best web app/template that I could use ?

Question

All,

I'm trying to build my 1st website and since there're many out there, I do not really know what's best for my case.

What I'm having right now is a .net web that shows all account numbers base on user's inputs and what I need is a button on that app that fires a gis web app showing  polygons of those accounts.   I'm debating between flex and javascript.  I need a quick, and easiest way posibble since I'm not familiar with either of them.  Your help is greatly appreciated.

Helen

ChrisSergent · Answer

I agree that you should use the Esri JavaScript API. Both Flex and Silverlight will no longer be supported soon. See this blog for more info: http://blogs.esri.com/esri/supportcenter/2014/11/10/final-release-and-support-plan-for-the-arcgis-apis-viewers-for-flex-and-silverlight/

.NET and JavaScript work just fine together. I've used both, .NET to integrate database driven applications and pure HTML5 and JavaScript.

I also have an old app that I created in the Web ADF. But if you look at Startup.aspx.vb, it populates a url and then a page redirect if you need a sample and then I used the url parameters to perform selection in Default.aspx.vb. It's not JavaScript, but it might give you an idea of the logic that I used my .NET application.

If you'r just starting, you may want to follow Kelly Hutchins​, she has many code examples on Geonet that you may find helpful as you start out.

khutchins · Answer

You could build a simple app using the Esri JSAPI that checks for a url parameter and then uses the Search widget to zoom to that location.  Here's some sample code that shows how this would work:

https://gist.github.com/anonymous/fca4871e844b354859c8

If you copy the code and set it up on your web server you can test using a valid parcel id as a url parameter. Here's an example of what the url for this test might look like.

http://localhost/mytestapp/parcels.html?parcel=1920226008

After running the app you'll be zoomed into the specified parcel and an info window will pop up showing info about that parcel.

JustinRobinson1 · Answer

There really isn't much debate left in my opinion. At this point, flex and flash are treated as legacy on most platforms (if its even available, looking at you iOS). I would focus on the JavaScript API for any new development.

Your use case also sounds relatively simple, I would take a look at leaflet + esri-leaflet plugin as it is much simpler to get up and running in than the Esri JavaScript api. The Esri API is full featured but has a fair bit of overhead  (AMD and Dojo can be a bit to wrap your head around if you're new to this) if you are building something more custom (as in not using a stock template or something like the CMV).

Cheers.