Getting to Know ModelBuilder

Transcription

1 Getting to Know ModelBuilder Offered by Shane Bradt through the UNH Cooperative Extension Geospatial Technologies Training Center Developed by Sandy Prisloe and Cary Chadwick at the Geospatial Technology Program at the University of Connecticut January 2008 Getting to Know ModelBuilder

2 Exercise 1: Creating a Basic Model Opening ArcMap The ArcMap Interface Customize Your Geoprocessing Options Create a New Toolbox in ArcToolbox Add a New Model to Your Toolbox Exploring the ModelBuilder Interface Create a Basic Model Update Model Properties Run Your Model Save Your Work Finding Help...14 LET S REVIEW!...16 Exercise 2: Advancing Your ModelBuilder Skills Opening ArcMap Locating Tools in ArcToolbox Viewing Tool Documentation in ArcToolbox Add a Toolbox to ArcToolbox Create a New Model Update Model Properties...28 LET S REVIEW!...29 Exercise 2: Extra Credit Create a New Model and Copy Elements from another Model to It Add the Frequency Tool to the Model (only available with the ArcInfo license) Add the Buffer Tool to the Model Set the Model Properties Run the Model Other Processes to Add to the Model...34 Exercise 3: Building an Iterative Model Create a New Model Create a Series Variable Create a List Variable Setting Iteration Variables Set the Iteration Count Run Your Model...44 LET S REVIEW!...45 Exercise 4A: Creating a Generic Model Opening ArcMap Create a New Model Create Parameters from Model Variables...49 Exercise 4B: Adding Documentation to a Model Exploring the ArcToolbox Documentation Editor Adding Metadata Documentation to Your Model Adding Documentation to the Tool s Dialog Window Adding Documentation to the Tool s Reference Page Test out Your Generic Model...66 LET S REVIEW!...69 Getting to Know ModelBuilder

3 Getting to Know ModelBuilder

4 Exercise 1: Creating a Basic Model The first exercise is designed to introduce you to the basic components of the ModelBuilder application. You will add a new toolbox to your ArcToolbox window, create and add a new model to the toolbox, and build a simple model within the ModelBuilder interface. In the process you will explore the ModelBuilder interface and learn some of the basic operations necessary for constructing a model. You also will learn about some important ArcMap settings that make using and managing your models easier. 1. Opening ArcMap To start the ArcMap application, double click with the left mouse button on the ArcMap shortcut on the desktop. If there is no shortcut, then start the program by clicking on Start>Programs>ArcGIS>ArcMap. It may take awhile for ArcMap initially to open so be patient. When ArcMap first opens, you will see a window that asks if you want to open A new empty map, A template or An existing map. Make sure that A new empty map is selected and then click the OK button. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 1 page 1

5 2. The ArcMap Interface The ArcMap GUI will look something like what you see below. (Note: It may look different depending on whether additional functionality has been enabled by a previous user.) You should be familiar with the basic ArcGIS functions. Some of the major components of the ArcMap interface are labeled below. Title bar Menu bar Toggles on/off ArcToolbox Standard toolbar Map Display Scale Tools toolbar Table of Contents Display Area X Y coordinates of cursor position Status bar Tabs to change among the Table of Contents formats Refresh Layout View Data View Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 1 page 2

6 3. Customize Your Geoprocessing Options ModelBuilder models are stored within toolboxes in the ArcToolbox application. Toolboxes exist as a file stored on disk (as a.tbx file) or as an object in a geodatabase. You can create a new toolbox in the ArcToolbox window by right-clicking the ArcToolbox entry and selecting the New Toolbox command in the context menu. A new toolbox is created with the default name Toolbox and is written to a folder called My Toolboxes. The system default location for the My Toolboxes folder is C:\Documents and Settings\<login>\Application Data\ESRI\ArcToolbox\My Toolboxes. It is often useful to change the default location where your toolbox files (.tbx) are stored. In this step you will change the ArcMap geoprocessing options to specify another location for your new toolbox files. - Click the Tools drop-down menu and select Options from the list of choices. This will open a window which will allow you to specify various options for working with ArcMap. Any change made to the Options settings will apply to all of your ArcMap projects thereafter. - Click on the Geoprocessing tab. - Under General, make sure the option for Overwrite the outputs of geoprocessing operations is checked. - Under My Toolboxes, click the yellow folder icon and browse to your C:\ModelBuilder\Toolboxes folder. - Under ModelBuilder, be sure that When connecting elements, display valid parameters when more than one is available is checked. Under Display/Temporary Data, check the box next to Add results of geoprocessing operations to the display. Your Options window should look similar to the graphic below. Click OK to close the Options dialog window. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 1 page 3

7 4. Create a New Toolbox in ArcToolbox Toolboxes within ArcToolbox can be either system toolboxes (those installed with ArcGIS) or custom toolboxes (those that you create yourself). You can create new toolboxes in either ArcMap or ArcCatalog. After creating a toolbox, you can then add tools from system toolboxes or create custom tools and models. When you save a project in ArcMap, any custom toolboxes you have added to ArcToolbox will be saved to the document and will be available the next time you open the project. When you open a blank map project in ArcMap however, default geoprocessing tools are loaded into ArcToolbox, which may or may not include your custom settings. See the note below to learn how to change the default ArcToolbox settings. NOTE: Changing Default ArcToolbox Settings: There are two methods to include custom toolboxes in the default ArcToolbox settings. One is to arrange toolboxes in ArcCatalog. When you exit ArcCatalog, the current geoprocessing tools, including all custom tools and toolboxes, are saved on your computer as default settings. Another option is to right-click on the ArcToolbox heading and select Save Settings>To Default. This method will work in both ArcCatalog and ArcMap. - If ArcToolbox is not visible in your ArcMap application, click on the ArcToolbox icon on the Standard Toolbar. - Right-click on the ArcToolbox entry and select New Toolbox in the menu that appears. - A toolbox named toolbox will be added to your ArcToolbox window. Right-click on it and select Rename from the window that appears. Rename your toolbox ModelBuilder Tools. You are now ready to start adding models to your new toolbox! Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 1 page 4

8 Note: In Step 3, we updated the ArcGIS geoprocessing options and changed the default location where custom toolbox (.tbx) files are stored. The ModelBuilder Tools toolbox that you just created is saved in the new default location: C:\ModelBuilder\Toolboxes. Any additional toolboxes you create will also be saved in this file location. 5. Add a New Model to Your Toolbox - Right-click on your new ModelBuilder Tools toolbox and hover over New and select Model from the window that appears. This will add a new model to your toolbox and automatically open the ModelBuilder application. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 1 page 5

9 6. Exploring the ModelBuilder Interface You should now be looking at a blank ModelBuilder window. We will start to add elements to your model in just a minute, but first, let s take a moment to explore some of the components of the ModelBuilder application. Main Menu Toolbar Model diagram area Model Elements (added by the user) There are five pull-down menus on the Main menu. Below is a description of each menu item and its function. MENU Model Edit View Window Help FUNCTION Provides options for running, validating, viewing messages, saving, printing, importing, exporting, and closing the model. Model properties can also be accessed through this menu option. Cut, copy, paste, delete, and select model elements. Contains an Auto Layout option that applies the settings specified in the Diagram Properties dialog box to your model. It also contains options for zooming in or out. Contains an overview window that you can use to display the entire model while zoomed into a certain part of a model in the display area. Provides access to the ArcGIS Desktop help system and the About ModelBuilder window. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 1 page 6

10 The ModelBuilder toolbar allows a user to add data to a model, navigate around the diagram area, select and connect elements, and save, print, and run a model. Print Model Add Data or Tool Select Elements Run Model Save Model Cut/Copy/Paste Navigation Tools Connect Elements In order to use most of these tools, you will need to add elements to your model. The next step will take you through creating a basic model in ModelBuilder. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 1 page 7

11 7. Create a Basic Model In this step, you will create a basic model that uses the dissolve tool to aggregate soil polygons based on specific attributes, in this case, those which describe wetland soils. The result will be a new dataset that defines the wetland soils. You will also use the Calculate Areas tool to recalculate the area of the resulting wetland polygons. The last step will be to add layer symbology to your wetland soils output. Haddam Soils Dissolved Soils New Area Field Layer symbology applied to output Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 1 page 8

12 - Click on the Add Data button on your ModelBuilder Toolbar. - Navigate to your C:\ModelBuilder\Data\Shapes folder and add Haddam_Soils.shp to the ModelBuilder display window. - In ArcToolbox, expand the Data Management Tools toolbox and the Generalization toolset. In the Generalization toolset, you should see the Dissolve tool. - Click on the Dissolve tool and drag and drop it into the ModelBuilder display window. Note: Below are the default shapes and colors for each of the five ModelBuilder elements: tools, value variables, project data, derived data, and derived values. You can right-click on an element to change its default color and font. Tools are generally represented in models as rectangles and data and parameter values are represented as ovals. - Click on the Connect Elements tool on the ModelBuilder toolbar. You will notice that the cursor turns into a wand as you mouse over the model diagram window. - Click on the Haddam_Soils.shp element in the ModelBuilder dialog window and drag the connector to the Dissolve tool and release the mouse button. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 1 page 9

13 - A Select Parameter window will open. Select Input Features (Parameter) and click OK. Your Haddam_Soils.shp element should now be connected to the Dissolve tool in your ModelBuilder dialog window. All elements in the window should be shaded, indicating that to tool is ready to be run. - You can open a tool s dialog window by double-clicking on it in the ModelBuilder diagram window. Double-click on the Dissolve tool element in the model diagram to open its dialog window and to view the tool s parameters. - Click the yellow folder icon to the right of Output Feature Class. - Navigate to your C:\ModelBuilder\Data\ModelResults folder and save the output as Haddam_Soils_Dissolve.shp - Under Dissolve Fields, check the box next to CTWET. This field contains attributes which define wetland soils. Shane Bradt 4/21/08 10:08 PM Deleted: Data\ - Scroll down to the bottom of the Dissolve window and make sure Create multipart features is checked. - Click OK to close the Dissolve window. - In ArcToolbox, expand the Spatial Statistics Tools toolbox and the Utilities toolset. Click on the Calculate Areas script and drag and drop it into the ModelBuilder dialog window. - Select the Connect Elements tool on the ModelBuilder toolbar and click on the Haddam_Soils_Dissolve.shp element in the ModelBuilder dialog window. Drag the Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 1 page 10

