ArcGIS Desktop Developer Guide - Esri Support Info

340 Pages·2004·3.95 MB·English

ArcGIS® Desktop Developer Guide
ArcGIS® 9.1
PUBLISHED BY
ESRI
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Redlands, California 92373-8100
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Attribution.pmd 1 1/26/2005, 7:02 AM
Contents
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCING ArcGIS DESKTOP DEVELOPMENT.............. 1
ArcGIS 9 developer overview..........................................................................................................2
ArcGIS Desktop developer overview.............................................................................................6
Using this guide.................................................................................................................................10
ArcGIS developer resources..........................................................................................................12
CHAPTER 2: ArcGIS SOFTWARE ARCHITECTURE...........................................17
ArcGIS software architecture.......................................................................................................18
ArcGIS application programming interfaces.............................................................................23
ArcGIS Engine libraries....................................................................................................................25
ArcGIS Desktop application libraries..........................................................................................33
CHAPTER 3: DEVELOPING FOR ArcGIS DESKTOP APPLICATIONS.......45
Customizing ArcGIS Desktop.......................................................................................................................... 46
Storing customizations....................................................................................................................49
Customizing ArcGIS Desktop applications with VBA.............................................................53
Component development..............................................................................................................64
Choosing a component development environment..............................................................67
Building an ArcGIS Desktop component...................................................................................68
CHAPTER 4: LICENSING AND DEPLOYMENT...................................................73
ArcGIS Desktop license checking.................................................................................................74
Packing and deploying customizations.......................................................................................86
CHAPTER 5: DEVELOPER SCENARIOS...................................................................93
Create a toolbar: Command, Tool, and Menu...........................................................................94
Extensions.........................................................................................................................................114
Dockable window...........................................................................................................................120
APPENDIX A: DEVELOPER ENVIRONMENTS.................................................. 133
The Microsoft Component Object Model.............................................................................134
Developing with ArcObjects........................................................................................................146
The Visual Basic 6 environment..................................................................................................155
Visual Basic for Applications........................................................................................................168
The Visual Basic 6 development environment........................................................................174
Visual C++................................................................................................................................................................ 181
.NET Application Programming Interface............................................................................................. 223
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APPENDIX B: READING THE OBJECT MODEL DIAGRAMS.....................265
Interpreting the object model diagrams...................................................................................266
APPENDIX C: ILLUSTRATED CODE SAMPLES................................................269
Locate and execute command on toolbar.............................................................................271
Draw digitized line onscreen.......................................................................................................272
Add feature class to ArcMap.......................................................................................................274
Add layer to ArcMap using GxDialog.......................................................................................276
Style gallery auto symbol selection............................................................................................278
Loop through selected area features........................................................................................280
Spatial query.....................................................................................................................................282
Add map surround to page layout............................................................................................284
Add text callout to active view..................................................................................................286
Geometry projection.....................................................................................................................288
Display raster cell value in status bar........................................................................................290
Export current view......................................................................................................................292
Print current view..........................................................................................................................294
Display map extent in GxView as envelope...........................................................................296
Edit feature class schema..............................................................................................................298
APPENDIX D: ArcObjects PROBLEM-SOLVING GUIDE .............................301
ArcObjects problem-solving guide............................................................................................302
APPENDIX E: UIControls............................................................................................319
UIControl classes............................................................................................................................320
UIButtonControl class..................................................................................................................321
UIComboBoxControl class.........................................................................................................322
UIEditBoxControl class................................................................................................................323
UIToolControl class.......................................................................................................................324
APPENDIX F: BIBLIOGRAPHY.................................................................................325
INDEX .................................................................................................................................329
iv • ArcGIS Desktop Developer Guide
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11111
Introducing
ArcGIS Desktop
development
The ESRI® ArcGIS® Desktop Developer Guide is an introduction for
anyone who wants to customize or extend ArcGIS Desktop applications, such
as ArcMap™ or ArcCatalog™.
This chapter introduces the ArcGIS Desktop development environment in the
context of the ArcGIS product family.
Topics covered in this chapter include an ArcGIS 9 developer overview, an
ArcGIS Desktop developer overview, using this guide, and ArcGIS developer
resources.
