ArcGIS Engine Developer Guide

JAVA APPLICATION PROGRAMMING INTERFACE
The ArcGIS API for the Java platform is a programming interface that
interoperates with ArcObjects and is specifically designed to target Java developers.
Java technology is both a platform and an object-oriented programming
language developed by Sun Microsystems that comes in three versions and consists
of two components:
Versions:
• Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition (J2SE)
• Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE)
• Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition (J2ME)
Components:
• Java Virtual Machine (JVM)—Java runtime and client/server compilers.
• Java application programming interface—Suite of core, integration, and user
interface toolkits.
The Java language is important because it is an open standard. All implementations
of the programming language must meet the specifications provided for the
JVM. This enables applications to run on any hardware platforms that host the
JVM.
PLATFORM CONFIGURATION
This section will describe all the necessary configurations needed to be productive
with the Java API including class path and environment settings.
Setting the JAVA_HOME variable is not
absolutely necessary; however, some Java IDEs
and Java tools require it be set.
The PATH environment variable is a list of
directory paths for executables such as javac,
java, and javadoc. When an executable is
specified without a path, this variable is used to
help locate that executable.
Java developer kit
To develop with ArcObjects using the ArcGIS API for Java, you must have the
Java 2 Platform Standard Software developer kit (J2SDK) installed. All of your
J2SDK tools are located in the install directory. You can either explicitly invoke
them from that directory or add it to your PATH environment variable. Adding
the directory to your PATH variable involves two steps:
1. Create a new environment variable named JAVA_HOME.
JAVA_HOME=[path to JDK install directory]
For example:
JAVA_HOME=c:\j2sdk
2. Edit the PATH variable to include the bin directory of JAVA_HOME.
PATH=...;%JAVA_HOME%\bin
To compile server-based applications, such as servlets and EJBs, you will also
need to install and include the Java 2 Enterprise Edition toolkit in your class
path. Java application servers generally provide this, or you can get the reference
implementation provided by Sun Microsystems.
ArcGIS Engine
ArcGIS API for Java developer kit uses standard Java Native Interface (JNI) to
access core ArcObjects components. This requires some native libraries to be in
your path when compiling and running applications. You must be sure to include
the correct paths to invoke interoperability into native ArcObjects. The native
*.dll or *.so files are located in the bin subdirectory under ArcGIS.
182 • ArcGIS Engine Developer Guide