definitionQuery syntax problem

[ColinBerg1]

Hi everyone,

can someone please tell me what is wrong with my syntax here?  This should be very simple but any time I run this script tool it does not like the syntax of my definitionQuery..  I can't understand what the problem is

I have tried all of these and it wont work:

lyr.definitionQuery = '"BANDID" = \'GRNN00A\''

lyr.definitionQuery = "BANDID" = 'GRNN00A'

lyr.definitionQuery = """"BANDID" = 'GRNN00A'"""

lyr.definitionQuery = '"BANDID" = 'GRNN00A''

lyr.definitionQuery = ("BANDID" = 'GRNN00A')

lyr.definitionQuery = ("BANDID" = \'GRNN00A\')

What am I doing wrong? 

[ColinBerg1]

this is my script if you don't want an attachment for it:

import arcpy
import os

#get user to input the mxd into the script tool
mxd = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(0)

#define the mxd from the above
arcpy.mapping.MapDocument(mxd)

#set the dataframe as the default "Layers"
df = arcpy.mapping.ListDataFrames(mxd, "Layers")[0]

#for every layer, query only those records where "BANDID" equals 'GRNN00A'
for lyr in arcpy.mapping.ListLayers(mxd, "", df):
    lyr.definitionQuery = '"BANDID" = \'GRNN00A\''
    
mxd.save()
del mxd

[RandyBurton]

Did you try:

lyr.definitionQuery = "BANDID = 'GRNN00A'"‍‍‍

Often the field name is not quoted; it depends on the geodatabase type/server.

[ColinBerg1]

Just tried it now, but it failed    These are just shapefiles, no geodatabase or anything.

import arcpy
import os

#get user to input the mxd into the script tool
mxd = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(0)

#define the mxd from the above
arcpy.mapping.MapDocument(mxd)

#set the dataframe as the default "Layers"
df = arcpy.mapping.ListDataFrames(mxd, "Layers")[0]

#for every layer, query only those records where "BANDID" equals 'GRNN00A'
for lyr in arcpy.mapping.ListLayers(mxd, "", df):
    lyr.definitionQuery = "BANDID = 'GRNN00A'"
    
mxd.save()
del mxd

it's giving me this error message:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "I:\For_Colin\arcModels\python_scripts\definition_query_bandID_GRNN00A.py", line 11, in <module>
    df = arcpy.mapping.ListDataFrames(mxd, "Layers")[0]
  File "c:\program files (x86)\arcgis\desktop10.4\arcpy\arcpy\utils.py", line 182, in fn_
    return fn(*args, **kw)
  File "c:\program files (x86)\arcgis\desktop10.4\arcpy\arcpy\mapping.py", line 1496, in ListDataFrames
    result = mixins.MapDocumentMixin(map_document).listDataFrames(wildcard)
  File "c:\program files (x86)\arcgis\desktop10.4\arcpy\arcpy\arcobjects\mixins.py", line 745, in listDataFrames
    return list(reversed([fr for fr in self.dataFrames if wildcardmatch(wildcard, fr.name)]))
  File "c:\program files (x86)\arcgis\desktop10.4\arcpy\arcpy\arcobjects\mixins.py", line 710, in dataFrames
    return map(convertArcObjectToPythonObject, self.pageLayout.dataFrames)
  File "c:\program files (x86)\arcgis\desktop10.4\arcpy\arcpy\arcobjects\mixins.py", line 694, in pageLayout
    return convertArcObjectToPythonObject(self._mxd._arc_object.pageLayout)
AttributeError: 'unicode' object has no attribute '_arc_object'

Failed to execute (DefineBandIDAsGRNN00A).

[JoshuaBixby · Accepted solution]

Your code is failing because the mxd variable isn't a map document object but a unicode string, which generates the unicode error you are seeing.  Try this:

import arcpy
import os


#define the mxd from user input
mxd = arcpy.mapping.MapDocument(arcpy.GetParameterAsText(0))

#set the dataframe as the default "Layers"
df = arcpy.mapping.ListDataFrames(mxd, "Layers")[0]

#for every layer, query only those records where "BANDID" equals 'GRNN00A'
for lyr in arcpy.mapping.ListLayers(mxd, "", df):
    lyr.definitionQuery = "BANDID = 'GRNN00A'"
    
mxd.save()
del mxd‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

[ColinBerg1]

Thank you!!

Yes that worked. 

Thanks Randy and Joshua, both of you contributed to this success

[JoshuaBixby]

Please mark someone's response as the answer so this question is closed out. 

[MitchHolley1]

What is the tool parameter data type set as for the mxd variable?  Try adding a print statement to see what is being returned.

import arcpy
import os


#get user to input the mxd into the script tool
mxd = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(0)

#define the mxd from the above
arcpy.mapping.MapDocument(mxd)

arcpy.AddMessage("{}".format(mxd))

...‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

To ensure fields are being formatted properly in sql queries, you can use AddFieldDelimiters.