How can I show in a report or otherwise both the field name and field alias for a feature?

Question

I am trying to create a report that will list both the field name and the field alias for every table we have in our geodatabases. I know there is no existing tool that can do this and I have found several python scripts that can do things such as batch edit the alias field but I am just looking to display both fields for each table or a null value in the case of no alias shown. I am working in Arc 10.3.1.

Answer 1

You can use the following Python function below to create an excel spreadsheet report:

import os
from xlwt import Workbook, Borders, Font, XFStyle
import arcpy

def createFieldReport(fc, out_excel):
    """create an excel spreadsheet showing field names and alias

    fc -- feature class
    out_excel -- output excel spreadsheet (should end in .xls)
    """
    if not out_excel.endswith('.xls') and not out_excel.endswith('.xlsx'):
        out_excel += '.xls'

    wb = Workbook()
    ws = wb.add_sheet('Sheet 1')

    # width dict, to autofit columns
    widths = {0: 11, 1: 12} 

    # set header styles
    fntHeaders = Font()
    fntHeaders.bold = True
    fntHeaders.height = 220

    # write headers
    ws.write(0, 0, 'Field_Name')
    ws.write(0, 1, 'Field_Alias')

    # freeze headers
    ws.set_panes_frozen(True)
    ws.set_horz_split_pos(1)

    # write values
    for i,f in enumerate(arcpy.ListFields(fc)):
        ws.write(i+1, 0, f.name)
        ws.write(i+1, 1, f.aliasName)

        # update width if wider than last or default
        if len(f.name) > widths[0]:
            widths[0] = len(f.name)
        if len(f.aliasName) > widths[1]:
            widths[1] = len(f.aliasName)

    # autofit width (reads width dict in case you add more fields)
    for i, w in widths.iteritems():
        ws.col(i).width = w * 350

    wb.save(out_excel)
    return out_excel

if __name__ == '__main__':

    fc = r'C:\some_path\togeodatabase\featureclass'
    output = r'C:\Temp\test.xls'
    createFieldReport(fc, output)
    os.startfile(output)

To apply this to an entire geodatabase you could simply iterate through each feature and call the createFieldReport() on each feature class and create a unique name by grabbing the feature class name.

Answer 2

X-Ray for ArcGIS will do this, although it may output far more information than you require.

X-Ray for ArcCatalog will help you:

• Develop and refine geodatabase designs
• Analyze the differences between two geodatabase designs
• Merge two different designs in to a new consolidated geodatabase design
• Check for reserved RDBMS field names in your design
• Replace and reorder fields in a current geodatabase (via GP Script)
• Import a design with geoprocessing
• Localize field aliases and descriptions in your geodatabase
• Populate workspace descriptions for your design
• Create a data dictionary and diagram for your design