Your ArcGIS 10 Mobile guide

Read our step-by-step instructions and learn how to create an ArcGIS 10 Mobile project with either ArcEditor or ArcInfo in a standalone environment.

Finding data tools and maps is now much easier

The release of ArcGIS 10 sees a number of new search features made available.

One of the annoying aspects of creating maps with older versions of ArcGIS was assigning symbols to layers.  The issue was not one of not enough choice but rather too much choice.  With ArcGIS 10, we can now search through the different styles in the existing symbol window.  This search is based on the name and tags associated with different symbols.

One of the headaches in any GIS is finding data, tools, maps etc.  At 10, you can now index directories and databases enabling them to be searchable in ArcMap.  This makes the process of finding data tools and maps much easier.

To learn more about search in ArcGIS, watch the user conference plenary videos.

Top 3 tips

Maintaining and managing multiple data layers in your GIS is a costly and time consuming process. Check out the below tips to see how you can effectively manage your data.

• The Geodatabase and data models. The geodatabase provides the perfect platform for storing all spatial data and related information. Take the time to plan an effective data model. Data models are schemas for the different geographic database and tables within the geodatabase. A good data model defines the GIS objects, rules, and relationships used to add GIS behaviour to the database. Check out these example data models provided by ESRI.
• Do your aerial images have black borders? Are they an Irregular shape? Image Server can recompute footprints by radiometry, redefining the shape of the image footprint based on a pixel value range. No new data is created but unwanted pixels at the edge of your images are excluded from the display. This is an effective way to manage multiple images that have an irregular shape and are being used for analysis or cartographic purposes.  Find out more.
• Use the Map Service Publishing toolbar (available in ArcGIS 9.3.1), and the ArcScript download MXDPERFSTATS to analyse and diagnose MXD performance issues, such as scale dependencies, lost data sources and the potential for database tuning. These tools can be used for desktop maps and also maps that will be published for the web. Learn more.
  

3 steps to utilise data for editing

In order to utilise data for editing in ArcGIS Mobile the data needs to be prepared correctly. Three important steps need to occur.

1. The first step is to make the data that will be edited in the field available through an ArcSDE Geodatabase. This can be from a personal ArcSDE Geodatabase running locally on SQL Express or from an Enterprise ArcSDE Geodatabase. 

2. Secondly, once you have the data in an ArcSDE database you need to make each feature unique in the Geodatabase. This is done by adding a Global ID column to the feature class which is to be edited in the field. To do this, right-click the feature class in ArcCatalog and click Add Global IDs... from the context menu. A dialog will appear explaining what adding a Global ID column will do. Click yes to continue and create the Global ID column.

3. Finally, version the feature class. All edits need to be performed in an ArcSDE version. This is important so that all data being returned to the server can be checked prior to committing to the DEFAULT version.

With these three requirements complete you can now Author your map for your mobile project. The map that you use in your mobile editing project can contain editable and non-editable layers.

ArcGIS behaving badly?

Are you having problems with ArcGIS that none of your colleagues are experiencing such as performance and speed but when another user logs into your machine these problems disappear? 

It could be your ESRI User Profile has become corrupted and needs to be re-generated.

The first time a user opens an ESRI application (for example ArcMap, ArcCatalog or ArcReader) an ESRI folder is created on your computer's hard drive. Then each time you move a toolbar, add in a tool or change your options and preferences, this information gets stored within this folder. Through time, more and more "information" is stored in the ESRI User Profile increasing the chances of it become corrupted and a new profile needs to be created.

Read the instructions below, or visit our video gallery to see a short video showing you how easy it is to re-generate your profile.

To create an ESRI User Profile re-name the existing one so a new profile can be created once you open an ArcGIS application. Re-naming means your old settings are still there in case you need them.

Your ESRI User Profile is stored in the following locations depending on your operating system.
     For Windows 2000 & XP:
     C:\Documents & Settings\username\Application Data\ESRI

     For Vista:
     C:\Users\<user_account>\AppData\Roaming\ESRI

If you cannot find one of these folders on your computer then it may be hidden. To view them you will have to go to the "Tools" menu. Select "Folder Options". Go to the "View" tab and make sure that "Show hidden files and folders" is selected.