14 cursor to the Calculate Areas element and release the mouse button. Select Input Feature Class (Parameter) in the window that appears. Click OK. - Double-click on the Calculate Areas element in the ModelBuilder dialog window to open its parameters. - Click the yellow folder icon to the right of Output Feature Class and navigate to your C:\ModelBuilder\Data\ModelResults folder and name your output Wetland_Soils_Area.shp. Click OK. - Click OK to close the Calculate Areas window. Shane Bradt 4/21/08 10:09 PM Deleted: Data\ - Right-click on Wetland_Soils_Area.shp and uncheck Intermediate. This will ensure that your output data is made permanent. - Right-click on Wetland_Soils_Area.shp again and check Add to Display. This will automatically add your output dataset to the ArcMap Table of Contents after the model is run. At this point, your model elements should all be shaded, indicating that your model is ready to run. The last step is to reference a layer file to symbolize the features in our Wetland_Soils_Area.shp. The layer file will define how the features are drawn in the ArcMap display window. Model elements are empty indicating process is not ready to be run Model elements are shaded indicating process is ready to run. - Right-click on Wetland_Soils_Area.shp and open the Properties window for the element. Click on the Layer Symbology tab. - Click on the yellow folder to the right of Import the symbology from: box and navigate to your C:\ModelBuilder\Data\Layers folder and select Wetland_Soils.lyr. Click Add. Click OK in the Wetland_Soils_Area.shp Properties window. Note: Layer files contain information about geospatial datasets such as where they reside on the disk or network, how they are defined, symbols that are used to render the layer, labels, etc. Layer files do NOT include the actual geographic data and their attributes. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 1 page 11

15 8. Update Model Properties Before we run the model, let s update the model properties and save our model. - Click on Model on the ModelBuilder main menu and select Model Properties from the dropdown menu that appears. - On the General tab of the Model Properties window, change the model name to Exercise1. Do not include spaces in the name. - Change the model Label to Exercise 1: Building a simple model. - Under description, type a short paragraph about the purpose of this model. Try something like: This model is designed to create a wetland soils map for the town of Haddam, CT. Soil polygons are dissolved based on a field containing attributes defining wetland soils. The area of the resulting wetland soil polygons is recalculated and symbology is applied to the dataset by referencing a wetland soils layer file. - Check Store relative path names (instead of absolute paths) at the bottom of the window. - Click OK to close the Model Properties window. Name: This is the actual name of the model as it is referred to in scripting or command line. It should be concise and have NO SPACES! Label: This is the user-friendly name for the model. It will appear next to its icon in ArcToolbox and ArcCatalog. It can contain spaces. Description: An overview of the model. Briefly describe purpose and derived results. Relative Pathnames: When checked, the model will reference relative pathnames rather than absolute pathnames. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 1 page 12

16 - It s always a good idea to save your model before you run it. Click Model on the ModelBuilder main menu and select Save (alternatively, you could click the save icon on the ModelBuilder toolbar). Notice that your model name has been updated in ArcToolbox. 9. Run Your Model Congratulations! You have completed your first model. Now let s test it out. - Click the Run button on the ModelBuilder toolbar. Notice that a dialog window opens describing the geoprocessing tasks that are being completed as the model runs. Also notice how each model element is highlighted in red as the process is run. Once a process is successfully completed, the model element becomes shadowed. If an error occurs, a message will appear in the dialog box. Any processes that were not successfully completed will not appear shadowed in the ModelBuilder window. Shadowing indicates model process has been successfully executed Process highlighted in red indicates it is currently being executed Dialog window provides details about model processes, errors, and run time. Processes not shadowed indicate that they have not been successfully executed - Click Close to close the geoprocessing message window. - Minimize the ModelBuilder interface. - In the ArcMap Table of Contents, right-click on your Wetland_Soils_Area data layer and select Open Attribute Table from the menu that appears. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 1 page 13

17 - You should see that a new field called F_AREA (feature area) has been added to the table and the area in map units (in this case square feet) has been calculated for each wetland soil type. If your model ran successfully, you should have a wetland soils layer for the town of Haddam in your ArcMap Table of Contents that looks like the image below. 10. Save Your Work - Click on the File drop-down menu in ArcMap. - Select Save As - Navigate to the folder named C:\ModelBuilder\Projects and save your work as MyEx1.mxd 11. Finding Help ArcMap includes an extensive online help system and it really pays to get comfortable using it. Spend a few minutes exploring some of the help options associated with ModelBuilder. To access or search for help with specific questions, either click the Help menu and then select ArcGIS Desktop Help or just press the F1 key. A typical Windows-type help system will open where you can search, enter key words into an Index, or read documentation organized by content. There is also a Favorites tab which is similar to a bookmark. It allows you to remember help pages you want to revisit and it gives you quick access to pages you visit regularly. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 1 page 14

18 ArcGIS Desktop and Online Help contain a lot of detailed information about ModelBuilder that can help solve many of your geoprocessing headaches. Click on the Search Tab in the ArcGIS Desktop Help window and type in ModelBuilder as your search criteria. Click the Ask button to execute the search function. A number of topics related to ModelBuilder will appear. Click on one to view the help document associated with the topic. Also try using the Index tab and search the keyword ModelBuilder. Spend a few minutes browsing the help categories associated with the ModelBuilder application. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 1 page 15

19 LET S REVIEW! This exercise was designed to introduce you to ModelBuilder by having you create a very basic model. Some of the important topics covered in the exercise include the following: Setting your ArcGIS geoprocessing options: There are a number of geoprocessing options that you should set before you begin building models. These include the pathname to a folder where models will be stored; whether model outputs will be overwritten; whether a list of parameter options will pop-up when connecting elements in the ModelBuilder editor; etc. Creating new toolboxes in ArcToolbox: How to create a new Toolbox that is added to ArcToolbox. Creating a new model within a toolbox: How to create a new empty model in a new or existing toolbox. Exploring the ModelBuilder interface: You used the ModelBuilder interface and learned about the menu and toolbars and experimented with some of the navigation tools that control the model display. Creating a basic model: You created a very simple model and in the process learned about adding and connecting model elements. Dissolve tool and Calculate Areas tool: You added two system geoprocessing tools to a model and connected them to input and output datasets. Updating model properties: You updated model properties and changed the model s name and label; added a short description of what the model is designed to do and specified that the model can use relative pathnames. Saving your model: You saved the model - like everything in ArcMap, if you don t save it you lose it. Saving the model also updates the model s label in ArcToolbox. Running a model from the ModelBuilder editor: After building the model, you learned how to run it from within the ModelBuilder editor. You can run the entire model from start to finish or you can run it one tool at a time. Accessing ModelBuilder help topics: There is extensive online help that is invaluable as you get started working with ModelBuilder. Remember to use it as you learn this application! This concludes Exercise 1. Save your ArcMap project in your C:\ModelBuilder\Projects folder as MyEx1.mxd If you have finished and the class is still working on the exercise, go back and try some of the tasks you just completed. Explore experiment read some more Help. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 1 page 16

20 Exercise 2: Advancing Your ModelBuilder Skills The first exercise was designed to introduce you to the basic components of the ModelBuilder application. In this exercise, you will build a more complex model that will introduce you to several new tools. The purpose of the model will be to create a wetland soils layer for a single town. The wetlands will be derived from a county soils map and then clipped to a user selected town boundary. The area of the derived wetland soils will be recalculated in square feet and then again in acres and summed to determine the total area of wetland soils for the selected town. It is a useful model that can easily be rerun for another soil type or town. 1. Opening ArcMap To start the ArcMap application, double click with the left mouse button on the ArcMap shortcut on the desktop. If there is no shortcut, then start the program by clicking on Start>Programs>ArcGIS>ArcMap. It may take awhile for ArcMap initially to open so be patient. When ArcMap first opens, you will see a window that asks if you want to open A new empty map, A template or An existing map. Make sure that A new empty map is selected and then click the OK button. 2. Locating Tools in ArcToolbox Depending on what ArcGIS license you are using, you have access to up to 400 geoprocessing tools in ArcToolbox. So how do you find the one you need? Until you are familiar with the toolsets, it can be pretty overwhelming. Luckily, there are some options in ArcToolbox which allow you to find what you re looking for or discover tools you didn t even know exist! Let s take a minute to explore the ArcToolbox search options. - If ArcToolbox isn t visible in your ArcMap application, click on the toolbox icon on the Standard Toolbar to turn in on. - At the bottom of the ArcToolbox window you will see four tabs: Favorites, Index, Search, and Results. Click on each to view the interface associated with each tab. You are probably most familiar with the Favorites tab which shows all toolboxes saved to the default settings. - Click on the Index tab. This interface is useful if you know the name of the tool you want, but just can t remember what toolbox or toolset it is in. Type in the keyword clip. You will see all tools that pertain to clipping features listed in the window below. Choose the Clip (analysis) tool. You can double-click to open its dialog or click the Locate button which will switch back to the Favorites tab and open the toolbox and toolset where the Clip tool is located. Try both techniques. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 2 page 17

21 - Next click on the Search tab. The Search tab works a lot like the Index tab except that it searches ArcToolbox not only by tool name, but also by descriptions and keywords. This is useful if you know the function you want to use, but do not necessarily know what the tool is called. Take a minute to familiarize yourself with the Search tab. - Finally, click on the Results tab. Whenever a tool is executed using its dialog or as a command in the Command Line window, useful information about tool processes are written to the Results tab of the ArcToolbox window. Each result contains input and output datasets and values and any messages that are created as the tool is executed. Most likely you will not see any geoprocessing results here because we have not run any tools from dialog windows or command line. 3. Viewing Tool Documentation in ArcToolbox It is often helpful to examine the documentation associated with geoprocessing tools before using them for a task or in a model. In this step, you will learn how to open tool documentation from ArcToolbox. - Locate a tool in ArcToolbox using one of the search techniques you just learned. - Right-click on the tool in ArcToolbox and click Help in the menu that appears. This will open the tool s reference page, which gives an overview of how the tool works and provides links to further documentation. - Once you have finished exploring the help documentation, close the window. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 2 page 18

