Which service to use and when

Question

HI All,

I am starting with ArcGis for our application.I am not sure when and how do these matter.When i look at api reference there are so may api .Layer,dijit ,geometry , geocoder .If i want to display map and have interactive feature on this which service should i use.

ShreyasVakil · Answer

Basically, the usual workflow is to add a basemap which is a tiledmapservice layer. Then we add either ArcGISDynamicMapService layer and/or Feature layer. Using feature layer you get access to your data, feature layer gets the data back to the client while a DynamicMapService layer gets snapshot of your data in the form of a image to the client and not the actual data.

Query Task is independent on the service you are using. QueryTask is performed on a specific layer to query/filter data and get it back to client.

Please go through the documentation here for QueryTask.

Feature Layera are also explained nicely here.

vinayb · Answer

Can you please tell me what is the difference in using feature layer service and ArcGisDynamicMapService.Should i be using these to display the map or by using this i get access to service provided by rest .

Can i use querytask to query both of service mentioned above.Are all other service other then these to are used for mostly to do client side functionalities.

ShreyasVakil · Answer

HI All,

I am starting with ArcGis for our application.I am not sure when and how do these matter.When i look at api reference there are so may api .Layer,dijit ,geometry , geocoder .If i want to display map and have interactive feature on this which service should i use.

Follow this sample to display a map. If you want to just show your data on map, you can use ArcGISDynamicMapServiceLayer.

Sample which shows how to add a DynamicMapServiceLayer.

There are different classes for different functionality, if you wish to add Geocoding to your applicaiton, then you can use the Geocoder widget.

If you want to perform some analysis/operation like buffer, project, distance etc. , you'll have to use the GeometryService.

If you want to query your data and show it in a popup window, you'll have to use a QueryTask.

It you want to add editing capability, you'll have to use Editor Widget.