Symbol files are now available for improved diagnosis of issues when working with ArcGIS Runtime SDK for .NET.

Symbol files, or program database files (.pdb), link instructions in compiled applications and libraries to statements in the original source code. They enable you to access a more informative call stack if that application or library fails. Call stacks are valuable because they enable us to:

• Identify if the issue you are experiencing matches an existing issue in our backlog
• Determine if we have reproduced the same issue you have in your environment
• Gain more insight on where to look for the underlying problem

If your WPF or UWP application crashes and the call stack points to the ArcGIS Runtime libraries, you can use either of the two workflows outlined below to provide Esri with more specific information and help us to more swiftly identify the cause of issue. 

When debugging and working with symbol files you will see a distinction made between managed and native libraries ("modules"). Managed modules contain code whose execution is managed by the .NET Common Language Runtime. Native modules contain code whose execution is controlled by the developer of that library and as such is often referred to as unmanaged code.

The UWP and WPF APIs within ArcGIS Runtime SDK for .NET each comprise one managed and two native libraries:

• Esri.ArcGISRuntime.dll: A managed library containing the .NET API types you reference
• RuntimeCoreNet.dll: A native library containing functional references to the ArcGIS RuntimeCore library
• RuntimeCore.dll: A native library containing the implementation for all ArcGIS Runtime core capabilities

Add a reference to the Esri symbol server

1. In Visual Studio, open the Options dialog (Tools > Options).
2. In the Options dialog expand Debugging and choose Symbols.
3. Click the ‘+’ button to add a new symbol file (.pdb) location.
4. Enter the Esri symbol server URL: http://downloads2.esri.com/support/symbols.
5. Ensure the checkbox is checked next to the new URL in the list of `Symbol file (.pdb) locations` and click `OK` to close the Options dialog.

For more information see Specify symbol (.pdb) and source files in the Visual Studio debugger in the Microsoft documentation.

Workflow 1. Debug the application

Follow these steps if you can reproduce the problem when running your application with the debugger attached.

1. In Visual Studio, click `Start Debugging` (or tap F5).
2. Open the Modules window by choose Debug on the menu bar > Windows > Modules.
3. Locate the module Esri.ArcGISRuntime.dll then right click and choose `Load Symbols`.
4. Ensure the `Symbol Status` for the module is `Symbols loaded`.
5. Run through the workflow that reproduces the problem.
6. Open the Threads window by choosing Debug on the menu bar > Windows > Threads.
7. Locate and select the thread showing the current execution point (indicated by a yellow arrow).
8. If the current execution thread shows no references to ArcGIS Runtime then locate the faulting thread.
9. Inspect for references to ArcGIS Runtime.
10. Select the thread of interest in the threads window.
11. From the menu bar, navigate to Debug > Windows > Call Stack to view the call stack for the thread.
12. In the Call Stack window, right click and choose Select All then copy the selected text.
13. If you see one or more calls to Esri.ArcGISRuntime.dll with lines similar to runtimecore.dll!00007ffdeb571164 this indicates the call stack continues into the ArcGIS Runtime native libraries and you must enable native code debugging to get more information.

For more information see How to use the threads window in the Visual Studio documentation.

Enable native code debugging

1. In Visual Studio, open the Project Properties dialog and select the Debug tab.
2. Under the section `Debugger engines`, check the box to `Enable native code debugging`.

For more information see Enable mixed mode debugging in the Microsoft documentation.

Debug the application with native code debugging

1. In Visual Studio, click `Start Debugging` (or tap F5).
2. From the menu bar, navigate to Debug > Windows > Modules to open the Modules window.
3. For each of the following modules, locate the module > right click > choose `Load Symbols`:
   
   1. RuntimeCoreNet.dll
   2. runtimecore.dll
4. Ensure the `Symbol Status` for each module above is `Symbols loaded`.
5. Run through the workflow that reproduces the problem.
6. From the menu bar, navigate to Debug > Windows > Threads to open the Threads window.
7. Locate and select the thread showing the current execution point (yellow arrow).
8. If the current execution thread shows no references to ArcGIS Runtime locate the faulting thread.
9. Inspect for references to ArcGIS Runtime.
10. Select the thread of interest in the threads window.
11. From the menu bar navigate to Debug > Windows > Call Stack to view the call stack for the thread.
12. In the Call Stack window right click, choose Select All and copy the selected text.

