Latest Contributions by GraemeBrowning

When My Places were introduced the main advantage they seemed to convey was that they were stored outside the map.  However, for a while it has been possible to Save/Load bookmarks from/into a map so it now seems like we have Bookmarks and "bookmarks".  Would it be possible to simply change any use of My Places to use Bookmarks instead? ... View more

I have a very small test script (test.py) that I use to see if Python is installed and ready to use ArcPy. All it contains is: print "Starting" import os print "OS imported" import arcpy print "ArcPy imported" I�??m running it under Vista SP1 with ArcGIS Desktop 10 SP1 and the only version of Python present is 2.6.5 which was installed by ArcGIS Desktop 10.  ArcMap 10 SP1 is starting fine and the "import arcpy" and other arcpy functions work fine from the Python Window. However, when I run �??python test.py�?� from the DOS/cmd prompt, the first two print statements execute as expected, but the last one does not, so it seems to be failing/hanging on �??import arcpy�?�.  For a brief time on two separate days the script actually ran fine, but then it seems to stop working (which to me is bizarre).  To try and figure what the problem is I have been reading �??Importing ArcPy�?� at http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#//002z00000008000000.htm and I think I have the system variables Path and PYTHONPATH set to appropriate values: Path=C:\Program Files\weoapp;C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Windows Live;C:\Windows\system32;C:\Windows;C:\Windows\System32\Wbem;C:\Program Files\Intel\WiFi\bin\;C:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI.ACE\Core-Static;c:\Program Files\Common Files\Lenovo;C:\Program Files\Common Files\Roxio Shared\10.0\DLLShared\;C:\Program Files\Common Files\Roxio Shared\DLLShared\;C:\Program Files\Common Files\Roxio Shared\DLLShared\;C:\Program Files\Common Files\Roxio Shared\10.0\DLLShared\;C:\Program Files\ThinkPad\ConnectUtilities\;C:\Program Files\Lenovo\Client Security Solution;C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\;C:\Program Files\QuickTime\QTSystem;C:\Program Files\Windows Live\Shared;C:\Program Files\QuickTime\QTSystem\;C:\Python26\ArcGIS10.0 PYTHONPATH=C:\Python26\ArcGIS10.0 but I�??ve also tried: PYTHONPATH=C:\Python26 When I first noticed the problem I had both Python 2.5.x (C:\Python25) and 2.6.5 (C:\Python26) present, so I went to considerable trouble to remove both, and uninstall ArcGIS Desktop 10 SP1 before reinstalling ArcGIS Desktop 10 (which installed Python 2.6.5) and then its SP1 again. Does anyone have an idea as to what may be causing �??import arcpy�?� to hang for me most of the time, or have any ideas as to what debugging steps may be available to me? - Graeme ... View more

ArcCatalog is able to configure a number of Standard and Metadata columns to show in its Details View, via the Contents tab of ArcCatalog Options. However, these are not respected by the Contents and Properties panel of the Catalog window in ArcMap. The first part of this idea is to have the Contents and Properties panel of the Catalog window in ArcMap respect the Contents tab settings of ArcCatalog Options. The second is not to have to open ArcCatalog to do the above.  I think it would be much nicer to simply open Customize | ArcMap Options and see a Catalog tab with the functions from the Contents tab of ArcCatalog Options. ... View more

Moving widely around the various windows of ArcMap 10 there will be places encountered where:both Ctrl-C (copy) / Ctrl-V (paste) and Copy/Paste from a right click (context menu) work fine - this is in most windows. However, when editing a table field using an Edit Session there is not the option to Paste from a right click - but you can Ctrl-V. Likewise when you bring up the ArcGIS Online Help from the Help button on the Label Expression dialog you can right click to Copy and Paste example text but you cannot use Ctrl-C & Ctrl-V. The workaround is obviously to always try the other one if your preferred way is blocked but it would be nice for all applicable windows and dialogs to support both ways for Copy/Paste (& Cut/Ctrl-X). ... View more

With the advent of the Search and Catalog windows in ArcGIS Desktop, I would like to no longer have the ArcCatalog take up any screen real estate.  Something that I think I still need ArcCatalog (or Windows Explorer) for is to be able to Hide/Unhide file extensions when they are listed in the Catalog window. Rather than have to open ArcCatalog to do the above, then close and re-open ArcMap to have the new settings read, I think it would be MUCH nicer to simply open Customize | ArcMap Options and see a Catalog tab with the functions from the General tab of ArcCatalog Options. ... View more

With the advent of the Search and Catalog windows in ArcGIS Desktop, I would like to no longer have the ArcCatalog take up any screen real estate.  Something that I think I still need ArcCatalog for is to be able to configure new file types, such as PDF, so that they can be displayed and opened in the Catalog window. The technique for this is described at http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisdesktop/10.0/help/index.html#//001000000007000000.htm (for universal world files but applies equally to PDF). Rather than have to open ArcCatalog to do the above, then close and re-open ArcMap to have the new settings read, I think it would be MUCH nicer to simply open Customize | ArcMap Options and see a Catalog tab with the functions from the File Types tab of ArcCatalog Options. ... View more