22 4. Add a Toolbox to ArcToolbox Now that you have learned how to locate tools in ArcToolbox, let s begin building another model. Several new tools will be introduced and many of the techniques you learned up to this point will be used to complete your second model. Refer back to previous steps or ask an instructor for assistance if you need help. - Right-click on the ArcToolbox entry and select Add Toolbox from the window that appears. - In the Add Toolbox window, navigate to your C:\ModelBuilder\Toolboxes folder and add your ModelBuilder Tools toolbox that you created in Exercise 1 to the ArcToolbox application. 5. Create a New Model - Right-click on your ModelBuilder Tools toolbox in ArcToolbox and hover your mouse over the word New and select Model in the window that appears. This will create a new model in the toolbox and open the ModelBuilder interface. - In ModelBuilder, click on the Add Data button on the ModelBuilder toolbar. - Navigate to your C:\ModelBuilder\Data\Shapes folder and add TownsMiddlesexCounty.shp to the ModelBuilder window. - In ArcToolbox, click on the Index tab. Type in the keyword Select. In the list of tools that results from your keyword search, locate Select (analysis). Click once on it and then click on the Locate button at the bottom of the ArcToolbox window. This should locate the Select tool in the Extract toolset in the Analysis Tools toolbox. Right-click on the Select tool in ArcToolbox and select Help from the menu that appears. Review the tool documentation from the Help menu. It s a good idea to familiarize yourself with new tools before you use them for a geoprocessing task. - After you have reviewed the tool s documentation, close the Help window. Click on the Select tool from ArcToolbox and drag and drop it into the ModelBuilder window. - Click on the Connect Elements tool on the ModelBuilder toolbar and connect the TownsMiddlesexCounty.shp to the Select tool. Choose Input Features (Parameter) from the Select Parameter window that appears. Click OK. - Double-click on the Select tool to open the dialog window. - Input Features should already be set to TownsMiddlesexCounty. - Click on the yellow folder icon under Output Feature Class and navigate to your C:\ModelBuilder\Data\ModelResults folder. Name the output town_select.shp - Click the Save button. - Under Expression (Optional), click on the SQL icon to open the Query Builder window. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 2 page 19

23 - In the Query Builder window, double-click on TOWN, single-click on =, singleclick on Get Unique Values, and double-click on any of the town names. For example, a valid query would be: TOWN = Chester 1. Double-click TOWN 2. Single-click = 4. Double-click to select a town 3. Single-click Get Unique Values - Click OK to close the Query Builder window. - Click OK to close the Select tool dialog window. - Click the Save icon on the ModelBuilder toolbar to save all changes to the model. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 2 page 20

24 You have just completed the first step of this model. Next, you are going to select the wetland soils from a county soils data layer and then clip them to the extent of your selected town s boundary. To do this, you will use the Make Feature Layer tool to create a selection layer. A layer is different from a data set. It is stored in-memory and references data stored on a hard drive or network. The Make Feature Layer tool often is used in models because many join and selection tools require layer files as their input data. - Click the Add Data button from the ModelBuilder toolbar and navigate to your C:\ModelBuilder\Data\Shapes folder and add middlesexsoils.shp. Click Add. - Use your Select Elements tool to drag middlesexsoils.shp below the other elements in your ModelBuilder display area. - In ArcToolbox, find the Make Feature Layer tool and add it to your ModelBuilder display area. If you don t remember how to locate this tool, refer to Step 2 of this exercise. - Click on the Connect Elements tool on the ModelBuilder toolbar. Connect middlesexsoils.shp to the Make Feature Layer tool you just added. In the window that appears, select Input Features (Parameter). Click OK. - Double-click on the new Make Feature Layer element to open the tool s dialog window. - Input Features should already be set to middlesexsoils.shp. - Change the Output Layer to Wetland_Soils_Layer. - Under Expression (Optional), click on the SQL icon to open the Query Builder window. - Construct the following query using the Query Builder tools: CTWET <> Nonwetland soils (be sure to use the <> button, not the < and > separately). This is an expression that will select all features in the CTWET field that are not non-wetland soils. In other words, all the features that are wetland soil polygons or water. - Click OK to close the Query Builder window. Click OK again to close the Make Feature Layer window. - Click the Save button on the ModelBuilder toolbar to save all changes to your model. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 2 page 21

25 So far, you have set up a model to select a specific town and save the selection to a new data set called town_select.shp. You have also set up a process to select only wetland soils from a county soils shapefile and save the result to a new layer called Wetland_Soils_Layer. Now we will use the Clip tool to clip the wetland soils layer to your selected town boundary. - In ArcToolbox, locate the Clip (analysis) tool. Click and drag it into the ModelBuilder window. - Click on the Connect Elements tool on the ModelBuilder toolbar. - Click on the Wetland_Soils_Layer element and drag the connection to the Clip tool element in the ModelBuilder window. - In the window that appears, select Input Features (Parameter) and click OK. - Use the Connect Elements tool again to click on town_select and drag the connection to the Clip tool element in the ModelBuilder window. - In the window that appears, select Clip Features (Parameter) and click OK. The Clip tool element should now be shaded, indicating that it is ready to run. - ModelBuilder provides a default name to the Output Feature data layers. Let s change the name and path to make it more meaningful. Double-click on the Output Feature element in the ModelBuilder window. - In the Output Feature Class window that opens, click on the yellow folder under Output Feature Class and navigate to your C:\ModelBuilder\Data\ModelResults folder. Name the output Wetland_Soils_Clip.shp. Click Save to close the window and click OK to close the Output Feature Class window. - Let s test our model. Before we run it however, we need to specify which output to add to the ArcMap Table of Contents after our model has been run. - Right-click on Wetland_Soils_Clip.shp element in the ModelBuilder window and select Add to Display. This will ensure that Wetland_Soils_Clip.shp is added to the Table of Contents after the Clip tool has been executed. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 2 page 22

26 - Click the Save button on the ModelBuilder toolbar to save all changes to your model. - Now we should be ready to test out the first part of our model. Click the Run button on the ModelBuilder toolbar. If your model ran successfully, you should see a layer in your Table of Contents called Wetland_Soils_Clip which contains wetland features for the town you chose to evaluate. - Close the geoprocessing message window and minimize ModelBuilder. - In ArcMap, try using the Identify tool to view the different soil attributes. They should all be wetland soils or water features. Let s continue building onto our model. The next step will be to add a field to the Wetland_Soils_Clip shapefile and calculate the area of each feature using the Calculate Areas script. This will calculate the area in map units, which in this case is square feet. - Restore your ModelBuilder window. - From ArcToolbox, expand the Spatial Statistics Tools toolbox and the Utilities toolset. Click on the Calculate Areas script and drag and drop it into the ModelBuilder window. - Use the Connect Elements tool to connect Wetland_Soils_Clip.shp to the Calculate Areas element. In the window that appears, select Input Feature Class (Parameter) and click OK. - Double-click on the Output Feature element to open its dialog box. - Click on the yellow folder under Output Feature Class and navigate to your C:\ModelBuilder\Data\ModelResults folder. Name the output Town_Wetland_Area.shp and click Save to return to the dialog box. Click OK to close the window. - Since this layer is going to be one of our output layers, let s apply layer symbology to the dataset. Right-click on the Town_Wetland_Area.shp element in the ModelBuilder window and select Properties from the menu that appears. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 2 page 23

27 - Click on the Layer Symbology tab in the Town_Wetland_Area.shp Properties window. - Click on the yellow folder under Import the symbology from: and navigate to your C:\ModelBuilder\Data\Layers folder and select Wetland_Soils.lyr. This is the layer file that contains symbology definitions for wetland soils. Click Add. - Click OK to close the Town_Wetland_Area.shp Properties window. - Right-click on the Town_Wetland_Area.shp element and select Add to Display in the menu that appears. This will ensure that the layer is added to the ArcMap Table of Contents after the model is run in the ModelBuilder window. - Click the Save button on the ModelBuilder toolbar to save all changes to your model. Next, we ll add the Add Field element to the model. - From ArcToolbox, expand the Data Management Tools toolbox and the Fields toolset. Click on the Add Field tool and drag and drop it into the ModelBuilder window. This tool will allow you to add a new field to a layer s attribute table. - Use the Connect Elements tool to connect the Town_Wetland_Area.shp element to the Add Field tool in the ModelBuilder window. In the window that appears, select Input Table (Parameter) and click OK. - Double-click on the Add Field element in the display window. - Under Field Name in the Add Field window, type Acres. - Under Field Type, click the down arrow and change it to FLOAT. Set the Precision to 8 and the Scale to 1. Click OK to close the Add Field window. You should now see that the Add Field element is shaded indicating that the tool is ready to be run. - Right-click on Town_Wetland_Area.shp (2) and check Add to Display. - Click the Save button on the ModelBuilder toolbar to save all changes to your model. The geoprocessing tools you will add in the following steps depend on the values derived from the Calculate Areas and Add Field elements you just added to your model. Let s run the model again from the Calculate Areas element before going on. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 2 page 24