Note: Some users may not have the administration privileges to access the ESRI User Profile and you will have to contact your IT department.

3 simple steps to consider

Everyone loves satellite imagery and aerial photography. Whether you use your own images or access hosted imagery via ArcGIS Online, it is tempting to add it as a background layer to every map you make.

However, in some cases, the image overpowers the map and makes it hard to see the content on top.  By using an additional layer and taking advantage of ArcMap software's ability to define a transparency setting, you can easily tone the imagery down, making it appear that it is being pushed further into the background of the map.

In just three steps, you can add imagery to your map, then tone it down so it doesn't compete with the other data.

1. Add your own imagery using the Add Data button in ArcMap. If you don't have your own imagery, use the File menu and click Add Data from Resource Center to add either the World Imagery or Bing imagery service to your map.
2. Add a polygon layer that will totally cover your map area. The ESRI Data & Maps world30 polygon is a good option.
3. Move the polygon layer so it is above the imagery layer and make it transparent. You can do this from Layer Properties. Activate the Display tab and change the Transparent value from 0 percent to something like 50 percent.

This technique works best when your map is showing point and line data. It can also be used to tone down other background layers. It is a simple but powerful way of helping your map readers focus on the data you want them to notice.

3 options for texture manipulation of 3D objects

ArcGlobe, provided with the 3D Analyst extension can be used to consume three-dimensional textured objects (like buildings, bridges, etc.) and create realistic-looking 3D scenes. Three-dimensional  textured objects can be stored within ArcGIS as multipatch features. A 3D textured object consists of 3D geometry (multipatch) and texture (image) information for each of its displayed faces.

Textures on three-dimensional objects can potentially be very memory intensive and can affect the performance of your ArcGlobe document. If you have a large number of 3D objects with high-resolution textures in your 3D document, data can take longer to display and navigation sluggish. ArcGlobe provides options via the user interface for texture manipulation of 3D objects.

Disable textures
If your goal is to quickly view the data's extent and geometry, then you can display textures for your 3D objects. This will display multipatch geometry as faces without any image textures, freeing up memory for interactive navigation.

• Check the Disable material textures check box on the Globe Display tab of the Layer Properties dialog box.

Texture downscaling
Texture downscaling improves performance by reducing the resolution of textures, thereby, freeing up memory resources.

• The downscaling textures option is exposed via the Material texture resolution slider on the Globe Display tab of the Layer Properties dialog box.

 

Texture compression
DirectX Texture (DXT) compression can be applied to the textures of 3D objects. DXT compression will compress the texture image for optimum use with your graphics card.

• DXT compression can be applied by checking the Enable rendering with compressed textures check box on the Globe Display tab of the Layer Properties dialog box.

Centralising access

A set of system toolboxes containing tools and toolsets comes with ArcGIS and can be accessed from the ArcToolbox window or the ArcCatalog tree. The ArcToolbox window contains a collection of shortcuts that centralises access to toolboxes that can be stored in folders or geodatabases in different locations. This window can be docked to any ArcGIS Desktop application. To access toolboxes from ArcCatalog, choose Tools > Options, click on the General tab in the Options dialog box, and check the box next to Toolboxes in the list of top-level entries.   In addition to the system toolboxes that come with ArcGIS, custom toolboxes can be created to organise frequently used tools, custom tools, and models. In ArcGIS 9.x, all user-created toolboxes are created in the User Profile folder by default. The User Profile folder is located in :\Documents and Settings\Application Data\ESRI\ArcToolbox\My Toolboxes. Any models created in a user-created toolbox are stored in this location as well.   It is good practice to change the default location for the My Toolboxes folder before creating any new toolboxes. If a toolbox is created in the ArcToolbox window using the default setting for the My Toolboxes location and the application is closed without saving it, the toolbox will be removed from the ArcToolbox window although it has not been deleted. Accessing the new toolbox will then require adding the toolbox back to the ArcToolbox window.   To change the default location of toolboxes and models in ArcMap or ArcCatalog:

1. Select Tools > Options. Select the Geoprocessing tab.
2. Navigate to, or type in, the new location of the My Toolboxes folder.
3. Click Ok.
4. To determine the location of an existing toolbox, right-click the toolbox and choose Properties from the context menu to see where the toolbox was created.

