Add-in toolbar- ArcMap won't start, uninstall manually?

[TimBarnes]

I've created a basic add-in toolbar using Python. It compiled fine, installed OK but now I can't start ArcMap, ArcCatalog etc- It loads the splash screen but then stops (no errors are raised) so I wish to un-install it to see what's going on.

You can uninstall an add-in toolbar.....but the tool to do it is accessed from within ArcMap :confused:

The add-in file itself is present in C:\Documents and Settings\me\My Documents\ArcGIS\AddIns\Desktop10.1\{GUID}

Is it possible to just delete this file to uninstall the toolbar?
Alternatively, would re-compiling and installing it with the likely errors removed* fix it?

* I created two empty tools, a button which just calls an existing script within a toolbox and a combo box which I haven't edited yet...so I'm guess it's this second combo box which is causing the issue.

[markdenil]

Removing the addIn file from the AddIns directory will indeed uninstall the AddIn manually.
As to correcting and recompiling / installing, You were going to eventually try that anyway, eh?

[TimBarnes]

Seems like that first install had caused some issues in my normal.mxt. Deleting that allowed me to open ArcMap at least. With the tool still present in the well-known folder, whenever I went to the customise menu, ArcMap quit with no errors. Deleting the GUID folder with the addin has gotten me back up running.

I still can't open ArcCatalog (standalone) and it has broken my install of PythonWin too.

I had fixed and recompiled the tool before deleting normal.mxt but that still didn't allow me to open ArcMap.....it sure would be nice to have some error catching, I don't think many people will enjoy having to recreate their normal.mxt every time they make a mistake when development.

[TimBarnes]

Just an update-  to see if anyone can see anything going on here:

Here is my python- At the moment just a basic script to call a tool within a toolbox as a test:

import arcpy
import pythonaddins

class Terrain_Statistics(object):
    """Implementation for FISToolBarAddin_addin.Terrain_Statistics (Button)"""
    def __init__(self):
        self.enabled = True
        self.checked = False
    def onClick(self):
                pythonaddins.GPToolDialog('C:\\Program Files\\ArcGIS\\Desktop10.1\\ArcToolbox\\Toolboxes\\Data Management Tools.tbx', 'CopyFeatures')

And here is the config.xml

<ESRI.Configuration xmlns="http://schemas.esri.com/Desktop/AddIns" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"><Name>FIS Tools</Name><AddInID>{4664bb3b-bda7-4fc9-84ce-753d310d077c}</AddInID><Description>FIS Toolbar</Description><Version>0.2</Version><Image>Images\Matariki_Small.GIF</Image><Author>Tim Barnes, Andrew Flaws</Author><Company>Rayonier NZ</Company><Date>05/14/2013</Date><Targets><Target name="Desktop" version="10.1" /></Targets><AddIn language="PYTHON" library="FISToolBarAddin_addin.py" namespace="FISToolBarAddin_addin"><ArcMap>
    <Commands>
        <Button caption="Sale Area Terrain Statistics" category="FIS Tools" class="Terrain_Statistics" id="FISToolBarAddin_addin.Terrain_Statistics" image="" message="" tip=""><Help heading="" /></Button>
        </Commands>
    <Extensions>
        </Extensions>
    <Toolbars>
        <Toolbar caption="FIS Toolbar" category="FIS Tools" id="FISTools.toolbar" showInitially="false"><Items><Button refID="FISToolBarAddin_addin.Terrain_Statistics" /></Items></Toolbar>
        </Toolbars>
    <Menus>
        </Menus>
    </ArcMap></AddIn></ESRI.Configuration>

Can anyone see why this would cause a crash?

[TimBarnes]

Can anyone help?

[AndyMurray1]

Tim, did you ever get this sorted out?  I am getting pretty frustrated with this.

[DuncanHornby]

Tim,

I was able to spoof up a similar tool and it all worked for me. One difference is where ArcGIS is installed. What operating system are you developing on (you should always state your system specs as this helps us to help you)? If you are on Windows 7 64bit then double check the path name to your tool box, mine was in:

pythonaddins.GPToolDialog('C:\\Program Files (x86)\\ArcGIS\\Desktop10.1\\ArcToolbox\\Toolboxes\\Data Management Tools.tbx','CopyFeatures')

Duncan

[TimBarnes · Accepted solution]

I got it sorted with a re-install of ArcGIS...so I'm not sure if that helps or not!

For interests sake, OS is XP 32bit on a Dell Optiplex 990 workstation but I don't think this was ahrdware related.

I *think* what caused it was that I installed the Addin Toolbar directly into my Python folder, assuming it would be contained within its own folder- it wasn't and this may have overwritten some key files related to Python/ArcGIS.

In further testing after the reinstall, a tool with syntax errors etc won't cause big issues like I experienced, the tool just wont run, so I think it was something else that caused the issues.