EDN Website Blog : Engine Controls

Java, Java, Java...

eleanord — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 22:42:00 GMT

Over the last few months the Java Engine team has been feverishly producing over 200 new help topics, most of which include code snippets. Since these topics are applicable to 9.2 we've decided to publish them now rather than waiting to deliver them with the next software release. You can find the topics in a new ArcObjects Developer Guide section within the Building cross-platform solutions with ArcGIS Engine using Java book in the EDN Documentation Library. The topics are grouped into a number of sub-sections that focus on different areas of the ArcGIS architecture. These include:

Finding locations with geocoding offers topics detailing the ins and outs of assigning a location to an address.
Next is the Geodatabase management section with a multitude of topics discussing such things as How to create new geodatabases, How to query geodatabase objects, How to create a multimodal network dataset, How to check for topology error features in a geodatabase topology, How to convert simple data to a geodatabase, and How to export a dataset to an XML workspace document among other things.
Key to working with ArcGIS is understanding Geometry and spatial reference. This section includes topics on When do I need to simplify a geometry, Understanding coordinate management in ArcGIS, How to convert between high and low precision spatial references, and many more.
Geoprocessing puts powerful analysis capabilities at your fingertips. Learn how to access geoprocessing tools and toolboxes, use ArcObjects as an input to a tool, and generate your own custom geoprocessing tool.
The Mapping and visualization section deals with--you guessed it--maps, map display, layers, page layouts, symbols, renderers, and more.

As an added bonus, each of these new topics also includes the comment feature! You can use it to ask for additional clarification on the topic, offer suggestions for other related topics of discussion, or provide your own expertise in that area to the Java community at large.

Content changes posted to EDN over the past month or so

eleanord — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 01:40:00 GMT

While content updates have continued to roll on over the past month, I have not been around to post about them. Hopefully, you'll excuse the delay. Below is a recap of the more signifcant updates made during my absence. Additionally, lots of topics were updated to fix broken links and formatting issues that were noted by EDN readers. These types of updates are not included in the list below.

Enhanced Export topology errors sample
Programming language(s): VB6
Development platforms: ArcGIS Desktop
The Export topology errors sample has been enhanced to work with high precision and File geodatabases. The Export Errors sample can be used to export topology errors and optionally, exceptions, to Shapefile, Personal or File Geodatabase format. Errors can be exported based on three criteria; shape, type of topology rule, or topology rule.

Create and load a personal geodatabase sample updated
Programming language(s): VB6
Development platforms: ArcGIS Desktop, ArcGIS Engine
The Create and load a personal geodatabase sample has been updated to include license initialization as well as minor changes to the way the spatial reference...(read more)

Desktop GIS - What content has been added or updated recently?

eleanord — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 18:00:00 GMT

The following content changes related to ArcGIS Desktop and ArcGIS Engine have been made since our last entry in the now-defunct "New on EDN" page (April 2007). All information on new & updated content will be posted on this blog from this date forward and the "New on EDN" page will cease to exist.

Cadastral fabrics and the cadastral editor
Programming language(s): VBA, VB6, VC++, C#, or VB.Net
Development platforms: ArcGIS Desktop with the Survey Analyst extension
SP3 includes the addition of the cadastral fabric and its data model to the ArcGIS Survey Analyst extension to ArcGIS Desktop. The initial API Reference documentation for working with cadastral fabrics is available online now.

New samples related to working with animation
Programming language(s): C# or VB.Net
Development platforms: ArcGIS Desktop

The new Move a graphic along a path in ArcMap sample moves a point graphic element or a text element along a selected line feature or line graphic. A new animation type and a corresponding keyframe are implemented to support this functionality, along with an ArcMap command for creating move-object-along-path animation. The sample illustrates how to create a custom animation type in ArcMap as well as how to implement an ArcMap command to import the animation tracks.
The Layer effects animation in ArcMap sample illustrates how to create custom animations in ArcGIS Desktop. This sample implements a layer effects animation type for ArcMap. It allows the user to animate through layer brightness and contrast. Note that this animation only works with raster layers which support contrast and brightness as layer properties.
A shortcut for creating time animations in ArcGIS Desktop applications is implemented in the Create a time layer animation sample. It illustrates how to create time animations using a variety of data sources (NetCDF, feature class, raster catalog, etc). This sample tool allows the user to create a time layer animation in one step using the Create Time Layer Animation dialog box; in ArcGIS 9.2, the standard way of creating a time animation requires multiple steps using the Create Animation Keyframe and Animation Manager dialog boxes.