Find out how

Wanting to increase the performance of your enterprise application that uses data from ArcSDE but not quite sure how to?

ESRI Applications Developer Robert Stauder has documented 5 strategies that will assist you in getting more performance from your applications.

Read how you can benefit from these tips.

Using REST services

ArcGIS Server has been publishing W3C compliant web services since 9.0, however, one of the problems with web services is the size of SOAP messages when transferred from client to server and back again.  The size and somewhat complicated nature of the messages also increases processing time due to serialisation of these messages from and to XML .  Enter REST!  At 9.3 ESRI introduced REST services for ArcGIS Server service types.  REST, put simply, allows the client to send a simple URL and get a result.  The result can be packaged in html, JSON (Javascript Object Notation), or even KML.

The JSON format is simple key - value pairs.  This simplicity greatly reduces processing time for de-serialisation into perhaps a table.  There is no doubt that using the REST API to ArcGIS Server (or the derived APIs, Silverlight, Flex and Javascript), provides an easier and faster method for requesting data from ArcGIS Server. 

The question begs... why would you use the .NET or Java ADFs (Application Development Frameworks)?  These APIs are useful when you wish to use core ArcObjects and extend the COTS capabilities of ArcGIS Server.  For simple mapping, query, geocoding, and even geoprocessing capabilities, the REST based APIs provide a clean, simple implementation that makes use of the latest industry trends.  More information on ArcGIS Server and its APIs can be found online at ESRI's Resource Centre.  

Applying custom design using graph templates

Graphs are a great way to show additional information about features in a map or display the same information in a different way. Once you get a graph just the way you want it, you can save it as a Graph Template so you can quickly generate additional graphs with the same characteristics from different datasets that have a similar structure.

Graph Templates are saved as .tee files, the native format for ArcGIS graphs. These text files contain all the information necessary to re-create a graph with the same style, fonts, legends, and labels using other data layers or tables.

When you have made all adjustments to your graph, right-click on the graph window and choose Export. In the Export dialog box, click the Native tab. On that tab, uncheck the boxes next to Include Series data and File size control. In the dropdown, set Format to Text. Click the Save button and navigate to the location where Graph Templates are stored on your machine. Name the new Graph Template and click Save. ArcGIS Desktop stores Graph Templates in one of two places:

:\Program Files\ArcGIS\GraphTemplates
Or
C:\Documents and Settings\\Application Data\ESRI\ArcMap\GraphTemplates

Name the new Graph Template and click Save. Click Close when finished.

Save the Graph Template in the default location so it will be available. Unless you create a custom icon, ArcGIS will assign this default icon. ArcGIS automatically gives your Graph Template a standard graphic. To make your Graphic Template easier to locate, you can apply a custom graphic to your template. In a graphics program, create a 42 x 42 pixel BMP image with a white background. Save the icon file with the same name as your template (.tee) file and store it with your template.

To use your template, select one of the layers or tables that will be used in graph and choose Tools > Create Graph from the Standard toolbar. In the Graph Wizard, click the Load Template and select the Graph Template you just created from the dialog box. Change dataset references and modify the legend labels to reflect the new datasets being used.

Dynamically model real road situations

ArcGIS Network Analyst helps you to dynamically model realistic network conditions, including turn restrictions, speed limits, height restrictions, and traffic conditions at different times of the day to solve complex vehicle routing problems.

Network attributes are properties of the network elements that control traversability over the network. Examples of attributes include the time to travel a given length of road, which streets are restricted for certain vehicles, and which streets are one-way.

Network attribute values sometimes depend on variable conditions. For example, a vehicle's height can determine if a road segment with a low overpass is traversable or not. The best approach is to use a single network attribute with a parameter that contains the variable values. Parameters have a default value which can be changed at run-time depending on current conditions.

For example a restriction attribute (vehicle height) is compared with a descriptor attribute (overpass clearance) to determine if the vehicle can use that section of road.