For more information see How to use the threads window in the Visual Studio documentation.

Workflow 2. Debug a dump file

Create dump file from your application process

1. Run through the workflow that reproduces the problem.
2. When the application crashes open Windows Task Manager > select the `Details` tab > locate the process > Right click > choose 'Create dump file'.
3. On the `Dumping Process` dialog that appears, take note of the file location (select the path text and copy).

Debug the Dump File

1. In Visual Studio, navigate to File > Open > File.
2. In the open file dialog, browse for and choose the <YourApplicationProcessName>.DMP file (or paste the path you copied earlier).
3. On the Minidump File Summary page look for the collapsible Actions section.
4. Choose `Debug with Mixed`.
5. For each of the following modules, locate the module > right click > choose `Load Symbols`:
   
   1. Esri.ArcGISRuntime.dll
   2. RuntimeCoreNet.dll
   3. runtimecore.dll
6. Ensure the `Symbol Status` for each module above is `Symbols loaded`.
7. From the menu bar, navigate to Debug > Windows > Threads to open the Threads window.
8. Locate and select the thread showing the current execution point (yellow arrow).
9. If the current execution thread shows no references to ArcGIS Runtime locate the faulting thread.
10. Inspect for references to ArcGIS Runtime.
11. Select the thread of interest in the threads window.
12. From the menu bar navigate to Debug > Windows > Call Stack to view the call stack for the thread.
13. In the Call Stack window right click, choose Select All and copy the selected text.

For more information see How to use the threads window in the Visual Studio documentation.

If you have copied the text for an ArcGIS Runtime related call stack you can add this information to a Geonet post or provide it to an Esri analyst when you contact Support to report your issue.

Example

The following example shows the type of ArcGIS Runtime call stack you might have in the event of an crash and shows how you might read a call stack to decipher potential causes of the problem and perhaps find a temporary workaround.

In July 2019 an ArcGIS Runtime user reported on Geonet a crash with 100.5 when their code called the asynchronous method RouteTask.SolveRouteAsync(). They did the best thing you can do in this situation by attaching a simple standalone reproducer application to the Geonet post. It enabled the development team to repeat the exact workflow and get the call stack using the 100.5 symbol files. The call stack showed that ArcGIS Runtime code was failing within geometry spatial reference handling, which allowed us to recommend a straightforward workaround: specify the SpatialReference when creating MapPoint geometries to represent Stops. Now with 100.6, you too have access to the symbol files giving you a head start on identifying possible causes and temporary workarounds, and more specific information to share with us when reporting your issue. In this case, thanks to the excellent reproducer application from the user we were able to quickly diagnose and fix this bug for the 100.6 release.

Example call stack:

