Latest Contributions by JoshuaKalov

Hi JR, At this time, there is no core widget that does what you're looking for. Can you please describe in more detail the desired functionality and workflow on what you want to do? Hope this helps, I don't want to speak for anyone else, but one of our big uses of the Search widget (and the flex application in general) in FlexViewer 1.3 involves searching parcels and buffering.  There are a couple of different workflows that seem important for us.  I have addressed most of them in flexviewer 1.3 by using a version of the Search + Buffer + Datagrid widget developed by Robert Scheitlin and Cory Hines in the old forum. An enhanced version of that ported to Viewer 2.1 would work well.  Maybe more out of the box support for printing the attributes/table. Common Workflows: 1) Search for or click on a parcel, parcel attributes are shown.  The user sometimes would like to be able to print these attributes. 2) User selects a parcel, selects Buffer of 500 feet, buffer selects all parcels in the buffer, highlights the selected parcels and shows the buffer circle.  Selected Parcel attributes are displayed.  They can be also viewed in the Datagrid and exported out to a csv/xls.  (This is helpful for the "notify all homeowners within X distance from Y event.") Parcel attributes and parcel buffering is probably 95% of our flex site usage right now. ... View more

Hello... I was wondering if there is a way to change the Column heading fields in the floating data grid? I have it working just fine, but I would like to change lables for the columns to be a bit more descriptive. Thanks. Frank If you use the property showalias="true" in the xml, it should show the field alias' on the columns. ... View more

The layout of the widgetcontainer can be specified as vertical (similar to SFV) or horizontal (ditto but at the bottom) or float (the default where widgets can be moved around) or fixed (where end-users can not move the widgets. See the Viewer Resource Center -> Samples -> Widget container layouts: http://help.arcgis.com/en/webapps/flexviewer/samples/index.html#layouts.htm This is somewhat off topic, but the Samples page in the Resource Center always takes a long time to load for me. More on topic, why is there no code on these samples?   When you click on that Widget container layouts, you can see what the different layouts look like, but you can't see the code to enable them.  At the very least those Flex Apps should have right-click view source enabled or have the "Source Code" tab like the regular Fllex API Resource Center has for its samples. (I realize the viewer relies on config files, so maybe tab(s) for the config file in addition to, or instead of the source code tab.) ... View more

There are actually 2 dock locations in FlexViewer2.  You can have the dock on the right side like in 1.3 and/or on the bottom.  You can use either, both, or none.  From the ArcGIS Viewer for Flex Samples page, if you click on "Widget Container Layouts" it should give you more information. (I can't seem to be able to link directly to it.) ... View more

Matthew, Yep it is still very much in Beta, and it's documentation is as well that is the whole thing with early Beta adoption is that you have to deal with bugs, lack of some functionality and unfinished documentation. One very big thing I have to point out to FLEX API users is that the API is a free product that you pay absolutely nothing for. You can use the API even if you have no esri software, by using free map services that are available through ArcGIS online. That being said if so many people are wanting a things to be just like other ESRI products then be prepared to have esri change their minds on the free portion and begin charging us for the API's. I don't think that esri or any of us want them to do this. Just my opinion, nothing personal Matthew I just have been watching this forum for a very long time now and people tend to forget that the API is free. I guess technically its free, but I think that isn't really true in practice.  I am using the Flex API/Viewer because we pay for and use ESRI ArcGIS Server.  If we weren't using Server, there would be no reason to use the API's.  People are using the APIs to access ESRI services, most often their own ArcGIS Server services.  ArcGIS Server is an incredibly expensive product that with the depreciation of WebADF and ArcIMS has no viewer other than the APIs/FlexViewer.  I consider the APIs to be a part of the ArcGIS Server package and have their costs built into the ArcGIS Server cost.  I think the APIs are a minimum requirement for inclusion with such an expensive piece of software like ArcGIS Server, not some extra bonus. ... View more

When you talk about "navigation controls" - what do you really mean? 🙂 Is it "just" the Next/Previous functionality, like Josh mentions?  What about initial extent? Or full (some sort of max) extent? Which of them are most important (and thus what do you think should be our priority)? Are you asking for Robert's buttons a la http://gis.calhouncounty.org/flexviewer2.0 ? 🙂 For me, its more the "Zoom In", "Zoom Out", "Pan" buttons as the main priority.  I personally have never been a big user of previous/next extent, but it seems like it would make sense to include them too.  Its an interface that has been standard in ArcDesktop, ArcIMS, ArcGISServer WebADF, and FlexViewer1.3 and by now its something people have come to expect/use frequently. Robert's list is excellent.  With the WebADF being discontinued, it seems like the FlexViewer is the new long-term "out of the box" solution, so it really needs to be able to replace the ease and functionality of the WebADF map creation interface. The one important addition I would add to Robert's list is a Buffer widget (or at least Buffer capabilities built into the Search widget like the ProximitySearch Widget that Robert(?) created for 1.3). ... View more

This probably isn't the most elegant solution out there, but... If you are using the viewer, and all the url's are in the xml config files, why not just have 2 versions of the application?  One copy of the application goes in a folder for external with xml files pointing to the external-viewable url's, another copy of the application goes in a 2nd folder for internal with xml files pointing to the internal-viewable url's.  If you update the application, you then just have to copy the application swf files to both directories (while not overwriting the xml files). The application itself would be identical for both, just the config xml files would be different. ... View more

