topic Re: High quality print with Flex in ArcGIS API for Flex Questions

High quality print with Flex

erictruchon — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 12:09:02 GMT

Hello

Our firm has developed an application in Flex and we publish the assessment roll for many municipalities.

Prior to Flex, we were using ArcIMS.

Some of our clients find that our print tool in Flex has lost quality from ArcIMS and I agree with them.

I watched the new version of the API in Flex (version 2.1) and I have not seen an example of printing tool in high quality. (just a snap shot)

I tried to find an example and I have not found. But I read that it would be possible to do it.

Where could I find a solution?

Thank you in advance

Greetings

Re: High quality print with Flex

JoshCalhoun1 — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 15:24:06 GMT

I would like to see something like this also.

thanks

Re: High quality print with Flex

MichaelBishopp — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 20:28:24 GMT

I'm all for seeing a solution to this question too.

Re: High quality print with Flex

ReneRubalcava — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 21:13:15 GMT

One solution would be to use the REST export to grab png's of the map service and stack them in Flex to send to print. This wouldn't grab any hand drawn graphics you have added though.
http://help.arcgis.com/EN/arcgisserver/10.0/apis/rest/export.html

I think high-quality prints would require server side ArcObjects to produce the image.

Re: High quality print with Flex

EokNgo — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 21:20:02 GMT

High quality vector output is possible.

With lots of trial and error, we managed to come up with a solution based on an ASP .Net web service that generates the map using a SOAP request and adding map elements on the server side.

See SOAP API on example of how to generate a map:
map services -> ExportMapImage
http://resources.esri.com/help/9.3/arcgisserver/apis/soap/index.htm

On the server side in the same map service, we used iTextSharp to edit the PDF output of the map to add things like a legend, scalebar, logos, etc. In order to create the legend and scalebar, we needed to use ArcObjects (hence the need to do this server side).

Hope this helps you get started.

Re: High quality print with Flex

erictruchon — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 13:39:44 GMT

Hi hawkeye81x

Your solution is in ASP.Net. Do you think we can apply it with Flex (API)

I have a feeling it is not possible to consume a SOAP service.

Quote extracted from http://resources.esri.com/help/9.3/a...soap/index.htm

"Developer environments, such as .NET or Java, provide SOAP toolkits to automate the process of generating a set of local, native classes for a consumer"

Is it possible in Flex?

Re: High quality print with Flex

erictruchon — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 14:19:17 GMT

Hi odoe

I did a test with Rest export and here the results

ArcMap export

Rest export

It's not the same size and output quality.

I'm looking for high quality print like Arcmap and ArcIMS

Greetings

Re: High quality print with Flex

erictruchon — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 14:29:12 GMT

I'm sorry, i forgot images specifications

Same area
Same image format png
same dpi 300

thanks

Re: High quality print with Flex

EokNgo — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 19:55:17 GMT

Hi hawkeye81x

Your solution is in ASP.Net. Do you think we can apply it with Flex (API)

I have a feeling it is not possible to consume a SOAP service.

Quote extracted from http://resources.esri.com/help/9.3/a...soap/index.htm

"Developer environments, such as .NET or Java, provide SOAP toolkits to automate the process of generating a set of local, native classes for a consumer"

Is it possible in Flex?

The standard Flex SDK has the Webservice object you use to consume a web service, in my case an ASP .Net, web service. All you need to feed it is the wsdl and write the functions on how you want to handle the response:

Example:
<mx:WebService id="myWebService" showBusyCursor="false"
wsdl="http://serverName/PDFProcessor/PDFService.asmx?wsdl">
     <mx:operation name="exportPDF"
             resultFormat="object"
             fault="getPDF_fault(event)"
             result="getPDF_result(event)">
     </mx:operation>
</mx:WebService>

There are plenty of good tutorials on how to create an ASP .Net web service if you don't experience with it. Just google it.

Of course I'm assuming you're using a Windows-based Server environment using IIS.

I've attached a Testmap (modified slightly to remove sensitive client info). But you can see the output is 300 DPI vector PDF.

Re: High quality print with Flex

EokNgo — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 19:59:00 GMT

I'm sorry, i forgot images specifications

Same area
Same image format png
same dpi 300

thanks

PNG is a raster based image format, so however you output it, it will eventually reveal jags when you zoom in close enough. Hence vector based output is more reliable for a consistent "high-quality" output. The rest endpoint does support PDF output as well. You can try that and see how it looks.

Re: High quality print with Flex

erictruchon — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 14:49:40 GMT

Thank you very much hawkeye81x for information, I understand better now

Last question: Does it requires ArcGIS is installed on the server?

Thanks again

Re: High quality print with Flex

EokNgo — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 22:39:02 GMT

Thank you very much hawkeye81x for information, I understand better now

Last question: Does it requires ArcGIS is installed on the server?

Thanks again

I assume by ArcGIS you mean ArcGIS Desktop, you shouldn't need it if you're printing just the map.