To set up parameterised network attributes edit your network dataset:
1. Create two attributes: a descriptor attribute (e.g. Clearance) and a restriction attribute (e.g. HeightRestriction).
Clearance reads height values from the source data, and HeightRestriction compares the Clearance with a parameter holding the current vehicle height.
2. Add a parameter to each attribute.
A new parameter Vehicle Height is added to the HeightRestriction attribute and assigned a default value of zero. (With a vehicle height of zero, it is assumed the vehicle can fit under any clearance.)
3. Set up the evaluator to use the parameter
In this case Clearance < VehicleHeight. When the evaluator returns "true", the street segment is restricted.

The network dataset does not need to be rebuilt when a new function evaluator is added or if the value changes at run-time because parameters are computed on demand. The network can now be used in ArcMap and the value for Vehicle Height altered for different vehicle solves.

 

Did you know that you can put descriptions in your legend with multiple lines of text?

To add a description, open the Layer Properties of the feature class you want in the legend.  Go to the Symbology tab. If you are using the Single symbol method, click the Description button.

For all other Symbology (except Charts), right-click a symbol after you have specified its symbology options and click Edit Description. The text you enter will appear next to that symbol in the legend; the text won't appear in the table of contents. 

If you want your description to be on more than one line, insert a line break by pressing the Ctrl and Enter keys together to make a new line. 

A good rule of thumb is to keep the text to the width of the description box so that it is consistent in the legend.  If you don't want to type in the descriptions, export the attribute table to Excel, then you can copy and paste the long descriptions directly into the description builder, breaking it into multiple lines using Ctrl+Enter to make a line break.

Manipulating the Legend builder will ensure that your Legend has real impact.  For example, you can change the size of the legend symbol – you can even define your own shape from a selection in ArcMap!  Take a look.

Modify the layout of the legend after building it by opening its properties (right click on legend -> Properties), then going to the Items tab in the Legend Properties, and selecting the legend item you wish to modify, then click on the Style button.  Clicking on the Properties of the Legend Item Selector dialog will allow you to manipulate the items shown on the legend.  Choosing Description here will bring the description into the legend.  You can also choose to turn off the layer name or change the size of each of the text entries. 

Use the Legend tab on the Legend Properties dialog to change the legend items' spacing.

• Take a closer look

Fill-form-from-history tool

Switching from manual to electronic data collection from the field invariably saves a significant amount of time, freeing up scarce resources.  By adding a fill-form-from-history tool to ArcPad, you can continue to save time and simplify this data entry process. 

• Learn how to incorporate this tool.

AGSSOM tool

Sometimes business workflows demand that you temporarily shutdown ArcGIS Server services and then restart them when some process has completed. For example, this might be a scheduled refresh of a file-based data source or maybe some regular maintenance on the database. Typically these kinds of operations need to be scheduled and run as a hands-off, batch operation.

So how can you stop and then restart say an ArcGIS Server Map service within a batch process? This is pretty simple using a free utility available for download from ArcScripts called AGSSOM. AGSSOM is a Windows command line-based tool that will allow you stop, start or restart all the services on an ArcGIS Server, or specific services by name. It has a couple of other useful options too such as listing the services and their current status.

The commands below stop the Map service called World on the ArcGIS Server called AGSPROD and then starts it up again

C:> agssom AGSPROD -x World
.
 Your business process here
.
C:> agssom AGSPROD -s World

Very simple, but it means you can incorporate an orderly shutdown of an ArcGIS Server service or services in to your workflows without having to shut down the ArcGIS Server SOM (.e. shut all of the services down), and without using ArcCatalog to manually manage the services.

AGSSOM is freely available but is not supported by ESRI. You can download it from ESRI's ArcScripts website. 

Make the most of the ArcGIS Server 9.3.1 MSD Toolbar

Version 9.3.1 of ArcGIS Server introduces a new toolbar to ArcMap which assists with setting up maps for publication to ArcGIS Server. 

The Map Service Publishing Toolbar does two things to help improve a map's performance:

• It analyses an MXD for potential performance problems including bottlenecks, missing spatial indexes and layers projecting on the fly; and
• The toolbar acts as the mechanism for creating the new MSD format files which are specifically designed to work with the new optimised drawing engine in ArcGIS Server

A MXD or MSD can both be published as a service but only the MSD will use the optimised drawing engine.  With speed similar or better than ArcIMS the MSD gives an important performance boost to ArcGIS Server.