28 - Click the Run icon on the ModelBuilder toolbar. This will run the model from the Calculate Areas element through to the end. Any model elements that have already been executed will not be run. Remember, elements that have a grey shadow behind them indicate that they have already been run. - Close the geoprocessing message window and minimize the ModelBuilder window. - Let s view some of the results of your model processes. Right-click on the Town_Wetland_Area layer in the ArcMap Table of Contents and select Open Attribute Table. - Scroll to the end of the Town_Wetland_Area attribute table. Notice that the last two fields (F_AREA (feature area) and Acres) in the table were added by the model processes you just completed. The next step will be to calculate the area in acres of each of the wetland features using the F_AREA field. Click the red in the upper right-hand corner of the attribute table to close it. - Restore your ModelBuilder window. - In ArcToolbox, locate the Calculate Field tool and drag and drop it into the ModelBuilder window. This tool will allow you to calculate values for the Acres field of the Town_Wetland_Area shapefile. - Use the Connect Elements tool to connect the Town_Wetland_Area.shp (2) element to the Calculate Field tool in the ModelBuilder window. In the window that appears, select Input Table (Parameter) and click OK. - Double-click on the Calculate Field element in the display window. - Input Table should already be set to Town_Wetland_Area.shp(2). - Under Field Name, click the dropdown arrow and select Acres. - Under Expression, click the Calculator icon to open the Field Calculator. Under Fields: double-click on F_AREA. Single-click on the division symbol on the right side of the Field Calculator window. Type in to complete the equation. Note: F_AREA contains the feature area in square feet. Dividing that number by 43,560 (the number of ft 2 per acre) converts the feature area to acres. Your calculation should look like the graphic below: Double-click Single-click Type number with keyboard Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 2 page 25

29 - Click OK to close the Field Calculator. - Click OK to close the Calculate Field tool. The final step in this model is to use the Summary Statistics tool to summarize the Acres field. Before we can do this however, we must run the model again in order to derive data from the Calculate Field tool which will then be used as input data for the last step in the model. - Right-click on the Calculate Field element in your model and select Run from the menu that appears. This option will allow you to run a single process at a time. - After the process has been successfully executed, click Close in the model dialog window. - Locate the Summary Statistics tool in ArcToolbox and drag and drop it into the ModelBuilder window. This tool will allow you to calculate summary statistics for the acres field in your wetland soils layer. - Use the Connect Elements tool to connect the Town_Wetland_Area.shp (3) element to the Summary Statistics tool in the ModelBuilder window. In the window that appears, select Input Table (Parameter) and click OK. - Double-click on the Summary Statistics element in the display window. - The Input Table should be Town_Wetland_Area.shp (3). - Click the yellow folder icon under Output Table and navigate to your C:\ModelBuilder\Data\ModelResults folder. Name the output Town_Wetland _Statistics.dbf. Click Save. - From the Statistics Field (s) dropdown select the Acres field. Ignore the that appears next to the field. - Click in the white space in the first cell under Statistic Type (to the right of Acres). You will see a dropdown list appear. Select SUM. Your Summary Statistics window should look like the graphic to the left. Click OK to close the window. - Run your model one last time to execute the Summary Statistics element. - After the process has been successfully completed, click Close in the geoprocessing message window. - Right-click on the Town_Wetland_Statistics.dbf element in your ModelBuilder window and select Add to Display. ***Note: because Town_Wetland_Statistics is a table, it will be added to the Source tab in the Table of Contents. If you are on the Display tab, you will not see it! Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 2 page 26

30 - Click the Save button on the ModelBuilder toolbar to save all changes to your model. Close the ModelBuilder window by clicking on the red in the upper righthand corner of the window. - In ArcMap, right-click on the Town_Wetland_Area layer in the Table of Contents and select Open Attribute Table. - Scroll to the end of the table. Notice that the Acres for each wetland soil type has been calculated. Close the table by clicking the red in the upper right-hand corner of the window. - Click on the Source tab at the bottom of the ArcMap Table of Contents. You should see the Town_Wetland_Statistics table was added to the Table of Contents. - Right-click on the Town_Wetland_Statistics table in the Table of Contents and select Open from the menu that appears. - The table should contain a value for the total number of wetland features and the sum of their area in acres. This was computed using the Summary Statistics tool in the last step of your model. Click the red in the upper right-hand corner of the window to close the table. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 2 page 27

31 6. Update Model Properties - Let s add some finishing touches to our model. From your ModelBuilder Tools toolbox in ArcToolbox, right-click on the model you just created (it should be named Model ) and select Properties from the dropdown window that appears. (Note: this is the same Properties window that you can open by clicking the Model drop-down menu item when using ModelBuilder s editor.) - On the General tab of the Model Properties window, change the model name to Exercise2. - Change the model label to Exercise 2: Advancing MB Skills. - Under description, type a short paragraph describing the purpose of this model. - Check Store relative path names (instead of absolute paths) at the bottom of the window. - Click OK to close the window. The name of your model should be changed in your ModelBuilder Tools toolbox to reflect the new label you just gave it. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 2 page 28

32 LET S REVIEW! Congratulations! You have completed your second model in ModelBuilder. Let s review some of the concepts we covered in this exercise. Layers vs. Data Sets: Data layers are: stored in memory; deleted when the application is closed; reference datasets stored on disk; specify how datasets are displayed; allow features to be selected from a dataset; and are required as inputs for certain geoprocessing tools. Datasets are: stored on disk and permanent unless manually deleted. Examples of datasets include shapefiles, geodatabase feature classes, and raster datasets. Locating Tools: Geoprocessing tools can be located using the Search and Index tabs in ArcToolbox. The Index tab is useful when you know the exact name of the tool, but not its location. The Search tab is handy when you know what function you wish to perform, but are unfamiliar with the tool names and locations. Tool Documentation: Tool documentation can be located through the ArcGIS Help window which can be accessed by right-clicking on the tool name in ArcToolbox and selecting Help from the menu that appears. Setting Intermediate files: When you run a model, output data is created for each process in the model. Some of the data created is of no use after the model is run and can simply be deleted after it has served its purpose. In ModelBuilder, all derived data elements are automatically flagged as intermediate. You can preserve these outputs by right-clicking on the element in the ModelBuilder window and unselecting Intermediate. Add Output to Display: To add the data outputs to your ArcMap Table of Contents, right-click on the data element in the ModelBuider window and select Add to Display. Select tool: Extracts features from an input dataset or input layer and stores them in a new output dataset. The output dataset may be created with a subset of features based on a Structured Query Language (SQL) expression. Clip tool: Extracts input features that overlay the clip features. Works like a cookie cutter. Use the Clip tool when you want to cut out a piece of one dataset using one or more of the features in another. Add Field tool: Adds a field to a table in a dataset or layer. Calculate Field tool: Calculates values for a field in a dataset or layer. Summary Statistics tool: Calculates summary statistics for field(s) in a table. This concludes Exercise 2. Save your ArcMap project in your C:\ModelBuilder\Projects folder as MyEx2.mxd If you find yourself with extra time and would like to challenge yourself, go on to Exercise 2: Extra Credit. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 2 page 29

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34 Exercise 2: Extra Credit If you blasted your way through Exercise 2 and are ready for more, then try this Extra Credit exercise that builds on what you just completed. In this brief exercise, you will create a new model, copy the contents from the previous model into it (so your Exercise 2 model doesn t get modified) and then add some additional functions to create wetland review areas (buffers) around the wetland polygon features. If you have an ArcInfo license on the PC that you are working on, you can also add a Frequency Analysis tool to the model to calculate the area of wetlands by wetland type. 1. Create a New Model and Copy Elements from another Model to It This step will let you populate a new model with elements from an existing model. This will keep the original intact while you make modifications to a copy. This way if you get hopelessly messed up you can always go back to the original. - Open ArcMap and open the mxd named MyEx2.mxd which you saved in C:\ModelBuilder\Projects. - Right-click on the ModelBuilder Tools toolbox, hover over New and then select Model from the pop-up menu. This will create a new empty model. - Right-click on the model named Exercise 2: Advancing MB Skills and click on Edit to open the model in the model editor window. - Click on the Full Extent icon on the ModelBuilder toolbar to display all of the model s elements. - Click on the Select Elements tool on the ModelBuilder toolbar and then drag a box around all the elements in the model named Exercise 2: Advancing MB Skills. Optionally, you could click the Edit drop-down menu item and then click on Select All. - Click the Copy button on the ModelBuilder toolbar to copy the entire model to the clipboard. - Move the mouse into the new model and click the Paste button on the ModelBuilder toolbar to paste all of the elements into the new model. - Close the model named Exercise 2: Advancing MB Skills. 2. Add the Frequency Tool to the Model (only available with the ArcInfo license) - From ArcToolbox, expand the Analysis Tools toolbox and the Statistics toolset. Click on the Frequency tool and drag and drop it into the ModelBuilder window. This tool will allow you to calculate summary statistics for the acres field in your wetland soils layer for each wetland class. - Use the Connect Elements tool to connect the Town_Wetland_Area.shp (3) element to the Frequency tool in the ModelBuilder window. In the Select Parameter window that appears, click Input Table (Parameter) and click OK. - Double-click on the Frequency element in the display window. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 2 page 31

35 - The Input Table should be Town_Wetland_Area.shp (3). - Click the yellow folder icon under Output Table and navigate to your C:\ModelBuilder\Data\ModelResults folder. Name the output Town_Wetland_Area_Frequency.dbf. - In the Frequency Field(s) list, check the CTWET field. - In the Summary Field(s) (optional) list, check Acres. - Click OK to close the Frequency dialog window. 3. Add the Buffer Tool to the Model - In ArcToolbox in the Analysis Tools toolbox expand the Proximity toolset. Click on the Buffer tool and drag it into the ModelBuilder window so it is near the element Wetland_Soils_Clip.shp. - Use the Connect Elements tool to connect Wetland_Soils_Clip.shp to the Buffer element. In the Select Parameter window that appears, click Input Features (Parameter) and click OK. - Double-click on the Buffer element in the display window. - The Input Features should be Wetland_Soils_Clip.shp. - Click the yellow folder icon under Output Feature Class and navigate to your C:\ModelBuilder\Data\ModelResults folder. Name the output Wetland_Soils_Buffer.shp and click the Save button. - In the Linear unit box enter 100 and make sure the units to the right is set to Feet. - In the Dissolve Type (optional) box, select ALL. - Click OK to close the Buffer dialog window. - Right-click on the elements named Wetland_Soils_Buffer.shp, Town_Wetland_Statistics.dbf and Town_Wetland_Area_Frequency. dbf and make sure Add To Display is checked. New Elements Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 2 page 32

