CEDRA

CEDRA-AGSTools^TM is a product comprised of a suite of ArcGIS Server Web Application software written in VB.NET using Microsoft's Visual Studio 2008, .NET Framework 3.5 and the ArcGIS Web ADF. The software is distributed in source code form and can easily be incorporated into most any ArcGIS Server Web Application that utilizes VB as its custom class code language. Since the tools are available in source code form they can be used as is or modified by the end user and tailored for their particular installation, if so desired. There are no royalty fees associated with the CEDRA-AGSTools software product. The process of creating and customizing an ArcGIS Server Web Application, using Notepad - not Visual Studio - and ArcGIS Server Manager, is described in the August 2009 issue of Command of the Month. Other Command of the Month issues which discuss the CEDRA-AGSTools software include September 2009, October 2009, November 2010 and April 2011.

In addition to the software, CEDRA-AGSTools includes 1 year of technical support for assisting the client in installing the software, as well as performing minor customization, and software updates. Major customization work is available under a separate services agreement.

Here is an example of how the Attribute Editing portion of CEDRA-AGSTools was employed to develop an Urban Forestry - Public Tree Inventory application. The dialog box shown in the image was created without any programming and is entirely customizable by the user. Note that multiple services can be accommodated by the CEDRA_AGSTools software. Additionally, multi-column dialog boxes could be created as shown in this Street Centerline application.

Since the software is distributed in source code form, users are able to see exactly how the software is structured and make any desired modifications. The inline documentation provides an excellent means for users to learn how to use the ArcGIS Web ADF in developing ArcGIS Server Web Applications. The techniques shown in the code can then be applied to develop other custom tools. User will also realize that the license fee for the CEDRA-AGSTools software is far less than the cost to hire a consultant to develop all of the tools included in the CEDRA-AGSTools software. Additionally, there is no limit to the number of users that can access the tools within the CEDRA-AGSTools tools and since there are no royalty fees associated with the CEDRA-AGSTools software, the CEDRA-AGSTools code can be used to develop other ArcGIS Server tools freely.

The CEDRA-AGSTools operate on the concept of an active layer in a map service. As such, a Web Application can display many layers in multiple map services, but the CEDRA-AGSTools will process only one layer (the current active layer) at a time. The [Set Active Layer] tool enables the user to define the current active layer by selecting the appropriate map service, after which, the appropriate layer from a drop-down list is selected. Once set, the current active layer remains in effect until changed by the user.

The tools comprising the CEDRA-AGSTools suite include the following:

General

• [Set Active Layer] which enables the user to define the current active layer by selecting the appropriate layer from a drop-down list.
• [Identify Feature] which enables the user to display the attributes that are associated with a feature. Unlike the native ArcGIS Server Identify tool, the CEDRA [Identify Feature] tool will display, in addition to the main attributes associated with the feature, any related data that may be associated with the feature. The August 2009 issue of Command of the Month discusses these two tools in detail.

View

• [Select Feature] which enables the user to select or highlight features in the current active layer.
• [Select Feature Add] which enables the user to select or highlight features in the current active layer and add them to the current selection set.
• [Zoom to Layer] which enables the user to change the map extent by zooming to the extent of the current active layer.
• [Zoom to Selected] which enables the user to change the map extent by zooming to the extent of the selected features in the current active layer.
• [Zoom In or Out] which enables the user to change the map extent by zooming in or out by specifying a scale factor. A value greater than 1.0 zooms in, while a value less than 1.0 zooms out.
• [Unselect Features] which enables the user to deselect or clear the selected set for the current active layer.

Export

• [Export Attributes] which enables the user to create and download an ASCII based comma delineated file (.txt) which contains the attributes of the selected features in the current active layer. The [Select Feature] or [Select Feature Add] tools can be used to select the appropriate feature(s), after which, the [Export Attributes] tool can be employed to create the ASCII file. The same download dialog box posed by the [Buffer Point] and [Buffer Feature] tools is used by the [Export Attributes] tool.

