ArcPy Report syntax error

Question

I'm working on trying to use arcpy to automate the creation of a report, but I'm running into a problem.

>>> arcpy.mapping.ExportReport('2013pp',"C:\reports\2013_Graffiti.rlf","C:\reports\2013_Graffiti_report.pdf")

Runtime error 
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<string>", line 1, in <module>
  File "c:\program files\arcgis\desktop10.1\arcpy\arcpy\utils.py", line 181, in fn_
    return fn(*args, **kw)
  File "c:\program files\arcgis\desktop10.1\arcpy\arcpy\mapping.py", line 506, in ExportReport
    assert isinstance(report_source, (MapDocument, TableView, Layer)), str(type(report_source))
AssertionError: <type 'str'>

I'm having trouble deciphering the traceback as it seems to reference a variety of internal python files. In trouble shooting so far, I thought the problem might be that the report_source needs to be a layer file and I was using a .shp so I converted to a .lyr but then I get the error:

Parsing error SyntaxError: invalid syntax (line 1)

In response to the suggestions below, I've tried the following with full paths, but am receiving the same error.

>>> arcpy.mapping.ExportReport('2013pp',r"C:\reports\Graffiti.rlf", r"C:\reports\2013_Graffiti_report.pdf")
Runtime error 
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<string>", line 1, in <module>
  File "c:\program files\arcgis\desktop10.1\arcpy\arcpy\utils.py", line 181, in fn_
    return fn(*args, **kw)
  File "c:\program files\arcgis\desktop10.1\arcpy\arcpy\mapping.py", line 506, in ExportReport
    assert isinstance(report_source, (MapDocument, TableView, Layer)), str(type(report_source))
AssertionError: <type 'str'>

When I try Blord's suggestion I get the following:

>>> arcpy.mapping.ExportReport(arcpy.mapping.Layer('2013pp.lyr'),"C:\reports\2013_Graffiti.rlf","C:\reports\2013_Graffiti_report.pdf")
Runtime error 
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "<string>", line 1, in <module>
  File "c:\program files\arcgis\desktop10.1\arcpy\arcpy\arcobjects\mixins.py", line 389, in __init__
    super(LayerMixin, self).__init__(lyrfile)
  File "c:\program files\arcgis\desktop10.1\arcpy\arcpy\arcobjects\_base.py", line 47, in __init__
    for arg in args))
ValueError: Object: CreateObject Layer invalid data source
>>> 

The last part about the invalid data source makes me wonder about whether the shape file is acceptable...it should be given that I am able to manually create a report with it.

As an aside, is this only an arcpy mapping tool, i.e. I can't find it in ModelBuilder or in a toolbox?

I was hoping to try to trouble shoot by creating the tool in ModelBuilder, exporting it and examining the script.

Answer 1

mapping.py is running an assertion test to make sure that your report source is a MapDocument, TableView, or Layer. This is the first argument you provided.

And it is not a MapDocument, TableView, or Layer, it is a string. That is what AssertionError: <type 'str'> means.

Instead of giving the string '2013pp' you need a reference directly to 2013pp as a Layer object. Try:

arcpy.mapping.ExportReport(arcpy.mapping.Layer(u'C:\\project\\2013pp.lyr'),u'C:\\Py‌​thon\\reports\\2013_Graff‌​iti.rlf', u'C:\\report.pdf')

What I have done here is turn the string into a Layer object in the middle of the function arguments. Edit: Modified based on full path to .lyr file. Also converted all strings to unicode

Answer 2

I think this might be a path issue, try example below.

e.g.

arcpy.mapping.ExportReport('2013pp',r"C:\reports\2013_Graffiti.rlf",r"C:\reports\2013_Graffiti_report.pdf")