How to increment the data frame time by one day in ArcMap 10?

Question

I often use ArcMap 10 to display dynamic text using the dataFrame time.

<dyn type="dataFrame" name="Layout" property="time" emptyStr="[off]"/>

The above might display something like

2011/08/16

However what I really want to be able to do is add 1 day to the dataFrame time and display it. This way I can display a date range

2011/08/16 - 2011/08/17

Thanks

Jason Scheirer · Answer 1 · 2011-08-18T16:08:33.587

1

You'll need to add an additional field to your feature class and use the field calculator to populate the value.

Use the calculate field tool after adding the new (text) field.

In the expression: tomorrows_date(!date_field_that_has_a_date_in_it!)

In the code block:

import datetime
def tomorrows_date(date_string):
    date_format = "%Y/%m/%d"
    date_object = datetime.datetime.strptime(date_string, date_format)
    next_day = date_object + datetime.timedelta(days=1)
    return next_day.strftime(date_format)

edited Aug 18 '11 at 16:08

answered Aug 18 '11 at 00:02

Jason Scheirer

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Glad to know its possible! I'm a little lost following your answer, can you elaborate on the details? – jrhicks Aug 18 '11 at 00:29
Added in the post – Jason Scheirer Aug 18 '11 at 16:08
I'm curious as to why a text field is more appropriate than a date one? – Emily Aug 18 '11 at 16:12
Either/or, it's just that getting the formatting that the database will actually accept can be a bit of a hassle. – Jason Scheirer Aug 18 '11 at 16:30
I found that in field calculator, it didn't matter if I missed a 0 here or there (i.e. 07/08/2011 versus 7/8/11), it automatically populated it. – Emily Aug 18 '11 at 17:06

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 18 '11 at 15:08

I was going to make this a comment on Jason's answer but I realised I can't include images.

Add a new field to the feature class you're using as an index (if you're using data driven pages) or to any other feature class in the data frame, then add a field to it of type DATE.

Then use field calculator to calculate the date as "8/7/2011" or something, including quotations. See my image below for the two steps.

enter image description here

You can have more than one text element like what you wrote in your question in a text field, so you can display both feature class fields.

How to increment the data frame time by one day in ArcMap 10?

2 Answers2