CreateGeocodeSDDraft (arcpy)

Summary

The function converts an address locator into a Service Definition Draft (.sddraft) file which can be used to create a service definition for publishing a geocode service.

Note:

A draft service definition does not contain data. A draft service alone cannot be used to publish a service.

Discussion

CreateGeocodeSDDraft is the first step to automating the publishing of an address locator to a geocode service using ArcPy. The output created from the CreateGeocodeSDDraft is a Service Definition Draft (.sddraft) file. A Service Definition Draft is the combination of address locator properties, information about the server, and a set of service properties.

All geocode services require an address locator. The address locator is the main tool for geocoding in ArcGIS and contains all the data necessary to perform address matching. You can use ArcCatalog, the Catalog Window in ArcGIS for Desktop, or the Create Address Locator geoprocessing tool to create an address locator. For step-by-step instructions, refer to Creating an address locator in the ArcGIS Help. Composite locators, which combine many locators into one, can also be published to ArcGIS Server. For more information, see Creating a composite address locator.

Information about the server includes the server connection, server type being published to, metadata for the service (Item info), and data references (whether or not data is being copied to the server).

Service properties include operations such as geocoding and reverse geocoding supported by the service, maximum number of candidates returned by the service when geocoding a single address, or the maximum number of records to be processed in each batch job when performing batch geocoding.

Note:

The pooling properties for the service, such as the minimum or maximum number of instances per machine, are not exposed as parameters for the function. If you need to modify the values (or any nonexposed parameter), you need to publish the sddraft first and modify the draft by editing the .sddraft using XML libraries such as xml.dom.minidom. Refer to the example of modifying an sddraft for the usage of the library. Although the example is from a map service draft, you can use the same library and method for the geocode service draft since it is an XML file.

The function returns a dictionary containing errors and other potential issues that you should address prior to creating your Service Definition file.

A Service Definition Draft can be authored without knowing the specific server connection information. In this case, the connection_file_path parameter may be omitted; however, the server_type must be provided. A server connection can be provided later when the Service Definition Draft is published using the Upload Service Definition tool.

The Service Definition Draft can then be converted to a fully consolidated Service Definition (.sd) file using the Stage Service tool. Staging compiles all the necessary information needed to successfully publish the GIS resource. If your data is not registered with the server, the data will be added when the Service Definition Draft is staged. Finally, the Service Definition file can be uploaded and published as a GIS service to a specified GIS server using the Upload Service Definition tool. This step takes the Service Definition file, copies it onto the server, extracts required information, and publishes the GIS resource. For more information, see the An overview of the Publishing toolset.

Syntax

CreateGeocodeSDDraft (loc_path, out_sddraft, service_name, {server_type}, {connection_file_path}, {copy_data_to_server}, {folder_name}, {summary}, {tags}, {max_candidates}, {max_batch_size}, {suggested_batch_size}, {supported_operations})

