ArcGIS Error: ERROR 000223: Cannot extract event table properties while trying to create an event layer using ArcPy

Question

I have a .dbf file and want to change it to a .shp file with its LAT/LON.

ArcPy Code,

import arcpy

arcpy.env.overwriteOutput=True
dbffile = "GIS_counts.dbf"

spref =  arcpy.SpatialReference(4326) #gcs_wgs_1984
arcpy.MakeXYEventLayer_management (dbffile, "LONGITUD", "LATITUDE", "test.shp", spref)

Error:

ERROR 000223: Cannot extract event table properties
Failed to execute (MakeXYEventLayer).

Answer 1

You will not be able to go directly from a dbf to a shp with that tool. The tool creates a feature layer as its output which is temporary, you then have to call a CopyFeatures to save the output as a shapefile. Have a look at the code sample in the online help documentation.

I think you will also need to create a table view of the dbf to use as input, so that the tool can correctly interpret the table.

Try making the following changes to your script:

import arcpy

arcpy.env.overwriteOutput=True
dbffile = "GIS_counts.dbf"

# Add
dbftable = arcpy.MakeTableView_management(dbffile, "dbftable")

spref =  arcpy.SpatialReference(4326) #gcs_wgs_1984

# Edit
arcpy.MakeXYEventLayer_management (dbftable , "LONGITUD", "LATITUDE", "xyLayer", spref)

# Add
arcpy.CopyFeatures_management("xyLayer", "test.shp")