What's new for developers at 10?

In this topic

• Integrated ArcObjects SDK
• Architectural modifications
• Supported platforms
• New features
  • ArcGIS Engine concurrent licensing
  • Customizing ArcGIS Desktop using add-ins
  • Map automation using Python
  • Background execution of geoprocessing tools
  • GraphicTracker for moving objects
  • Basemap layers for improved map navigation and display
  • Visualizing spatial datasets in ArcGIS
  • Visualizing time in ArcGIS
  • ArcMap editing enhancements
  • Display expressions for advanced MapTips
  • Attribute-driven symbology
  • Improved printing support
  • PNG and alpha-blending bitmap support for icons
  • X86 target platform
• New assemblies
• Enhancements to existing libraries
  • ArcMapUI
  • Carto
  • Controls
  • DataSourcesRaster
  • Display and DisplayUI
  • Framework
  • Geodatabase
  • Geometry
  • Geoprocessor library and Toolbox reference
  • Location
  • NetworkAnalyst
  • Schematics
  • SystemUI
• Deprecated or removed
  • ESRI.ArcGIS.ADF
  • ESRI.ArcGIS.ADF.Connection
  • VBA support
  • Visual Basic 6.0 application support
  • ArcWeb library
  • DataSourcesSMUUI library
  • Survey Analyst extension

Integrated ArcObjects SDK

• Building add-ins for ArcGIS Desktop
• Building stand-alone applications
• Developing with ArcGIS Server

Architectural modifications

//Insert this line before invoking any ArcObjects to bind Engine runtime. 
ESRI.ArcGIS.RuntimeManager.Bind(ESRI.ArcGIS.ProductCode.Engine);

[VB.NET]
'Insert this line before invoking any ArcObjects to bind Engine runtime.
ESRI.ArcGIS.RuntimeManager.Bind(ESRI.ArcGIS.ProductCode.Engine)

//Insert this line before invoking any ArcObjects to bind Desktop runtime.
ESRI.ArcGIS.RuntimeManager.Bind(ESRI.ArcGIS.ProductCode.Desktop);

'Insert this line before invoking any ArcObjects to bind Desktop runtime.
ESRI.ArcGIS.RuntimeManager.Bind(ESRI.ArcGIS.ProductCode.Desktop)

• Desktop—ESRIRegAsm /p:desktop "C:\Test\MyCustomAssembly.dll"
• Engine—ESRIRegAsm /p:engine "C:\Test\MyCustomAssembly.dll"

• ArcGIS install location—Before this release, ArcGIS Desktop, ArcGIS Engine Runtime, SDKs, and ArcGIS Server were installed in the <your specified location>\ArcGIS folder on your machine. With this release, all ArcGIS products can be installed independent of one another in different locations on your machine. The typical install locations are as follows:
  • ArcGIS Desktop: <your specified location>\ArcGIS\Desktop10.0
  • ArcObjects SDK: <your specified location>\ArcGIS\DeveloperKit10.0
  • ArcGIS Engine Runtime: <your specified location>\ArcGIS\Engine10.0
  • ArcGIS Server: <your specified location>\ArcGIS\Server10.0
• ESRI policy files—ESRI no longer issues publisher policy files that redirect to newer versions of ESRI assemblies. If you're migrating applications to ArcGIS 10, you must recompile and test your applications to deploy on ArcGIS 10 runtime. For more information on migrating applications, see Migrating ArcGIS 9.3 Desktop and Engine custom components to ArcGIS 10.
• ESRI registry keys—If you're using ESRI registry keys to interrogate the installation locations of ArcGIS products, the keys have been modified at this release. For a complete list of new registry keys, see Migrating ArcGIS 9.3 Desktop and Engine custom components to ArcGIS 10. Alternatively, you can take advantage of the new APIs in the ESRI.ArcGIS.Version assembly to query install locations instead of using the registry keys.