1
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ARCGIS 9 DEVELOPER OVERVIEW
ArcGIS 9 is an integrated family of geographic information system (GIS) soft-
ware products for building a complete GIS. It is based on a common library of
shared GIS software components called ArcObjects™. ArcGIS 9 consists of four
key parts:
• Desktop GIS, an integrated suite of advanced GIS applications.
(cid:127) Embedded GIS, embeddable GIS component libraries for building custom
applications using C++, COM, .NET, and Java™.
(cid:127) Server GIS, a shared library of GIS software objects used to build server-side
GIS applications in enterprise and Web computing frameworks. Used for
building both SOAP-based Web services and Web applications using .NET/
ASP and Java/JSP.
(cid:127) Mobile GIS, GIS Web services to publish maps, data, and metadata through
open Internet protocols.
ArcSDE® Gateway is an interface for managing geodatabases in numerous rela-
tional database management systems (RDBMSs).
2 (cid:127) ArcGIS Desktop Developer Guide
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ARCGIS 9 DEVELOPER OVERVIEW
ArcGIS provides a scalable framework for implementing GIS for a single user or
for many users on desktops and servers. This book will be of greatest use to
developers who want to use the ArcGIS Desktop Developer Kit to customize
and extend the ArcView®, ArcEditor™, or ArcInfo® desktop products. This book
provides a general explanation of the options and opportunities available to
developers with ArcGIS Desktop. Several scenarios will illustrate with code
examples the different types of customization that can be developed with the
ArcGIS Desktop Developer Kit.
ArcGIS is a platform for building geographic information systems. ArcGIS 9 will
extend the system with major new capabilities in the areas of geoprocessing, 3D
visualization, and developer tools. ArcGIS Engine and ArcGIS Server, developer-
centric products, make ArcGIS a complete system for application and server
development.
There is a wide range of possibilities when developing with ArcGIS, including
the following:
• Configure/Customize ArcGIS applications, such as ArcMap and ArcCatalog.
(cid:127) Extend the ArcGIS architecture and data model.
(cid:127) Embed maps and GIS functionality in other applications with ArcGIS Engine.
(cid:127) Build and deploy custom desktop applications with ArcGIS Engine.
(cid:127) Build Web services and applications with ArcGIS Server.
ArcGIS 9 has a common developer experience across all ArcGIS products
(Engine, Server, and Desktop). This book focuses on customizing and extending
the ArcGIS Desktop applications. Developers wanting to build custom
standalone applications or work with ArcGIS Server should refer to the ArcGIS
Engine Developer Guide and the ArcGIS Server Administration and Development Guide,
respectively.
ArcGIS The ArcGIS system is built and extended using ArcObjects
Engine software components. ArcObjects includes a wide variety of
programmable c omponents, ranging from fine-grained objects
(for example, individual geometry objects) to coarse-grained
ArcGIS objects (for example, a map object to interact with existing
Server ArcMap documents), which aggregate comprehensive GIS
functionality for developers.
Developers work with ArcObjects using standard program-
ming frameworks to extend ArcGIS Desktop, build custom
applications with ArcGIS Engine, and implement server GIS
ArcObjects applications for various enterprise purposes using ArcGIS
ArcGIS
Server.
Desktop
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ARCGIS 9 DEVELOPER OVERVIEW
Each of the ArcGIS product architectures built with ArcObjects represents
alternative application development containers for GIS software developers,
including desktops, embeddable engines, and servers.
ARCGIS SOFTWARE DEVELOPER KITS
The ArcGIS Engine, Server, and Desktop have software developer kits (SDK)
for working with ArcObjects. The developer kits provide everything needed to
be successful with ArcObjects, including developer documentation, samples, and
object model diagrams.
ArcGIS 9
Desktop GIS Embedded GIS Server GIS Mobile GIS
ArcGIS Desktop ArcGIS Engine ArcGIS Server ArcIMS ArcGIS Mobile
ArcPad
ArcView ArcEditor
Web
Desktop
Custom
ArcInfo ArcReader Applications Server CWusetobm Te Tmemplpaltaetses
+ ArcGIS Extensions
Desktop Engine Server Mobile
Developer Kit Developer Kit Developer Kits Developer Kit
ADF Developer Kit Server Developer Kit
.NET COM .NET C++ COM Java Java ADF .NET ADF .NET COM Java PEI Compact Framework
ArcObjects
Component Building Blocks
ArcSDE
Geodatabase
File-based DBMS XML
The ArcGIS Desktop Developer Kit
ArcGIS Desktop includes a series of Windows® desktop application frame-
works—ArcMap, ArcCatalog, ArcToolbox™—and more, each with user inter-
face (UI) components. ArcGIS Desktop is available at three functional levels
(ArcView, ArcEditor, and ArcInfo) and can be customized and extended using
the ArcGIS Desktop Developer Kit.
