{"id":181771,"date":"2012-09-06T23:21:35","date_gmt":"2012-09-06T23:21:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/?post_type=blog&p=181771"},"modified":"2018-12-18T11:22:36","modified_gmt":"2018-12-18T19:22:36","slug":"a-simple-approach-for-including-3rd-party-python-libraries-with-your-scripts","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/analytics\/a-simple-approach-for-including-3rd-party-python-libraries-with-your-scripts","title":{"rendered":"A simple approach for including 3rd party Python libraries with your scripts"},"author":5121,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_searchwp_excluded":""},"categories":[23341],"tags":[24341],"industry":[],"product":[36991],"class_list":["post-181771","blog","type-blog","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-analytics","tag-python","product-arcgis-desktop"],"acf":{"short_description":"Often times, your Python scripts require 3rd party Python libraries.","flexible_content":[{"acf_fc_layout":"content","content":"

Often times, your Python scripts require 3rd<\/sup>\u00a0party Python libraries. For example, the sample tools located here:\u00a0http:\/\/www.arcgis.com\/home\/item.html?id=f3d91b8f852042e289e09a7ec8342431<\/a>\u00a0requires xlrd, xlwt, and openpyxl Python libraries. This sample includes all of the dependent libraries, and demonstrates just how easy it is.<\/p>\n

The secret to most Python modules and packages:\u00a0they\u2019re just files<\/em>. You can copy any Python library \u00a0into the same folder as the .py file that imports them and\u00a0it will just work\u00a0<\/em>(Note: in the case of C extensions and compiled bytecode, the Python version and architecture must match). Here is the layout of the folder with the libraries we mentioned before:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Finding the install location of a library<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Usually the Python library is located in the site-packages folder within the Python install directory, however, if it is not located in the site-packages folder and you are uncertain where it is installed, here is a Python sample to locate Python modules installed on your computer.<\/p>\n

\n
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\n
def<\/code> find_module(modulename, filename<\/code>=<\/code>None<\/code>):<\/code><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/code>&quot;&quot;&quot;Finds a python module <\/code>or<\/code> package on the standard path.<\/code><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/code>If a filename <\/code>is<\/code> specified, add its containing folder<\/code><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/code>to the system path.<\/code><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/code>Returns a string of the full path to the module<\/code>\/<\/code>package.&quot;&quot;&quot;<\/code><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/code>import<\/code> imp<\/code><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/code>import<\/code> sys<\/code><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/code>import<\/code> os<\/code><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/code>full_path <\/code>=<\/code> []<\/code><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/code>if<\/code> filename:<\/code><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/code>full_path.append(os.path.dirname(os.path.abspath(filename)))<\/code><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/code>full_path <\/code>+<\/code>=<\/code> sys.path<\/code><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/code>fname <\/code>=<\/code> imp.find_module(modulename, full_path)<\/code><\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/code>return<\/code> fname[<\/code>1<\/code>]<\/code><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Note that Python modules can be individual files (with the extensions .py, .pyc, .pyd, .zip) or directories (which contain a __init__.py to mark them as Python packages). Once you\u2019ve located the file\/folder, copy it in. Make sure the name matches up to what you expect it to be named on the import line: if you have a module with a folder named PYTHISLIB but expect to import it as thislib, rename the directory once you\u2019ve copied it in to thislib.<\/p>\n

CAUTION:<\/strong>
\nBefore distributing any 3rd<\/sup>\u00a0party Python library, be sure to understand how it is licensed. If a library is licensed as GPL, and your solution is a commercial product, it may not be possible to distribute that library as part of your product.<\/p>\n"}],"authors":[{"ID":5121,"user_firstname":"","user_lastname":"","nickname":"jpardy84","user_nicename":"jpardy84","display_name":"jpardy","user_email":"jpardy@esri.com","user_url":"","user_registered":"2018-03-02 00:16:49","user_description":"","user_avatar":""}],"related_articles":"","card_image":false,"wide_image":false},"yoast_head":"\nA simple approach for including 3rd party Python libraries with your scripts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.esri.com\/arcgis-blog\/products\/arcgis-desktop\/analytics\/a-simple-approach-for-including-3rd-party-python-libraries-with-your-scripts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta 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