Latest Contributions by JeffBarrette

We reproduced this bug an will hopefully be able to address it in the next service pack. If you want to check its status, it is: NIM067146 Thanks! Jeff ... View more

Thomas, Do your rasters come with any sort of vector footprint that could be incorporated into an index layer?  If not, there are GP functions that do this (e.g., BuildFootPrints, BuildBoundaryTool).  I'd like to know more about your workflow.  Do you create individual map books based on just the new data or is it constantly expanding? Thanks, Jeff ... View more

It is a great question but of course the answer isn't that simple.  Here is a very quick summary: Our objective with arcpy.mapping was NOT to recreate ArcObjects capabilities but to simplify the scripting experience.  If we gave you the ability to add new objects (e.g., scale bar) we would need to expose ALL of the properties associated with adding that object (aka ArcObjects). Arcpy.mapping is intended to work with already authored mxds and layer files.  The idea is that we use ArcMap and all of its 100's of buttons, menus, properties dialogs to author the content and we use arcpy.mapping to automate it. It is difficult for us to draw a line in the sand and are always looking for good feedback on when/how we should expand the API to further enhance map automation (not map creation). At 10.1 we are going to expand the symbology API because our users showed us some really nice use cases. Please, send us your feedback. Jeff ... View more

You can not create or remove layout elements using arcpy.mapping. You can either move elements on and off the page or like Dan suggests, in the case of text elements you can set the string to be a blank space. NOTE - don't set the string to be completely empty (e.g., "").  This causes issues that are being addressed at SP2.  The UI doesn't let you do it either.  Set the string to be a single blank (e.g., " "). Jeff ... View more

We reproduced this bug an will hopefully be able to address it in the next service pack. If you want to check its status, it is: NIM066646 ... View more

arcpy.mapping.ExportToPDF exports a single pdf based on the current MXD.  It does not take into consideration that the MXD is DDP enabled. DDP.exportToPDF allows you to print multiple PDfs from a single DDP enabled map doc. Also, how do I only export a page range instead of all pages: Use DDP.exportToPDF.  Set page_range_type="RANGE", set page_range_string to equal the pages you want printed (e.g., "1-5, 8, 10").  Read the help for details. Also, how do I export each page to a separate pdf: Use the {multiple_files parameter}.  Read the help for details. http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#/DataDrivenPages/00s300000030000000/ Jeff ... View more

Are you running 10.0 SP1.  The was reported a long time ago but I believe it was not reproducible using SP1. ... View more

Kevin, The script must run on a 10.0 machine because arcpy.mapping is new at 10 but it should not matter that the feature classes are coming from a 9.3 SDE source. Please let us know if there is a problem, Jeff ... View more

Data Driven Pages were not designed for this purpose.  I personally would not use DDP and would script it using arcpy.mapping but your solution to create stacked index polygons for each route should work.  It is very difficult to manage overlapping polygons. With arcpy.mapping you can simply iterate through each layer and set the definition query and then ExportToPDF before setting the next query. Jeff ... View more

FYI - The dynamic legend functionality will be available in core Desktop at 10.1. If interested in seeing more, Developer Summit videos will soon be made available at: http://www.esri.com/events/devsummit/videos-and-photos/index.html You'll want to look at the Road Ahead sessions. ... View more

Just a note - this thread is getting really fragmented.  It is best to create a new thread when the topic is being changed. Here is a response to Christopher.  This following code updates the mxd.description import arcpy, os parentDir = r"C:\Demos\MapAutomation\SaveToPDF" for (path, dirs, files) in os.walk(parentDir): >>for filename in files: >>>>if filename.lower().endswith(".mxd"): >>>>>>mxd = arcpy.mapping.MapDocument(os.path.join(path, filename)) >>>>>>print mxd.filePath >>>>>>mxd.description = "python test" >>>>>>mxd.save() Get rid of the ">>" symbols. Hope this helps, Jeff ... View more

Great question,  try this: import arcpy, os parentDir = r"c:\some\path" for (path, dirs, files) in os.walk(parentDir): >>for file in files: >>>>if file.lower().endswith(".mxd"): >>>>>>mxd = arcpy.mapping.MapDocument(os.path.join(path, file)) >>>>>>print mxd.filePath Get rid of the ">>" symbols. Hope this helps, Jeff ... View more

This can't be done with only data driven pages, the way it is presented in the user interface. This can be done by introducing arcpy.mapping scripting logic.  You can continue to use data driven pages but also add to that scripting logic that reads your other table(s) and update text elements on your page based on information read from the other table(s). Please review the following help topic for more information and also review the help samples: http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#/DataDrivenPages/00s300000030000000/ Jeff ... View more

Hello Kevin, Have you tried the Find Data Source sample?  I think it does exactly what you want.  You mention the multi-mxd reporter tool so I assume you are familiar with the arcpy.mapping sample script tools on the resource center. If not, try the following link: http://resources.arcgis.com/gallery/file/geoprocessing/details?entryID=A910AB18-1422-2418-3418-3885D388EF60 Jeff ... View more

This is a perfect application of the arcpy.mapping scripting environment. You could loop through a folder of mxds and simply execute the following code. Mxd=arcpy.mapping.MapDocument(path to mxd) Mxd.description = "whatever" there are some great sample tools/scripts available to help you. Go to the resource center and do a search on arcpy.mapping sample script tools Jeff ... View more