How to change spelling of scalebar label using arcpy?

Question

I have come to realise that hundreds of my MXD files have the scalebar units label spelled as "Meters" instead of "Metres". I suspect this is something I am going to have to do manually (I don't know ArcObjects).

Looking at the MAPSURROUND_ELEMENT class documentation, it doesn't appear that this is something I can change using arcpy.

Is there a way to change the spelling of the units label in my scalebar using arcpy?

Answer 1

As you don't know ArcObjects yet know Python, you can run this code to invoke ArcObjects from Python.

You would need to prepare the installation in order to be able to run this code. Refer to this blog post for detailed instructions. On GIS.SE, there are some great posts that helped me a lot to get started:

• Accessing ArcObjects from Python?
• Guidelines for using ArcObjects from Python

The code to run to update a single .mxd is below. You can use Python for loop to iterate over multiple .mxd files, wrapping the code below into a function first.

import sys
from comtypes.client import GetModule, CreateObject
from snippets102 import GetStandaloneModules, InitStandalone

esriCarto = GetModule(r"C:\Program Files (x86)\ArcGIS\Desktop10.4\com\esriCarto.olb")

# Running this code for the first time, you would need to import
#the “StandaloneModules”. Can comment out later.

GetStandaloneModules()
InitStandalone()

#creating a map document object
mxdObject = CreateObject(esriCarto.MapDocument, interface=esriCarto.IMapDocument)
mxdObject.Open(r'C:\GIS\arcobjects\ScaleBarLayout.mxd')

#accessing the map
IMap = mxdObject.ActiveView.FocusMap

#counting number of elements in the layout (i.e., map surrounds as Esri call those)
for i in xrange(0,IMap.MapSurroundCount):
    print IMap.MapSurround(i).name

#Alternating Scale Bar
#North Arrow
#Scale Text

#I know I need the element with certain name
scale_bar = [IMap.MapSurround(i) for i in xrange(0,IMap.MapSurroundCount)
             if IMap.MapSurround(i).name == 'Alternating Scale Bar'][0]

#accessing the properties if ScaleBar object - all the properties inside
#Alternating Scale Bar Properties window
IScaleBar = scale_bar.QueryInterface(esriCarto.IScaleBar)

print IScaleBar.UnitLabel
#u'Decimal Degrees'

#we want to change it to Meters
IScaleBar.UnitLabel = 'Meters'

#either save the same mxd, overwriting existing one; you cannot have it open in ArcMap
#mxdObject.Save()

#or perhaps better to create copies
mxdObject.SaveAs(r'C:\GIS\arcobjects\ScaleBarLayoutUpdated.mxd')

If you have troubles setting up comtypes and running Python accessing ArcObjects, do post a new question - there are some people here have done it and can help!