Using geoprocessing

Familiarize yourself with geoprocessing as it is used in ArcGIS Desktop, then spend time getting to know the tools. For a starting point in the ArcGIS Desktop Help system, see the following topics:

Once you are familiar with geoprocessing, learn how to call a system tool from your application code. See the following topics in the ArcObjects software development kit (SDK) Help system:

There are a variety of techniques for dealing with features and attributes not found in datasets on disk. Use these techniques when your functions have ArcObjects as parameters or you want to circumvent pathnames. See the following topics in the ArcObjects SDK Help system:

There are useful non-tool methods on the geoprocessor object that you need to know about. These methods are as useful as executing tools and help to implement your overall workflow. They are grouped by functionality in the subsequent sections of the ArcObjects SDK Help system's table of contents (TOC):

You can embed any of these functionalities and tool execution code in an add-in so that a user can use them in an interactive development program.

Finally, you can create a function tool by implementing the IGPFunction2 and IGPFunctionFactory interfaces. For more information, see Using geoprocessing to develop applications and Custom geoprocessing function tools. A simpler approach is to create a .exe file in Visual Studio. For more information, see How to create a script tool that runs an EXE.