36 4. Set the Model Properties - Click the Save button on the ModelBuilder toolbar to save all changes to your model. - Click the Model menu item and click on Model Properties - On the General tab of the Model Properties window, change the model name to Exercise2a. - Change the model label to Exercise 2: Extra Credit. - Under description, type a short paragraph about the purpose of this model. - Make sure Store relative path names (instead of absolute paths) at the bottom of the window is checked. - Click OK to close the window. The name of your model should be changed in your ModelBuilder Tools toolbox to reflect the new label you just gave it. 5. Run the Model - Before running the model, you should validate it. Click the Model menu item and click on Validate Entire Model. - Click the Run icon on the ModelBuilder toolbar to run the tool. Sometimes when you run a model, especially after you have already run it several times, you may get an error reported in the geoprocessing message box. One particularly vexing error is: Cannot get exclusive schema lock. Either being edited or in use by another application. If you encounter this error, close the message window, save your model, save the ArcMap mxd, close and then reopen ArcMap, Edit the model, Validate Entire Model and then Run the model. - After the model runs, you should have two layers added to ArcMap s Table of Contents: - Wetland_Soils_Buffer - Town_Wetland_Area - (Note: you also may have Wetland_Soils_Clip in the Table of Contents. If so, right-click on it and select Remove.) - In the ArcMap Table of Contents, drag Wetland_Soils_Buffer to the bottom of the list so you can see the buffered areas with the wetland soils and waterbodies above. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 2 page 33

37 6. Other Processes to Add to the Model The types of geoprocessing steps that can be added to models probably is only limited by your imagination. Think about some other ways that a models could be used to explore data and/or to standardize data processing workflows. List yours ideas below. This concludes Exercise 2a. Save your ArcMap project in your C:\ModelBuilder\Projects folder as MyEx2a.mxd\ Close ArcMap. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 2 page 34

38 Exercise 3: Building an Iterative Model ModelBuilder has the ability to execute a model or process repeatedly for different data inputs using a method called iteration. In ModelBuilder, there are several methods that will cause a process or model to iterate. In this exercise, you will create a model that uses a List variable and a Series variable. A List variable contains multiple datasets that serve as inputs to a model process. When a List variable is connected to a tool, that tool and all subsequent processes will be executed for every value in the list. A Series variable also contains multiple values. It differs from a List, however, because the values in a Series are run for the entire model. Declaring Series variables allows a user to run the tool for multiple input values. An example of a Series input value may be a town name or watershed number. The model will execute all processes for every value in the Series and create unique outputs. In the following exercise, you will create a model that clips three statewide datasets to the boundaries of three different towns in Connecticut. The town name will serve as the Series variable and the List variable will contain the statewide datasets to be clipped. Series Variable (town names) List Variable (statewide data) List Variable outputs HuskyPC 1/16/08 1:42 PM Formatted: Font:Not Bold HuskyPC 1/16/08 1:41 PM Formatted: Font:Not Bold The model produces outputs for each item in the list (surficial materials, lakes, and leachate and wastewater disposal sites) and for each item in the series (towns of Cheshire, Haddam and Andover). Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 3 page 35

39 1. Create a New Model - Open ArcMap as a new empty map. - Right-click on ArcToolbox and click on Add Toolbox - Navigate to C:\ModelBuilder\Toolboxes and select ModelBuilder Tools. - In ArcToolbox, right-click on your ModelBuilder Tools toolbox and select New > Model. - From the ModelBuilder Main Menu, click on Model > Model Properties. - Click on the General tab in the Model Properties window. Under Name: type Exercise3. Under Label: type Exercise 3: Series and Lists. Check the box next to Store relative pathnames. Click OK to close the window. - Click the Save icon on the ModelBuilder toolbar to save your updated model name. - In ArcToolbox, locate the Make Feature Layer tool. Use the Index or Search tabs if you can t remember which toolbox it is located in. - Click and drag the Make Feature Layer tool into the ModelBuilder interface. - In ModelBuilder, double-click on the Make Feature Layer element to open the tool s dialog window. - Click on the yellow folder icon under Input Features and browse to your C:\ModelBuilder\Data\Shapes folder and select TOWNS.shp. Click Add to add it to the Input Features field. - Be sure the Output Layer is called TOWNS_layer and click OK to close the window. Note that the input feature class is automatically added to your model and connected to the Make Feature Layer tool. 2. Create a Series Variable - In order to create a Series variable for town name, we will have to make a variable from the Expression function. To do this, right click on the Make Feature Layer and select Make Variable > From Parameter > Expression. This will add an Expression variable to your ModelBuilder interface. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 3 page 36

40 - Use your Select Elements tool to move the Expression variable above the Make Feature Layer element in your ModelBuilder window. - Double-click on the Expression element to open its dialog window. - Click on the SQL icon under Expression to open the Query Builder. This will allow you to create a query to select a specific town. Build the following query using the Query Builder: TOWN = Haddam 1. Double-click HuskyPC 12/28/07 10:47 AM Formatted: Font:9 pt 2. Single-click HuskyPC 12/28/07 10:48 AM Formatted: Font:9 pt 3. Single-click 4. Double-click HuskyPC 12/28/07 10:48 AM Formatted: Font:9 pt HuskyPC 12/28/07 10:48 AM Formatted: Font:9 pt - Click OK to close the Query Builder window. - Click OK to close the Expression window. Your Expression variable should now be shaded, indicating that it is in a ready-to-run state. The next step will be to set the Expression variable as a Series variable and add additional towns to the Series. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 3 page 37

41 - Right-click on the Expression element in the ModelBuilder window and select Properties from the menu that appears. - Click on the General tab. Under This variable contains: click on the radio button next to A series of values. Click OK to close the Expression Properties window. - Notice that your Expression variable has now become a stacked element. This indicates that it can contain multiple values. - Double-click on the Expression element in your model. Notice that the Expression window has changed. It is now a batch grid, set up to allow you to specify more than one input value. Each value in the Series is represented by a row. Because we have only specified one town, there will only be one row. - Click the Add button on the right side of the window and add two more rows. We are going to create a Series containing three town name values. Because it is a Series, this will run the entire model for every value we add. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 3 page 38

42 - Click in the first row in the batch grid. The expression you previously created in this exercise to select the town of Haddam should be present in this row. Use your mouse to select the entire expression. With the expression selected, use your keyboard controls to copy (Ctrl) C and paste (Ctrl) V the expression into the two empty rows. All three rows should be populated with the expression TOWN = Haddam. - Click in the second row. Change Haddam to Cheshire. - Click in the third row. Change Haddam to Andover. Your Expression window should look like the graphic below. Copying and pasting a query that was created using the Query Builder is the safest and most reliable method for ensuring that the queries in the additional rows do not include syntax errors. - Click OK to close the Expression window. - In the ModelBuilder window, right-click on the Town_Layer element and select Add to Display from the menu that appears. - Click the Save icon on the ModelBuilder toolbar to save your changes. 3. Create a List Variable In this step, you will use the Clip tool to clip several statewide datasets to the boundaries of the three towns in the Series. In order to have multiple data inputs to the Clip tool, we will use a List variable. - In ArcToolbox, locate the Clip (analysis) tool. Use the Index and Search tabs to find the tool if you don t remember where it is located. - Drag and drop the Clip tool from ArcToolbox into your model. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 3 page 39

43 - Click on the Add Data icon on the ModelBuilder toolbar. Navigate to your C:\ModelBuilder\Data\Shapes folder and add SURFMAT.shp to your model. - Use the Select Elements tool to position the data element next to the Clip tool in your ModelBuilder interface. - Click on the Connect Elements tool on the ModelBuilder toolbar. - Click on SURFMAT.shp and drag the connector to the Clip tool. In the window that appears, select Input Features (Parameter) and click OK. - Using the Connect Elements tool, click on the TOWNS_Layer element and drag the connector to the Clip tool. In the window that appears, select Clip Features (Parameter) and click OK. All elements in your model should now be shaded, indicating that they are in the ready-to-run state. Before we run the model, let s create a List variable from the Input Features for the Clip tool. This will allow us to add additional values (datasets) which will serve as inputs to the Clip element. - Right-click on the SURFMAT.shp element in your model and select Properties from the menu that appears. - On the General tab, under This variable contains:, click the radio button next to A list of values. - Click OK to close the SURFMAT.shp Properties window. - Notice that your SURFMAT.shp variable has now become a stacked element. This indicates that it can contain multiple values. Also notice that the Output Feature element also contains multiple values. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 3 page 40

44 - Double-click on the SURFMAT.shp element to open its dialog window. Notice that like the Series variable, the properties window is now a batch grid, set up to allow you to specify more than one input value. Each value in the List is represented by a row. Because we have only specified one input data, SURFMAT.shp, there will only be one row in the grid. - Click the Add button on the right side of the window and add two more rows. We are going to create a List containing three datasets that will serve as inputs to the Clip tool. Because it is a List, the tool will be run for every value we add. - Right-click in the white space in the second row and select Browse from the menu that appears. Navigate to your C:\ModelBuilder\Data\Shapes folder and select LAKE.shp. Click Add to add the pathname to the second row. - Repeat this for the third value in the list. This time add LWDS.shp (leachate and wastewater disposal sites) from your C:\ModelBuilder\Data\Shapes folder. - Click OK at the bottom of the SURFMAT.shp window when you have completed the list. - Click the Save icon on the ModelBuilder toolbar to save changes to your model. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 3 page 41