The MSD format is able to be cached and tiles will be created quicker than for an equivalent MXD schema.  Anti-aliasing works better when caching with a MSD based service.  The MSD format is only readable by ArcGIS Server and is not editable, to create a MSD you will first need a MXD and changes to the MSD are first completed in the MDX. CAD and TIN layers are not compatible with the MSD format and remain as MXD based services. 

There are limitations on the functionality of MSD based services and a full description is available on ESRI's website. Maplex is not available but annotation layers are supported with the MSD, allowing Maplex label placement without computational intensive placement processing on every map refresh. 

The Map Service Publishing Toolbar is available at all licence levels of ArcGIS Desktop (ArcView, ArcEditor and ArcInfo).  The toolbar can still be used to analyse and improve the performance of a map document even if they are an MXD based map service.

Further help on using the toolbar can be found on ESRI's website. 

Working on large data sets?

Working with large State, national or world wide datasets in ArcMap can mean long draw times whenever the map is moved or changed in any way. This can be particularly frustrating if only a small portion of the data set is required for a particular study area. One way to reduce draw times and display only relevant data is by clipping the data and creating a subset for the area of interest using geoprocessing tools. However, creating subsets can produce their own issues such as requiring additional storage and needing to be recreated every time the source data is updated. A great way of displaying only the relevant base data and reducing draw times is to clip the data frame to a specified extent, a custom shape or the outline of a map layer.

You can access these options by opening the data frame properties, going to the 'Data Frame' tab, checking the 'Enable' box under the 'Clip to shape' subheading and then specifying the shape from the 'Data Frame Clipping' dialogue box, which pops up when you click the 'Specify Shape' button.

Note: If attempting to clip the data frame using a polygon feature class with numerous features, this may negatively affect draw times, thus it is better to use a single shape. Further information can be found in the 'Clipping data frames to a custom shape' topic in the ArcGIS Desktop Help.

Modifying visibility & selectability of layers

From the Dekho main screen you can modify the visibility and selectability of layers using a mouse click and the Ctrl or Alt buttons.

Ctrl + Click

• Ctrl + Click on the visibility check box it will change all the visibility check boxes
• Ctrl + Click on the selectability icon then the selectability of all layers will change

Alt + Click

• Alt + Click on the selectability icon turns all other layers on or off except the layer you clicked on which remains as it was
  

Overview

In ArcGIS Desktop, legend patches are used in the table of contents in Data View or the legend in Layout View to represent a specific kind of polygon or line feature. Different legend patch shapes, other than the default choices, may be more effective in communicating the type of data being represented on a map. The ArcMap application in ArcGIS Desktop supplies seven standard area patch shapes and eight line styles in addition to the default choices.

• To change legend patches in Data View, choose Tools > Options and click on the Table of Contents tab. In the Patch Shape section, two drop-downs provide line and area choices. The patch style chosen is applied to all patches in the table of contents.
• To change legend patches in Layout View, choose Insert > Legend from the standard menu. The Legend Wizard allows a different legend patch shape to be selected and applied for each layer in the legend.
• Custom shapes can be used by adding the New Legend Patch Shape tool. Choose Tools > Customise and click on the Commands tab. Scroll down the left pane to Page Layout and select it. Scroll through the commands in the right pane and locate the New Legend Patch Shape command. Select and drag it to any toolbar.
• To use the New Legend Patch Shape button, use the tools on the Draw toolbar to create a graphic in the shape desired for the legend patch. Select it with the Element tool. Click the New Legend Patch Shape button. In the New Legend Patch Shape dialog box, uncheck the Preserve Aspect Ratio box and click Add to Stylesheet. Choose a name for the patch and click OK. This legend patch shape will now be available from the Style Manager.