The ArcGIS Desktop Developer Kit is included with ArcView, ArcEditor, and
ArcInfo and supports the COM and .NET programming frameworks. Many users
apply the ArcGIS Desktop Developer Kit to add extended functions, new GIS
tools, custom user interfaces, and full extensions for improving professional GIS
productivity of ArcGIS Desktop.
The ArcGIS Engine Developer Kit
ArcGIS Engine is a simple, application-neutral programming environment for
ArcObjects. The ArcGIS Engine Developer Kit is a separate product that pro-
vides a series of embeddable ArcGIS components that are used outside the
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ARCGIS 9 DEVELOPER OVERVIEW
ArcGIS Desktop application framework (for example, mapping objects are
managed as part of ArcGIS Engine, rather than in ArcMap). Using the ArcGIS
Engine Developer Kit, developers build focused GIS solutions with simple
interfaces to access any set of GIS functions or can embed GIS logic in existing
user applications to deploy GIS to broad groups of users. ArcGIS Engine has a
COM, .NET, Java, and C++ application programming interface (API) for devel-
opers.
The ArcGIS Server Developer Kit
ArcGIS Server defines and implements a set of standard GIS Web services (for
example, mapping, data access, and geocoding), as well as supports enterprise-
level application development based on ArcObjects for the server.
The ArcGIS Server Developer Kit enables developers to build central GIS servers
to host GIS functions that are accessed by many users, perform back office pro-
cessing on large central GIS databases, build and deliver GIS Web applications,
and perform distributed GIS computing.
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ARCGIS DESKTOP DEVELOPER OVERVIEW
ArcGIS Desktop includes a suite of integrated applications, including ArcMap,
ArcCatalog, and ArcToolbox. By using these applications and interfaces in unison,
you can perform any GIS task, simple to advanced, including mapping, geographic
analysis, data editing and compilation, data management, visualization, and
geoprocessing.
WHAT ARE ARCVIEW, ARCEDITOR, AND ARCINFO?
ArcGIS Desktop is the information authoring and usage tool for GIS profession-
als. It is scalable as three separate software products to meet the needs of many
types of users.
ArcView provides comprehensive mapping and analysis tools along with simple
editing and geoprocessing.
ArcEditor includes advanced editing capabilities for shapefiles and geodatabases
in addition to the full functionality of ArcView.
ArcInfo is the flagship ArcGIS Desktop product. It builds on the functionality
of ArcEditor with advanced geoprocessing. It also includes the legacy applica-
tions for ArcInfo Workstation.
Because ArcView, ArcEditor, and ArcInfo all share a common architecture, users
working with any of these GIS desktops can share their work with other users.
Maps, data, symbology, map layers, custom tools and interfaces, reports,
metadata, and so on, can be accessed interchangeably in all three products. This
means that you benefit from using a single architecture, minimizing the need to
learn and deploy several different architectures.
New capabilities can be added to all seats through a series of ArcGIS Desktop
extensions from ESRI and other organizations. Users can also develop their own
custom extensions to ArcGIS Desktop by working with ArcObjects, the ArcGIS
software component library. Users develop extensions and custom tools using
standard Windows programming interfaces, such as COM and .NET.
ArcObjects is a framework that lets you create domain-specific components from
other components. The ArcObjects components collaborate to serve every data
management and map presentation function common to most GIS applications.
ArcObjects provides an infrastructure for application customization that lets you
concentrate on serving the specific needs of your clients.
ArcMap
ArcMap is the central application in ArcGIS Desktop. It is the GIS application
used for all map-based tasks, including cartography, map analysis, and editing. In
this application, you work with maps. Maps have a page layout containing a
geographic window, or a data frame, with a series of layers, legends, scalebars,
North arrows, and other elements. ArcMap offers different ways to view a map’s
geographic data and layout views in which you can perform a broad range of
advanced GIS tasks.
ArcMap is used for mapping and editing tasks as
well as map-based analysis.
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