create attachments with scripts

[LauraTellechea]

Hi,

I was wondering if it is possible to attach several pictures to a set of points using scripts.

I have different point locations (structures) and many jpgs for each structure. I would like to have an automated attachment process in which by clicking the point, the point will already know which pictures to show.

I already tried using the attachment manager in ArcMap10. However, my supervisor wants to make it an automated process. Does anybody know how to do this?

[JennyAxelrod1]

Laura,

We are looking at an implementation of this for the next release of the software and are working on user requirements for the new tools. We would be interested in knowing how you would like to see this tool work?

Specifically, how would you like to see the association between an individual feature and attachment take place in an automated process?

I can think of one major request right away! I have a table of associated files I want to attach. In a perfect world, I could join the table from the fc to the spreadsheet table telling me the path location of the file I want to attach to the specific feature I want to attach it to. Currently I have to right click feature, open attachment manager, go to path location, attach, and then close attachment manager....repeat for next 500 + features! My wish list would allow me to create a spreadsheet table of the features and the path to which file I want to link to it. If I want to link 5 docs to one feature, then I would just have 5 records for it in my table. Then process the table so the attachments are created. Let me know if it comes about!

[MichaelVolz]

I don't know if this question has been answered.  In order to avoid data duplication, is it possible to have images stored in their original location outside the attachment feature class and just have the attachment records created as pointers to the original data?

This way you would not have the original data and then a copy of the data in the attachment feature class.  It seems like this is what quite a few people are actually looking for.

[KenMorefield]

I'll agree with the previous poster that it would be nice if we had the option of just creating hyperlinks to the data outside the geodatabase.  Most folks (I think) already have an file management structure in place (network storage, cloud storage, etc.) and to force folks to duplicate the data by embedding it in the geodatabase isn't always a workable solution. 

Ken