 

Importing ArcInfo Interchange files successfully

Many GIS data clearinghouses provide at least some data as ArcInfo Interchange format in zipped files so it is handy to know how to extract and import data supplied in this manner. For GIS users who may not be familiar with ArcInfo Interchange files (also known as .e00 files), this format was developed to move coverages, INFO data files, text files such as ARC Macro Language (AML) files, and other ArcInfo files between machines not connected by a file sharing network. Interchange files contain all coverage information and appropriate INFO data file information in a fixed-length ASCII format.

Even longtime users who are familiar with .e00 files might not know that it does not require an ArcInfo license or an installation of ArcInfo Workstation to import data in this format. Although two tools in ArcToolbox available at the ArcInfo licence level - Import From Interchange File tool and Export to Interchange File tool - can be used to interact with .e00 files, ArcGIS Desktop users at any licence level can import .e00 files using ArcCatalog and the process described in this tip.

Avoid File Corruption
Typically, .e00 files are posted as zipped files that can be extracted using WinZip. Care must be taken when unzipping and saving these files. A default setting in WinZip can corrupt the archive files as they are being extracted. To avoid this problem, do the following before opening the archive:

1. Start WinZip Classic.
2. Select Options > Configuration and click the Miscellaneous tab.
3. On that tab, uncheck the box next to "TAR file smart CR/LF conversion."
4. Open the .e00 file archive in WinZip and unzip it to the desired location.

For .e00 archives with the .tar.gz extension, two additional steps are necessary to avoid corruption problems:

1. Double-click the archive to open it in WinZip. A dialog box appears with the following message:
   Archive contains x number of files
   Should WinZip decompress it to temporary folder and open it?
2. Click NO.
3. In WinZip, select Options > Configuration and click the Miscellaneous tab. On that tab, check the box next to "TAR file smart CR/LF conversion." Extract the file to the desired location.
4. Close WinZip.
5. Double-click the .tar file that was just created to open it in WinZip. Go to the Configuration dialog box again and uncheck the box next to "TAR file smart CR/LF conversion." Extract the file.

Store Carefully
Specific naming conventions must be observed when handling these files. Do not name .e00 files or the coverages or other files generated from .e00 files with names that are more than 13 characters long, contain spaces, or contain special characters such as #, @, or %. These files cannot reside in a folder that has a name longer than 13 characters, or containing spaces or special characters, and all folders in the directory path must adhere to these naming conventions as well.

Use ArcCatalog to Import an .e00 File
A utility to import an ArcInfo Interchange file is available in ArcCatalog at all licence levels.

1. In ArcCatalog, choose View > Toolbars > ArcView 8.x Tools.
2. Click the Conversion drop-down in the ArcView 8.x Tools toolbar and choose Import from Interchange File.
3. In the Import from Interchange File dialog, click the Browse button, locate the .e00 file, and double-click on it, and click Open.
4. Click the Browse button next to the Output dataset and navigate to the desired output location, and click Save. Click OK.
   

Overview

ArcGIS provides a variety of tools for quickly and effectively converting and migrating vector data into the file geodatabase. Below is a list of commonly used methods. You should explore and experiment with which of these is more convenient and streamlined according to your workflow when migrating spatial data into a geodatabase.  You can also listen to more on this topic in this ESRI podcast.

Vector data loading options	Data formats supported	Used for	Tips
Import/Export	Geodatabase feature classes Shapefile Coverages CAD Tables (DBF, MS Excel) XML	Initial data loading Reusing existing attribute structures Data filtering during loading	The fields you create in the new feature classes are named the same as the fields you're importing. However, any invalid characters in the field names are automatically replaced - for example, a hyphen is replaced with an underscore. Coverages contain several fields that are relevant to the coverage data model only & are not maintained by the geodatabase.
Simple Data Loader (ArcCatalog only)	Tables or Features (geodatabase, shapefile, coverages, CAD, DBFI	Initial data loading Appending to existing geodatabase data Specify a query to limit the features loaded	When matching fields, you can browse the source data's field values to help you correctly match the source & target fields. The Simple Data Loader can't be used with some types of non-simple feature classes (Geometric Networks, Relationship Classes).
Object Loader (ArcMap only)	Tables or Features (geodatabase, shapefile, coverages, CAD, DBFI	Data maintenance & updates to existing geodatabase data Specify a query to limit the features loaded	If the feature coordinates you're loading are not precisely located, you can choose to honour the current snapping environment, snapping coordinates as they load. If you're loading into a feature class that has validation rules, such as attribute domain or geometric network connectivity rules, you can create a selection of the loaded features that are in violation of these rules.

