Releasing locks to temp files after ArcPy script crashes in ArcMap?

Question

Sometimes when I'm testing an ArcPy script and it ends with exception, ArcMap is still holding locks to some temp files (I run my scripts through ArcMap).

I cannot run the script any more, because it cannot delete/overwrite the temp files and in the end I have to restart ArcMap to release the locks.

Is there a way to do in a more clever fashion?

Answer 1

I've just come up with the following construction:

def main():
    # my entire code

if __name__ == "__main__":
    try:
        main()
    except Exception, e:
        import gc
        gc.collect()
        import traceback
        arcpy.AddError(traceback.format_exc())

This way I don't loose any messages and so far all locks have been released properly.

Answer 2

You can delete all variables set and cursor rows within a try/except block:

try:

  # your code here

except:
  # delete your variables here
  del myVariable1, myVariable2, myVariable4, row, rows

Answer 3

The easiest way might be to just open Windows Task Manager (Alt+Ctrl+Del) and stop the python.exe process after the script crashed. After this the locks should be gone. When you restart your script, python.exe will be restarted as well.

Answer 4

I have not tested this but a GeoNet link by its user john.m.dye that arrived in my mailbox today suggests a way to do this (at least with ArcGIS Pro, but worth investigating for ArcMap equivalency too):

For local file geodatabases, the compact geodatabase tool will remove any invalid locks on the geodatabase that might not have been properly removed when editing stopped. For Enterprise Geodatabases, use the disconnect user tool to kill any active connections users have to the database, which should also kill their locks. You can follow that up with accept connections to block users from reconnecting while you do your thing, call compact geodatabase to ensure there are no invalid locks, do what you need to do, then call accept connections again to allow users to reconnect.