Supported platforms 

New features

ArcGIS Engine concurrent licensing

Customizing ArcGIS Desktop using add-ins

Map automation using Python

Background execution of geoprocessing tools

GraphicTracker for moving objects

Basemap layers for improved map navigation and display

Visualizing spatial datasets in ArcGIS

Visualizing time in ArcGIS

ArcMap editing enhancements

• User interface—The editing environment in ArcGIS Desktop has been redesigned to provide a more simplified and streamlined workflow. The workflows for the edit task, edit target, and sketch tools have been supplemented by templates, edit tools, construction tools, and shape constructors. The majority of changes and additions to the editor assembly support these user experience changes. For more information, see Migrating desktop editing customizations to ArcGIS 10.
• Templates—Feature templates are a central concept in the editing environment in ArcGIS. Creating features using the editor relies on the use of feature templates. Feature templates provide an easy way to simplify and streamline the creation of features using the editor. Because a number of the properties required to set up the editing environment and attribute the feature are predefined, the user can easily select a template, and a number of steps are performed automatically, making the user's task easier. For more information, see Using feature templates.
• Snapping—A new snapping environment that can be used by both ArcMap and ArcGIS Engine developers is available. This snapping environment allows you to enable snapping in all your custom tools, not just those used with the editor. The snapping environment is accessed as an extension in ArcMap and from the esriControls assembly in ArcGIS Engine. For more information, see How to work with the snap environment.
• TOC customizations—The Table of Contents window and TOC views have been re-architected. Table of Contents views, such as display and source, now appear as icons on the Table of Contents toolbar rather than as tabs, as in previous versions. The Table of Contents window is now also part of the dockable window framework allowing it to slide, pin, and dock with other windows in ArcGIS. Custom TOC views can be created by implementing the IContentsView3 interface, which exposes two additional properties including the bitmap for the icon and a ToolTip string.
  
  Existing custom views should only be migrated to the new TOC framework if they directly manipulate or are associated with the layers on the map. If you were previously using the TOC framework to host custom views for their docking capability, you should create a proper dockable window instead. To migrate existing custom views to the new framework, you need to implement the IContentsView3 interface in your class and update the Bitmap and Tooltip properties. For more information, see Creating custom ArcMap TOC views.

Display expressions for advanced MapTips

Attribute-driven symbology

• Rotating point features—The existing rotation renderer has been improved to provide support for applying rotation to point features based on a rotation value specified in an attribute field or by using an expression. You can rotate points randomly within a 0–360 degree range. The IRotationRenderer2 interface provides methods for rotating points in map as well as in 3D views, such as scene and globe. In scene and globe, rotation is supported for the x, y, and z axes. However, in map, the rotation is supported in the 2D plane only.
• Size of point features—A size renderer interface allows you to size point features based on a size value specified in an attribute field or by using an expression. You can also size points randomly within a range. The ISizeRenderer interface provides methods for sizing points in map as well as in 3D views, such as scene and globe.

Improved printing support

PNG and alpha-blending bitmap support for icons

X86 target platform

New assemblies

• ESRI.ArcGIS.ADF.Local—The ESRI.ArcGIS.ADF.Local assembly contains a number of .NET utility classes that facilitate development by taking advantage of .NET capabilities such as object inheritance and static functions. The ESRI.ArcGIS.ADF assembly has been deprecated and replaced by ESRI.ArcGIS.ADF.Local.
• ESRI.ArcGIS.ADF.Connection.Local—The ESRI.ArcGIS.ADF.Connection.Local assembly contains .NET classes used to establish connections with ArcGIS Server and ArcIMS services. The ESRI.ArcGIS.ADF.Connection assembly has been deprecated and replaced by ESRI.ArcGIS.ADF.Connection.Local.
• ESRI.ArcGIS.EngineCore—The EngineCore library contains APIs that allow you to build and manage collections of graphics in a map or globe using GraphicTrackers.
• ESRI.ArcGIS.SchematicControls—The SchematicControls library contains the schematic control commands, which are a set of commands that works with the ArcGIS Engine controls and that enable you to build Schematic applications. All the schematic-related commands in the ESRI.ArcGIS.Controls library have been moved to Schematic control commands.
• ESRI.ArcGIS.SchematicUI—The SchematicUI library provides UIs to support objects contained in the Schematic library. The ArcMap and ArcCatalog Schematic Extension object is implemented by this library.
• ESRI.ArcGIS.Version—Stand-alone applications must now programmatically bind to a specific ArcGIS product runtime on your machine before you can use any ArcObjects components. The Version assembly provides APIs for runtime binding and also includes the RuntimeManager class to enumerate the ArcGIS products currently installed on a machine, as well as their installation location. 

