ArcGis 10.0 SP5 - Drag & drop support vs tool parameter types

Question

I got a custom Python-tool, and one of the parameters is a (multivalue) "File" type parameter, filtered on a given set of extensions.

Also, I got users requesting drag and drop; dragging files from Catalog folders into the tool.

1) When trying to drag/drop files from Catalog folders, I get "Invalid drop item" - "One or more dropped items were invalid and will not be added to the control"

2) When adding the same file using the controls file browser, it works fine.

If I change the type to "Raster Dataset", I get full drag & drop. Unfortunately I can't use this parameter type.

Is there any way to get around this ? (can't find any documentation on this)

Answer 1

1. Define "does not seem to work". What exactly happens?
2. On which file types does drag and drop not work?
3. Are you sure they are dragging from ArcCatalog, or could they be trying to drag from Windows Explorer?
4. Are they trying to drag from ArcCatalog to ArcMap?
5. Are the file types needed already visible in ArcCatalog? If not you can add them from the ArcCatalog Options-File Types window.
6. Which service pack are you at?
7. Do you have a Filter defined on your File type parameter? What are its Type, Direction and Multivalue settings?

At 10.1 SP1, for a Required, Input, single value, File type script tool parameter with no Filter defined, I can drag and drop from both Windows Explorer and ArcCatalog for all the file types I have tried including .zip, .ini, .csv, and .txt.

Maybe there is a bug at 10.0. The closest thing I could find on the ESRI Support site was this Knowledge Base article, which among other things suggests turning off Background Geoprocessing. At 10.1 SP1 that option doesn't make a difference for me, I can drag and drop with it on or off.