Parameter	Explanation	Data Type
loc_path	A string that represents the catalog path to the address locator. Valid formats for the address locator are locator files (.loc) in a file folder or locators in a geodatabase.	String
out_sddraft	A string that represents the path and file name for the output Service Definition Draft (.sddraft) file.	String
service_name	A string that represents the name of the service. This is the name people will see and use to identify the service. The name can only contain alphanumeric characters and underscores. No spaces or special characters are allowed. The name cannot be more than 120 characters in length.	String
server_type	A string representing the server type. If a connection_file_path parameter is not supplied, then a server_type must be provided. If a connection_file_path parameter is supplied, then the server_type is taken from the connection file. In this case, you can choose FROM_CONNECTION_FILE or skip the parameter entirely. ARCGIS_SERVER —ArcGIS for Server server type. FROM_CONNECTION_FILE —Get the server_type as specified in the connection_file_path parameter. (The default value is ARCGIS_SERVER)	String
connection_file_path	A string that represents the path and file name to the ArcGIS for Server connection file (.ags). A new connection file can be created using the CreateGISServerConnectionFile function.	String
copy_data_to_server	A Boolean that indicates whether the data referenced in the address locator will be copied to the server or not. The copy_data_to_server parameter is only used if the server_type is ARCGIS_SERVER and the connection_file_path isn't specified. If the connection_file_path is specified, then the server's registered data stores are used. For example, if the data in the address locator is registered with the server, then copy_data_to_server will always be False. Conversely, if the data in the address locator is not registered with the server, then copy_data_to_server will always be True. (The default value is False)	Boolean
folder_name	A string that represents a folder name to which you want to publish the service definition. If the folder does not currently exist, it will be created when the service definition is published as a service. The default folder is the server root level. (The default value is None)	String
summary	A string that represents the Item Description Summary. Use this parameter to override the user interface summary, or to provide a summary if one does not exist. (The default value is None)	String
tags	A string that represents the Item Description Tags. Use this parameter to override the user interface tags, or to provide tags if they do not exist. To specify multiple tags, separate each tag with a comma within the string. (The default value is None)	String
max_candidates	The maximum number of candidates returned by the service when geocoding a single address. (The default value is 500)	Integer
max_batch_size	The maximum number of records to be processed in each batch job when performing batch geocoding. (The default value is 1000)	Integer
suggested_batch_size	The recommended number of records to pass in each batch job when performing batch geocoding. (The default value is 1000)	Integer
supported_operations [supported_operations,...]	The built-in operations supported by the service. The parameter should be specified as a list containing one or more of the following string keywords: GEOCODE—The service will allow geocoding operations. REVERSE_GEOCODE—The service will allow reverse geocoding operations. For example, to specify that the service should only support geocoding operations and should not allow any reverse geocoding operations, the parameter should be specified as ["GEOCODE"]. (The default value is [GEOCODE, REVERSE_GEOCODE])	List

Return Value

Data Type	Explanation
Dictionary	Returns a dictionary of information messages, warnings, and errors.

Code Sample

Publishing a geocode service

The following script demonstrates the complete workflow to publish an address locator as a geocode service. The first step in the publishing workflow is to create a service definition draft file (.sddraft) from the address locator using the CreateGeocodeSDDraft function. The next step is to create a service definition file (.sd) from the service definition draft file using the StageService function. The final step is to publish the service definition file as a service to a GIS server using the UploadServiceDefinition function.

import arcpy
import pprint

#Overwrite any existing outputs
arcpy.env.overwriteOutput = True

locator_path = "C:\\Data\\Locators\Atlanta"
sddraft_file = "C:\\Output\\Atlanta.sddraft"
sd_file = "C:\\Output\\Atlanta.sd"
service_name = "Atlanta"
summary = "Address locator for the city of Atlanta"
tags = "address, locator, geocode"
gis_server_connection_file = "C:\\Data\\server_connection.ags"

#Create the sd draft file
analyze_messages  = arcpy.CreateGeocodeSDDraft(locator_path, sddraft_file, service_name,
                           connection_file_path=gis_server_connection_file,
                           summary=summary, tags=tags, max_result_size=20,
                           max_batch_size=500, suggested_batch_size=150)

#stage and upload the service if the sddraft analysis did not contain errors
if analyze_messages['errors'] == {}:
    try:
        # Execute StageService to convert sddraft file to a service definition (sd) file 
        arcpy.server.StageService(sddraft_file, sd_file)
        # Execute UploadServiceDefinition to publish the service definition file as a service
        arcpy.server.UploadServiceDefinition(sd_file, gis_server_connection_file)
        print "The geocode service was successfully published"
    except arcpy.ExecuteError as ex:
        print "An error occured"
        print arcpy.GetMessages(2)
else: 
    # if the sddraft analysis contained errors, display them
    print "Error were returned when creating service definition draft"
    pprint.pprint(analyze_messages['errors'], indent=2)