Proper arcpy.da.Editor use

[BlakeTerhune]

I'm on ArcGIS 10.2.2 and trying to use arcpy.da.Editor and an InserCursor on a versioned feature class. The feature class was registered without the option to move edits to base and resides in a 10.0 SDE on Oracle 11g (will be 10.2.2 SDE soon).

I found this helpful post by Leslie Morgan that really details my same situation, but there are no code samples. I would like to know if any of you have used the Python Editor in a similar setup and what your code looks like. More specifically, can the Editor class be used in a with statement like the Esri help article says or do I still have to start and stop the operation and edit session like users say?

[BlakeTerhune]

Here is the basic way I'm using the Editor for now until I find a better way.

try:
    edit = arcpy.da.Editor(sdeconnection)
    print "edit created"
    edit.startEditing()
    print "edit started"
    edit.startOperation()
    print "operation started"
    # Perform edits
    with arcpy.da.InsertCursor(fc, fields) as fc_icursor:
        fc_icursor.insertRow(someNewRow)
    edit.stopOperation()
    print "operation stopped"
    edit.stopEditing(True)  ## Stop the edit session with True to save the changes
    print "edit stopped"
except Exception as err:
    print err
    if 'edit' in locals():
        if edit.isEditing:
            edit.stopOperation()
            print "operation stopped in except"
            edit.stopEditing(False)  ## Stop the edit session with False to abandon the changes
            print "edit stopped in except"
finally:
    # Cleanup
    arcpy.ClearWorkspaceCache_management()

[BlakeTerhune]

Revisiting this, I've simplified the code a little by creating the edit session outside the try...except so you don't have to check if it exists.

edit = arcpy.da.Editor(sdeconnection)
print "edit created"
try:
    edit.startEditing()
    print "edit started"
    edit.startOperation()
    print "operation started"
    # Perform edits
    with arcpy.da.InsertCursor(fc, fields) as fc_icursor:
        fc_icursor.insertRow(someNewRow)
    edit.stopOperation()
    print "operation stopped"
    edit.stopEditing(True)  ## Stop the edit session with True to save the changes
    print "edit stopped"
except Exception as err:
    print err
    if edit.isEditing:
        edit.stopOperation()
        print "operation stopped in except"
        edit.stopEditing(False)  ## Stop the edit session with False to abandon the changes
        print "edit stopped in except"
finally:
    # Cleanup
    arcpy.ClearWorkspaceCache_management()‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍

[Jack_Zhang]

Thanks Blake, that's a lot better and clear than the example in ESRI's doc.

[dbKlingdom]

Does anyone have a an ArcPro 3.0 solution on this??  We are using the code above but running arcpy.da.UpdateCursor in stead of  InsertCursor.  In debug on the arcpy.da.UpdateCursorline we get the error "cannot update the table". Thx

[Anonymous User]

Did you set the right booleans for your data?:

Both are defaulted to True, and the second parameter is should be False if your data isnt versioned.

startEditing ({with_undo}, {multiuser_mode})

# Edit session is started without an undo/redo stack for versioned data # (for second argument, use False for unversioned data) edit.startEditing(False, True)

 editor.htm 

[dbKlingdom]

Yes we are trying to write to an SQL SDE database.  We have set the edit to  edit.startEditing(False, True). Thx

[Bryan_krg]

Try to simplify this further and just use the following.

workspace = "SDEconnection"

with arcpy.da.Editor(workspace): 

# Do your editing here... that's it

See more here Editor—ArcGIS Pro | Documentation

[MikeRatcliffe]

Revitalizing this thread: because ArcGIS Pro 3.6 and Python 3.13

UPDATE: i figured it out.  The edit object has to be created inside the try statement.  code block corrected below.  Also make sure you run as a geoprocess in the foreground, or you won't see the results.

I was troubleshooting re-appearance in Pro 3.6 of 'workspace already in transaction mode' I worked around successfully in Pro 3.5.x

I'm trying to update a date field to 'now' for all selected features in the active map, which I've set up to trigger each feature class's attribute rules.  I finally got the 'workspace' changes dialed-in from the Pro 3.6 env, but I'm running into the old 'workspace already in transaction mode' issue.

This is being run as a Toolbox Script.

I tried 'edit.startEditing(False,False)' and 'edit.startEditing(False,True)' and get the same error.

import arcpy
from datetime import datetime
import os
import sys
from time import sleep

now = datetime.now()
username = os.environ.get('USERNAME')
nversion = "dbo." + username
lyrsource = r"C:\Gisdata\Projects\ArcGIS_Pro\Projects\TraditionalEditingTesting\SQLServer-androtest-MWWSSB(TestDB).sde\mwwssb.dbo.wserviceconnection"
androtemp_sde = arcpy.Describe(lyrsource).workspace
aprx = arcpy.mp.ArcGISProject("CURRENT")
m = aprx.activeMap
newline = '\n'

def execute():
    if m:
        feature_layers = m.listLayers()

        has_selection = False
        selected_layers = []

        for lyr in feature_layers:
            if lyr.isFeatureLayer:
                selection_set = lyr.getSelectionSet()
                if selection_set:
                    selected_layers.append(lyr.name)
                    has_selection = True

        if not has_selection:
            arcpy.AddError("No selected features detected.")
            sys.exit(0)

        else:
            if has_selection:
                arcpy.AddMessage("Selections found in:" + newline + f"{newline.join(selected_layers)}")
                arcpy.AddMessage(newline)
                for lyr in m.listLayers():
                    if lyr.isFeatureLayer and lyr.getSelectionSet():
                        try:
                            edit = arcpy.da.Editor(androtemp_sde, multiuser_mode=True, version=nversion)
                            edit.startEditing()
                            edit.startOperation()
                            # with edit:
                            cursor = arcpy.da.UpdateCursor(lyr, 'DART')
                            for row in cursor:
                                row[0] = now
                                cursor.updateRow(row)
                                sleep(0.5)
                            del cursor
                            del row
                            arcpy.AddMessage(f"{lyr.name} Updated.")
                            edit.stopOperation()
                            edit.stopEditing(True)
                        except Exception as e:
                            arcpy.AddError(f"Error updating {lyr.name}: {e}")
                            if edit.isEditing:
                                    edit.stopOperation()
                                    arcpy.AddError("operation stopped in exception")
                                    edit.stopEditing(False)  ## Stop the edit session with False to abandon the changes
                                    arcpy.AddError("edit stopped in exception")
                        finally:
                            # Cleanup
                            arcpy.ClearWorkspaceCache_management()
                return
    else:
        arcpy.AddError("No active map.")
        sys.exit(0)


execute()