Joshua,    The link in the search results for Flexviewer 2.0 does not exist anymore (don't raelly know why they omitted it). And the shape_area and shape_Length has been a bug/feature since SFV 1.0. In the SearchWidget.mxml line 415 replace the existing line with this to fix it. if (fld.toUpperCase() != queryTitleField.toUpperCase() &&(fld.toUpperCase() != "SHAPE_LENGTH") && (fld.toUpperCase() != "SHAPE_AREA")) Thanks Robert.  You are always great about responding with solutions. The link in the search results for Flexviewer 2.0 does not exist anymore (don't raelly know why they omitted it). To any ESRI folks that saw my other post about documentation, this is exactly the kind of thing I am talking about.  Is this a bug I should report?  Was this intentionally left out? I guess that goes for the SHAPE_LENGTH/SHAPE_AREA bug too.  If that has been around since 1.0, has it just not been reported?  Is there a reason it has never been fixed?  If ESRI utilized bug tracking/reporting systems like most web software dev. uses, it would be easier to know the answers to these things without having to guess. ... View more

The ArcGIS Viewer for Flex application is currently in beta. We are in the process of actively testing the software, addressing any issues/bugs, and collecting feedback from users. Depending on the outcome of the testing and feedback will affect our plans for the "next beta", and the one after that, ... up until final release. Similar to the ArcGIS Web Mapping APIs, the ArcGIS Viewer for Flex application will likely have a more fluid and dynamic release/update cycle. Thank you for the response. I guess maybe this is a situation where ESRI is using the term "Beta" differently than how I've tended to see it be used.  It sounds like the Viewer is considered to be in more of an Alpha stage if you follow the release life cycle descriptions on wikipedia.  Usually by the time a release is in Beta, the final feature set is finalized.  A good current example would be to take a look at the Firefox 4 Beta.  Not only do they discuss what specific features are new and included in Firefox 4, it also tells you what specific features to expect in future releases. The Firefox 4 Beta site has a "Features" page with clearly defined features along with additional current and future feature information on the "Technology" page.  This would really depend on the business needs of your project. You can use the ArcGIS Viewer for Flex application as is if you want to quickly deploy a Web mapping application. Or, you can use it as a starting template (aka. site starter) to create a custom Web mapping application. Again, since we are currently in beta, be advised that the software may change before final release.  Hope this helps, You have to use the ArcGIS Viewer (either out of the box or customized) if you want to take advantage of widgets developed by ESRI and the great ESRI user-community regardless of whether you are working on a "quick" application or a more long-term project.  I would love to be able to quickly deploy all Web mapping applications.  I definitely wasn't able to use either FlexViewer 1.3 or 2.0 to quickly deploy a Web mapping application.  In both cases, undocumented (other than sometimes "documented" through Robert Scheitlin's excellent forum posts) "quirks" popped up that required editing files, re-compiling the viewer, and trial & error.   It is incredibly difficult to keep track of what works with what version of the Viewer, version of the API, or version of ArcGIS Server.  I think a chart along the lines of the Firefox Beta Technology page could be incredibly helpful to the ESRI user-community. (In reality, documentation expectations for paid software like ESRI  should be even higher than an open source free software like Firefox.) Thanks, Josh ... View more

Hi Joshua, Just to add onto what others have posted, especially some of the points mentioned by Keith - please review the online help documentation at the ArcGIS Viewer for Flex resource center. Hope this helps, While I think the ArcGIS Viewer for Flex resource center is useful, I'm not sure it really addresses the main issue.  As far as I've seen from my searching, there is no Roadmap or discussion about the plans for the Viewer.  Yes, the resource center is decent for telling you about the viewer in its current form, but what are ESRI's plans for the next beta, and the one after that, and the final release? It would be very helpful for ESRI customers to be able to map out long term plans/development if ESRI did a better job of communicating its plans.  If I'm planning a long term project, do I use the Viewer as a base, or just start from scratch?  Its hard to make that determination without knowing what plans for the viewer are.  If ESRI is planning to have a XYZ Widget in the final viewer, I know that I don't necessarily need to start creating my own version of the XYZ Widget. ... View more

I got the extent error fixed (needed to add an include). The search still won't recognize a point when clicking on it no matter what I set the tolerance for.  Maybe it is something else that is causing it not to pick up the point? ... View more

Joshua,    There is not tolerance built in for the point graphical search so you have to add one on your own like this: private function searchDrawEnd(event:DrawEvent):void    {     event.target.deactivate();     var geom:Geometry = event.graphic.geometry;     if(geom.type == Geometry.MAPPOINT)     {      //Expand the point by 5 pixels      var point:MapPoint = geom as MapPoint;      var xMin:Number = map.toScreen(point).x - 2.5;      var yMin:Number = map.toScreen(point).y - 2.5;      var xMax:Number = map.toScreen(point).x + 2.5;      var yMax:Number = map.toScreen(point).y + 2.5;      var mp1:MapPoint = map.toMap(new Point(xMin,yMin));      var mp2:MapPoint = map.toMap(new Point(xMax,yMax));      var ext:Extent = new Extent(mp1.x, mp1.y, mp2.x, mp2.y);      var pA:Array = [];                  var pPoly:Polygon = new Polygon(null,geom.spatialReference);               pA.push(new MapPoint(ext.xmin,ext.ymin,geom.spatialReference));               pA.push(new MapPoint(ext.xmin,ext.ymax,geom.spatialReference));               pA.push(new MapPoint(ext.xmax,ext.ymax,geom.spatialReference));               pA.push(new MapPoint(ext.xmax,ext.ymin,geom.spatialReference));               pA.push(new MapPoint(ext.xmin,ext.ymin,geom.spatialReference));      pPoly.addRing(pA);      queryFeaturesGraphical(pPoly);     } else {      queryFeaturesGraphical(geom);     }    } I am getting compile errors with this line: var ext:Extent = new Extent(mp1.x, mp1.y, mp2.x, mp2.y); 1046: Type was not found or was not a compile-time constant: Extent. SearchWidget.mxml 1180: Call to a possibly undefined method Extent. SearchWidget.mxml ... View more