Best Practice for Copying Files from Script Tool Parameter to Destination Folder

[DaneStephenson]

I have a Script Tool written that asks the User to specify multiple parameters, one of which is a multi-value file parameter.  I want to copy the specified files into the folder being created by the Script Tool.

Here is what I've got:

marketName = "TUC"

siteSpan = "1_SC"

NFID = "1705AZTC_001"

designFiles = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(0) # r"Z:\PROJECTS_2017\VERIZON\PHOENIX_GDB\GIS\919 - CAPITOL\Central Polk SC\919108 - PHO CENTRAL POLK SC_23AUG17.pdf;Z:\PROJECTS_2017\VERIZON\PHOENIX_GDB\GIS\919 - CAPITOL\Central Polk SC\919108 - PHO CENTRAL POLK SC_23AUG17.dwg"

out_FolderPath = r"U:\Development Environment\Geometry"

arcpy.AddMessage(designFiles)

gdb_NewName = marketName + "_" + NFID

out_FolderName = "_" + siteSpan

out_GDBLoc = os.path.join(out_FolderPath, out_FolderName)

dFileStr = designFiles.split(";")

for dFile in dFileStr:

                try:

                                                shutil.copy2(dFile, out_GDBLoc)

                                                arcpy.AddMessage("File " + dFile + " copied")

                                                # print "File " + dFile + " copied"

                except IOError as E:

                                                arcpy.AddMessage(E)

                                                # print E

The above code is messy.  But, it highlights both the Stand-Alone Script and the Script used by the Script Tool.  If you replace the arcpy.GetParametersAsText(index) with the commented values and run it as a stand-alone script through IDLE, it will copy the files to specified directory just fine.  But, when the files get passed through the arcpy.GetParametersAsText(index) to the script it fails with the following IOError:

Executing: FileCopy 'U:\Development Environment\Geometry\_2_SC\PHO Gateway.pdf';'U:\Development Environment\Geometry\_2_SC\1706AVUH.017 - PHO HONEYWELL - REVISION.pdf'

Start Time: Tue Nov 14 04:57:24 2017

Running script FileCopy...

'U:\Development Environment\Geometry\_2_SC\PHO Gateway.pdf';'U:\Development Environment\Geometry\_2_SC\1706AVUH.017 - PHO HONEYWELL - REVISION.pdf'

[Errno 22] invalid mode ('rb') or filename: u"'U:\\Development Environment\\Geometry\\_2_SC\\PHO Gateway.pdf'"

[Errno 22] invalid mode ('rb') or filename: u"'U:\\Development Environment\\Geometry\\_2_SC\\1706AVUH.017 - PHO HONEYWELL - REVISION.pdf'"

Completed script FileCopy...

Succeeded at Tue Nov 14 04:57:24 2017 (Elapsed Time: 0.04 seconds)

Any input would be deeply appreciated.

[RebeccaStrauch__GISP]

It looks like the got marked as "assumed answered".  Did you resolve it?  If so, a quick summary might help.  If not, you may want to uncheck it so it will get looked at again.  

[DaneStephenson]

Thanks for the reply.  I am not sure how I clumsily marked it as assumed answered.  It has not been yet.  Furthermore, I am not sure how to undo that (First time user in this forum, apologies).

[RebeccaStrauch__GISP]

I clicked on an off a "mark as correct"  and that cleared it.

some other forum tips

https://community.esri.com/people/curtvprice/blog/2014/09/25/posting-code-blocks-in-the-new-geonet?s...‌

https://community.esri.com/community/help-and-feedback/blog/2016/08/15/community-news-and-tips-how-t...‌

[RebeccaStrauch__GISP]

So, my guess is it is an issue with how you are entering the parameter value in the tool.  Maybe look at

Understanding script tool parameters—Help | ArcGIS Desktop 

after you do the split, I would check to see if   arcpy.Exists(dFile)     because maybe it needs the r"z:\pro......" to recognize the path.  I always try to avoid spaces in path names...they can only cause problems. imo.

Q: is the path always the same and the same base file name? 

Maybe just select the .pdf and have if check for any and other files with the dwg or other extension ahd have it loop thru them?  

[DaneStephenson]

I will take a look at your above suggestions later today after I run a couple of other processes.  I assume you mean that if I have them specify one file, then I can recursively look in the same directory as said file for any additional files with a .pdf or .dwg extension without having to specifically pass them in, correct?

[DaneStephenson · Accepted solution]

So, after the split(";") the resulting literal string which was a file path included a leading and trailing apostrophe.  When the shutil.copy2 attempts to run it adds its own u" " to the string and that is not recognized as a file.

The fix was to add a strip() function to remove the leading and trailing apostrophes.  The result looks like this:

designFiles = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(0)

dFileStr = designFiles.split(";")
for dFile in dFileStr:
   dF = dFile.strip("'")

   if os.path.isfile(dF):
     try:
       arcpy.AddMessage("Is File")
       shutil.copy2(dF, out_GDBLoc)
       arcpy.AddMessage("File " + dFile + " copied")
       # print "File " + dFile + " copied"
     except IOError as E:
       arcpy.AddMessage(E)
       # print E
    else:
        arcpy.AddMessage("Is Not File")