45 4. Setting Iteration Variables Before running your model, you will have to add one more feature to the model, iteration variables. Iteration variables prevent ModelBuilder from overwriting the outputs of each model iteration as it repeats model processes for each dataset in a List or Series. ModelBuilder provides two variables that represent the current model iteration number (%n%) and the current position, or index, in a list variable (%i%). By placing %i% and %n% in the filename for model outputs, you will prevent datasets from being overwritten. For example, the pathname for one of your output datasets will be: C:\ModelBuilder\Data\ModelResults\Lake%i%_%n%.shp. Based on the iteration variables included in the pathname, the datasets that would be created after this model is run will be Lake_1_0.shp; Lake_1_1.shp; and Lake_1_2.shp. The first number in the output represents the position of the town for which the lake features are clipped in the Series variable. The second number represents the position of the LAKE.shp input layer in the List variable. This will all make sense once you run your model. You will use iteration variables in the last step of this exercise to create unique outputs for the datasets clipped to each town in the model series. - Double-click on the Clip element in your model to open the tool s dialog window. Instead of the typical dialog window, you will see a batch grid. Remember, this is because we created a List variable from the input data layer for this tool. - Expand the window so that you can see the Output Feature Class column in the batch grid. - Under the Output Feature Class heading, right-click in the cell in the first row and select Browse from the menu that appears. Navigate to your C:\ModelBuilder\Data\ModelResults folder. Name the output Surfmat_%i%_%n%.shp. Click Save to close the browse window. - Under the Output Feature Class heading, right-click in the cell in the second row and select Browse from the menu that appears. Navigate to your C:\ModelBuilder\Data\ModelResults folder. This time name the output Lake_%i%_%n%.shp. Click Save to close the browse window. - Repeat the process a third time, this time changing the pathname for the output feature in the third row. Save the output as lwds_%i%_%n%.shp in your C:\ModelBuilder\Data\ModelResults folder. - After you have updated the Output Feature Class filenames, click OK to close the Clip tool s dialog window. - Right-click on your Output Feature Class element in the ModelBuilder window (it will be called Surfmat_%i%_%n%.shp) and select Add to Display. - Click the Save icon on the ModelBuilder toolbar to save changes to your model. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 3 page 42

46 5. Set the Iteration Count You re almost ready to run your model. The last step is to tell ModelBuilder how many iterations to execute. The iteration count is set through the Model Properties window. - Click on Model from the ModelBuilder Main Menu and select Model Properties from the menu that appears. - In the Exercise 3: Series and Lists Properties window, click on the Iteration tab. - Click the drop-down arrow under Get the iteration count from this variable and select Expression. This tells ModelBuilder to repeat the entire model based on the number of values in the Expression Series variable. Because there are three values in this variable (remember way back in step 2 when you selected three towns), the model will run three times consecutively, executing the two model processes (Make Feature Layer and Clip) six times, once for each town. - Click OK to close the Exercise 3: Series and Lists Properties window. - Click the Save icon on the ModelBuilder toolbar to save changes to your model. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 3 page 43

47 6. Run Your Model - You are now ready to run your model. Click the Run icon from the ModelBuilder toolbar. Notice the geoprocessing dialog window specifies six model processes instead of just two. - After your model has been run, click Close to exit the geoprocessing message window. - Close the ModelBuilder window. If ArcMap asks you to save your changes, select Yes. Take a minute to view the output datasets that were added to the Table of Contents. Notice that the first number in the output name is unique to the clipped dataset in the List (Surfmat, Lake, or LWDS) and the second number is unique to the town (Haddam, Cheshire, or Andover) in the Series. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 3 page 44

48 LET S REVIEW! Bingo! You have just completed your third model in ModelBuilder. And this one was a bit more complex. You created variables that can be used to store series and lists and used them to run all or part of a model multiple times thereby making the model perform a lot more work than if it just ran once. Let s review some of the concepts we covered in this exercise. Exposing an Expression Variable: In the model you initially used a Make Feature Layer tool to select a single town from a feature class that contained many town polygons. The SQL used to select a town was entered into the tool. You then exposed this as a variable and an expression element was added to the model diagram. Creating and Using a Series Variable: You changed the properties of the exposed expression variable and identified it as a series of values. Series variable cause the entire model to run once for each value in the series variable. You used this series variable to select three towns that you want to use as clip layers to a clip operation. Creating and Using a List Variable: In the exercise you added a statewide feature class of Surficial materials (Surfmat.shp) as an input layer to a clip operation. You then changed the properties of the input layer and declared it to be a list variable. You then updated the values of the list variable to include three statewide feature classes that would be clipped using the three towns identified in the series variable. With list variable, the tool connected to the list and all dependent downstream processes will execute once for each value in the list. Using Iteration Variables: ArcMap uses two special variables to track list and series variables. These are %i% and %n%. These values can be used to help name output feature classes and to prevent datasets from being overwritten. %i% = the index or list variable; the first count is zero. %n% = the model iteration number; the first iteration is zero. Setting and Using an Iteration Count: When you use a series in a model, you also must establish how many times the model will execute for the series variable. This can be a number, a variable or the series count. In the exercise, you set the iteration count to be equal to the number of towns that were entered in the series variable. This concludes Exercise 3. Save your ArcMap project in your C:\ModelBuilder\Projects folder as MyEx3.mxd Close ArcMap. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 3 page 45

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50 Exercise 4A: Creating a Generic Model One of the most useful aspects of ModelBuilder is the ability to build generic tools that can be reused and shared. Models that are built as a generic tool can be opened and run from ArcToolbox and allow the user to supply input data, parameters and output specifications before the model is run. Below is an example of a generic model. Notice that none of the processes are shaded, indicating that they are not ready-to-run. This is because the parameters must be entered into the tool s dialog window at run time. Generic Model in ModelBuilder window Dialog Window In this exercise, you will transform the model you created in Exercise 2 into a generic model that can be shared with other users and that can accept different input data sources. Additionally, you will document the model and model processes to create a more user-friendly product. Let s get started! 1. Opening ArcMap To start the ArcMap application, double click with the left mouse button on the ArcMap shortcut on the desktop. If there is no shortcut, then start the program by clicking on Start>Programs>ArcGIS>ArcMap. It may take awhile for ArcMap initially to open so be patient. When ArcMap first opens, you will see a window that asks if you want to open A new empty map, A template or An existing map. Make sure that An existing map is selected and browse to your C:\ModelBuilder\Projects folder and Open your MyEx2.mxd. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 4A page 47

51 2. Create a New Model In this step, you will copy and paste the model that you created in Exercise 2 and paste it into a new, empty model. This will preserve your original model and allow you to use the tools and processes from Exercise 2 in your new generic model. - In ArcToolbox, expand your ModelBuilder Tools toolbox. - Right-click on your Exercise 2: Advancing MB Skills model and select Edit from the menu that appears. - Maximize the ModelBuilder window or use the Zoom to Full Extent function so that you can view the entire model in the window. - From the ModelBuilder Main Menu, click Edit > Select All from the drop-down menu. This should select all of the elements within your model. - From the ModelBuilder Main Menu, click Edit > Copy from the drop-down menu. This will copy all of the elements within your model. - Close your Exercise 2: Advancing MB Skills model. - In ArcToolbox, right-click on your ModelBuilder Tools toolbox and hover over New and select Model from the menu that appears. This should create a new model in your toolbox and open it in the ModelBuilder window. - In the ModelBuilder window, click Edit > Paste. This should paste all of the elements from your Exercise 2 model into the new model. Maximize the window or select Zoom to Full Extent to verify that all of the elements were copied into your new model. Note: Your model should contain all the elements shown above: however, they may be arranged differently depending on how you laid things out. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 4A page 48

52 3. Create Parameters from Model Variables Remember, a model is simply a tool. When a model is opened from the tool dialog window in ArcMap or ArcCatalog, any variable that has been exposed as a parameter in the ModelBuilder interface will be visible in the dialog window. The user can then interact with these tool settings. Parameters allow the user to control model inputs, tool settings, and output file locations by entering a value, selecting from a dropdown list, or providing data pathnames. - In ModelBuilder, right-click on the Select element. In the menu that appears, select Make Variable > From Parameter > Expression. This will add an additional input to the Select tool in the form of an Expression element. - Use the Select Elements tool on the ModelBuilder toolbar to reposition the Expression element above the Select tool. - Double-click on the Expression element to open its properties window. Notice that the SQL expression that you define in Exercise 2 is populated in the Expression window of this element. Delete it and click OK to close the window. - Right-click on the Expression element and select Rename from the menu that appears. - Rename the element Select Town and click OK. - Right-click on the Select Town element and click Model Parameter from the menu that appears. You should now see a small P above the model element, identifying the element as a parameter. It also added the Select Town expression variable to the model s dialog interface, allowing the user to enter an SQL expression to select the town of their choice. Let s see how this works. - Save your model. Click the red in the upper right-hand corner of the ModelBuilder window to close the model. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 4A page 49

53 - In your ModelBuilder Tools toolbox, right click on Model and select Open from the menu that appears. You should see your new model parameter, Select Town, visible from the model dialog window. The SQL icon under Select Town allows the user to use the Query Builder to select a town without having to open the ModelBuilder interface. - Click Cancel at the bottom of the Model dialog box (if you were to click OK, the model would run). - Right-click on Model in your ModelBuilder Tools toolbox and select Edit to return to the ModelBuilder edit window. We still have several parameters to create before the model can be shared with others. - Right-click on the Make Feature Layer element and select Make Variable > From Parameter > Expression from the menu that appears. - Use the Select Elements tool to reposition the Expression element below the Make Feature Layer tool. - Double-click on the Expression element to open its properties window. Notice that the SQL expression that you define in Exercise 2 to select wetland soils is populated in the Expression window of this element. Delete the expression and click OK to close the window. - Right-click on the Expression element and select Rename from the menu that appears. - Rename the element Select Soil Type and click OK. - Right-click on the Select Soil Type element and click Model Parameter from the menu that appears. You should now see a small P above the model element, identifying the element as a parameter. The Select Soil Type expression variable was also added to the model s dialog interface, allowing the user to enter a SQL expression to select the soil attributes of their choice to process in the model. - Click the Save icon on the ModelBuilder toolbar to save your model. Click the red to close the ModelBuilder interface. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 4A page 50

