Skip navigation
All Places > Developer Communities > Native App Developers > ArcGIS Runtime SDK for .NET > Blog

ArcGIS Runtime SDK for .NET

12 posts

Beta 3 of the Toolkit for ArcGIS Runtime SDK for .NET is now available on NuGet.org. The latest beta has been updated to reference the v100.2.1 release of ArcGIS Runtime SDK for .NET and includes the following new features and enhancements:

  • Compass for Xamarin.Android, Xamarin.iOS, and Xamarin.Forms (Android, iOS, and UWP)
  • Legend, LayerLegend, and SymbolDisplay for Xamarin.Android, Xamarin.iOS, and Xamarin.Forms (Android, iOS, and UWP)
  • ScaleLine for Xamarin.Android, Xamarin.iOS, and Xamarin.Forms (Android, iOS, and UWP)
  • TimeSlider for UWP, WPF, and Xamarin.iOS
  • MeasureToolbar for UWP, and WPF
  • Enhanced Toolbox support for Visual Studio
  • Sample apps for Xamarin.Android, Xamarin.iOS, and Xamarin.Forms (Android, iOS, and UWP)
  • API review
  • Numerous bug fixes!

  • Coming soon: TimeSlider for Xamarin.Android and Xamarin.Forms

 

See the repo readme for the full list of feature availability by API platform.

 

The previous beta was delivered as multiple platform-specific NuGet packages (at the time just UWP and WPF). The project has been reorganized to consolidate those into the Esri.ArcGISRuntime.Toolkit package for UWP, WPF, Xamarin.Android, and Xamarin.iOS development and a Esri.ArcGISRuntime.Toolkit.Xamarin.Forms package. Use the NuGet Package Manager UI, Console, or CLI tools to update your projects. You can always get the latest build of the Master branch anytime by adding a new NuGet Package Source referencing the CI server.

 

Please submit an issue if you find a bug!

 

 

Cheers

 

The ArcGIS Runtime .NET Team

The good news: Features and graphics in your ArcGIS Runtime SDK for .NET app can be labeled using a combination of attribute values, text strings, and values calculated with an expression. You can set font characteristics, determine how labels are positioned and prioritized, and how conflicts between overlapping labels are automatically and dynamically resolved. By creating one or more label classes, you can define distinct labels for groups of features.

The bad news: As of the 100.2.1 release, there's no API exposed for this. To implement labeling for a feature layer, graphics overlay, or map image sub-layer, you need to craft the appropriate JSON definition (text) to define your label classes (as described here). Bummer.

 

But don't worry, a simple JSON serializable class is all it takes to simplify your labeling code. I'll walk you through the basic process in the steps below. If that's still too much work for you, feel free to simply download the attached code and try it out. The labeling class in the project (LabelClassInfo.cs) can be brought into any ArcGIS Runtime for .NET project and used to create labels for your layers.

 

  1. Start Visual Studio and create a new ArcGIS Runtime SDK for .NET app. 
  2. Add a new class to the project. Let's name it LabelClassInfo.cs. Add the following using statements at the top of the class.
    using Esri.ArcGISRuntime.Geometry;
    using Esri.ArcGISRuntime.Symbology;
    using System;
    using System.IO;
    using System.Runtime.Serialization;
    using System.Runtime.Serialization.Json;

     

  3. Decorate the class with the DataContract attribute. This indicates that the class will be serializable. 
        [DataContract]
        public class LabelClassInfo
        {

     

