User-specified stop points for network analysis in ArcPy?

Question

I started trying to teach myself Python/ArcPy a couple of weeks ago in an attempt to someday be able to convert my plethora of models to more shareable and user-friendly formats (script tools, add-ins, etc.) and it's been going super well so far, but a general topic I am still hung up on is receiving user-defined parameters in my scripts.

Specific example I'm seeking help for: I need a way for the end-user to define stop points based on network junction attributes (my ND has custom junctions) and use those inputs to solve the route. I have scoured the internet for answers and I'm still coming up just short. Here's some sample code of what I think needs to happen. Remember, I'm still super new to this, so there may be some rookie mistakes in this code. Also, I did not complete the code for finding the routes, but included enough to get my point across.

import arcpy, os, datetime, time
#check out NA extension
arcpy.CheckOutExtension("Network")
#set environments - not a real path here, obviously
arcpy.env.workspace = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(0) #user selects gdb where network junctions are located
Dir = arcpy.env.workspace
arcpy.env.overwriteOutput = True
#get parameters for stop location selection
networkJunctions = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(1) #network junctions feature class
stop1 = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(2) #first stop
stop2 = arcpy.GetParameterAsText(3) #second stop
#define variables
expression = " NAME IN ('stop1', 'stop2') " #selection expression
date = time.strftime("%d%m%y")
outputFCname = Dir + "\\RouteStops" + date
#create layer from network junctions FC
arcpy.MakeFeatureLayer_management(networkJunctions, "networkJunctions_lyr")
#Select the two stops used to solve the route
arcpy.SelectLayerByAttribute_management("networkJunctions_lyr", "NEW_SELECTION", expression)
#new FC of selected stops
arcpy.CopyFeatures_management("networkJunctions_lyr", outputFCname)
#solve routes - incomplete
arcpy.na.FindRoutes(will worry about this part later)

This code successfully runs up until the FindRoutes part, but there is no output. I have a hunch that I may be making my feature layer at the wrong point in the code, but I've reordered all of this and I still get a new feature class with nothing in it.

• Midavalo: Welcome to GIS SE! Thank you for taking the new user tour. What happens when you run that code? Is there a specific part that isn't working for you? Any errors? Please edit your question to add more information around what actually happens when you try it.
• MammothTarantula: Sorry for the trouble! I edited the code to only show it up to the point where it's failing and explained it in the question. Code runs successfully, but my output fc is empty.

Answer 1

The problem is with how you create a SQL expression.

expression = " NAME IN ('stop1', 'stop2') " this one will always try to create features that have stop1 and stop2 as their NAME attribute value. I am pretty sure you don't have any. You probably want to use the string value from the variables stop1 and stop2. You need to do the string formatting:

stop1 = 'Hospital'
stop2 = 'Centre'
print "NAME IN ( '{0}', '{1}' )".format(stop1, stop2)
#"NAME IN ( 'Hospital', 'Centre' )"

• MammothTarantula: Thanks Alex! This worked like a charm and also helped me learn more about casting in Python, which I'm sure will help me tremendously down the line. Side note: stumbled across your Wordpress site and have enjoyed learning from that as well. Appreciate the assistance!
• Alex Tereshenkov: No worries, glad it works now! Also pretty happy to hear that some of my posts are helpful!