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is it possible to delete a "PICTURE_ELEMENT" from a map document?

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03-07-2019 10:43 AM
petegillard
by
New Contributor III
‎03-07-2019 10:43 AM

is it possible to delete a "PICTURE_ELEMENT" from a map document?

Have a map in 10.6 trying to delete a jpeg that's in the map.

Thanks#

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4 Replies
RandyBurton
by MVP Alum
MVP Alum
‎03-07-2019 05:22 PM

I've deleted text elements with arcpy, so it should be possible with something like (untested):

import arcpy
mxd = arcpy.mapping.MapDocument(r"C:\Project\Project.mxd")

for elm in arcpy.mapping.ListLayoutElements(mxd, "PICTURE_ELEMENT"):
    elm.delete() # delete all picture elements
    # or if using name or sourceImage properties
    # if elm.name == "Photo":
    # if elm.sourceImage == r"C:\Project\Data\NewPhoto.bmp":
    #    elm.delete()

mxd.save()
del mxd‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

See PictureElement for some information., but it doesn't really discuss .delete().

Hope this helps.

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RandyBurton
by MVP Alum
MVP Alum
‎03-07-2019 07:59 PM

I've had some time to do some tests.  While there is a delete() option for Text Elements, there is no such option for Picture Elements.  However, you can make the image disappear if you set either the width or height to 0.  Once it has been set to zero, it does not appear that you can bring the image back by adjusting the height/width.  The name, elementPositionX, elementPositionY and imageSource parameters still contain their original values. So this does not appear to be a clean deletion.  (If you are working inside ArcMap, you may need to refresh the view to see the changes.)

for elm in arcpy.mapping.ListLayoutElements(mxd, "PICTURE_ELEMENT"):
    elm.elementHeight = 0.0  # setting this to 0 will also set elementWidth to 0‍‍‍‍
petegillard
by
New Contributor III
‎03-11-2019 05:49 AM

thanks,  i had tried the '.delete' without much luck. your other suggestion may work. We're re-doing some mxds made by a contractor and need to remove their logo from the maps (can always do it manually, but there are over 400 mxds !)

Thanks again,

Pete

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Dan_Joyce_OE
by
New Contributor III
‎08-01-2021 06:42 PM

Just encountered this same issue in ArcMap 10.7.  An alternative to deleting the Picture Element would be to use the elementPositionX, elementPositionY attributes mentioned by @RandyBurton and set them to values that move the element off the layout page, e.g.  set elementPositionX = -10.0, elementPositionY = -10.0.  I'm sure the OP already implemented something similar rather than manually editing 400+ MXDs!

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