  4. Create properties for everything expected in the JSON definition of the label class. This information is defined under labelingInfo in the Web map specification. The specification defines an "allowOverrun" value, for example. This could be implemented with the following simple bool property. Note that the name of the property in the class does not need to match the name in the specification.
            public bool AllowOverrun { get; set; }
    Based on the specification, here are the properties (and corresponding data type) needed for the label class: allowOverrun (bool), deconflictionStrategy (string), labelExpression (string), labelExpressionInfo (object), labelPlacement (string), minScale (int), maxScale (int), name (string), priority (int), removeDuplicates (string), removeDuplicatesDistance (int), repeatLabel (bool), repeatLabelDistance (int), stackLabel (bool), stackAlignment (string), symbol (TextSymbol), useCodedValues (bool), where (string).
  5. OK, the list above looks pretty straightforward, except for the two properties that don't return primitive data types. Go ahead and create properties for everything except labelExpressionInfo and symbol (we'll circle back to those). 
  6. After you've defined the properties, in order to make them serializable you'll need to decorate them with the DataMember attribute. The string you supply for "Name" will be used in the output JSON and must match the name used in the Web map specification. Add the appropriate DataMember attribute to all properties.
            [DataMember(Name = "deconflictionStrategy")]
            public LabelPosition LabelPosition { get; set; }

     

  7. The labelExpressionInfo property, returns object. What kind of object do we need here? In the specification, the JSON describes a class with a single property (not counting the deprecated "value" property). You'll therefore need to create a new private class (nested under your main class) with a single property that holds a (string) expression. This class will also be serializable, so you need the DataContract and DataMember attributes. 
            [DataContract]
            private class ExpressionInfo
            {
                [DataMember(Name = "expression")]
                public string Expression { get; set; }

                public ExpressionInfo(string expression)
                {
                    Expression = expression;
                }
            }

     

  8. The labelExpressionInfo property should be based on the new ExpressionInfo type. To simplify the API, you might want to expose just the expression property (ArcadeExpression in the example below) and build the ExpressionInfo object that contains it internally. 
            [DataMember(Name ="labelExpressionInfo")]
            private ExpressionInfo _labelExpressionInfo = new ExpressionInfo("");

            public string ArcadeExpression
            {
                get { return _labelExpressionInfo.Expression; }
                set { _labelExpressionInfo = new ExpressionInfo(value); }
            }

     

  9. What about the symbol property that returns TextSymbol? You can handle this is much the same way: expose a public Symbol property of type TextSymbol, then use an internal property to get its JSON representation (yes, Esri.ArcGISRuntime.Symbology.Symbol is serializable!).
            public TextSymbol Symbol { get; set; }

            [DataMember(Name = "symbol")]
            private string SymbolString
            {
                get { return this.Symbol.ToJson(); }
                set { this.Symbol = (TextSymbol)TextSymbol.FromJson(value); }
            }

     

  10. Finally, create a method on LabelClassInfo to return the JSON representation of the object.
            public string GetJson()
            {
                // Create a JSON serializer for the label class.
                DataContractJsonSerializer jsonSerializer = new DataContractJsonSerializer(typeof(LabelClassInfo));

                // Write the object to a memory stream.
                MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream();
                jsonSerializer.WriteObject(stream, this);

                // Read the stream to a string.
                stream.Position = 0;
                StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(stream);
                string json = reader.ReadToEnd();

                // HACK: clean up the json a bit.
                json = json.Replace("\"{", "{").Replace("}\"", "}").Replace("\\", "\"").Replace("\"\"", "\"");

                // Return the serialized string.
                return json;
            }

     

  11. You should now be able to use the new LabelClassInfo class to write code like the following to apply labels to a feature layer!
                TextSymbol textSymbol = new TextSymbol
                {
                    FontFamily = "Arial",
                    FontWeight = weight,
                    Size = (int)TextSizeComboBox.SelectedValue,
                    HorizontalAlignment = Esri.ArcGISRuntime.Symbology.HorizontalAlignment.Left,
                    VerticalAlignment = Esri.ArcGISRuntime.Symbology.VerticalAlignment.Bottom,
                    Color = (Color)ColorComboBox.SelectedValue
                };

