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I'm having a problem copying data from a shapefile to a feature class using an insert cursor. Here is the part that is causing trouble:

newRows = arcpy.InsertCursor(Target)
sourceRows = arcpy.SearchCursor(Christiansburg)

for source in sourceRows:
    neue = newRows.newRow()
    neue.setValue(TName, source.getValue(CName))
    newRows.insertRow(neue)

It takes data from a field in the source row, and then copies it to the new row. The trouble is, when the source row has a forward slash in it, it fails when I try to do the insert, saying "The row contains a bad value.". If I edit the forward slash out of the source data, it works fine. If I replace the variable with a hardwired string that has a forward slash in it, it also works fine, so I am not 100% sure that it is the forward slash causing the problem. I have tried using the str function on the result of getValue, and it still doesn't work. The field being copied from is street names, and the row causing trouble is a street that changes name. If worst comes to worst, I could simply edit out the forward slash permanently, but I would rather not if I can help it.

Does anyone know what I am doing wrong here?

EDIT: Derped on copy/paste of code snippet. Should be fixed now.

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7
  • Do you have nulls? What version of ArcGIS are you on?
    – Jason Scheirer
    Aug 7, 2012 at 20:35
  • There are nulls in other fields, however, there are none in field that is causing trouble, either in the feature class or shapefile. Have 10.0
    – fomafomich
    Aug 7, 2012 at 20:40
  • ahmm shouldnt you use: newRows.insertRow(neue) after you are finished iterating sourceRows? setValue() is filling just one field in a row or multiple fields simultaneously?
    – Gero
    Aug 7, 2012 at 20:53
  • As I understand it, it needs to be done for each row. setValue fills a single field in a single row. So you create a row object, fill it with setValue as needed, insert the row into the table, and move on to next source row, hence the loop. I am actually using other setValue statements for other fields in my full code, but only what I have posted is causing problems. Even that is not consistently problematic, since it only seems to cause problems when the source row has a '/' in it, and I can't figure out how to fix it.
    – fomafomich
    Aug 7, 2012 at 22:36
  • Maybe arcpy think the street name is a filepath. Why don't you try to add a backslash () in the value so it sees it as a 'raw' string e.g. from 'old name/new name' to old name\/new name'. Worths a try...
    – mapoholic
    Aug 8, 2012 at 7:07

2 Answers 2

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I figured out what the problem was. Turns out, the field in the target feature class has a field length of 35 characters, while the corresponding field in the shapefile has a field length of 256 characters. The row that was causing problems was exactly 36 characters long, and was the only one that had a '/'. So when I deleted the '/' that brought the length to 35 characters and it worked. I suspect I spelled something wrong when I hardwired the string, so that is probably why that worked then. I truncated the row to 35 and it works like a charm, even with the '/'. So that must have been the problem. Thanks to all who took the time to reply and think about it, especially mapoholic. I noticed this testing his suggestion. I guess the moral of the story is to make sure that your fields are the right length when doing this sort of thing.

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  • I had a similar issue, but for me it had to do with a mismatch of number type fields - I was trying to calculate a long integer into a short integer field and the number was too large for the short integer field.
    – mTy
    Mar 11, 2022 at 23:59
1

I had this issue with Append Tool. I started an Edit Session and the errors went away! weird!

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  • This comment solved the problem for me. I have been pulling my hair out over this for the last 3 days.
    – PhilippNagel
    Oct 10, 2016 at 18:30

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