Parse attribute table value to export filename using data driven pages and arcpy.mapping

Question

I'm trying to customize a data driven page looping statement workflow and want to set a better filename to the final export. Currently the file name uses the page index (pgIndex), but I would like it to use a specific field in the attribute table.

Here is my file naming looping statement:

for pgIndex in range(1, tempDDP.pageCount + 1, 1):
 # Create a name for pdf file 
 temp_filename = r"C:\Desktop\Test\temp_pdfs\MB_" + \
 str(pgIndex) + ".pdf"
 if os.path.exists(temp_filename):
 os.remove(temp_filename)

Any idea how I can get the result I want? I know this is possible if you use the built in export tool for arc 10, but I need more functionality, and therefore a customized script.

• sgillies: FWIW, more readable as: for i in range(tempDDP.pageCount): label = str(i + 1)
• Czed: Thanks sgillies! Any idea how to change the file naming portion of the script to use a specific value in the attribute table and not the page index?

Answer 1

Okay, I finally figured out a method using pageRow.FIELDNAME

for i in range(1, tempDDP.pageCount + 1, 1):
 # Create a name for each pdf file
 tempMap.dataDrivenPages.currentPageID = i
 pageName = tempMap.dataDrivenPages.pageRow.Name
 temp_filename = r"C:\Desktop\Test\temp_pdfs\MB_" + \
 str(i) + pageName + ".pdf"