ArcGIS Engine Developer Guide

BUILDING A COMMAND-LINE JAVA APPLICATION
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 intended for programmers who want to learn more about the
Java API in ArcGIS Engine. To get the most out of this scenario you should
understand basic Java programming concepts such as classes, inheritance, and
using packages. Some familiarity with ArcObjects will also be helpful, although
not required. Although this scenario does require conceptual knowledge of the
Java language, it does not require a lot of programming experience. The code
used in this example provides an easy entry point to learn about the Java API in
ArcGIS Engine on a small and simple scale.
You can find this sample in:
\developerkit\samples\Developer_Guide_Scenarios\
Converting_A_Tin_To_Point_ShapefileJava.zip
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
This scenario will cover several aspects of the ArcGIS Engine API. The goal of
this exercise is to create a standalone command-line application with the ArcGIS
Engine Java API. The application will take as input a TIN representation of a
surface and create a three-dimensional shapefile representing the interpolated TIN
nodes. Once you have completed this scenario, you will understand the techniques
required to work with the ArcGIS Engine Java API.
CONCEPTS
Terrain data is collected mostly as a sequence of discrete (x, y, z) data points.
Digital terrain models (DTM) are generally organized such that mass points lie in
a grid pattern or they represent nodes of triangles in an array referred to as a
triangulated irregular network, or TIN. The nodes will be converted to points and
used to create a new feature class. This exercise will use the TIN object and the
ITinAdvanced interface it implements. ITinAdvanced provides access to basic properties
and is a starting point to the underlying data structure. In addition, the
scenario utilizes the GeometryDef and FieldsEdit classes to populate the newly
created feature class.
The Java API is not included in the typical
installation of the ArcGIS Engine Developer Kit. If
you do not have it installed, rerun the Developer
Kit Install wizard, click Custom or Modify, and
select the Java feature under ArcGIS Engine. In
addition, for access to the Javadoc and other Javaspecific
documentation, select the Java feature
under Software Developer Kit.
DESIGN
The application will be written entirely in the Java language. This allows you to
write code once on any platform and deploy the application on any supported
ArcGIS Engine platform. This scenario will use Microsoft Windows XP as the
developer platform but can easily be followed on any UNIX-based developer
platforms.
Ant, a cross-platform Java-based build tool, will be used to build and deploy the
scenario. Ant executes tasks implemented as Java classes, which allow it to inherit
the platform independence of Java. ArcGIS Engine Developer Kit includes an
extended version of Ant called arcgisant. This scenario will use arcgisant, but you
are free to use any version of Ant 1.5.x or greater.
REQUIREMENTS
To successfully follow this scenario you need the following (the requirements for
deployment are covered later in the ‘Deployment’ section):
• An installation of the ArcGIS Engine Developer Kit (including Java) with an
authorization file enabling it for development use.
Chapter 6 • Developer scenarios • 409