Dataset properties

Summary

The Describe function returns the dataset properties described below.

Dataset properties are available in many types of Describe objects.

Properties

PropertyExplanationData Type
canVersion
(Read Only)

Specifies whether the dataset can be versioned.

Boolean
changeTracked
(Read Only)

Specifies whether the dataset is change tracked.

Boolean
datasetType
(Read Only)

Specifies the type of dataset being described.

  • Any
  • CadastralFabric
  • CadDrawing
  • Container
  • DiagramDataset
  • FeatureClass
  • FeatureDataset
  • Geo
  • LasDataset
  • Locator
  • MosaicDataset
  • NetworkDataset
  • ParcelDataset
  • PlanarGraph
  • RasterBand
  • RasterDataset
  • RelationshipClass
  • SchematicDataset
  • Table
  • Text
  • TIN
  • Tool
  • Toolbox
  • Topology
  • Terrain
  • UtilityNetwork
String
DSID
(Read Only)

The dataset ID.

Integer
extent
(Read Only)

The Extent object.

Note:

extent is available for spatial datasets only.

Extent
isArchived
(Read Only)

Specifies whether the dataset has been archived. isArchived is only supported for an enterprise geodatabase.

Boolean
isVersioned
(Read Only)

Specifies whether the dataset is versioned.

Boolean
isTraditionalVersioned
(Read Only)

Specifies whether the dataset is traditional versioned.

Boolean
isBranchVersioned
(Read Only)

Specifies whether the dataset is branch versioned.

Boolean
MExtent
(Read Only)

A space-delimited string (minimum m-value, maximum m-value).

Note:

MExtent is available for spatial datasets only.

String
minimumRequiredClientVersion
(Read Only)

Specifies the minimum version of ArcGIS Pro required to open the dataset.

Note:

This property represents the minimum client version to access the dataset. For example, a value of 13.4 represents version 3.4 for ArcGIS Pro and version 11.4 for ArcGIS Enterprise.

The default value of 10.0 is used for unregistered datasets.

String
spatialReference
(Read Only)

Returns the SpatialReference object for the dataset.

Note:

spatialReference is available for spatial datasets only.

SpatialReference
workspace
(Read Only)

Returns a Describe object with the properties of the input dataset's workspace.

See Workspace properties for specific workspace-related Describe details.

Note:

Use this property to determine workspace properties for many data types including layers, and feature classes in a geodatabase that may or may not be in a feature dataset.

Describe
ZExtent
(Read Only)

A space-delimited string (minimum z-value, maximum z-value).

Note:

ZExtent is available for spatial datasets only.

String

Code sample

Dataset properties example

The following stand-alone script displays dataset properties for a shapefile.

import arcpy

# Create a Describe object from the shapefile
#
desc = arcpy.Describe("C:/temp/xy.shp")

# Print dataset properties
#
print(("Dataset Type: {0}".format(desc.datasetType)))
print(("Extent:\n  XMin: {0}, XMax: {1}, YMin: {2}, YMax: {3}".format(
    desc.extent.XMin, desc.extent.XMax, desc.extent.YMin, desc.extent.YMax)))
print(("MExtent: {0}".format(desc.MExtent)))
print(("ZExtent: {0}".format(desc.ZExtent)))

print(("Spatial reference name: {0}:".format(desc.spatialReference.name)))