Jacob,tlsilveus' method will work just fine, but you can also store information directly in python modules, use an import statement to load them, and request the data (optionally with an input)... The main advantages are:
- things can be stored directly in Python structures (such as dictionaries or lists)
- things can be more dynamic (i.e. take an input, and vary the output depending on the input), and
- it can be incorporated within one of your scripts - so there would be no extra files (this gets a little more complicated, though, but let me know if you want more info...).
'''defaultData.py
'''
def storesData(name):
'''returns output file path for the queried person
'''
if name == 'Catherine':
return 'D:\\Catherine\\GIS_output\\'
if name == 'James':
return 'C:\\Temp\\GIS\\output\\'
else:
return 'C:\\Temporary\\'
def programSettings():
'''returns default settings in a python list:
e.g. [arg1, arg2, overwriteFiles, dataPath, outputTxtPath]
'''
return [0,1,True,'X:\\GIS\\Data','output.txt']
This file would just sit in the same folder as the other scripts, and would be used like so:'''genericOperationScript.py
Loads default file paths for user, default settings, and does some geoprocessing.
'''
import defaultData # imports the python file above so you can call it
import arcpy
# get defaults - this method looks complicated, but is handy for getting all the vairables out in one place...
arg1, arg2, overwriteFiles, dataPath, outputTxtPath = defaultData.programSettings()
arcpy.AddMessage('Program defaults loaded...')
arcpy.AddMessage(' Using data path: '+dataPath)
outputPath = defaultData.storesData('Catherine') # get the path for this user...
arcpy.AddMessage(' Using output path: '+outputPath )
if overwriteFiles:
arcpy.AddMessage(' Existing files will be overwritten..')
else:
arcpy.AddMessage(' Existing files will not be overwritten..')
# do geoprocessing...Feel free to ask away if you have any questions on this method!
