[GIS] Convert old ArcGIS 9 VBA tool to new Python script tool for ArcGIS 10

arcgis-10.0convertpythonvba

I have an ArcGIS .mxd file with an imbedded VBA script that is executed from a tool bar button. I would like to convert this VBA script tool to a python script tool for use in ArcGIS 10. Is that possible?

Best Answer

Yes, with the caveat that it will live in the application and not the MXD. If you create a Geoprocessing script tool in Python with zero parameters, you can add it to any toolbar from the Customize menu and it will execute when you click it. If it has 1 or more parameters, it will bring up the GP tool dialog.

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[GIS] Convert .mxd with embedded VBA command button to ArcMap 10

Several things to do to access ArcObjects via Python

Download comtypes module from http://sourceforge.net/projects/comtypes/files/
Save the following code to a python file (gis.py). Be sure that your pythonpath reads the directory in which you save this file.

 def GetCurrentApp():
    """Gets an IApplication handle to the current app.
    Must be run inside the app's Python window.
    Execute GetDesktopModules() first"""
    import comtypes.gen.esriFramework as esriFramework
    return NewObj(esriFramework.AppRef, esriFramework.IApplication)


def CType(obj, interface):
    """Casts obj to interface and returns comtypes POINTER or None"""
    try:
        newobj = obj.QueryInterface(interface)
        return newobj
    except:
        return None

now start programming with python:

import gis as gis
import comtypes.gen.esriArcMapUI as esriArcMapUI
import comtypes.gen.esriCartoas as esriCarto

pApp = gis.GetCurrentApp()

pDoc = pApp.Document
pMxDoc = gis.CType(pDoc, esriArcMapUI.IMxDocument)
pMap = pMxDoc.FocusMap
print str(pMap.Name)
pLayout = pMxDoc.PageLayout
pActiveView = gis.CType(pLayout, esriCarto.IActiveView)
pActiveView.Refresh()

It took me a bit of time to figure this out. It should be noted that I found the following websites very informative:

I hope this helps.

[GIS] convert from C# to VBA

It really depends on how much code you are talking about. Most people try to go the other way, that is VB6\VBA to c# or vb.net.

But for your case a start might be to convert the methods to VB.net and then clean up the code to VBA.

C# <-> VB.net translator

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