Latest Contributions by ChrisFox

Thank you for posting your idea. A couple things I think are worth mentioning in regards to this at ArcGIS 10. First in the table of contents you now have the ability to sort the layers by layer name (alphabetically) or by the order they are drawn in, so you will have some control over this in the TOC. Second when you start editing, the list of layers is now presented in alphabetical order. Finally, to make it even easier now at ArcGIS 10 you can just right-click the layer you want to edit and go to Edit Features > Start Editing. This will automatically make that layer editable and every other layer in the same workspace as that layer editable. This will save you time of having to select the right layer by going to Editor > Start Editing. ... View more

Thank you for posting your idea. A couple things I think are worth mentioning in regards to this at ArcGIS 10. First in the table of contents you now have the ability to sort the layers by layer name (alphabetically) or by the order they are drawn in, so you will have some control over this in the TOC. Second when you start editing, the list of layers is now presented in alphabetical order. Finally, to make it even easier now at ArcGIS 10 you can just right-click the layer you want to edit and go to Edit Features > Start Editing. This will automatically make that layer editable and every other layer in the same workspace as that layer editable. This will save you time of having to select the right layer by going to Editor > Start Editing. ... View more

You can currently create very simple or complex marker symbols by going to Customize > Style Manager > Your Style > Marker Symbol > Right-Click > New Marker Symbol. This will bring up the symbol property editor. Through a combination of simple marker symbols, character marker symbols, picture marker symbols, different sizes, colors, offsets and rotation you can create some very customized marker symbols that is saved to your style. You can then share your style with whomever may want to use the same symbology. ... View more

@kreuzrsk, I am not sure what release this was implemented at but it is at 9.3 from my test. When you specify an input that already has a spatial reference you will get a yellow warning icon next to the paramter and when you hover over it will say, "The dataset already has a projection defined. Click for more detailed information.". When you click it will give you a link to a help doc page for warning 000312 which describes the general purpose of this tool and a reference to the project tool if they actually want to change the projection. ... View more

Thank you for all the comments and votes on this idea. We appreciate and understand the importance of this idea to many people's workflows. Unfortunately this functionality is not planned for the next release of ArcGIS Desktop but with your continued support for this idea may be considered for a future release. Until that time I would encourage everyone looking for this functionality to use the arcpy.Mapping Map Book with Index Pages sample discussed in earlier comments or the recent code sample provided by @clm42. ... View more

Thank you for posting the idea. We also see this question come through Technical Support quite often and one of the enhancements we did make as a result is when you add a feature class as an input into the Define Projection that already has a Spatial Reference defined it will display a warning icon next to the input. If you click that warning you will get more messaging as to why and when it is appropriate to use this tool. However, I do see where you are going with this idea and there may be more we can do to help users make the appropriate decision when using this tool. ... View more

Thank you for posting the idea. I believe the script you are referring to can be found here. I wanted to post it in case anyone else came across this idea and was looking for a potential workaround. ... View more

So if I understand you correctly you have a join to a table in a different workspace then the feature class and you want to change the path of the feature class for a layer in the map document but keep the path to the joined table? If this is the case I am finding that this is the behavior at 10 service pack 1. I haven't tested at 10 without service pack 1 and I did a search for known-issues and didn't find any specific to this scenario, but it may be possible it was resolved at service pack 1. Are you finding that the join is being removed when you do this? ... View more

@mlecher If I am understanding you correctly you are wanting to update an mxd's layer and joined tables with new data sources as you move from staging to production for example. The findAndReplaceWorkspacePaths should accomplish this. For example let's say all my layer's data sources and tables are in the workspace, "C:\mytest\testing.gdb" and I want to update the source to E:\Production\Production.gdb. I could use the following lines of code to make the change in Python. import arcpy mxd = arcpy.mapping.MapDocument(r"C:\myMXD.mxd") mxd.findAndReplaceWorkspacePaths(r"C:\mytest\testing.gdb", r"E:\Production\Production.gdb") mxd.save() del mxd Not only would the layers update to the new data source, but the stand-alone tables joined to those layers would update to the new data source. If you have tried this and are not getting the same results could you verify you are at service pack 1. If I am not understanding your workflow correctly could you write back with more details on your specific scenario. ... View more

Thank you for posting the idea. One thought I had was if you replaced the data source through python could you then recreate the join as well using the Add Join tool? This might help automate the process of changing data sources and recreating the join. ... View more

Thank you for posting the idea along with all your comments for why you feel the OMD is particularly valuable in your work. There are a few reasons we have chosen not to produce object model diagrams for the ArcPy site package. Traditionally Python’s own modules and other 3rd party site packages do not carry Object Model Diagrams. An OMD was provided with arcgisscripting to help customers comfortable with ArcObjects and its Object Model Diagram make the transition to Python. At ArcGIS 10, ArcPy was more than just a name change; it was a change in the way we organized and presented our python implementation, something that is more in line with the idea of a true Python site-package. In addition, major efforts have been made to improve the help for Python at ArcGIS 10. With arcgisscripting, there was limited intellisense and doc strings, so without some visual help directly in front of you, it was very difficult to know what functions and properties existed. The help is also better structured in ArcGIS 10.0 under the topic ‘The ArcPy Site-package’ with a list of all the functions and classes and embedded links between related topics. With these improvements to the documentation and built-in help within Python we believe all the resources are in place to successfully navigate ArcPy. ... View more

Thank you for posting the idea. I attempted to replicate the issue described in the second paragraph and was unable to reproduce the behavior. Would it be possible to share more details on this issue or even contact me directly and share your model? ... View more

Thank you for posting the idea. I am hoping I might get clarification from everyone who promoted this idea on what they are specifically looking for. As indicated by DougR, if you are looking to display the world in such a way that the 180 degree meridian is displayed in the center of the data frame when viewing the full extent of the world you can do this by customizing the data frame spatial reference. I have taken a screenshot of my map document with this setting applied. Is this the result everyone is looking to accomplish within ArcMap?  ... View more

Thank you for your idea. In regards to the second aspect of this request I believe if you right-click the field you wish to report the distinct records and select summarize you will produce a table of distince records with a count of how many times each occurs in the table. Please comment back if this was not the functionality you were looking for. ... View more

Thank you for posting this idea. I am hoping you might clarify this request. If I understand your idea, currently if the data frame is set to a fixed scale, 1:10,000 for example and you double-click a record it will not zoom to that location because zoom to selected is disabled as a result of the fixed scale for the data frame. Instead if you hold Ctl + double-click a row it will pan to the selected record, placing it in the center of the view but maintaing the current fixed extent. Is this the kind of functionality you were requesting? ... View more