                // Create a new LabelInfo object and set the relevant properties (including the text symbol).
                LabelClassInfo labelInfo = new LabelClassInfo()
                {
                    LabelPosition = "static",
                    ArcadeExpression = "return $feature['" + LabelFieldComboBox.SelectedItem + "'];",
                    MinScale = 0,
                    MaxScale = 0,
                    Priority = 30,
                    RemoveDuplicateLabels = "featureType",
                    StackLabel = true,
                    Symbol = textSymbol
                };

                // Get the raw JSON from the label info object.
                labelJson = labelInfo.GetJson();

                // Create a new label definition from the JSON string.
                LabelDefinition labelDef = LabelDefinition.FromJson(labelJson);

                // Clear existing label definitions.
                _parcelsLayer.LabelDefinitions.Clear();

                // Add the new label definition.
                _parcelsLayer.LabelDefinitions.Add(labelDef);

     

 

OK, so it might not be the easiest thing to code, but once you have it you can reuse this class anytime you need to add labels for a layer.

Apologies if the steps above were too vague or if you got stuck because I left something out! I've attached a project with the LabelClassInfo class and a WPF app for testing. The attached example also includes some enums for defining label position, placement, and handling of stacking and duplicates.

 

Update (2018 March 13):

  • I've attached a much cleaner version of the LabelClassInfo class ("LabelClassInfo2.cs") that uses Newtonsoft.Json (thanks to Matvei Stefarov on the ArcGIS Runtime SDK for .NET team).
  • Including a link to a a utility that helps create your serializable class from JSON: Instantly parse JSON in any language | quicktype 

If you've ever had to show the density of point features on a map, you may already be familiar with the concept of a heat map, which allows you to generalize the display of points according to their density. A heat map provides an excellent tool for discovering patterns in your data. In addition to looking at density of point location, you can also provide a field in your dataset with which to weight the density. This allows you to look at the density of things like sales (dollars, for example) instead of just the density of customers over an area.

 

Heat maps are displayed with a color ramp that usually shows dense areas with a darker color (red, for example) and sparse areas with a light color (such as yellow). You may have used a heat map renderer to display your point data in the ArcGIS Online map viewer or ArcGIS Pro. The heat map below shows the density of earthquakes weighted with a field that contains the magnitude.

Unique value points to heat map renderer

"Sounds great". You might be saying. "I'm excited to try it in my ArcGIS Runtime for .NET app"!
"Um, yeah. About that." I would say, sheepishly looking at my shoes.

 

While there is support in ArcGIS Runtime for reading things like a heat map renderer from a web map, there's no API exposed (as of v100.2.1) that allows you to construct one and apply it to a point layer without crafting the raw JSON definition. Fortunately, with a little effort, there's a way to make it much easier to work with.

 

In a previous blog, I described how to create a serializable class to define labeling properties to apply to a layer. I'll describe the same technique here to define a heat map renderer class that can be serialized to JSON and applied to your point layer. If you don't really care about the details and just want to start using it, you can download the completed class and sample project and give it a try.

 

