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Say I have a Shapefile:

C:\DATA\points.shp

A layer file:

C:\SYMBOLOGY\symbology.lyr

And a map document:

C:\MAPS\map.mxd

How can I add points.shp to map.mxd with the properties of symbology.lyr all using python? Again I want to thank everyone in advance for their help.

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If you have not done so already look at ArcPy's AddLayer method and Layer properties especially setDataSource. – PolyGeo May 1 at 22:20
Are you aiming to set the symbology of points to that of the symbology.lyr? Or set ALL of the properties from one to the other? Import Symbology – gm70560 May 1 at 22:21
All of the properties. – J-roc May 1 at 22:24

2 Answers

up vote 1 down vote accepted

I just tested this and it worked!

The layer file that I added, and then changed the data source of, was saved from a layer called dummy that pointed at a dummy.shp file.

import arcpy

mxd = arcpy.mapping.MapDocument("C:\\MAPS\\map.mxd")
df = arcpy.mapping.ListDataFrames(mxd,"Layers")[0]

addLayer = arcpy.mapping.Layer("C:\\SYMBOLOGY\\symbology.lyr")
arcpy.mapping.AddLayer(df, addLayer)
lyr = arcpy.mapping.ListLayers(mxd,"dummy",df)[0]

print lyr.name
print lyr.dataSource

lyr.replaceDataSource("C:\\DATA\\", "SHAPEFILE_WORKSPACE", "points")
lyr.name = "points"

print lyr.dataSource
print lyr.name

mxd.saveACopy("C:\\MAPS\\map2.mxd")
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Awesome, I am going to test this out and then I'll be back with more gratitude. – J-roc May 2 at 13:55
And I'm back works amazingly. Thanks again. – J-roc May 2 at 17:27
up vote 1 down vote

I haven't tested this out, but the easiest way should be to simply rename (or copy) symbology.lyr to points.lyr (the same basename as your shapefile). Generally speaking, when you load a shapefile into ArcMap that has a similarly name Layer file, the symbology of the layer "follows" the raw data (shapefile) and is applied on load.

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Yes, but symbology.lyr is a generic file for many maps and really I just need to do exactly what is outlined above. This is just a small part of a bigger task to automate map creation. Thanks anyways though. – J-roc May 1 at 22:03

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