[GIS] Export from SDE to SHP in ArcGIS 9.3.1 – problem: not exporting all fields

arcgis-9.3pythonshapefile

I'm exporting a layer from SDE to SHP by python script, and I'm doing it in 2 phases: the first includes select by location (for picking the relevant features) and the second phase includes the Select (Analysis) tool which exports the features to the output SHP.

PROBLEM:

The Select(Analysis) tool omits fields – in my case, OBJECTID and GLOBALID – which need to be in the output. (I know it's the tool's fault because when I do a manual data>export data, it exports the fields all fine and dandy.)

Does anybody know how I can fix this?

Best Answer

You are not losing any other fields except the global and object id right? These are database fields which are not necassary to a shapefile.

Check if you do a manual Select (analysis tool) not using python, or any other geoprocessing tool. They will remove the object and global ids as well. I would create new fields in your feature class with different names and copy the ids over to that, then run your python script and see what happens. All of your fields should still be in place.

I am not positive why this happens, but my guess is that geoprocessing tools have the potential to change a feature (not as apparent in a SELECT, but think clip), so the record is no longer the same as what was in SDE and should not have the same id. Like I said, not positive on the reason, but the solution of copying your attributes into a different named field should work.

Related Solutions

[GIS] ArcGIS problem accessing fields attribute table

Could you double check the shape file in arcmap, give "open attribute table". Are you seeing all the columns you have added and populated. Because, i have disabled the visibility of few columns through properties -> Fields tab. When I manually tried to create buffer, in the "field" selection, the invisible fields are not available..

So, i guess your problem may be because of this..

[GIS] Exporting lists of Feature classes and fields from SDE

Here's an example you can reference. It prints the results to both the console and to a text file, but you could easily manipulate it to write to a .csv file.

Hope this helps.

-ST

Results :

Feature Class Name : CR.CANADA1  
Geometry Type      : Polygon  
Has Spatial Index  : True  
Spatial Reference  : GCS_North_American_1927
  Field Name : CR.CANADA1.AREA       Field Type : Double            Field Length : 8
  Field Name : CODE                  Field Type : String            Field Length : 4
  Field Name : NAME                  Field Type : String            Field Length : 25
  Field Name : POP1991               Field Type : Double            Field Length : 8
  Field Name : POP91_SQMI            Field Type : Double            Field Length : 8
  Field Name : SHAPE                 Field Type : Geometry          Field Length : 4
  Field Name : SHAPE.AREA            Field Type : Double            Field Length : 0
  Field Name : SHAPE.LEN             Field Type : Double            Field Length : 0
  Field Name : SHAPE.FID             Field Type : OID               Field Length : 0
# of Fields in Feature Class 'CR.CANADA1' = 9

CODE :

import arcpy

logfile = open(r'C:\TEMP\ListFCs_ListFieldNames_ListFieldTypes.log', 'w')

def log_results(message):
    print(message)
    logfile.write(message)
    logfile.flush()
    return

def main():
    try:
        wk = arcpy.env.workspace = 'Database Connections/ORCL - SDE@SRVRNAME.sde'
        fcList = arcpy.ListFeatureClasses("*")
        fcList.sort()

        if not arcpy.Exists(wk):
            log_results("\n" + " SDE Connection File DOES NOT EXIST!!\n")
        else:
            fcCnt = 0
            fldCnt = 0

            for fc in fcList:
                fcCnt += 1
                desc = arcpy.Describe(fc)
                log_results ("\n Feature Class Name : {0}  \n Geometry Type      : {1}  \n Has Spatial Index  : {2}  \n Spatial Reference  : {3}".format(fc,desc.shapeType,str(desc.hasSpatialIndex),desc.spatialReference.name))
                #field = [f.name for f in arcpy.ListFields(fc)]
                fields = arcpy.ListFields(fc)
                fldCnt = 0
                for field in fields:
                    log_results ("\n    Field Name : {0: <24}  Field Type : {1: <20}  Field Length : {2}".format(field.name, field.type, field.length))
                    fldCnt += 1
                log_results ("\n # of Fields in Feature Class '{0}' = {1} \n".format(fc, fldCnt))

        log_results ("\n TOTAL # OF FEATURE CLASSES LISTED = {0}".format(fcCnt))
        log_results ("\n\n COMPLETED!! \n")

        logfile.close()

    except arcpy.ExecuteError:
        log_results (arcpy.GetMessages(2))

    except Exception as e:
        log_results (e[0])

if __name__ == '__main__':
    main()

Best Answer

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[GIS] ArcGIS problem accessing fields attribute table

[GIS] Exporting lists of Feature classes and fields from SDE

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