I have a series of approximately 15 MXD files that I use as templates for the standard figures in a certain type of report. I am searching for an efficient method of updating several text fields in the title blocks in each MXD to reflect the current project: Project Name, Project Number, Site Location, etc. All 15 maps will have identical information, although it is presented in several different title block formats.
The current workflow is to copy the series of 15 MXDs and the associated geodatabase (relative paths) to the new project folder, and start updating the individual MXD files. The most time-consuming part is clicking on each of the text entries in the title block and entering the same (updated) information into each one of them. I would like to be able to link these text objects to an external file (text file, Excel file, database table, etc.), and have the document read this value and update the text when the MXD is opened. This way, the project information could be updated in one file, and it would carry through to all of the related maps.
One solution that I came up with was to add a layer to each map (Project Boundary), and add the project information as fields in this layer. Then, by setting up Data Driven Pages (on one record), I could populate the text entries in the title blocks using DDP dynamic text from the various fields. However, setting up and maintaining one-record DDP seems like a lot of extra work just to get title block text to update. I'm hoping there is some simple code that I can add to the MXD to pull in the text from an external source.
I'm using ArcGIS Desktop 10.2 with no additional extensions. Any ideas would be appreciated!
The current workflow is to copy the series of 15 MXDs and the associated geodatabase (relative paths) to the new project folder, and start updating the individual MXD files. The most time-consuming part is clicking on each of the text entries in the title block and entering the same (updated) information into each one of them. I would like to be able to link these text objects to an external file (text file, Excel file, database table, etc.), and have the document read this value and update the text when the MXD is opened. This way, the project information could be updated in one file, and it would carry through to all of the related maps.
One solution that I came up with was to add a layer to each map (Project Boundary), and add the project information as fields in this layer. Then, by setting up Data Driven Pages (on one record), I could populate the text entries in the title blocks using DDP dynamic text from the various fields. However, setting up and maintaining one-record DDP seems like a lot of extra work just to get title block text to update. I'm hoping there is some simple code that I can add to the MXD to pull in the text from an external source.
I'm using ArcGIS Desktop 10.2 with no additional extensions. Any ideas would be appreciated!