Tips for using the ArcObjects .NET SDK (ArcObjects .NET 10.8 SDK)

Summary

This topic outlines some tips and tricks to help you be more productive and successful when using the ArcObjects .NET software development kit (SDK). Some of these features of the SDK are less visible than others and some of these features make your responsibilities as a developer easier.

In this topic

Supported versions of Visual Studio
Following walkthroughs
Working with samples
Using snippets
Getting F1 Help on types within Visual Studio
Interacting with links to the ArcGIS Desktop Help system
Using summary XML tags

On the Web site for the SDK Help system, the TOC automatically syncs with the active topic.

Supported versions of Microsoft Visual Studio

In this Help system, you will often see references to Visual Studio, both as part of the requirements and part of the topics. Such references refer to any supported version of Microsoft Visual Studio, unless otherwise indicated. Please refer to system requirements

Working with samples

Samples have been included to give you full, working code examples. For general information on how to use samples, see How to use ArcGIS samples.

Each sample has a page in the Help system that gives information particular to using it, including licensing and extension information, as well as links to view the main sections of the sample's code. You can find samples by task under the Developing with ArcGIS node in the TOC or by selecting Sample as the type on the query page.

Samples are included with the SDK Install. .NET SDK and VCPP samples are also available for download online from the ArcObjects .NET Samples repo

Some samples are written as add-ins but contain functionality that is also applicable to ArcGIS Engine applications. To use those add-in samples by converting them to custom components, see Converting an ArcGIS Desktop add-in to an ArcGIS custom component.

Using snippets

Snippets are chunks of reusable code that aid programmers in performing common tasks. ArcGIS snippets are available in Microsoft Visual Studio's Visual Basic (VB) and C# code editors.

Getting F1 Help on types within Visual Studio

When you program within the Visual Studio IDE, you can open the Help page for the interface or class your cursor is over by pressing F1.

Using summary XML tags

Most of the ArcObjects .NET assemblies are based on Component Object Model (COM) C++ .olb files. Esri generates Primary Interop Assemblies (PIAs) that wrap the COM functionality into .NET assemblies, discussed in Using ArcObjects (COM-based) in .NET. As part of the C++ .olb files, Interface Definition Language (IDL) Help strings are available to provide summary information about what a particular ArcObjects type does. During the normal PIA generation process, the IDL Help string information is lost. A post process on the COM .olb files was performed to generate summary XML tags from the IDL Help strings that can be viewed by IntelliSense and the Object Browser in Visual Studio.