Enhancements to existing libraries

ArcMapUI

Carto

Controls

• The ControlsFindRouteCommand class has been added. This command opens the Find Route dialog box, which lets you find routes between points using a variety of methods. You can find an optimized route, which is the most efficient travel route between the points you select, or you can find a route from point to point based on an order you select. You can set the points, or stops, by clicking the map with your mouse, by adding them from a layer, or by geocoding them.
• An ArcGIS Engine Developer Kit License is (and has been in previous releases) required to develop applications that embed ArcGIS Engine controls, such as SceneControl, GlobeControl, TOCControl, and ToolbarControl only. At ArcGIS 10, an ArcGIS Engine Developer Kit License is also required to develop applications using MapControl and PageLayoutControl as well.
• The separate assemblies that were delivered for each individual control (AxMapControl, AxTOCControl, and so on) have been removed. These were deprecated at version 9.2 when the individual controls were merged into the combined Controls assembly. 

DataSourcesRaster

• The following classes that can manage a large collection of images and provide dynamic image processing capabilities are new at 10:
  • The FunctionRasterDataset class is a special type of raster dataset that encapsulates RasterFunction (a class that describes raster operations) and RasterFunctionArguments (a class that describes the required arguments for the operations) together. When it's accessed, the FunctionRasterDataset creates an output raster at run time by applying the raster function to the input data, which provides a mechanism for dynamic raster processing. A set of raster function classes has been added that includes HillShadeFunction, ClipFunction, ConvolutionFunction, SlopeFunction, StretchFunction, ArithmeticFunction, and PanSharpeningFunction.
  • MosaicDataset is a new raster data model that is used to manage a large collection of images with multiple formats and multiple sensors. It is supported in file geodatabases, personal geodatabases, and enterprise geodatabases. The RasterType class and a set of raster builder classes, such as LandsatBuilder, QuickBirdBuilder, and IkonosBuilder, have been developed to support various sensor types. A number of mosaic dataset operation parameter classes, including AddRastersParameters, BuildBoundaryParameters, and DefineOverviewsParameters, have been added to be used when authoring a mosaic dataset. (The MosaicLayer class, for displaying mosaic datasets, has also been added to the Carto library.)
• The following classes were added to support sensor camera models:
  • LSRXform (local space rectangle transform)
  • FrameXform (standard frame camera transform)
• The following interfaces have also been added:
  • IRasterColormap3—Used to read and write color map files (.clr).
  • IRawBlocks—Used to read and write pixel blocks based on storage blocks.

Display and DisplayUI

• Display—ServerStyleGalleryItem supports the IStyleGalleryItem2 interface. IStyleGalleryItem2 provides access to members that define items in the style gallery. Symbols and map elements are stored in the style gallery. Symbol or map element tables within a style have a new field, Tags, that contains references to the graphic properties of each symbol. Tags can be read from the item within the style gallery using the Tags property from IStyleGalleryItem2.
• DisplayUI—The StyleItemEditor coclass supports the IStyleItemEditor interface. IStyleItemEditor can be used to edit the properties of a style item, such as style, title, and so on.

Framework

• IDockableWindowInitialPlacement—Specifies where a dockview will appear the first time it's displayed
• IDockableWindowImageDef—Associates an icon with your dockview.

Geodatabase

• The workspace editing event model has been extended to include the IWorkspaceEditEvents2 interface. This interface exposes an event—OnBeginStopEditing—that is triggered when client code calls IWorkspaceEdit.StopEditing and allows custom behavior to occur before the edit session has been stopped. This is in contrast to IWorkspaceEditEvents.OnStopEditing, which is triggered after the edit session has already been stopped.
• IQueryDef2 has been added to allow for support of postfix clauses, such as Order By and Group By, through the PostfixClause property; prefix clauses, such as Distinct, through the PrefixClause property; and recycling cursors, through the Evaluate2 method. The IQueryFilterDefinition2 interface has also been added to query filters to support prefix clauses.
• Several triangulated irregular network (TIN) related interfaces, such as ITinAdvanced3, ITinEdit2, ITinImporter, and ITinSurface3, for data management and analysis have been added. New terrain related interfaces, such as IDynamicSurface3, ITerrain2, ITerrainDataSource2, ITerrainEdit3, ITerrainEmbeddedDataSource2, and ITerrainFieldStatistics, for data management and analysis have been added as well.
• NetworkForwardStar—The INetworkForwardStarEx interface has been added to support the new barrier types (polygon, polyline, and point barriers that do not block the whole edge). INetworkForwardStarEx also centralizes the setup and querying used for network traversal that was previously spread across the INetworkForwardStar and INetworkForwardStarSetup interfaces.
• Network dataset—The DENetworkDataset coclass has a new IDENetworkDataset2 interface that allows you to specify new properties added to the network dataset, such as the elevation connectivity model and traffic data. There is a new NetworkEdgeTrafficEvaluator coclass that allows a network attribute to return travel time values that vary based on the time of day. The NetworkAttribute class has a new property that indicates whether the attribute is time aware and the network elements have new properties that allow you to query attribute values for a specific time of day. This might be of interest to developers using NetworkForwardStar.

