Create .lyr file from open .mxd layer without removing layer

Question

I have a tool that is meant to clip and reproject every layer in an open .mxd, and then create a new feature class and .lyr file with original symbology from the result, not adding either to the .mxd. I would like the new .lyr file to have the same display name as the original, but when I write it this way it removes the original .lyr from the map document, and also fails on importing symbology.

I'm using ArcGIS 10.5.

Is is possible to create a new .lyr with the same name as the open .mxd .lyr, then import symbology, and not have it crash remove the original .mxd .lyr?

My current workaround is to append "_clip" to the arcpy.MakeFeatureLayer_management out_layer parameter as follows:

if not arcpy.Exists(lyr_outname):
    if not os.path.exists(out_lyr_fldr):
        os.makedirs(out_lyr_fldr)
    arcpy.AddMessage("Creating .lyr file: {}\n".format(lyr_outname))
    lyr = arcpy.MakeFeatureLayer_management(fc_outname, i.name + "_clip")
    arcpy.ApplySymbologyFromLayer_management(lyr, i)
    arcpy.SaveToLayerFile_management(lyr, lyr_outname)

This works, but people don't want the "_clip" in the display name.

If I try it using the original name:

if not arcpy.Exists(lyr_outname):
    if not os.path.exists(out_lyr_fldr):
        os.makedirs(out_lyr_fldr)
    arcpy.AddMessage("Creating .lyr file: {}\n".format(lyr_outname))
    lyr = arcpy.MakeFeatureLayer_management(fc_outname, i.name)
    arcpy.ApplySymbologyFromLayer_management(lyr, i)
    arcpy.SaveToLayerFile_management(lyr, lyr_outname)

it first removes the layer its working on from the .mxd, and then crashes on import symbology.

Failed to execute. Parameters are not valid.
ERROR 000968: The symbol layer does not match the input layer
Failed to execute (ApplySymbologyFromLayer).

If there is no direct way to achieve this, I thought maybe I can just search the output folder and change everything after it has been run. I can see the display name using describe nameString:

workspace = r"C:\..."
lyrs = []

walk = arcpy.da.Walk(workspace)

for dirpath, dirnames, filenames in walk:
    for filename in filenames:
        lyrs.append(os.path.join(dirpath, filename))


for lyr in lyrs:
    desc = arcpy.Describe(lyr)

    if "_clip" in desc.nameString[-5:]:
        print desc.nameString

But is there a way to change the nameString?

Answer 1

Using this answer to Change nameString using arcpy? I was able to solve the problem.

In order to not remove the original layer from the Table of Contents it does need to be created with a different name. In my case I just appended "_clip."

You can then change the nameString in the following way:

desc = arcpy.Describe(lyr_outname)

if "_clip" in desc.nameString[-5:]:
    lyr_in = arcpy.mapping.Layer(lyr_outname)
    lyr_in.name = desc.nameString[:-5]
    lyr_in.save()