Buffering

• [Buffer Point] which enables the user to create a circular buffer about a picked point, whose radius is user-defined, to select features within the current active layer that intersect said circular buffer. The user then has the option to download an ASCII based comma delineated file which contains the attributes of the selected features.
• [Buffer Feature] which enables the user to create a buffer of user-defined size about a selected feature to select features within the current active layer that intersect said buffer. The user then has the option to download an ASCII based comma delineated file which contains the attributes of the selected features. The September 2009 and April 2011 issues of Command of the Month discusses these two tools in detail.

Editing

• [Add Feature] which enables the user to create a point, line or polygon feature which will be added to the current active layer as defined with the [Set Active Layer] command. The user is able to define two-point lines, as well as polyline geometries, and has the ability to create oval, circle, rectangle or multi-vertex polygon geometries employing or not point snapping.
• [Move Feature] which enables the user to transform one or more selected features. The transformation includes, translation, scaling and rotation. The selected features can reside in different layers, that is, the selected features do not have to be from the same map layer. Prior to activating the tool, the user selects the feature(s) using the [Select Feature] tool and if necessary the [Select Feature Add] tool. If the selected features are to be from different layers, the [Set Active Layer] command will need to be selected to define the appropriate layer prior to selecting the feature(s) with the [Select Feature Add] tool.
• [Delete Feature] which enables the user to a set of selected features. The selected features can reside in different layers, that is, the selected features do not have to be from the same map layer. Prior to activating the tool, the user selects the feature(s) using the [Select Feature] tool and if necessary the [Select Feature Add] tool. If the selected features are to be from different layers, the [Set Active Layer] command will need to be selected to define the appropriate layer prior to selecting the feature(s) with the [Select Feature Add] tool.
• [Properties] which enables the user to specify session editing parameters including: (a) the type of feature to be created with the [Add Feature] tool, (b) the type of confirmation to be employed when using the [Move Feature] tool and (c) whether point snapping is active or not.

Attribute Editing

• [Edit Feature] which enables the user to display and edit the attributes for a selected feature in a user-defined custom dialog box. The user-defined dialog box can contain a mixture of data line and drop-down list data fields. This tool is a Web based version of the CEDRA-DataEditor [Edit Feature] tool.
• [Reload Theme Attribute Data File] which enables the user to load the Theme Attribute Data File (themes.txt) into the current Web Application session. This file contains the data needed for the application to build the custom dialog boxes that are created by the [Edit Feature] tool.
• [Map Tips] which enables the user to display in Map Tip form (a pop-up message box) the attributes that are associated with a feature. Mutliple attributes can appear in the Map Tip with custom labels preceding the attribute values. In so doing, the user is able to more clearly identify the attribute that is being displayed. The October 2009 issue of Command of the Month discusses these three tools in detail.

At the location https://www.cedra.com/comnov2010 code snippets taken from the Default.aspx and Default.aspx.vb files can be found. The files: a.txt, b.txt, c.txt and d.txt are taken from the Default.aspx.vb file, while the files e.txt through k.txt are taken from the Default.aspx file. The November 2010 issue of Command of the Command discusses where these files should reside in the Default.aspx and Default.aspx.vb files. Readers interested in how dialog box are created should look at the j.txt file.

At the location https://www.cedra.com/comapr2011 the code associated with the [Set Active Layer], [Buffer Point] and [Buffer Feature] tools can be found. The April 2011 issue of Command of the Command discusses how these tools can be implemented in an ArcGIS Server application.

It should be noted that the operation of Web Application software is highly dependent upon the Web browser that is being used. The CEDRA-AGSTools software was developed and tested using Internet Explorer and the Mozilla FireFox browser, Version 3.5.2. Other Web browsers may or may not produce the same results as these browsers.

CEDRA-AGSTools is licensed as per the terms of the CEDRA Software License Agreement.

For more information on CEDRA^TM software and services click on this link to Send an E-mail to CEDRA

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