ArcGIS Engine Developer Guide

BUILDING APPLICATIONS WITH WINDOWS CONTROLS
Rather than walk through this scenario, you can
get the completed application from the samples
installation location. The sample is installed as
part of the ArcGIS developer samples.
The ArcGIS developer samples are not included
in the typical installation of the ArcGIS Engine
Developer Kit. If you do not have them installed,
rerun the Developer Kit Install wizard, click
Custom or Modify, and click the samples feature
under Software Developer Kit.
This walkthrough is for developers who want to build and deploy an application
using .NET. It describes the process of building and deploying an application
using the ArcGIS controls.
You can find this sample in:
\DeveloperKit\samples\Developer_Guide_Scenarios\
Building_an_ArcGIS_Controls_Map_Viewer_ApplicationCSharp.zip
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
The goal of the ‘Building applications with Windows Controls’ scenario is to
demonstrate and familiarize you with the steps required to develop and deploy a
GIS application using the standard ArcGIS controls within the Microsoft Visual
Studio .NET API. The scenario uses the MapControl, PageLayoutControl,
TOCControl, ToolbarControl, and LicenseControl as Windows Controls within
the Microsoft Visual Studio .NET development environment. COM, Java, and
C++ programmers should refer to the following scenarios: ‘Building applications
with ActiveX’, ‘Building applications with visual JavaBeans’, ‘Building a command-line
Java application’, and ‘Building a command-line C++ application’.
The scenario demonstrates the steps required to create a GIS application for
viewing preauthored ESRI map documents, or MXDs. The scenario covers the
following techniques:
• Loading and embedding the ArcGIS controls in Microsoft Visual Studio .NET.
• Loading preauthored map documents into MapControl and
PageLayoutControl.
• Setting ToolbarControl and TOCControl buddy controls.
• Handling form resize.
• Adding ArcGIS Engine commands and tools to the ToolbarControl.
• Creating popup menus.
• Managing label editing in the TOCControl.
• Drawing shapes on the MapControl.
• Creating a custom tool to work with the MapControl, PageLayoutControl,
and ToolbarControl.
• Customizing the ToolbarControl.
• License configuration using the LicenseControl.
• Deploying the application onto a Windows operating system.
CONCEPTS
This scenario is implemented using the Microsoft Visual Studio .NET development
environment and uses the ESRI interop assemblies to host the ArcGIS
controls inside .NET Windows Controls in a .NET form. These interoperability
assemblies act as a bridge between the unmanaged code of COM and the managed
.NET code. Any references to the members of the COM ArcGIS controls
are routed to the interop assemblies and forwarded to the actual COM object.
Likewise, responses from the COM object are routed to the interop assembly and
forwarded to the .NET application. Each ArcGIS Engine control has events,
properties, and methods that can be accessed once embedded within a container,
Chapter 6 • Developer scenarios • 331