arcgis-10.0arcgis-desktopshapefile
Where is the ArcGIS 10 tool for creating a shapefile from current dataframe extents in layout view?
Have looked around and the closet thing i can find is Toolbox's Grid/Strip Map Index tools under Data Drive Pages.
I just want to be able to create a single polygon rectangle shp file based on the data frame (in layout view) for any given scale / page setup.
To my understanding it is not possible to have two different data frames each using data driven pages. However, there are methods/tricks you can employ to emulate this behavior by manipulating properties of the data frame. Specifically the Extent Indicator and Data Frame tabs of the Data Frame Properties dialog.
For example, in the image above the same layer that is used as the Index Layer in the data driven enabled main data frame is also placed in a second data frame shown in the lower right of the page. On the Extent Indicator tab of the second data frame (inset map), the show extent indicators for these data frames property is set to the main data frame (in this case Surveys) which is currently using data driven pages.
Then, as in the image, above set the data frame tab Extent property to Automatic and Extent Used By Full Extent Command to Extent of data in all layers (Default). This will cause the inset map to keep its same extent when the going through the data driven pages but have a colored indicator tracking the page of the data driven pages, which are on a much more focused scale.
Although this is an example, manipulating the options on the Extent Indicator and Data Frame tabs of the Data Frame Properties can quasi enable data driven pages for two data frames.
Best Answer
I created a tool to do this via a Toolbox in ArcGIS 10. It might be easier to use than scripting. You can download from https://github.com/nickpeihl/mapindextool. Just copy your mxd(s) into a folder and run the tool on that folder. It will create a shapefile containing all the main extents of each mxd in that folder.