Latest Contributions by TedCronin

Or use clrtypes with IronPython, and run from within c# 4 using dynamic:) and skip arcpy altogether. ... View more

I'm working on a longer-form version of this for a blog post, but here's the gist:  The Map Document object lives in the arcpy.mapping module. To create a new Map Document object is easy, simply call arcpy.mapping.MapDocument with the path to the MXD you wish to use:  mxd = arcpy.mapping.MapDocument('d:\\path\\to\\map.mxd') Something to note about python strings: backslashes need to be either escaped like   'd:\\path\\to\\map.mxd' or the string can be flagged as a raw string with the r flag like   r'd:\\path\\to\\map.mxd'.  In these examples Iâ??ll be using the Python window in ArcGIS Desktop. The Map document object also accepts the special path string â??currentâ?? in desktop only that lets you manipulate the current document in the window:  mxd = arcpy.mapping.MapDocument('current') From here the interactive window is a great resource to learn and experiment. I can get an idea of what type of properties a map document has by typing in the name of my variable, hitting dot, and see what I have access to.     This makes prototyping and exploring Python code easy, because of the immediate nature of the feedback given in the interactive window. I get a result as soon second I press enter, without needing to save or compile any code.  Layers can be accessed from .lyr files or from the TOC in a Map document. To load from a layer file:  lyr = arcpy.mapping.MapDocument('d:\\path\\to\\layer.lyr') Layers can be retrieved from a map document by using the arcpy.mapping.ListLayers function as well. In my interatice session I have a simple MXD with some OpenStreetMap data in it, and from the Python window  I issue the ListLayers function and get:  >>> arcpy.mapping.ListLayers(mxd) [<map group layer u'OpenStreetMap data'>, <map layer u'california_poi'>, <map layer u'california_highway'>, <map layer u'california_natural'>, <map layer u'states'>] Note this is different than the list of strings in functions such as ListDatasets, it is actual layer objects. If I just want a list of the names from these objects, I can employ a list comprehension:  >>> [lyr.longName for lyr in arcpy.mapping.ListLayers(mxd)] [u'OpenStreetMap data', u'OpenStreetMap data\\california_poi', u'OpenStreetMap data\\california_highway', u'OpenStreetMap data\\california_natural', u'states'] List comprehensions are a shortcut built into Python for a common type of for loop where one loops over a list of values to produce a new list of values. In this case, weâ??re grabbing the longName attribute from each value in the list returned from ListLayers. The general formula for a list comprehension is:  Simple:   [expression for value in list] With conditional:   [expression for value in list if condition] The   if condition form allows one to not only map values, but also apply a conditional filter and only include certain values in the new list. For examples, I only want all the layer names that are feature layers:  >>> [lyr.longName for lyr in arcpy.mapping.ListLayers(mxd) if lyr.isFeatureLayer] [u'OpenStreetMap data\\california_poi', u'OpenStreetMap data\\california_highway', u'OpenStreetMap data\\california_natural', u'states'] Note the group layer named OpenStreetMap data is no longer included in the results. This also makes it possible to fetch a layer by a specific name and only work with it:  >>> lyrlist = [lyr for lyr in arcpy.mapping.ListLayers(mxd) if lyr.name == "california_highway"] >>> lyrlist [<map layer u'california_highway'>] >>> if lyrlist: ... lyr = lyrlist.pop() # pop takes one element out of end of the list and returns it ... >>> lyr <map layer u'california_highway'> >>> lyr.name u'california_highway' >>> lyr.dataSource u'C:\\DATA\\openstreetmap.gdb\\california_highway' >>> lyr.transparency 0 >>> lyr.transparency = 10 Many common scenarios for finding and manipulating layers can be accomplished using the built-in functions in arcpy.mapping and a little bit of manipulation with a list comprehension. By chance has there been a blog entry going over this a bit more? ... View more

Hi Pam, I tested this out and confirmed the behavior you are reporting. I have logged the following bug to address this issue. NIM050663: Layer packages created with 9.4 do not open in 9.3.1 It is our intention that cross version functionality with layer packages does work in the final release of 9.4. We will also be providing an option to create earlier verisons of the Geodatabase with ArcGIS Desktop, but it is currently not a function of 9.4 Beta One release. I hope this helps address some of your questions and concerns. Thank You, Andrew Has this been addressed for 10 Pre, by chance? ... View more

When is AGX going to support 10?  Will this be 1250/1300 that will be supporting ArcGIS 10? ... View more

Past setups have always had both blend and vs on them, but this was a remote site, so this is why I discovered this tiny little issue.  Thank you Morten. ... View more

How does one go about doing this exactly?  I have been experiencing this as well, and it can be quite frustrating for setting when your tile service has to be turned off and when a dynamic need to be turned on for scale display. ... View more

So, it seems that I have to have blend 4 installed to get the templates, why is this a requirement? ... View more