54 - Let s check to be sure your second parameter was added to the tool s dialog window. Right-click on Model in your ModelBuilder Tools toolbox in ArcToolbox and select Open from the menu that appears. You should now have two parameters in your Model dialog window, Select Town and Select Soil Type. The user has the ability to specify a specific input using the Query Builder. This adds flexibility to the model by allowing the user to control inputs from the dialog window rather than the ModelBuilder interface. These SQL parameters are certainly useful, but several other parameters will need to be added to produce a completely generic model. Because the user will likely have different input datasets and will want to store their outputs in specific locations, we want to create generic input and output elements. We can do this by exposing these model elements as parameters and deleting the pathnames that were used when you created the model in Exercise 2. - Click Cancel to close the Model dialog window. - Right-click on Model in your ModelBuilder Tools toolbox and select Edit from the menu that appears. - Right-click on the input element for the Select tool, TownsMiddlesexCounty.shp, and select Model Parameter from the menu that appears. - Double-click TownsMiddlesexCounty.shp to open its properties window. Under TownsMiddlexCounty.shp, delete the pathname to the dataset and click OK to close the window. - Right-click on the TownsMiddlesexCounty.shp element one more time and select Rename from the menu that appears. Rename the element Input Towns and click OK to close the window. - Click the Save icon on the ModelBuilder toolbar to save your model updates. - Right-click on the input element for the Make Feature Layer tool, middlesexsoils.shp, and select Model Parameter from the menu that appears. - Double-click middlesexsoils.shp to open its properties window. Under middlesexsoils.shp, delete the pathname to the dataset and click OK to close the window. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 4A page 51

55 - Right-click on the middlesexsoils.shp element again and select Rename from the menu that appears. Rename the element Input Soils and click OK to close the window. - Click the Save icon on the ModelBuilder toolbar to save your model updates. - Now let s give the output datasets a generic name as well. Right-click on Town_Wetland_Area.shp and select Model Parameter from the menu that appears. - Double-click Town_Wetland_Area.shp to open its properties window. Under Town_Wetland_Area.shp, delete the pathname to the dataset and click OK to close the window. - Right-click on the Town_Wetland_Area.shp element and select Rename from the menu that appears. Rename the element Wetland Layer (Output Feature Class). Click OK to close the window. Save your model. - Let s add one more model parameter. Right-click on Town_Wetland_Statistics.dbf and select Model Parameter from the menu that appears. - Double-click Town_Wetland_Statistic.dbf to open its dialog window. Under Town_Wetland_Statistic.dbf, delete the pathname to the dataset and click OK to close the window. - Right-click on the Town_Wetland_Statistic.dbf element and select Rename from the menu that appears. Rename the element Total Area of Wetlands (Output Table). Click OK to close the window. Save your model. Congratulations! Your generic model is almost complete. Before we use it however, we want to specify the order in which the parameters will appear in the tool s dialog window. ModelBuilder adds parameters to the dialog window based on the order in which they were created. This may not be the most logical order; therefore we will manually arrange them. - In the ModelBuilder interface, click on Model from the Main Menu and select Model Properties. - Click on the Parameters tab. Notice that the list reflects the order in which the parameters were created in the previous steps. In order to make it intuitive to the user, let s rearrange the order. - Click on the Input Towns parameter to select it and click the arrow twice to move it to the top of the list. - Next click the Input Soils parameter and move it above Select Soil Type. - Your parameters should now be in the correct order. Use the graphic below to verify their order. Remember, this is important because this list reflects the order in which these parameters will appear in the tool s user interface. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 4A page 52

56 - Click OK to close the window. - Click the Save icon on the ModelBuilder toolbar to save all of the changes you made to your model. - Click the red in the upper right-hand corner of the window to close the model. - Right-click on Model in your ModelBuilder Tools toolbox and select Open. This will open the tool s dialog window. Notice your model now has six parameters listed in logical order. The user has the ability to control the model inputs, selection queries, and location of output datasets from the dialog window. Parameters eliminate the need for a user to open the ModelBuilder interface and add flexibility to the tool, allowing users to share the model and adjust it for their specific needs. - From the tool s dialog window, click on the Show Help>>> icon on the lower righthand corner. This will expand the tool s help window. - Click on each of the tool parameters in the Model dialog window. Notice that the help text changes as you click on each parameter. In the next series of steps, you will learn how to add documentation to your model which will be available in the Help window of the tool s user interface. - Click Cancel to close the Model dialog window. - Right-click on Model in your ModelBuilder Tools toolbox and select Rename from the menu that appears. Let s give your generic model a more descriptive name. - Rename the model Exercise 4: Clipping Town Wetlands. When you have completed this exercise, go onto Exercise 4B which will take you through the process of adding documentation to this model. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 4A page 53

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58 Exercise 4B: Adding Documentation to a Model All elements under General Information are shown in the metadata for a tool. If your intention is to share your model with others, providing good tool documentation is essential. Even if your tools are not going to be distributed, adding documentation to a model is a good idea and will help you manage your tools, especially once you start filling up your toolboxes with multiple models! Model tools are documented using the same system the ESRI developers use to document system tools. The Documentation Editor allows you to enter general information about your model including a summary of the tool, keywords, author contact information, model constraints, usage tips, parameter descriptions, and more. This information can be critical when providing a user with a model that they are unfamiliar with. Just think about how many times you use the Help associated with system tools to determine if they are appropriate for your project application! In this exercise you will create documentation for the generic model you created in Exercise 4A. The exercise will take you through the basics of the Documentation Editor. When you have completed this exercise your generic model will be ready to share with others! 1. Exploring the ArcToolbox Documentation Editor - Right-click on the generic model you created in the last exercise, Exercise 4: Clipping Town Wetlands, and select Edit Documentation from the menu that appears. This will open the ArcToolbox Documentation Editor. - The Documentation Editor consists of two sections: The Table of Contents, which lists available help elements and the Contents Panel, where text can be entered for each help element. Take a minute to familiarize yourself with the Documentation Editor by clicking through each element. Also, refer to the table on the next page for a description of each help element and where it will appear in the tool s documentation. All elements under Help are shown in the reference page for a tool. The Abstract and Parameters elements are also included in the side-panel help which is visible in the tool s dialog window. Table of Contents Lists help elements Contents panel Enter Text for help elements Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 4B page 55

59 Help Element Abstract Keywords Author Constraints Summary Parameters Usage Description of Help Element The abstract provides a brief overview describing the purpose of the tool. It can only contain one paragraph of text and will be visible in the side-panel of the dialog window when the tool is opened from ArcToolbox or ArcCatalog. Keywords are searched from the Search Tab in ArcToolbox. Enter any useful terms that apply to the functionality of your tool. Enter contact information for the author of the tool. Constraints refer to access, use, and security constraints. Include all permitted uses, warnings, copyright information and company policies in the constraints element. The summary is similar to the abstract in that it contains an overview of the purpose of the tool. Text will only appear on the reference page for the tool. The summary is edited using the page editor. Add information for the user about each tool parameter. For each parameter there are two categories of help text: command reference which will be displayed on the tool s reference page; and dialog reference which will be displayed in the side-panel of the tool s dialog window. Each parameter is documented separately using the page editor. Provides information for the user about how the tool should be used. This information is documented using the page editor and is displayed on the tool s reference page. Illustration Command Example Script Example This is an illustration depicting the operations performed by the tool. You can enter a pathname to a graphics file that contains the illustration. This information is displayed on the reference page for the tool. Metad ata Add an example here of how the tool is used in command line. This will be displayed on the tool s reference page. Reference page Add an example of how the tool is used in a script. This will be displayed on the tool s reference page. Side-panel of tool s dialog window Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 4B page 56

60 2. Adding Metadata Documentation to Your Model Now that you are familiar with the Documentation Editor, let s add some documentation to your model. We ll add text to several elements in the table of contents in order to demonstrate how they are applied to the model documentation and help files associated with your tool. In this step, we ll edit the General Information documentation. All documentation entered for the General Information contents will appear in the metadata for your model. - In the ArcToolbox Documentation Editor Table of Contents, click on Abstract. In the contents panel, type a short abstract that covers the purpose of your model. - Next, click on Keywords in the table of contents. Enter one or two descriptive words relating to your model. To add keywords, use the icon or click in the white space and begin typing. - Click on Author in the table of contents and add your contact information to the contents panel. - Lastly, click on Constraints. This is where you would enter any access, usage, or security constraints for your tool. This model has a particular usage constraint because it assumes the input data is in units of feet. It uses the area calculation in feet to calculate the area in acres during one of the last steps in the model. This would be an appropriate place to make note of this assumption. - When you have completed the General Information portion of the Documentation Editor, click Finish. This will close the ArcToolbox Documentation Editor. - From the ArcMap Standard Toolbar, click on the Launch ArcCatalog icon. This will open ArcCatalog on your desktop. - In ArcCatalog, browse to your C:\ModelBuilder\Toolboxes folder in the Catalog Tree. Expand your ModelBuilder Tools toolbox and click on Exercise 4: Clipping Town Wetlands model. - Click on the Metadata tab. You should see the Abstract, Keywords, Author, and Constraints information you just entered displayed in the metadata for the model. - Once you are finished examining the metadata, click the red in the upper right-hand corner of the window to close ArcCatalog. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 4B page 57

61 3. Adding Documentation to the Tool s Dialog Window Let s return to ArcMap and compete the model documentation for your Tool s dialog window. The documentation you enter for the Abstract and Parameter elements will be visible to the user when they open the tool from ArcToolbox or ArcCatalog. - If it isn t already visible, maximize ArcMap. - In ArcToolbox, expand your ModelBuilder Tools toolbox and right click on Exercise 4: Clipping Town Wetlands and select Edit Documentation from the menu that appears. This should open the ArcToolbox Documentation Editor again. - In the Documentation Editor Table of Contents, click on Parameters. On the right side of the window, the Page Editor will appear. Notice that each of your parameters is listed under Contents. - Click on the + symbol to the left of Input towns. There will be two categories listed under the parameter: Command Reference and Dialog Reference. For each parameter there are two categories of help text: command reference which will be displayed on the tool s reference page; and dialog reference which will be displayed in the side-panel of the tool s dialog window. We will edit the dialog reference. - Under the Input towns parameter, click on Dialog Reference. Click on the Add Paragraph icon to add a new paragraph to the parameter s documentation. You should see the text window on the right change from grey to white, indicating that you can now add text to the paragraph associated with the parameter. In the window, type a brief description of. For example: A dataset that contains the town boundaries for your state or county. This provides the user with a description of the type of input data the model needs for this parameter Once you have completed the description for the Input Towns parameter, add paragraphs and text to the Dialog Reference items under each of the additional five parameters. An outline of each parameter description is provided in the table below; however feel free to add as much detail as you wish. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 4B page 58

