Multiple ring buffer error

[LuděkKrtička]

Hello,
I am having problems with Multiple Ring Buffer tool in ArcGIS 10. Not working for me, even for my colleagues. I searched forum, but no help solving my case. After selecting input layer, when you start to define distances following error occures:
ERROR
updateParameters Execution Error:
Runtime error: 'ascii' codec can't decode byte 0xa0 in position 0: ordinal not in range(128)

file with screenshot:
http://www1.osu.cz/~krticka/MultipleRingBufferError.jpg

My system info:
Microsoft® Windows Vista�?� Business , Service Pack 2
ArcGIS 10 SP1
Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 SP1
Python 2.6.5 (Python files and subfolders are in c:\Python26\ArcGIS10.0\)

Thank you for any help.

Ludek Krticka

[AndrewChapkowski]

I think the name of your layer is causing the problem because you have unsupported characters in your layer's name. Try changing the layer's name to something simple like: "Buffer Layer" and re-run the tool.

[LuděkKrtička]

I think the name of your layer is causing the problem because you have unsupported characters in your layer's name. Try changing the layer's name to something simple like: "Buffer Layer" and re-run the tool.

Thank you for reply, but it is not the right solution. The name of layer is ascii complying, shown name is from alias. I changed  the alias to ascii only characters also and problem persists 😞

[AndrewChapkowski]

Can you post your data and layer file exactly as shown on your screenshot in a zipfile?

[LuděkKrtička]

Can you post your data and layer file exactly as shown on your screenshot in a zipfile?

I attached the data. But it is problem of every layer I am trying to work with.

[AndrewChapkowski]

I cannot reproduce your problem, but you failed to attached a layer file with the original name.

How I performed the process:

1. Open Arc Map


2. Add shape file


3. Open Arc Toolbox


4. Open Multi Ring Buffer


5. Saved results to shape file and set distances to 3 distances in meters

Can you create a buffer in general with that layer name?

Thanks

[DanPatterson_Retired]

try exporting the file out to a shapefile with a simple name (ie x.shp) and see if the error persists

[LuděkKrtička]

I cannot reproduce your problem, but you failed to attached a layer file with the original name.

How I performed the process:

1. Open Arc Map


2. Add shape file


3. Open Arc Toolbox


4. Open Multi Ring Buffer


5. Saved results to shape file and set distances to 3 distances in meters

Can you create a buffer in general with that layer name?

Thanks

I am getting still the same error with the data you have. Changing name of layer doesn't take effect, problem persist. In original layer I changed just alias to be strictly ascii. I don't think it is problem of layer name. Such behaviour is same with any other layer, I was trying also ArcGIS sample data (U.S. Cities).
Other common analysis tools in Toolbox are working fine. Because it is causing also same problems to my colleague, I am thinking about some conflict with language localization of Windows (Czech), or problem with SP1 Python installation / user rights. Can you check structure of your python instalation folder please? I have python data in subfolder C:\Python26\ArcGIS10.0.

Thank you.

Ludek

[DonovanCameron]

When I set my alias to match yours (with the special characters) I am given the following error:
[ATTACH]4545[/ATTACH]

When I remove the special characters and replace them with EN ascii characters the tool runs fine on my machine (Windows XP SP3, ArcGIS 9.3.1)

[LuděkKrtička]

When I set my alias to match yours (with the special characters) I am given the following error:
[ATTACH]4545[/ATTACH]

When I remove the special characters and replace them with EN ascii characters the tool runs fine on my machine (Windows XP SP3, ArcGIS 9.3.1)

Million of users are working with ArcGIS using their national localization, handling data in their geodatabases using different encoding without problem (of course that sometimes problem occurs). The problem you described: shapefile does not support unicode by default and it relies on your system locale to display the correct characters.
There is also problem with Python, version 2.x seems tobe ASCII only. Version 3.X should support unicode, but ArcGIS 10 is not working with version 3.x. But this should be not problem of script, which is ASCII, and shapefile, which contains only ASCII characters...