Getting back to the original question of this thread, by using suggestions from Leo Donahue I have found a way to create a C# ArcMap Console Application using Visual Studio 2010 that can be triggered by Python to change the data frame clip geometry. This should work for ArcGIS 10.0 and above and the C# code should compile in Visual Studio 2010 express and above.While there are a number of ways to obtain the geometry for use in updating the data frame, I designed my routine to use a single polygon feature obtained from a map layer. I can set up Python to execute the console application and pass string parameters that provide the console application with the mxd name, the data frame name, and the layer name that will be used as the feature geometry of the data frame clip shape. Normally prior to running this code arcpy would set a Definition Query filter on the layer to restrict it to a single polygon feature. The code also assumes that the layer is found in the same data frame that is to be clipped. It should be possible to adapt this code to use a graphic in a layout, or a geometrybag combination of multple polygon features as the clipping geometry instead of, or in addition to, a single feature's geometry, but this does what I wanted.Here is the Python code to call the Console Application:from subprocess import check_call # format is check_call([ConsoleApp_Path_and_Name, MXD_Name, Data_Frame_Name, Layer_Name]) check_call(["SetFrameClipGeometry.exe", "Collision_Segment_Diagram2.mxd", "Bottom_Split", "Bottom Clip Shape Left"]) # perform a refresh of the data frame using arcpy after setting the data frame geometry.
Here is the Code I used in the C# ArcMap Desktop Console Application:using System; using System.Collections.Generic; using System.Text; using ESRI.ArcGIS.esriSystem; using ESRI.ArcGIS.Framework; using ESRI.ArcGIS.ArcMapUI; using ESRI.ArcGIS.Carto; using ESRI.ArcGIS.Geodatabase; using ESRI.ArcGIS.ADF; using ESRI.ArcGIS.Geometry; namespace SetFrameClipGeometry { class Program { private static LicenseInitializer m_AOLicenseInitializer = new SetFrameClipGeometry.LicenseInitializer(); [STAThread()] static int Main(string[] args) { //ESRI License Initializer generated code. if (!m_AOLicenseInitializer.InitializeApplication(new esriLicenseProductCode[] { esriLicenseProductCode.esriLicenseProductCodeArcView, esriLicenseProductCode.esriLicenseProductCodeArcEditor, esriLicenseProductCode.esriLicenseProductCodeArcInfo }, new esriLicenseExtensionCode[] { })) { System.Console.WriteLine(m_AOLicenseInitializer.LicenseMessage()); System.Console.WriteLine("This application could not initialize with the correct ArcGIS license and will shutdown."); m_AOLicenseInitializer.ShutdownApplication(); return 1; } //ESRI License Initializer generated code. String mxdName = null; String dfName = null; String layerName = null; if (args.Length < 3) { System.Console.WriteLine("Insufficient parameters. Expected Three Strings"); return 1; } else { mxdName = args[0]; dfName = args[1]; layerName = args[2]; } try { IAppROT aprot = new AppROT(); if (aprot.Count == 0) { System.Console.WriteLine("No ArcMap application is open"); return 1; } IApplication application = null; IMxDocument mxd = null; for (int a = 0; a < aprot.Count; a++) { application = aprot.get_Item(a); System.Console.WriteLine("Search Application Title: " + application.Document.Title); if (application.Document.Title == mxdName) { System.Console.WriteLine("Found Open ArcMap Document Named: " + mxdName); mxd = application.Document as IMxDocument; break; } } IMap pMap = null; IMaps pMaps = null; if (mxd == null) { System.Console.WriteLine("No ArcMap Document Named " + mxdName + " Was Found"); return 1; } pMaps = mxd.Maps; for (int i = 0; i <= pMaps.Count - 1; i++) { pMap = pMaps.get_Item(i); if (pMap.Name == dfName) { Console.WriteLine("Found Data Frame Named: " + pMap.Name); break; } } if (pMap == null) { System.Console.WriteLine("No DataFrame Exists In " + mxdName); return 1; } if (pMap.Name != dfName) { System.Console.WriteLine("No Data Frame Named " + dfName + " Was Found"); return 1; } if (pMap.LayerCount == 0) { return 1; } // Fetch all the feature layers in the focus map // to determine if at least one is selectable. UIDClass uid = new UIDClass(); uid.Value = "{40A9E885-5533-11d0-98BE-00805F7CED21}"; IEnumLayer pEnumLayer = pMap.get_Layers(uid, true); pEnumLayer.Reset(); ILayer pLayer = pEnumLayer.Next(); while (pLayer != null) { if (pLayer.Name == layerName) { Console.WriteLine("Found Layer Named: " + pLayer.Name); break; } pLayer = pEnumLayer.Next(); } if (pLayer == null) { System.Console.WriteLine("No Layer Named " + layerName + " Was Found"); return 1; } using (ComReleaser comReleaser = new ComReleaser()) { IFeatureLayer pFLayer = pLayer as IFeatureLayer; IFeatureCursor pFCursor = pFLayer.Search(null, false); comReleaser.ManageLifetime(pFCursor); IFeature pFeat = null; IGeometry pGeom = null; while ((pFeat = pFCursor.NextFeature()) != null) { pGeom = (IGeometry)pFeat.Shape; } if (pGeom == null) { System.Console.WriteLine("No Feature Geometry Was Found!"); return 1; } pMap.ClipGeometry = pGeom; System.Console.WriteLine("Feature Geometry Set!"); } } catch (Exception e) { Console.WriteLine("{0} Exception caught.", e); System.Console.ReadLine(); return 1; } //System.Console.ReadLine(); // Uncomment this line if you want to pause the Console application before it closes. //Do not make any call to ArcObjects after ShutDownApplication() m_AOLicenseInitializer.ShutdownApplication(); return 0; } } }
