SetGeometry problems when using Python/OGR

Question

I am trying to use the Difference function and I pretty much create the new file I want but the Geometry is empty. No errors are produced. Any help would be great!

#!/usr/bin/env python

import os
import sys
import functions
baseFile = 'intlroads.tab'
eraseFile = 'AOI_Motorway.tab'
#performs erase Geoprocessing
#def erase(inputFile, eraseFile): 

try:
  from osgeo import ogr
except ImportError:
   import ogr

try:
   from osgeo import gdal
except ImportError:
  import gdal

driver = ogr.GetDriverByName('Mapinfo File')

feat1 = driver.Open(baseFile, 0)
if feat1 is None:
  print 'Could not open feat1.tab'
  sys.exit(1)

feat2 = driver.Open(eraseFile, 0)
if feat2 is None:
  print 'Could not open feat2.tab'
  sys.exit(1)  

#get layers and loop through them to get geometrys
feat1Layer = feat1.GetLayer()
feat2Layer = feat2.GetLayer()
for feature1 in feat1Layer:
  geomfeat1 = feature1.GetGeometryRef()
for feature2 in feat2Layer:  
  geomfeat2 = feature2.GetGeometryRef()

#Run difference method (matches ESRI's Erase)
GeomDiff = geomfeat1.Difference(geomfeat2)

fn = 'Roads.tab'
if os.path.exists(fn):
  driver.DeleteDataSource(fn)
outDS = driver.CreateDataSource(fn)
if outDS is None:
  print 'Could not create file'
  sys.exit(1)
outLayer = outDS.CreateLayer('roads', geom_type=ogr.wkbLineString)

# copy the fields from the input layer to the output layer
functions.copyFields(feat1Layer, outLayer)

# loop through the input features
inFeature = feat1Layer.GetNextFeature()
while inFeature:
    outLayer = outDS.CreateLayer('roads', geom_type=ogr.wkbLineString)
    #create a new feature
    outFeature = ogr.Feature(featureDefn)

    # set the geometry
    outFeature.SetGeometry(GeomDiff)

    # copy the attributes
    copyAttributes(inFeature, outFeature)

    # add the feature to the output layer
    outLayer.CreateFeature(outFeature)

    # destroy the output feature
    outFeature.Destroy()

    # destroy the input feature and get a new one
    inFeature.Destroy()
    inFeature = inLayer.GetNextFeature()

Answer 1

Early in your program, you've done this:

for feature1 in feat1Layer:
    geomfeat1 = feature1.GetGeometryRef()

After which the feat1Layer "cursor" is at the end of the file. Later, when you call

inFeature = feat1Layer.GetNextFeature()

GetNextFeature() will return None. And if it wasn't None, the program would fail at the end of the loop with a NameError due to inLayer being unassigned. If you want to loop over feat1Layer1 twice, you'll either need to close and reopen it, or ResetReading() on it.