ArcObjects - enumerating feature classes and datasets within a geodatabase

Question

I'm trying to enumerate the contents (feature classes and feature datasets, not interested in tables, etc) of a file geodatabase using vba/arcobjects.

I have the file GDB set as an IGxDatabase object, but can't find a way of getting further in. I've had a look at the geodatabase object model and tried using IFeatureClass and IFeatureDataset but neither seem to return useful results.

Thanks in advance for any assistance

score 6 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 31 '10 at 18:28

It is much faster to enumerate the names contained in a geodatabase instead of the things that the names can open. The tricky part is looping through names in a featuredataset. While IFeatureWorkspace.Open can be used to open a featureclass without first opening the featuredataset that contains it, getting at featureclassnames within a featuredataset requires opening the featuredataset.

If you know for sure you'll need to open each featureclass, then I suppose it wouldn't hurt to use IWorkspace.Datasets, IEnumDataset, and IDataset instead of IWorkspaceDatasetNames, IEnumDatasetname and IDatasetname.


Option Explicit
Sub TestGetContents()
    Dim pGxApp As IGxApplication
    Set pGxApp = Application
    If Not TypeOf pGxApp.SelectedObject Is IGxDatabase Then
        Debug.Print "select a geodb first"
        Exit Sub
    End If
    Dim c As Collection
    Set c = GetContents(pGxApp.SelectedObject)
    Dim l As Long
    For l = 1 To c.Count
        Dim pName As IName
        Set pName = c.Item(l)
        If TypeOf pName Is IFeatureClassName Then
            Dim pFC As IFeatureClass
            Set pFC = pName.Open
            Debug.Print pFC.AliasName, pFC.FeatureCount(Nothing)
        ElseIf TypeOf pName Is IFeatureDatasetName Then
            Dim pDSName As IDatasetName
            Set pDSName = pName
            Debug.Print pDSName.name, "(featuredataset)"
        End If
    Next l
End Sub

Function GetContents(pGxDB As IGxDatabase) As Collection
    Dim c As New Collection
    Dim pEnumDSName As IEnumDatasetName
    Set pEnumDSName = pGxDB.Workspace.DatasetNames(esriDTAny)
    Dim pDSName As IDatasetName
    Set pDSName = pEnumDSName.Next
    Do Until pDSName Is Nothing
        If TypeOf pDSName Is IFeatureClassName Then
            c.Add pDSName
        ElseIf TypeOf pDSName Is IFeatureDatasetName Then
            c.Add pDSName
            AddSubNames pDSName, c
        End If
        Set pDSName = pEnumDSName.Next
    Loop
    Set GetContents = c
End Function

Sub AddSubNames(pDSName1 As IDatasetName, c As Collection)
    Dim pEnumDSName As IEnumDatasetName
    Set pEnumDSName = pDSName1.SubsetNames
    pEnumDSName.Reset
    Dim pDSName2 As IDatasetName
    Set pDSName2 = pEnumDSName.Next
    Do Until pDSName2 Is Nothing
        If TypeOf pDSName2 Is IFeatureClassName Then
            c.Add pDSName2
        End If
        Set pDSName2 = pEnumDSName.Next
    Loop
End Sub

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 29 '10 at 11:36

you can use the ListFeatureClasses Method on the Geoprocessor (the following shows how this can be done in C#)

IGeoProcessor gp = new GeoProcessorClass(); 

gp.SetEnvironmentValue("workspace", @"C:\temp"); 

IGpEnumList gpEnumList = gp.ListFeatureClasses("*", "Polygon", ""); 
string fc = gpEnumList.Next(); 
while (fc != "") 
{ 
//Do whatever
}

ArcObjects - enumerating feature classes and datasets within a geodatabase

2 Answers2