> runtimecore.dll!Esri_runtimecore::Geometry::Spatial_reference_impl::horizontal_equal_(class Esri_runtimecore::Geometry::Spatial_reference_impl const &) Unknown
 runtimecore.dll!Esri_runtimecore::Geometry::Spatial_reference_impl::equals(class Esri_runtimecore::Geometry::Spatial_reference const &) Unknown
 runtimecore.dll!Esri_runtimecore::Network_analyst::reproject(class std::shared_ptr<class Esri_runtimecore::Geometry::Geometry> const &,class std::shared_ptr<class Esri_runtimecore::Geometry::Spatial_reference> const &,class std::shared_ptr<class Esri_runtimecore::Geometry::Spatial_reference> const &) Unknown
 runtimecore.dll!Esri_runtimecore::Network_analyst::NA_utils::reproject<class Esri_runtimecore::Network_analyst::Stop>(class std::shared_ptr<class Esri_runtimecore::Geometry::Spatial_reference> const &,class std::vector<class Esri_runtimecore::Network_analyst::Stop,class std::allocator<class Esri_runtimecore::Network_analyst::Stop> > &) Unknown
 runtimecore.dll!Esri_runtimecore::Network_analyst::Local_route_task::initialize_stops_(class Esri_runtimecore::Network_analyst::Route_parameters const &,class std::vector<class Esri_runtimecore::Network_analyst::Stop,class std::allocator<class Esri_runtimecore::Network_analyst::Stop> > const &,class std::vector<class Esri_runtimecore::Network_analyst::Stop,class std::allocator<class Esri_runtimecore::Network_analyst::Stop> > &,class std::shared_ptr<class Esri_runtimecore::Geodatabase::Transportation_network_view> const &,class std::vector<struct Esri_runtimecore::Network_analyst::Solve_condition,class std::allocator<struct Esri_runtimecore::Network_analyst::Solve_condition> > &,class std::vector<struct Esri_runtimecore::Network_analyst::Solve_condition,class std::allocator<struct Esri_runtimecore::Network_analyst::Solve_condition> > &) Unknown
 runtimecore.dll!Esri_runtimecore::Network_analyst::Local_route_task::solve(class Esri_runtimecore::Network_analyst::Route_parameters,class pplx::cancellation_token const &) Unknown
 runtimecore.dll!Esri_runtimecore::Mapping::Local_solve_operation::solve_async(class std::shared_ptr<class Esri_runtimecore::Mapping::Request_delegator> const &,class std::shared_ptr<class Esri_runtimecore::Mapping::Route_parameters> const &,class Esri_runtimecore::Mapping::Task_completion_source<class std::shared_ptr<class Esri_runtimecore::Mapping::Route_result> >,class Esri_runtimecore::Mapping::Task_options) Unknown
 runtimecore.dll!<lambda_892f625b129cc43ba2b282eeb1ecc18f>::operator()<pplx::task<boost::any>>() Unknown
 runtimecore.dll!std::_Func_impl_no_alloc<<lambda_31388138151c3f34bc6c36ef59ef90df>,boost::any,pplx::task<boost::any>>::_Do_call() Unknown
 runtimecore.dll!std::_Func_class<class boost::any,class pplx::task<class std::vector<class boost::any,class std::allocator<class boost::any> > > >::operator()(class pplx::task<class std::vector<class boost::any,class std::allocator<class boost::any> > >) Unknown
 runtimecore.dll!pplx::details::_PPLTaskHandle<class boost::any,struct pplx::task<class boost::any>::_ContinuationTaskHandle<class boost::any,class boost::any,class std::function<class boost::any >,struct std::integral_constant<bool,1>,struct pplx::details::_TypeSelectorNoAsync>,struct pplx::details::_ContinuationTaskHandleBase>::invoke(void) Unknown
 runtimecore.dll!pplx::details::_TaskProcHandle::_RunChoreBridge(void *) Unknown
 runtimecore.dll!Esri_runtimecore::Common::Core_scheduler::bridge_proc_(void *) Unknown
 runtimecore.dll!Esri_runtimecore::Common::Windows_Threadpool_scheduler::Scheduler_param::work_callback(struct _TP_CALLBACK_INSTANCE *,void *,struct _TP_WORK *) Unknown
 ntdll.dll!77597dc4() Unknown
 ntdll.dll![Frames below may be incorrect and/or missing, no symbols loaded for ntdll.dll] Unknown
 [External Code] 

Data is at the heart of every business. Collecting and storing data is done in a variety of ways, from paper forms to custom-built applications. You, our customers, have asked us to help with the transition from paper to digital by providing you with a collection app that is configurable and customizable to work with your own data and specific workflows.

We are proud to deliver an open source app that hopefully fits many of your organization's data collection needs. Because we are releasing the app open source and under an Apache license, you are welcome to take it, modify it to match your needs, and use it as you see fit.

Data Collection for .NET is a WPF application built using the ArcGIS Runtime SDK for .NET and it features common functionality encountered when collecting data.

Identify map data

Collecting data means also knowing what is around you. Click on one of the data points on the map to bring up information about it. If you need to edit it, clicking on the pencil icon will start an edit session. It's as simple as that!

Collect new data point

When you're ready to add a new data point, click the plus button to begin. You'll be prompted to select a location for your new data point and add some information about it.

Work offline

To support remote collection in areas without network access, we added the ability to work offline. Simply navigate the map to your desired work area and select "Work Offline" from the menu. The app will download the map along with its data and will allow you to collect data points when you are disconnected from the network. When you're back in the office or able to connect to a network, select "Sync Map" from the menu to have your changes merged with the online version of your map.

Do you think this is something you could use? Take a look at the full documentation and get the source code to the app from GitHub!

Happy collecting!

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

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.

"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.

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

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