Model Builder - Integrating Select by Location and Buffer

Question

So I'm trying to create a model tool in ArcGIS 10.1 that will integrate select by location and buffer.

These are the features that the user is supposed to be able to choose:

Select Layer by Location - selecting features

Buffer - distance of buffer radius (must be in km)

These are the features that the users will not be able to change:

Select Layer by Location - Relationship (COMPLETELY_WITHIN), Input Feature Layer

Buffer - Dissolve type (LIST), End type (ROUND), Side type (FULL)

This is the model I have created so far, but it doesn't let me enter all the fields I would like to enter, and when I run it it generates no output:

How do I create a model where I can enter the values I'd like?

Answer 1

You need to set a default value for the Selecting Features Layer. Ideally this would be the layer file the user is going to be selecting the most. Once there's a valid value in the Selecting Features layer variable, that oval should turn a different color and the model should run. It's one of those annoying little idiosyncrasies of ModelBuilder that will have you banging your head on your desk repeatedly. It can get worse if you have nested models (which you don't, so that's a headache for another time).

On another note, you might want to make the output file a parameter, that way the user won't be forever overwriting his own results or generating errors when the model tries to overwrite and fails. Of course, that also opens up the possibility of an end user doing something they're not supposed to and breaking the thing, so it's entirely up to you.