This past Summer, as many of you know by now, Esri released a new and powerful GIS developer toolkit, the ArcGIS Runtime SDK 1.0.
ArcGIS Runtime is a developer technology for creating powerful, lightweight GIS applications that work with the entire ArcGIS system. ArcGIS Runtime SDK is a component of your existing Esri Developer Network (EDN) subscription, and is the channel through which you can obtain the SDK and begin using it today.
The issue of licensing the applications that you build and deploy is always the most important discussion point when evaluating a new technology for a project, so let’s take a quick look at how this all works at version 1.0.
Licensing: Basic or Standard
There are 2 levels of licensing for applications, Basic and Standard.
A Basic license does not require a deployment fee. You are allowed to deploy Basic applications to however many users and devices you choose.
A Basic license allows you to deploy client apps that:
- Connect to and use ArcGIS Server, ArcGIS Online and ArcGIS Portal Services
- Use Local Tile Packages (.tpk files)
- Perform GPS functionality
Notice that there is no local access to maps and data and local geoprocessing allowed with a Basic license on the desktop machine.
A Standard license, on the other hand gives you (including all of the Basic capabilities previously mentioned):
- Local support for Map, Tile, Locator and Geoprocessing Packages
- Read / Write access to simple features in a local Geodatabase (File, Workgroup, & Enterprise)
- Point to Point Routing
- A large number of the GP tools available via a Geoprocessing Package. Check out the list of supported tools here.
Making it work for your apps
To license applications for production (live applications), you will obtain and add a license code snippet to your applications source by using the following steps:
- Determine what functionality sets you application needs. You can use the documentation here as a reference.
- If you want to deploy the functionality in the Basic license, request a Basic license. If you want to deploy Standard functionality, purchase the number of deployments you need for the number of users/devices you want to deploy to. For details, see Request or purchase deployments. At time of purchase, you will be asked how many deployments you need (currently, they come in packs of 25) and you will be asked to select any extension licenses you need from the following list:
- 3D Analyst extension
- Network Analyst extension
- Spatial Analyst extension
Esri provides you with the software authorization number associated with your deployment license.
- Use the software authorization number from customer service to produce a license code snippet. You must add the license code snippet, which contains a license string for each license you purchased or requested. To accomplish this, follow the steps in Authorizing a deployment license and then in Obtaining a license code snippet and adding it to your project.
- For the Standard license and extension licenses, count each deployment (each user/device you deployed to) against the number of deployments you purchased. Distributing more deployments than you have purchased is a violation of the license agreement.
For more information on purchasing and upgrading deployment pack licenses, go to the Concepts help system and licensing section of the ArcGIS Resource Center.
