Export data driven pages indexed by a string value

Question

Below is a portion of a script that works with a ddp enabled map document using an index grid where the name is a string (examples A23, B34, etc) and the sort field (ie the page names) are simple integer values. The first portion makes a list of page numbers based on a query and the second part exports those pages as PDFs.

I'm trying to modify it for a different index grid where the sort field is the same field as the string name field so the range function doesn't work. I can get a list of all the page names that I want to export but I can't figure out how to acutally get them to export. I figure its something along the lines of "for items in names_list:...." but I can't find a list of ddp functions anywhere so I'm really stuck. Anyone know how to make this work or alternatively does anyone know where a list of ddp python functions and their use exists?

for row in arcpy.SearchCursor(grid): 

    expression = str(row.getValue(field_name))
    if expression.startswith(letter_block):
        x = row.getValue(field_num)
        range_list.append(x)

    for page_num in range(range_list[0], range_list[len(range_list)-1]+1):
        mxd.dataDrivenPages.currentPageID = page_num
        page_name = mxd.dataDrivenPages.pageRow.getValue(field_name)
        arcpy.mapping.ExportToPDF(mxd, str(page_name) + ".pdf")

Answer 1

You can get the index using the method dataDrivenPages.getPageIDFromName.

>>> import arcpy
>>> mapFld = r"C:\Path\to\map.mxd"
>>> mxd = arcpy.mapping.MapDocument (mapFld)
>>> mxd.dataDrivenPages.getPageIDFromName (r"SJE\3413-C6")
2005

Create a set of IDs, say in variable ids, and then create a string of comma-separated IDs.

>>> idStr = ", ".join (map (str, ids))

You can now use dataDrivenPages.exportToPDF to export each map.

>>> mxd.dataDrivenPages.exportToPDF (r"C:\Project\Output\Map.pdf", "RANGE", idStr)