Using geoprocessing tasks in Python scripts

ArcGIS Server geoprocessing tasks can be used in scripts. The basic steps are

• Add the service as a toolbox.
• Since many tasks use feature and record sets, query the task to get the feature or record set schema.
• Load features or records.
• Start execution of the tool.
• Query the result of the tool and wait for execution to finish.
• Query the result to fetch outputs.

Example script:

import arcpy, time

# Add a geoprocessing service as a toolbox
# Syntax: ArcGIS Server link;ToolBoxName with the Tool name is the next attribute
#
arcpy.ImportToolbox("http://degrassi/arcgis/services;BufferToolBox","Buffer")

# One of the tasks is BufferPoints and its first parameter is a feature
#  set. Get the feature set from the task.
# 
inFeatSet = arcpy.GetParameterValue("Buffer", 0)

# Load an existing feature class into the feature set
#
inFeatSet.load("C:/datasets/aoi/observations.shp")

# Start execution of the task
# Service is executed by the toolName_aliasName
#
result = arcpy.Buffer_Buffer(inFeatSet, "500 feet")

# Query the result object to detect when the service has finished execution
#
while result.status < 4:
    time.sleep(0.2)

# The output of this task is a feature set of the buffered points. Get the output
#   by index and save to a geodatabase feature class. 
#
outFeatSet = result.getOutput(0)
outFeatSet.save("C:/mydata/gpResults.gbd/output1")

Additional topics:

Topic	Description
Adding and removing toolboxes	Details on how to add toolboxes and geoprocessing services within a script
FeatureSets and RecordSets	Details about creating, loading, and saving feature set and record set data
Getting results from a geoprocessing tool	Details about querying the result of a tool or task
Result	Details of result class properties and methods

Using geoprocessing tasks in scripts