Getting Null value error with Python Parser in field calculator?

Question

I'm trying to calculate the angle between two line segments in ArcMap 10.0. I have a point shapefile, so I'm using the xy coordinates of 3 successive points to calculate the angle. I'm trying to use Python in the Field Calculator, because I'm not good with Python and I'm not sure how to use the Python window. I finally got my code to work, but encountered an error when two successive points have the exact same coordinates. This creates a null value, and I get the error "The field is not nullable". I tried to put in an if statement to change nulls to 0s, but I still get the same error. I'm not sure if I'm identifying null values correctly, though, because I've found conflicting ways to represent them, and have tried "None" and ' ' and "Null" to no avail. It seems like there should be some way to just replace the angle value with 0 if the calculation returns a null value.

Does anyone have any ideas on how to get past the null values?

My code is below.

Record = 0
def turnangle(X3, Y3):
 import math
 global X1, Y1, X2, Y2, Record
 if Record == 0: #first two rows aren't calculated
 angle = 0
 X1 = X3
 Y1 = Y3
 elif Record == 1: 
 angle = 0
 X2 = X3
 Y2 = Y3
 else: #calculating angle
 BAx = X1 - X2
 BAy = Y1 - Y2
 BCx = X3 - X2
 BCy = Y3 - Y2
 dotprod = BAx * BCx + BAy * BCy
 lenA = math.sqrt((X1-X2)**2+(Y1-Y2)**2)
 lenB = math.sqrt((X2-X3)**2+(Y2-Y3)**2)
 angle = math.acos((dotprod)/(lenA*lenB))*180/math.pi
 X1 = X2 #advancing to next coordinates
 Y1 = Y2
 X2 = X3
 Y2 = Y3
 Record = Record + 1
 if angle is not None: #Here is where I'm trying to substitute 0 for null values
 return angle
 else:
 return 0

• Hornbydd: Why not put an "if" right at the beginning to ask if x1=x2 and y1=y2, if they are return zero else do the calculation?
• user3120: Try catch please !
• Leo: @Hornbydd The "if" statement was a great idea; I added "if BCx == 0 and BCy == 0: angle=0" to the 'else' clause and it worked great. Thanks!

Answer 1

This is a quick and easy way to get around the problem..but doesn't fix the error. This method works in the python window.

This design is often used inside of loops, and I'm unsure if the Field Calculator will accept it.

try:
 #the code you want to work goes here
except: #handles the error
 #print "an error occurred, but I can continue to work"
 pass

• user2856: try: and except: must be lower case otherwise a SyntaxError will get raised.
• Leo: This sounds like a great idea as well but I can't get it to work. I tried adding "try:" at the beginning of the code and "except:" at the end, and I tried adding both at the end of the code, as in try: return angle except: pass, and both times I get the "field is not nullable error". Maybe it won't work with Field Calculator?
• Leo: Ah: instead of "pass", I needed a value in the field. When I tried "except: return 0" it worked great. Thanks!