Python objects in my ArcMap addIn aren't instantiated

Question

I've got a weird problem. My addin throws problems intermittently where it doesn't recognize buttons or tools when I try to toggle the visibility in my code. It seems as though the objects aren't instantiated as trying to toggle them works after I try to interact with them. What is the problem and how do I begin to debug it? My code is far too long to post but if there's something I can provide to help can you let me know?

Here's a scenario:

User starts Arc and clicks a button. The button tries to enable another button with:

anotherButton.enabled = False

Arc throws an error:

global variable "anotherButton" not defined.

User clicks on "anotherButton" and then tries the first button again. This time the command executes and "anotherButton" is disabled.

Answer 1

The add-in framework usually won't create the objects until it needs them. I have a solution in this Esri forums thread: create them yourself at load time, so you'd have something like

anotherButton = anotherButtonClass()

at the bottom of your add-in's main .py file to make sure it's around.

• ShaunLangley: wow! Thank you. I can't tell you how many hours I scoured the internet looking for this solution.
• blah238: @Jason Is this behavior similar to the "onDemand" property of .NET add-in types? I would generally set "onDemand" to false to avoid such problems.
• Jason Scheirer: Exactly the same. The Python add-in framework shares a lot of the same code with the .Net add-in framework.