  1. Start Visual Studio and create a new ArcGIS Runtime SDK for .NET app. 
  2. Use the NuGet Package Manager to add the Newtonsoft.Json package to the project.
  3. Add a new class to the project. Let's name it HeatMapRenderer.cs. Add the following using statements at the top of the class.
    using Newtonsoft.Json;
    using System;
    using System.Collections.Generic;
    using System.Windows.Media;
  4. Create properties for everything expected in the JSON definition of the heat map renderer class. This information is defined under heatmapRenderer in the Web map specification. The specification defines a "blurRadius" value, for example. This could be implemented with the following simple long property. Note that the name of the property in the class does not need to match the name in the specification. 
    public long BlurRadius { get; set; }
    Based on the specification, here are the properties (and corresponding data type) needed for the heat map renderer class:
    • blurRadius (long)
    • colorStops (list of objects)
    • field (string)
    • maxPixelIntensity (double)
    • minPixelIntensity (double)
    • type (string).
  5. OK, the list above looks pretty straightforward, except for the property that returns a list of objects. Go ahead and create properties for everything except colorStops (we'll circle back to that one). 
  6. The Type property needs to be set with "heatmap" as the default, as shown here.
    public string Type { get; set; } = "heatmap";
  7. After you've defined the properties, in order to make them serializable you'll need to decorate them with the  JsonProperty attribute. The string you supply will be used in the output JSON and must match the name used in the Web map specification. Add the appropriate JsonProperty attribute to all properties, as shown below for the BlurRadius property.
    [JsonProperty("blurRadius")]
    public long BlurRadius { get; set; }
  8. The colorStops value is defined with a list of objects. What kind of object do we need here? In the specification, the JSON describes a colorStop class with two properties: color and ratio. You'll therefore need to create a new class with those properties. Let's call the class ColorStop.
    public partial class ColorStop
    {
        [JsonProperty("ratio")]
        public double Ratio { get; set; }

        [JsonProperty("color")]
        public int[] Color { get; set; }
    }
  9. The ratio property is a double. Color is a four value array (R, G, B, A). The constructor for ColorStop will accept a ratio (double) and a Color. The color values are used to set the array.
    public ColorStop(double ratio, Color color)
    {
        Ratio = ratio;
        Color = new int[] { color.R, color.G, color.B, color.A };
    }
  10. Return to the HeatMapRenderer class and add a property to hold the color stops. Initialize the property with an empty list of color stops.
    [JsonProperty("colorStops")]
    public List<ColorStop> ColorStops { get; set; } = new List<ColorStop>();
  11. Add some helper methods to add or clear color stops in the collection.
    public void AddColorStop(double ratio, Color color)
    {
        if (ratio > 1.0 || ratio < 0.0) { throw new Exception("Argument 'ratio' must be a value between 0 and 1."); };

        ColorStop stop = new ColorStop(ratio, color);
        ColorStops.Add(stop);
    }

    public void ClearColorStops()
    {
        ColorStops.Clear();
    }
  12. Finally, add a ToJson method that returns the JSON representation of the class.
    public string ToJson()
    {
        return JsonConvert.SerializeObject(this);
    }
  13. You should now be able to use the new HeatMapRenderer class to write code like the following to apply a heat map renderer to a point feature layer!
    // Create a new HeatMapRenderer with info provided by the user.
    HeatMapRenderer heatMapRendererInfo = new HeatMapRenderer
    {
        BlurRadius = blurRadius,
        MinPixelIntensity = minIntensity,
        MaxPixelIntensity = maxIntensity
    };

    // Use a selected field to weight the point density if the user chooses to do so.
    if (UseFieldCheckBox.IsChecked == true)
    {
        heatMapRendererInfo.Field = (FieldComboBox.SelectedValue as Field).Name;
    }  

    // Add the chosen color stops (plus transparent for empty areas).
    heatMapRendererInfo.AddColorStop(0.0, Colors.Transparent);
    heatMapRendererInfo.AddColorStop(0.10, (Color)StartColorComboBox.SelectedValue);
    heatMapRendererInfo.AddColorStop(1.0, (Color)EndColorComboBox.SelectedValue);

    // Get the JSON representation of the renderer class.
    string heatMapJson = heatMapRendererInfo.ToJson();

    // Use the static Renderer.FromJson method to create a new renderer from the JSON string.
    var heatMapRenderer = Renderer.FromJson(heatMapJson);

    // Apply the renderer to a point layer in the map.
    _quakesLayer.Renderer = heatMapRenderer;

I'd agree with you if you think this is a lot of code to write to implement a heat map renderer. But remember, this class can be used in all your ArcGIS Runtime for .NET apps when you want to apply heat map rendering.

 

Apologies if you were unable to successfully follow the steps above. Fortunately, the attached project contains the HeatMapRenderer class, as well as a WPF app for testing the heat map renderer.