 

This applies to ArcGIS Server 9.3 for the Microsoft.NET Framework

A common way of building web applications with ArcGIS Server 9.3 is to use the wizard-style approach offered through ArcGIS Server Manager. Using this technique, you can quickly create a very functional application with just a few clicks. One of the options in that application creation process is applying a theme or look and feel to the new application. Out of the box, ESRI provide 11 predefined themes for you to choose from.

Each of those themes that you can select from the Page Properties page of the wizard skins the application with specific colours, banner graphics and text styles in a standard Microsoft ASP.NET format. It's relatively easy to go in after you have created the application an edit the theme you selected, but there is a way you can add your own custom themes to the list that Server Manager offers up at application creation time.

First step is to figure out whether Server Manager is outputting C# or VB.NET code in the applications it generates. You can determine this by clicking on the Settings link in the Applications section of the Server Manager Interface.  In the example below Server Manager is set to produce VB.NET code.

Armed with information, you can now navigate to the location of the templates that Server Manager uses for that language and find the folder containing the themes. Using the example above, the path to the template is as shown below.

 
Notice the last part of the pathname is "mv_vb" - if you were producing C# code from Server Manager, then that would be "mv_cs". Notice also the App_Themes folder under this path - this is where we can add the custom theme. Note that the actual path in your environment could be different as the one above assumes the default root directory for Internet Information Server (IIS) and the default instance name of ArcGIS for your ArcGIS Server installation where you're running Server Manager.

Drilling down in to the App_Themes folder you can see a folder for each of the 11 themes that are offered by default in Server Manager. To add your own all you have to do is make a copy of one of these existing themes and give it a different name.  In the example below, the existing theme named Green_Trees has been copied to My_Theme.

 
Finally, drilling down in to the new My_Theme folder, you can now modify the theme to present the way you want.  The banner imagery is contained in the subfolder Images and the rest of the look and feel is defined in the two files,  Default.skin and MapViewerStyleSheet.css. These are just text files you can modify in any text editor.  To illustrate this in action in an easily visible form, only the banner graphic has been modified as shown below.

Now if a new application is created in Server Manager, the custom theme defined in the new My_Theme folder is included in the list of standard themes offered.

 
And if we go on to build a new application with that theme we can see the result as follows.

 
You can find more help on customising ArcGIS Server applications built with Server Manager here:

• http://webhelp.esri.com/arcgisserver/9.3/dotnet/intro_web_apps_mgr.htm
• http://webhelp.esri.com/arcgisserver/9.3/dotNet/customize_wma.htm

 

Overview

ArcGIS 9.3 works more effectively with field aliases. Aliases let you assign more meaningful names to fields. This is helpful for labelling and manipulating tables. You can now toggle between actual and aliased field names, preserve aliases when you join tables, and show field aliases and related data when using the Identify tool.

New commands and keyboard shortcuts let you quickly toggle between showing field aliases or actual field names. The Show Aliases command in the table window Options menu lets you decide whether to display field names or aliases. This property is set for each table individually. By default, the Options menu choice to enable aliases is checked. There are also two shortcuts for toggling between field aliases and field names: hold down Ctrl and right-click the field name or select the field and press Ctrl+Shift+N.

Field properties, including field aliases, are retained when you join tables or create definition queries on joined tables. Previously, field properties, such as field aliases and numeric settings, were dropped when table joins were created or removed. Now, field properties are also preserved when you remove a definition query from a layer or stand-alone table that contains a join.

A new command lets you choose whether to display related data in the Identify dialog box. This command is available in the ArcMap application of ArcGIS Desktop, in the ArcGlobe application of ArcGIS 3D Analyst, in ArcReader, and in applications developed with ArcGIS Engine. In the Identify dialog box, simply right-click the feature identified and choose Show Relates with Field Properties from the context menu. By default, this option is turned on. To access related data while using the Identify tool, the related layer or table must be present in the map document. Also, definition queries in the table or layer that is the source for related data are not respected by the Identify tool whether or not Show Relates has been enabled.

