Latest Contributions by Zeke

What is the advantage of using a Parcel Fabric vs. using a topology? The two advantages I know of are that the Parcel Fabric will allow use of the Maps & Apps (phrase drilled into my head at the UC last week), and that a fabric can have associated features in order to maintain spatial relationships. A topology would need to be periodically validated and corrected. But the work involved in migrating all our polygon parcel data into a fabric seems pretty substantial, so maybe a topology, which we (I) would have to create anyway, would be sufficient for our needs. I'm also unclear whether using a fabric involves editing each individual parcel. This seems like a lot of work compared to a typical workflow of using a cogo traverse around a block and splitting parcels out. Are there other advantages of a fabric I'm missing? Thanks. ... View more

The script below runs fine when all the feature classes are in the same geodatabase (TestCases_Geodatabase.gdb). But for production, one of the features, Parcel, is in a SDE geodatabase. This fails, however. Not sure if problem is in the workspace setting, feature class name, if I need a connection string to the SDE, or what. The actual feature class name is in a feature dataset in the db and is named CitySDE.GIS.Parcel. If I use the name CitySDE.GIS.Parcel in the line parcel =, I get error 1; if I change the line to parcel = "Parcel" (the name in the TOC), I get error 2. Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks. Error 1 - parcel = "CitySDE.GIS.Parcel" Executing: CreateCaseFeature del1 Start Time: Wed Jul 18 10:52:30 2012 Running script CreateCaseFeature... Case number: del1 Checking for previous layer <class 'arcgisscripting.ExecuteError'>: Failed to execute. Parameters are not valid. ERROR 000732: Input Rows: Dataset TempleSDE.GIS.Parcel does not exist or is not supported Failed to execute (GetCount). ... Error 2 - parcel = "Parcel" Dissolve complete...Appending to Cases Error adding parcels to Cases in SelectCases(). Failed to execute. Parameters are not valid. The value cannot be a feature class ERROR 000840: The value is not a Raster Catalog Layer. ERROR 000840: The value is not a Mosaic Layer. Failed to execute (SelectLayerByLocation). Adding Case number... Case number del1 added. Setting definition query to: "Case_" = 'del1' <type 'exceptions.UnboundLocalError'>: local variable 'layer' referenced before assignment Failed to execute (CreateCaseFeature). Failed at Wed Jul 18 11:03:02 2012 (Elapsed Time: 43.00 seconds) import arcpy, sys from arcpy import env env.workspace = r"\\ServerA\Planning\Cases_Geodatabase.gdb" #env.workspace = r"\\ServerA\Planning\TestCases_Geodatabase.gdb" env.overwriteOutput = True case_number = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(0) arcpy.AddMessage("Case number: " + case_number) lyr = r"\\ServerA\Planning\Cases_Geodatabase.gdb\temp_parcel_lyr" #lyr = r"\\ServerA\Planning\TestCases_Geodatabase.gdb\temp_parcel_lyr" parcel = "CitySDE.GIS.Parcel" mxd = arcpy.mapping.MapDocument("CURRENT") #------------------------------------------------------------------------------- def MakeCaseFeature():     '''  Dissolve selected parcel features into one temporary lyr file.          Append it to the Cases feature class.          Delete the temporary lyr file.          Clear the parcel selection. '''     clear = "CLEAR_SELECTION"     target = "Cases"     schemaType = "NO_TEST"     fld = "CENTRACT"    # no data is stored in this field     selectType = "HAVE_THEIR_CENTER_IN"     try:         arcpy.AddMessage("Starting Dissolve...")         # make temporary parcel lyr file from selected parcels, dissolving them         # into one feature         arcpy.Dissolve_management(parcel, lyr, fld)         arcpy.AddMessage("Dissolve complete...Appending to Cases")         # add case feature in temporary layer to Cases         arcpy.Append_management(lyr, target, schemaType, "", "")         # select new case feature         arcpy.SelectLayerByLocation_management(target, selectType, lyr)         # delete temporary layer         arcpy.Delete_management(lyr)         arcpy.AddMessage("Append complete...")         # clear selection on parcels         arcpy.SelectLayerByAttribute_management(parcel, clear)     except Exception as e:         arcpy.AddError("Error adding parcels to Cases in SelectCases(). \n" + e.message) #------------------------------------------------------------------------------- # Add case number to case_ field in Cases # def AddCaseNumber():     fc = "Cases"     fld = "Case_"     arcpy.AddMessage("Adding Case number...")     try:         arcpy.CalculateField_management(fc, fld, '"%s"' % case_number)         arcpy.AddMessage("Case number " + case_number + " added.")     except Exception as e:         arcpy.AddError("Error setting Case_ field value to case number: " + case_number +  "\n" + e.message) #------------------------------------------------------------------------------- # Set the definition query to display only the new case # def SetDefinitionQuery():     clear = "CLEAR_SELECTION"     fc = "Cases"     fld = "Case_"     query = "\"Case_\" = '%s'" % case_number     # alternate formatting methods for query     # query = "\"%s\" = '%s'" % (fld, case_number)     # query = '"%s"' % fld + " = " + "'%s'" % case_number     mxd = arcpy.mapping.MapDocument("CURRENT")     arcpy.AddMessage("Setting definition query to: " + query)     try:         arcpy.RefreshActiveView()         for layer in arcpy.mapping.ListLayers(mxd, fc):             layer.definitionQuery = query         # clear selection on parcels         arcpy.SelectLayerByAttribute_management(fc, clear)     except Exception as e:         arcpy.AddError("Error setting definition query. \n" + layer.definitionQuery + "/n" + e.message)     arcpy.RefreshActiveView()     arcpy.RefreshTOC()     mxd.save()     del mxd #------------------------------------------------------------------------------- # Start 'er up! # def main():     arcpy.AddMessage("Checking for previous layer")     if arcpy.Exists(lyr):         arcpy.Delete_management(lyr)     # Check how many parcels are selected. Count returns all parcels if none are     # selected, or only selected ones if there are any. Check returns a list of     # selected parcels, or 0 if none are selected.     count = int(arcpy.GetCount_management(parcel).getOutput(0))     desc = arcpy.Describe(parcel)     check = desc.FIDSet     # make sure parcels are selected before running rest of script, otherwise exit     if len(check) != 0:         arcpy.AddMessage("There are " + str(count) + " parcels selected \n" )         for layer in arcpy.mapping.ListLayers(mxd, "Cases"):             layer.definitionQuery = ""         MakeCaseFeature()       # create the case feature         AddCaseNumber()         # add case number to the case field         SetDefinitionQuery()    # only display current case         arcpy.RefreshActiveView()         arcpy.RefreshTOC()     else:         arcpy.AddError("No features selected! \n Please select at least one parcel feature. \n")         arcpy.AddError("Quitting the Create Case tool \n") if __name__ == '__main__':     main() ... View more