We're hard at work getting an updated toolkit for the new Runtime SDK out.

 

Even though we have some ways to go, we wanted to share the progress with you all, and provide you with an opportunity to try things out, give us feedback, or simply just use what's there.

 

We have an active branch going on Github that you can download and use today.All the source code is there, and is really easy to build and use:

 

https://github.com/Esri/arcgis-toolkit-dotnet/tree/v100

 

This includes a set of controls for WPF and UWP:

  • ChallengeHandler - (WPF only) Displays a UI dialog to enter or select credentials to use when accessing secure ArcGIS resources, as well as helper classes for storing credentials in Windows' credentials cache.
    • Compass - Shows a compass direction when the map is rotated. Auto-hides when the map points north up.
    • Legend - Displays a legend for a single layer in your map (and optionally for its sub layers).
    • ScaleLine - Displays current scale reference.
    • SymbolDisplay - Renders a symbol in a control.
    • TableOfContents (WPF)- Creates a tree-view of the entire map document. Optionally displays legend information for the layers as well.

     

    Please be aware that we might significantly refactor these controls, add more controls and helpers (or even remove some), so expect changes when you pull updated code from time to time. You can keep an eye on this Pull Request and monitor changes we're making.

     

    There's also a test app. It's not the prettiest (yet), and is mostly used to test the controls so far, but should help you get started. Further down the line we'll provide a proper sample app with documentation and various examples showcasing the use of these controls.

     

    What about Xamarin? It's on our roadmap, but we're first focusing on WPF, which in turn means we get UWP support almost for free.

     

    Feel free to comment below here to provide feedback etc.

    The ArcGIS Runtime .NET team is proud to announce that the Quartz betas of the ArcGIS Runtime SDKs for .NET and Xamarin are now available.

     

    The beta contains exciting new functionality not previously available in the 10.2.X releases, including: mobile map packages, vector tiled layers, and raster layers, plus full support for Windows 10 Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps. Did I forget to say your awesome GIS C# code will also now run on Windows, AND Android, AND iOS?! Beta releases don't get more exciting than this!! Learn all about the Betas in the .NET release notes, Xamarin release notes and blog post. Download the Beta software from the Early Adopter Community site by signing in with your ArcGIS Online account or create a new beta account.

     

    We appreciate you taking the time to test our beta and look forward to hearing your feedback in the Early Adopter Community forum.

     

    Cheers

     

    The .NET team

    Lots of fixes and performance improvements, but most importantly: Support for 3D and KML!

     

    Full details here: ArcGIS Runtime SDK 10.2.6 for .NET is now available! | ArcGIS Blog

     

    desktop.PNG

    KmlViewer.png

    WinPhone_Scene.PNG

    We have uploaded demos that were shown in Developer Summit 2015 sessions to ArcGIS Online as a code samples.

     

    Please follow links below to the items for download.

     

     

    Also see related post about session recordings

    .NET Runtime - DevSummit 2015 Sessions

    The 2015 devsummit session recordings have started coming online.

     

    Below is a list of .NET Runtime related session recordings - More to come (I'll update the list as they do)

     

    .NET Specific sessions:

    Getting Started with the ArcGIS Runtime SDK for .NET | Esri Video

    The first steps to using the runtime in a .NET-based app and an overview

     

    ArcGIS Runtime SDK for .NET: Using MVVM | Esri Video

    Goes through rewriting an app to use good MVVM patterns

     

    ArcGIS Runtime SDK for .NET: Tips and Tricks | Esri Video

    The .NET Team's Top 10 tips - Lots of little good tidbits for you

     

    Preview of ArcGIS Runtime and Xamarin | Esri Video

    Get a sneak peak of the runtime for Xamarin

     

    Runtime sessions that apply to all the supported platforms

    Getting Started with the ArcGIS Runtime | Esri Video

    Intro about the runtimes in general

     