62 Parameter Input Towns Select Town Input Soils Select Soil Type Wetland Layer (Output Feature Class) Total Area of Wetlands (Output Table) Dialog Reference Paragraph Browse to a dataset that contains your town boundaries. Click on the SQL icon to open Query Builder and create a query to select a municipality of your choice. Browse to a dataset containing soil polygons. This layer should include an attribute field containing soil types. For this model, wetland soils should be defined in the attribute table. Click on the SQL icon to open the Query Builder window. Enter a query that selects all wetland soils from the Input Soils data layer. This is your output which contains wetland soil polygons. It will get added to your ArcMap Table of Contents after your tool has run. Provide the pathname and layer name for this dataset. This is a table output that contains the total area of wetland soils in acres for the town you have selected. It will get added to the ArcMap Table of Contents after the tool is run. Because it is a table you will have to click on the Source tab to view it. Provide the pathname and layer name for this dataset. - When you have completed the Dialog Reference descriptions for each parameter, click Finish at the bottom of the ArcToolbox Documentation Editor window. - Let s view our updated documentation. Text that gets added to the Abstract and Parameters in the Documentation Editor will be added to the tool s dialog window. To view these changes, right-click on your Exercise 4: Clipping Town Wetlands model in your ModelBuilder Tools toolbox and select Open from the menu that appears. This will open the tool s dialog window. - If the Help is not already visible on the right side of the dialog window, click the Show Help>>> button to expand the Help documentation associated with the model. You should see the Help window appear containing the description you entered for the model s abstract. Dialog window Help panel Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 4B page 59

63 - Next, click in the white space below the Input Towns parameter. You should notice that the description you entered for this parameter now populates the Help window. - Take a minute to click through each parameter and view the Help documentation you have created for each one. The text you added to each parameter should be descriptive enough to inform the user what the model s purpose is and what kind of data or input is expected for each of the tool s parameters. - After you have examined each parameter, click the Cancel button at the bottom of the dialog window to close the tool. 4. Adding Documentation to the Tool s Reference Page Some of the Help elements contained within the ArcToolbox Documentation Editor will appear in the tool s Reference Page. The Reference Page is displayed when the user right-clicks on a tool or toolbox and selects Help. It can also be accessed through the Help window of the tool s dialog box. Documentation can be added to the Reference page using tools in the Documentation Editor or added in the ModelBuilder interface. In this step, you will experiment with both methods. - In ArcToolbox, right-click on your Exercise 4: Clipping Town Wetlands model and select Edit from the menu that appears. This will open the model in the ModelBuilder interface. In ModelBuilder, you can add documentation to individual tool elements. Any documentation you create will appear in the tool s reference page. - Right-click on the Add Field element in your model and select Edit Documentation from the menu that appears. This will open the Page Editor which will allow you to enter text describing the tool s function within the model. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 4B page 60

64 - Click on the Add Paragraph icon on the Documentation toolbar to add a paragraph under the Add Field documentation element. - In the right-hand side of the window, type a description of the tool s function. You can use the text description in the graphic below as a guide. - Once you have completed your paragraph, click on the Add Bulleted Item icon on the Documentation toolbar. This will add a bulleted item under your paragraph in the Reference Page. - In the text editor on the right, type in Field Name = Acres. - Click the Add Bulleted Item icon again. In the text editor for your second bullet, type Field Type = FLOAT. - Repeat this process two more times, adding additional bullets for Field Precision = 8 and Field Scale = 1. When you have finished, you should have one paragraph and four bullet items under your Add Field element in the Page Editor. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 4B page 61

65 - Click OK to close the Add Field Documentation window. - From the ModelBuilder toolbar, click the Save icon to save your model. Close ModelBuilder by clicking the red in the upper right-hand corner of the window. Before we view the Reference Page for your tool, let s return to the Documentation Editor. There are several documentation elements that appear in the Reference Page that must be edited from the Documentation Editor. - In ArcToolbox, right-click on your Exercise 4: Clipping Town Wetlands model in your ModelBuilder Tools toolbox and select Edit Documentation from the menu that appears. This will open the ArcToolbox Documentation Editor. The Documentation Editor should look familiar because you added text to the General Information elements and the Parameters earlier in this exercise. All elements under Help are shown in the reference page for a tool. Remember, any text added to the General Information elements will get added to the tool s metadata. Text added to the Abstract and Parameters will get added to the side-panel help in the tool s dialog window and text added to the Help elements will get added to the tool s Reference Page. In order to view a more complete Reference Page, let s add documentation to some of the Help elements in the Documentation Editor s Table of Contents. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 4B page 62

66 The Summary documentation element is very similar to the Abstract with the exception that a Summary can contain multiple paragraphs which describe your tool whereas the Abstract is limited to one paragraph. In the interest of time, we ll simply copy the Abstract text and paste it into the Summary documentation. - Click on Abstract in the Documentation Editor Table of Contents. You will see the text that you entered for the Abstract appear in the text editor on the right. Use your mouse to select the text. With the text selected, right-click and select Copy from the menu that appears. Next, click on the Summary element in the Documentation Editor Table of Contents. Click the Add Paragraph icon on the Page Editor toolbar to add a new paragraph to the Summary element. In the text editor, right-click in the white area and select Paste from the menu that appears. The text that you copied should now appear in the Summary paragraph Let s add one more item to the tool documentation. Click on Illustration in the Documentation Editor Table of Contents. - Click on the yellow folder icon under Path: and browse to your C:\ModelBuilder\Data\Graphics folder and select Ex2.jpg. Click Open to add the pathname to the graphic in the Documentation Editor. This will add an illustration of the model output to the Reference Page. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 4B page 63

67 - Click Finish in the ArcToolbox Documentation Editor to save all of the changes you made to the tool documentation. You are now ready to view the tool s Reference Page. - The easiest method for accessing a tool s Reference Page is to right-click on the tool in ArcToolbox and select Help from the menu that appears. Try this for your Exercise 4: Clipping Town Wetlands model. - You will notice the Summary and Illustration you added to the Documentation Editor appear on the Reference Page. Scroll down the page to Model Elements. Notice the text that was added next to the Add Field tool. This was added from the ModelBuilder interface. - Close the Reference Page. Another method for accessing the model s Reference Page is from the tool s dialog window. - In ArcToolbox, right-click on your Exercise 4: Clipping Town Wetlands model and select Open from the menu that appears. This will open the tool s dialog window. - In the dialog window, be sure the side-panel is showing. If it is not, click the Show Help>>> icon to expand it. - Notice the Help icon in the upper left-hand corner of the side panel. Click on it. This is another method for opening the tool s Reference Page. Congratulations! You have completed the documentation for this tool and are ready to share it with others! Spend some time exploring all of the different documentation pages for your model. If Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 4B page 64

68 you have extra time, add more text to the documentation elements. The more detailed the documentation is, the easier it will be for others to use your tool. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 4B page 65

69 Some Important Notes Concerning ModelBuilder and Documentation: Documentation should always be the LAST thing you add to your model. Experience has uncovered a glitch in the ModelBuilder framework where any documentation added to a model will be deleted upon changing a model in any way. Documentation is an important feature of all geoprocessing tools and should not be overlooked, however, it s best to save it as a finishing touch! You also should be sure that the model editor is closed before you add any documentation other than tool element documentation. If the editor is open, documentation added to the model will be lost when the model is saved ouch! 5. Test out Your Generic Model Now that you have created a well documented, sharable model, let s test it out. In this final step, you will run your generic tool from its dialog window and specify different inputs in the data fields. - In ArcToolbox, right-click on your Exercise 4: Clipping Town Wetlands model and select Open from the menu that appears. This will open the tool s dialog window. - Under Input Towns, click the yellow folder icon under and navigate to your C:\ModelBuilder\Data\Shapes folder and select TownsMiddlesexCounty.shp. Click Add. - Under Select Town (optional), click the SQL icon to open the Query Builder. Use the Query Builder to create a query to select any town in Middlesex County. Click OK. - Under Input Soils, click the yellow folder icon and navigate to your C:\ModelBuilder\Data\Shapes folder and select middlesexsoils.shp. Click Add. - Under Select Soil Type (optional), the SQL icon to open the Query Builder. Use the Query Builder to create the following expression: CTWET <> Nonwetland soils (remember to use the icon, not < and > separately). Click OK. - Under Wetland Layer (Output Feature Class), click the yellow folder icon and navigate to your C:\ModelBuilder\Data\ModelResults folder and type in Town Name _wetland_layer.shp. Town Name refers to the name of the town you selected in the Select Town query. This will be your output layer that contains wetland polygons for the town that you have selected. Click Save. - Under Total Area of Wetlands (Output Table), click the yellow folder icon and navigate to your C:\ModelBuilder\Data\ModelResults folder and type in Town Name _wetland_statistic.dbf. Again, Town Name refers to the name of the town you selected in the Select Town query. This will be the table that contains the total area of wetland soils in acres for the town you have selected. Click Save. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 4B page 66

70 - Verify that all of your data requirements, selection queries and output pathnames are valid. If there is a problem, ArcMap will insert a red to indicate that there is an issue with one of your entries. You can click on it to get a better description of the problem and fix it accordingly. - Once you are satisfied with your entries, click OK to run the tool. The geoprocessing window will open while the model is executing. If ArcMap encounters any errors, they will be listed in the window. - Once the model has been executed, click Close to close the geoprocessing window. - If the model has run successfully, the output datasets will be added to your ArcMap Table of Contents. Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 4B page 67

71 Introduction to ModelBuilder Exercise 4B page 68