Re: High quality print with Flex

erictruchon — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 17:56:54 GMT

Voilà

My solution with AlivePDF to produce good quality printing

private function generatePDF():void

{


var layer:ArcGISDynamicMapServiceLayer = map.getLayer(map.layerIds[0]) as ArcGISDynamicMapServiceLayer;
var imageParams:ImageParameters = new ImageParameters();
var mapImage:MapImage = new MapImage();

var extent_map:Extent = map.extent
var x1:Number = extent_map.xmin
var x2:Number = extent_map.xmax
var y1:Number = extent_map.ymin
var y2:Number = extent_map.ymax

imageParams.format = "jpg"; //png
imageParams.width = 2048;   // max default width arcgis server

imageParams.height = Math.round(2048*(y2-y1)/(x2-x1));

var extent:Extent = new Extent(x1, y1, x2, y2);
var sr:SpatialReference = new SpatialReference(2145)
imageParams.imageSpatialReference = sr;
imageParams.extent = extent;
imageParams.dpi = 150;

layer.exportMapImage(imageParams,new AsyncResponder(onResult, onFault))

     function onResult(mi:MapImage, token:Object = null):void
     {
     try
     {
mapImage = mi;
var my_url:String = mapImage.href;
my_url = my_url.replace("server_name", "server_url")
var urlLoader:URLLoader = new URLLoader();
urlLoader.dataFormat = URLLoaderDataFormat.BINARY;
urlLoader.addEventListener(Event.COMPLETE, loaderComplete);
        urlLoader.load(new URLRequest(my_url));

      }
     catch (error:Error)
      {
Alert.show(info.toString(), "Export Problem");
      }
      }


      function onFault(info:Object, token:Object = null) : void
         {
     Alert.show(info.toString(), "Export Problem");
}

}


private function loaderComplete(event:Event):void
{

   switch (my_page.text)
   {
case "8 1/2 x 11":
{
   var myPDF : PDF = new PDF (Orientation.LANDSCAPE, Unit.MM, Size.LETTER);
   myPDF.setDisplayMode(Display.FULL_PAGE,Layout.SINGLE_PAGE );
   myPDF.addPage();

   var rs:Resize= new Resize(Mode.FIT_TO_PAGE,Position.LEFT);
   myPDF.addImageStream(ByteArray(event.target.data), ColorSpace.DEVICE_RGB, rs );

   myPDF.beginFill ( new RGBColor (0xFFFFFF));
   myPDF.lineStyle ( new RGBColor ( 0xFFFFFF ), 1, .1, 1, CapsStyle.SQUARE, JointStyle.MITER );
   myPDF.drawRect ( new Rectangle (221, 11, 60, 193 ));
   myPDF.endFill ( );

   myPDF.addImageStream( new logo as ByteArray, ColorSpace.DEVICE_RGB, null,224, 15, 25, 11 );
   myPDF.addImageStream( new legende as ByteArray, ColorSpace.DEVICE_RGB, null,216, 45, 37, 95 );

   ...

   break;
}



case "11 x 17":
{
    var myPDF : PDF = new PDF (Orientation.LANDSCAPE, Unit.MM, Size.TABLOID);
    myPDF.setDisplayMode(Display.FULL_PAGE,Layout.SINGLE_PAGE );
    myPDF.addPage();

    var rs:Resize= new Resize(Mode.FIT_TO_PAGE,Position.LEFT);
    myPDF.addImageStream(ByteArray(event.target.data), ColorSpace.DEVICE_RGB, rs );

    myPDF.beginFill ( new RGBColor (0xFFFFFF));
    myPDF.lineStyle ( new RGBColor ( 0xFFFFFF ), 1, .1, 1, CapsStyle.SQUARE, JointStyle.MITER );
           myPDF.drawRect ( new Rectangle (365, 11, 80, 257 ));
           myPDF.endFill ( );

    myPDF.addImageStream( new logo as ByteArray, ColorSpace.DEVICE_RGB, null,370, 15, 30, 13 );
    myPDF.addImageStream( new legende as ByteArray, ColorSpace.DEVICE_RGB, null,365, 65, 40, 100 );

           ...

    break;
}
   }

myPDF.save(Method.REMOTE,"http://my_server_url/php/create.php",Download.INLINE,"map.pdf")

}

/****************************************************************************
/*php file create.php

<?php

$method = $_GET['method'];

$name = $_GET['name'];

if ( isset ( $GLOBALS["HTTP_RAW_POST_DATA"] )) {


   $pdf = $GLOBALS["HTTP_RAW_POST_DATA"];


   header('Content-Type: application/pdf');

   header('Content-Length: '.strlen($pdf));

   header('Content-disposition:'.$method.'; filename="'.$name.'"');

   echo $pdf;



} else echo 'An error occured.';

?>

?>

Re: High quality print with Flex

TomSchuller — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 07:57:34 GMT

This could also be an alternative if you are running on an ArcGIS server 10 (v10 is a requirement):

http://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=6809086326ea4c76bf026a32bb9dd698

It's based on a SOE (ServerObjectExtension) which runs on the Java and .Net version of ArcGISServer.
The communication is based on REST, so any client/platform can use it.

There is a Flex widget provided with.

Tom