    ArcGIS Runtime SDKs: Building Offline Apps, Part I | Esri Video

    ArcGIS Runtime SDKs: Building Offline Apps, Part II | Esri Video

    Two-part series on going offline with the runtime

     

    ArcGIS Runtime SDKs: Core Display Architecture Performance Tips and Tricks | Esri Video

    Great low-level look at how the Runtime Rendering engine works and how you can optimize your rendering with this knowledge

    When using the MVVM style pattern to build your XAML-based app, you don't want to include references to your View objects from within your ViewModel. This means that the ViewModel won't be able to for instance call "Zoom" on the MapView, because this operation is on the MapView, and the ViewModel is not allowed to have a reference to anything on the View. You'll find similar common challenge with ScrollViewer, where you want to scroll to a certain item in a list, but again the scroll operation is on the view, since this is a view operation.

     

    The pattern to handle this is to create a controller your ViewModel owns, and you bind this to the view object, using an attached property. The ViewModel can then 'request' zoom operations on the controller, and if that controller is bound to a map view, it will handle executing the SetView call on the MapView.

     

    I've added an example of this to the WPF Desktop Sample App:

    arcgis-runtime-samples-dotnet/NavigateFromViewModel.xaml.cs at master · Esri/arcgis-runtime-samples-dotnet · GitHub

    arcgis-runtime-samples-dotnet/NavigateFromViewModel.xaml at master · Esri/arcgis-runtime-samples-dotnet · GitHub

     

    The attached property is shown here on line 1:

     

    <esri:MapView local:MapViewController.Controller="{Binding Controller}">
     <esri:Map>
          <esri:ArcGISTiledMapServiceLayer
                ServiceUri="http://services.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/rest/services/World_Topo_Map/MapServer" />
     </esri:Map>
</esri:MapView>

     

    The ViewModel class defines an instance of MapViewController, and exposes it in the property "Controller", which is what is being bound above.

     

    Inside the controller, code is triggered when it is bound to the MapView and will keep an internal weak reference* to the map view, so that it can perform the operation if it is bound. The Controller can also expose properties from the MapView back out, like in this example where the current 'Extent' property is available for use to add bookmarks. You could add more properties like the current Scale or Rotation, or add more commands to perform on the view.

     

    Using this pattern, the ViewModel never knows anything about the MapView, but is still able to perform zoom operations.

     

    This pattern works just as well with Windows Store and Windows Phone as well, and you can copy the MapViewController class over to use the as well.

     

    *We're using weak references to the MapView and it's events. It complicates the sample a little, but it ensure that if the ViewModel stays around for a long time, but you close the page/window that the MapView is on, the MapView control won't stay around in memory, but can be garbage collected.

    ArcGIS Runtime will support Xamarin in 2015!

    Read more here: http://blogs.esri.com/esri/arcgis/2014/12/03/arcgis-runtime-and-xamarin-part-2/

     

    We just published several demo apps on GitHub: Esri/arcgis-runtime-demos-dotnet · GitHub

     

    We'll be adding more demos over time, but currently these are the demos available today:

    • Geocode & Route on MouseMove - Demonstrates fast reverse geocoding and routing during mouse-move on Windows Store and Windows Desktop.
    • Turn-by-Turn Routing - A universal turn-by-turn app that shows routing and navigation on Windows Phone, Windows Store and Windows Desktop.
    • Simple Portal Browser - A universal ArcGIS Portal Map Browser app on Windows Phone, Windows Store and Windows Desktop.
    • Using an External GPS Device - A Windows Desktop app showing how to use data from an external GPS or NMEA log file to power the MapView's LocationDisplay.

     

    If you have suggestions for other demo apps, please feel free to share in this thread and we might be able to add them as well.

    Read the full details here:

    http://blogs.esri.com/esri/arcgis/2014/10/03/arcgis-runtime-sdk-10-2-4-for-net-is-available/