New topics related to working with the geodatabase
Programming language(s): C# or VB.Net
Development platforms: ArcGIS Desktop, ArcGIS Engine

The article How to sort tables shows the workflow to use with the ITableSort interface to return the ordered results of searches and selections on a table that has ObjectIDs. The results of the sort can be accessed via a cursor or an enumeration of ObjectIDs.
How to create relationship classes details how to create a relationship class inside a feature dataset or create a standalone relationship class within a geodatabase. Relationship classes manage the associations between objects in one class (feature class or table) and objects in another. Objects at either end of the relationship can be features with geometry or records in a table.
The ISchemaLock interface is used to establish an exclusive lock on a dataset when changing its schema or when performing other operations that require exclusive access to the data. The ISchemaLockInfo interface is used in conjunction with ISchemaLock, in order to supply information concerning the schema lock such as the type of lock and the dataset to which it has been applied. How to use schema locks with the Geodatabase is discussed in this new topic.

NIM010236 - How to connect to a geodatabase
Programming language(s): C# or VB.Net
Development platforms: ArcGIS Desktop, ArcGIS Engine
Corrected a typo in the code examples shown in the .NET topic How to connect to a geodatabase. This had been logged as NIM010236.

NIM007387 - Add a field to an INFO table
Programming language(s): VBA, VB6, VC++, C#, VB.Net, C++, & Java
Development platforms: ArcGIS Desktop, ArcGIS Engine
Fulfilled the request logged as NIM007387 to add a sample showing how to add a field to an INFO table and updated the documentation for the Field class.

Building a custom geoprocessing function tool
Programming language(s): C# or VB.Net
Development platforms: ArcGIS Desktop, ArcGIS Engine
Updated the sample Building a custom geoprocessing function tool to work correctly in both ArcMap & ArcCatalog, resolving an issue reported by an EDN reader. Note: the sample still contains an issue when working with versioned sde data so expect a further update of this sample in the future.

Cloning an object using persistence
Programming language(s): C#
Development platforms: ArcGIS Desktop, ArcGIS Engine
In many cases when you are writing your own custom objects you need to support serialization. For example, a custom symbol or element needs to be saved with the map document and reloaded when the map document is opened. In most cases, you can achieve this functionality quite easily by implementing IPersistVariant, giving you an elegant solution. However, in some cases, IPersistVariant is not enough and your object must support IPersistStream. A new sample demonstrates an implementation of a clonable object through serialization.

Dynamic display documentation additions & improvements
Programming language(s): C# or VB.Net
Development platforms: ArcGIS Engine
Coinciding with the release of the dynamic display caching patch, a number of issues related to documentation for dynamic display capabilities in ArcGIS Engine were also addressed. A number of topics have been added, along with reorganization & editing of some existing materials. The About dynamic display topic is the entry point into this area.

Vertex and reshape editing commands in the ArcGIS Engine Controls
Programming language(s): C# or VB.Net
Development platforms: ArcGIS Engine
A new sample provides 4 tools that can be used in conjunction with the out-of-the-box ArcGIS Engine Editing commands. Three tools relate to vertex management: AddVertex, InsertVertex, and DeleteVertex. The fourth, ReshapePolyLineTool, allows the user to perform a reshape on the selected feature.

Building a map viewing application using the ArcGIS Engine Controls
Programming language(s): C# or VB.Net
Development platforms: ArcGIS Engine
Corrected minor issue reported by an EDN reader with the MXD path in the Building a map viewing application using the ArcGIS Engine Controls walkthrough.

EDN Website Blog : Engine Controls

Java, Java, Java...

Content changes posted to EDN over the past month or so

More content updates

Desktop GIS - What content has been added or updated recently?