This new functionality makes aliases easier and more powerful to work with when accessing information in table fields.

Providing immediate access to information held in other types of files

In ArcMap, you can provide immediate access to additional information contained in other types of files -Web pages, images, or documents in Adobe PDF or other formats - that relate to a map feature simply by creating hyperlinks.
  
Hyperlinks come in two flavours:  field based and dynamic. The number of hyperlinks in the document and what they will do determine which method you choose.

Field-based hyperlinks are familiar to longtime users of ESRI GIS software:

• Create a text field in the attribute table of the features to be hyperlinked
• Enter the target for the hyperlink in that field. A target can be the path to a file, a URL, or a macro that creates customised hyperlink behaviour
• The path to the target can be relative or absolute. See the topic "Adding hyperlinks to features" in ArcGIS Desktop 9.3 Help for information on setting relative paths
• Access field-based hyperlinks using the Hyperlink tool

Dynamic hyperlinks do not support macro targets and shouldn't be used if a map will have many hyperlinks, as that adversely affects performance. However, dynamic hyperlinks are very easy to implement and can manage multiple hyperlinks for the same feature.

To set a dynamic hyperlink for a feature:

• Click on that feature with the Identify tool
• Right-click the feature name in the Identify dialog box and choose Add hyperlink from the context menu
• Specify the desired type of hyperlink target. To hyperlink to a Web page, click Link to a URL and type the URL. To link to a PDF, Microsoft Word, or other document, click Link to a Document and type a path to the document or browse to its location. For dynamic hyperlinks, relative paths are supported for map layers but not for .lyr files.
• Access dynamic hyperlinks by clicking the feature with the Identify tool, right-clicking to access the context menu, and choosing Hyperlinks.

With ArcGIS 9.3, a parameter can be set to control how a hyperlinked document is opened by specifying the page that will be opened. For example, c:\temp\PopulationData.pdf ?/A "Page=5=OpenActions" would open the PopulationData.pdf document at page 5. ArcGIS uses a question mark (?) as a special delimiter to separate the file path from the parameter. In this case, c:\Program Files\Adobe Reader 8.0\Reader\AcroRd32.3exe. is the location of the software, /A "Page=5=OpenActions" is the open parameter, and c:\temp\PopulationData.pdf is the location of the file.

Note that the parameters are specific to the software for each type of document (e.g., Adobe Reader, Microsoft Word), so documentation for that software should be consulted for the syntax for opening a document.

 

Refining Table Searches Interactively

You can manipulate a selected set of records by retaining or weeding out records using two new commands added to the ArcMap application in ArcGIS Desktop 9.3. Open the attribute table and click the Show Selected button on the table frame (or use the shortcut Ctrl + Tab to switch between these views). Click the desired records to highlight them from the selected ones. To select nonadjacent records, click the first record, hold down Ctrl, and click the rest of the records to be highlighted.

To use the new table commands, right-click the space in the table to the left of any row to invoke the context menu. Two new commands on that menu, Reselect Highlighted and Delete Highlighted, will be enabled.

To retain the highlighted records and unselect all other records, click the Reselect Highlighted command from the context menu. You can also use the shortcut Ctrl + Shift + R. You can eliminate some selected records while retaining the balance of the previously selection. After changing the table to display only selected records and selecting the records to be eliminated, right-click the left side of the table to open the context menu and choose the Delete Highlighted command. This command deletes the highlighted records and retains the rest of the selection.

The shortcuts in the following table will help speed common operations on attribute tables.

Shortcut	Action
Double-click a field name	Sort field
Ctrl + Shift + U	Remove field sorting
Ctrl + double-click a field name (or Ctrl + H)	Turn off field
Ctrl + Shift + double-click a field name	Hide a field
Ctrl + right-click a field name (or Ctrl + Shift + N)	Switch between showing field names and field aliases
Shift + double-click a field name (or Ctrl + Shift + S)	Open the Advanced Table Sorting dialog box
Ctrl + Shift + A	Resize the fields automatically