected character after line continuation character (line 1)

arcpy.CalculateField_management(Applicants, "UGA_Flag", "UGAFlag(!UGA_Flag!, !PER_Area!)", "PYTHON_9.3", "def UGAFlag(UGA_Flag, PER_Area):\\n  if PER_Area < 0.05:\\n    return \"Outside (<5%) of Urban Growth Area\"\\n  elif PER_Area > 0.95:\\n    return \"Mostly (>95%) within Urban Growth Area\"\\n  else:\\n    return \"Partially within Urban Growth Area\"")

I've searched for explanations and I understand that it likely has to do with backslash vs forwardslash. I ran this script in January without an issue (I was using 10.5.1 desktop with same version of python).

Any helpful explanation is greatly appreciated.

[DanPatterson · Accepted solution]

Add an extra line to your script to separate the codeblock so you don't have to mess with spaces and your double quote errors

block = """
def UGAFlag(UGA_Flag, PER_Area):
    if PER_Area < 0.05:
        return 'Outside (<5%) of Urban Growth Area'
    elif PER_Area > 0.95:
        return 'Mostly (>95%) within Urban Growth Area'
    else:
        return 'Partially within Urban Growth Area'
"""

then something like this (totally not tested...

arcpy.CalculateField_management(Applicants, "UGA_Flag",
                                "UGAFlag(!UGA_Flag!, !PER_Area!)",
                                "PYTHON_9.3",
                                block)

[Anonymous User]

Thanks again for your help.  I have been updating the script in other areas use similar logic on different fields. It's been working fairly well (and by that I mean the code is executing without error)...

On a particular field however I'm getting an error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "\\Nq-cluster1\share-appl\GISAppl\FarmRanking\Minimum Check\Minimum Criteria v1_1.py", line 442, in <module>
Pasture_Farms_Dissolved = arcpy.CalculateField_management(Pasture_Farms_Dissolved, "PER_Past", block)
File "C:\Program Files (x86)\ArcGIS\Desktop10.8\ArcPy\arcpy\management.py", line 3647, in CalculateField
raise e
ExecuteError: ERROR 999999: Error executing function.
Syntax error
Failed to execute (CalculateField).

block = """
def PerPasture(TOTAcres, Past_Acres, ID):
if ID == 212:
return Past_Acres / TOTAcres
else:
return 0
"""

Pasture_Farms_Dissolved = arcpy.CalculateField_management(Pasture_Farms_Dissolved, "PER_Past", block)

I did a search for the ERROR 999999: Error executing function but I haven't found anything helping to determine the issue.  

How do I solve this kind of error?  The block is simpler than other blocks that run without a problem.   Help is greatly appreciated.

[DanPatterson · Accepted solution]

block = """
def PerPasture(TOTAcres, Past_Acres, ID):
    if ID == 212:
        if TOTAcres not in (0, None):
            return Past_Acres / TOTAcres
        return -99999
    else:
        return 0
"""

unless your "block" was a formatting issue, perhaps TOTAcres was either None or 0

[Anonymous User]

Do you have another suggestion?

I'm not having much luck..

Here's the code that runs fine in Arc10.5

Pasture_Farms_Dissolved = arcpy.CalculateField_management(Pasture_Farms_Dissolved, "PER_Past", "PerPasture(!TOTAcres!, !Past_Acres!, !ID!)", "PYTHON_9.3", "def PerPasture(TOTAcres, Past_Acres, ID):\\n if ID == 212:\\n return long(Past_Acres) / long(TOTAcres)\\n else:\\n return 0")

And here's what's throwing the error:

block = """
def PerPasture(TOTAcres, Past_Acres, ID):
if ID == 212:
return Past_Acres / TOTAcres
else:
return 0
"""

Pasture_Farms_Dissolved = arcpy.CalculateField_management(Pasture_Farms_Dissolved, "PER_Past", block)

If you've got a suggestion on how I can solve it I'd appreciate it!

[DanPatterson · Accepted solution]

what happened to the indentation that was in my example?

[Anonymous User]

Sorry about that. 

block = """
def PerPasture(TOTAcres, Past_Acres, ID):
    if ID == 212:
        #if TOTAcres not in (0, None):
         return Past_Acres! / !TOTAcres
        #return -99999
    else:
        return 0
"""

[Anonymous User]

I just added the comments as I'm starting to hack at it to try and figure out why I'm getting the error shown below:

[Anonymous User · Accepted solution]

block = """
def PerPasture(TOTAcres, Past_Acres, ID):
    if ID == 212:
        #if TOTAcres not in (0, None):
         return Past_Acres! / !TOTAcres
        #return -99999
    else:
        return 0
"""
Pasture_Farms_Dissolved = arcpy.CalculateField_management(Pasture_Farms_Dissolved, "PER_Past", block)

This is the particular code block for this calculation that executes without issue on a workstation running ArcGIS 10.5.1:

#Pasture_Farms_Dissolved = arcpy.CalculateField_management(Pasture_Farms_Dissolved, "PER_Past", "PerPasture(!TOTAcres!, !Past_Acres!, !ID!)", "PYTHON_9.3", "def PerPasture(TOTAcres, Past_Acres, ID):\\n if ID == 212:\\n return long(Past_Acres) / long(TOTAcres)\\n else:\\n return 0")

[Anonymous User]

Thanks again for your help.. I see the errors and have fixed it and I'm in good shape. Thanks again!!!