ValidateFieldName method
Release 9.3 Last modified January 19, 2010	Print all topics in : "Properties and Methods"

Note: This topic was updated for 9.3.1.

Takes a string (field name) and a workspace path and returns a valid field name based on name restrictions in the output geodatabase. All invalid characters in the input string will be replaced with an underscore (_). The field name restrictions depend on the specific database used (Structured Query Language [SQL] or Oracle).

Syntax

object.ValidateFieldName(inputFieldName As String, {Workspace} As String) As String

{} = optional

Part	Description
object	The instantiated geoprocessing object
inputFieldName	The field name to be validated
Workspace	Optional. The workspace in which the field can be found

Examples

# Create a new numeric field containing the ratio of polygon area to
#   polygon perimeter. Two arguments, a feature class and field name,
#   are expected.

import arcgisscripting
import os
gp = arcgisscripting.create(9.3)

# Check the number of arguments.
#
if len(sys.argv) < 2:
    print "Script requires two arguments, feature class and field name"
else:
    try:
        # Get the input feature class and make sure it contains polygons.
        #
        input = sys.argv[1]
        dsc = gp.Describe(input)
        if dsc.ShapeType != "polygon":	
            raise "ShapeError"

        # Get the new field name and validate it.
        #
        fieldname = sys.argv[2]	
        fieldname = gp.ValidateFieldName(fieldname, os.path.dirname(input))

        # Make sure shape_length and shape_area fields exist
        #
        if len(gp.ListFields(input,"Shape_area")) > 0 and             len(gp.ListFields(input,"Shape_length")) > 0:

            # Add the new field and calculate the value.
            #
            gp.AddField(input, fieldname, "double")
            gp.CalculateField(input,fieldname, "[Shape_Area] / [Shape_Length]")
        else:
            raise "FieldError"
except "ShapeError":
    print "Input does not contain polygons"
except "FieldError":
    print "Input does not shape area and length fields"
except:
    print gp.GetMessages(2)	

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