At this point, I just want to know if the following is possible by writing code (probably VB or even Python?):
1. Open a map document and update the data source of several shapefiles
2. Save the map document
3. Stop and restart the map service associated with the map document
4. Empty the map server cache so that the map document changes are propagated to the map service
BTW, Server 9.3 running on a Windows 2008 server
1. Open a map document and update the data source of several shapefiles
2. Save the map document
3. Stop and restart the map service associated with the map document
4. Empty the map server cache so that the map document changes are propagated to the map service
BTW, Server 9.3 running on a Windows 2008 server
NIM063303: Provide functionality in ArcPy for managing map services.
Your best bet would be to use .NET. I found some example code for stopping/starting services here:
http://help.arcgis.com/en/arcgisserver/10.0/help/arcgis_server_dotnet_help/index.html#//009300001655000000.htm