Tag Archives: Package

Starting at ArcGIS 10, Service Pack 1, developers now have more options when working with Packages and Web Maps.  With SP 1, you can programmatically open Layer and Map Packages from both local data sources and ArcGIS Online.  You’re not just limited to packages though; you can open Web Maps too.  This blog has more of an ArcGIS Engine focus, but since ultimately you are getting back a layer or map, ArcGIS Desktop developers can leverage this functionality too in their custom components and add-ins.

Both the LayerFile and MapDocument class’s Open methods have been enhanced to allow developers to reference a path to a package.  For example the ILayerFile.Open method can be used to open Layer Packages in a MapControl like this:

VB.NET
Dim layerFile as ILayerFile = new LayerFileClass
layerFile.Open(“c:DataLayerPackagesUSCities.lpk”)
Dim layer as ILayer = layerFile.Layer
axMapControl1.AddLayer(layer)

C#
ILayerFile layerFile = new LayerFileClass();
layerFile.Open(@”c:DataLayerPackagesUSCities.lpk”);
ILayer layer = layerFile.Layer;
axMapControl1.AddLayer(layer);

And the IMapDocument.Open method can be used to open both Layer Packages and Map Packages like so:

VB.NET
Dim mapDocument as IMapDocument = new MapDocumentClass
mapDocument.Open(“c:DataLayerPackagesMyMapPackage.mpk”, “”)
axMapControl1.Map = mapDocument.get_Map(0)

C#
IMapDocument mapDocument = new MapDocumentClass();
mapDocument.Open(@”c:DataLayerPackagesMyMapPackage.mpk”, “”);
axMapControl1.Map = mapDocument.get_Map(0);

I said earlier that you could also access data from ArcGIS.com.  This can be done by replacing the path to the package with a properly formatted URL to the ArcGIS Online content.  What is this properly formatted URL?  Let’s use the Bing Maps Road Layer Package on ArcGIS Online as an example and load it into an ArcGIS Engine Application.

Here is the link to the package.
http://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=b6969de2b84d441692f5bb8792e65d1f

To use it, we just need to feed the open method the correct URL which we can make by taking the unique identifier for the map, b6969de2b84d441692f5bb8792e65d1f (the long guid like number after the “id=”), and substituting it in the following URL.
http://www.arcgis.com/sharing/content/items/<unique identifier>/item.pkinfo

So we get:
http://www.arcgis.com/sharing/content/items/b6969de2b84d441692f5bb8792e65d1f/item.pkinfo

Since this is a Layer Package, we will use ILayerFile’s open method to open it.  Our code would look like:

VB.NET
Dim layerFile as ILayerFile = new LayerFileClass
layerFile.Open(“http://www.arcgis.com/sharing/content/items/b6969de2b84d441692f5bb8792e65d1f/item.pkinfo”)
Dim layer as ILayer = layerFile.Layer
axMapControl1.AddLayer(layer)

C#
ILayerFile layerFile = new LayerFileClass();
layerFile.Open((@”http://www.arcgis.com/sharing/content/items/b6969de2b84d441692f5bb8792e65d1f/item.pkinfo”);
ILayer layer = layerFile.Layer;
axMapControl1.AddLayer(layer);

The same URL structure can be used with Map Packages and Web Maps IMapDocument.  Just get the unique id and plug it into the URL.  Web maps are great ways to get base maps into an application.

Why would using packages and Web Maps be useful for a developer, in particular an Engine developer?  Often Engine applications are highly specialized and are supplied with application specific data when deployed.  Good GIS data is always changing and improving so occasionally you may need to supply your users with a data update.   Why not create a Map Package with all the necessary data and upload it to you own group on ArcGIS.com?  If your application references the ArcGIS Online map package instead of data on disk, it will automatically download the update.  If there are no data updates it will just reference the already unpacked data on disk.   

There are plenty of options to share your data out on ArcGIS.com.  If your data is not sensitive and you don’t mind other people accessing it, you can just upload it directly to ArcGIS Online share it with the rest of the user community.  Or, your organization can create its own private group, this could be for your whole product, or even a different group for each individual organization that you are deploying to.  Provide your users with their user name and password and the first time they open the package they will automatically be prompted for the password, which can be stored so they don’t get the dialog again.

For more information on working with packages see the following document and sample in the SDK.

• http://help.arcgis.com/en/sdk/10.0/arcobjects_net/conceptualhelp/index.html#/Working_with_packages/000100000nv8000000/
• http://help.arcgis.com/en/sdk/10.0/arcobjects_net/conceptualhelp/index.html#/Sample_Working_with_packages_in_ArcGIS_Engine/000100000nv9000000/

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