Geometry

• The IConstructClothoid interface has been added to support clothoid curves. A clothoid curve (or Euler spiral) is often used in railway and highway engineering to allow gradual transition between tangents or circular curves. Also at ArcGIS 10, 3D polylines can support vertical line segments. For more information on vertical line segments, see Working with vertical polyline segments.
• The IPolycurveGeodetic and IConstructGeodetic interfaces have been added to support the construction of densified approximations of geodetic curves. These interfaces allow you to construct circles and ellipses that are defined using geodesic distance. Also, you can now compute distance between points on geodesic, loxodrome, great elliptic, or normal section curves.
• The IGeometryServer2 interface provides access to more standard operations on arrays of geometric value objects. Similar to IGeometryServer members, the input geometries are never modified by these operations.

Geoprocessor library and toolbox reference

Location

• ISingleLineAddressInput—Used to determine if a locator supports single line geocoding. It contains the SingleLineAddressField property, which specifies the field that the locator uses to geocode addresses in a single line format. It also contains the DefaultInputFieldNames property to determine which field in an address table contains the full address for single line geocoding.
• IGeocodingProperties2—Used to specify EndOffsetDistance as a double and specify EndOffsetDistanceUnits as esriUnits for locators that are built using ArcGIS 10 and above.
• ESRIGen2AddressLocator—A locator (coclass) that uses the ESRI geocoding engine introduced in ArcGIS 10. This address locator supports single line input for geocoding.
• IBatchGeocoding—Implemented by every locator and contains a subset of the methods that IAdvancedGeocoding contains. Use IBatchGeocoding instead of IAdvancedGeocoding when there is no need to access standardization methods or when a locator does not support standardization. IAdvancedGeocoding contains the RematchTable and MatchRecordSet methods.

NetworkAnalyst

• Location-Allocation solver—A new Network Analyst (NA) solver, NALocationAllocationSolver, has been added. The Location-Allocation solver is often used to locate a set of warehouses to minimize transportation costs or to locate a set of locations, such as fire stations, to provide the best coverage in a specified travel time, or to locate retail outlets to best capture market shares in presence of competitor locations using a Huff model.
• Polygon and polyline barriers—To provide support for polygon and polyline barriers, NALocationRangesObject, NALocationRangesFeature, and NALocationRanges track the lists of junctions and edge ranges, with the associated geometry, that make up barriers. The INALocator3 and INALocatorAgent3 interfaces have been added to use shapes and rows from feature classes to generate the location ranges associated with polygon and polyline barriers. The INAClassDefinition2 interface has been added to the NAClassDefinition coclass to help you find the location range field in the barrier NAClasses.
• Locating—Sometimes, when locating analysis objects, it is important to exclude elements that are restricted due to network attributes or barriers. CacheRestrictedElements and ExcludeRestrictedElements have been added to INALocator3 to restrict the NALocator location queries from returning network locations that fall on restricted network elements.

Schematic

• Database objects—All schematic elements are now stored as point, polyline, or polygon feature classes. You can take advantage of the core ArcGIS symbology and labeling to represent schematic elements in a schematic diagram (SchematicDiagram).
• In-memory objects—Schematic diagrams can now be edited. When a schematic diagram is edited, the diagram and its features are loaded as in-memory objects. When the edits are saved, the changes are automatically reported on the corresponding schematic objects in the schematic database.
• Schematic events—Schematic events are now managed from the ISchematicDatasetEvents interface.
• Schematic controls—All the schematic-related commands have been moved from the Controls library to the new SchematicControls library. Also, new commands that manage schematic diagram editing and layer properties have been added. Some of them are listed as follows:
  • ControlsSchematicImportLayerPropertiesCommand
  • ControlsSchematicPropagateLayerPropertiesCommand
  • ControlsSchematicRestoreDefaultLayerPropertiesCommand
  • ControlsSchematicSaveEditsCommand
  • ControlsSchematicStartEditCommand
  • ControlsSchematicStopEditCommand

SystemUI

Deprecated or removed

ESRI.ArcGIS.ADF

ESRI.ArcGIS.ADF.Connection

VBA support

Visual Basic 6.0 application support

ArcWeb library

DataSourcesSMUUI library

Survey Analyst extension

See Also: