topic Re: Printing in SL 2.0 comparsion in ArcGIS API for Silverlight Questions

Printing in SL 2.0 comparsion

LakshmananVenkatesan — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 12:27:18 GMT

Dear All:

We have developed Print functionality in Web application using ESRI SL 1.2, ArcGIS 9.3.1. Client application willl send all visible layers, graphics (poly,line and point) as string , text symbols as string to server side and recreate a map document and construct geometry from string and generate a image and display in web page.

If we have say 100 lines as graphics, string which we generate is very big and unable to process( or send via http). Server side is done using GP Tool. Question is we have planned to move to ArcGIS 10 and SL 2.0.

What are all advantages in print functionality using ArcGIS 10 and SL 2.0 (MS SL 4.0) or rather how easy to print the map with graphics and other options ?

Please throw light on this

Re: Printing in SL 2.0 comparsion

dotMorten_esri — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 20:07:28 GMT

Silverlight 4 comes with built-in APIs for printing, so you don't need to roundtrip to the server. Basically you can print out any control. That control could be either the map, or a custom user control that contains the map, a title etc.

Re: Printing in SL 2.0 comparsion

LakshmananVenkatesan — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 10:26:24 GMT

Silverlight 4 comes with built-in APIs for printing, so you don't need to roundtrip to the server. Basically you can print out any control. That control could be either the map, or a custom user control that contains the map, a title etc.

Iam adding some graphics (polygon,line, point) n graphisc layer, can print API accomdate custom graphics also?. I have map with several dynamic layer,feature layer, graphics laeyer. I want print of all the same in a single click, will that level of sophistication is available?

Please elobrate

Re: Printing in SL 2.0 comparsion

DominiqueBroux — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 11:14:15 GMT

Using the Silverlight print API, you can print any control.
If the printed control contains a map with several dynamic layer,feature layer, graphics layer... , all these layers will be printed.

It becomes a little more difficult if you want a print preview or if you want to print at scale. In this case you may need to clone the map, and so you need to clone all the layers as well.

A little time ago,I posted a print sample allowing:
- print preview
- print at scale
- print on multi pages
- templatable print pages

This sample can be tested here.

The silverlight limitation I noticed is that SL don't allow to print using large format and high resolution (probably because Silverlight's print implementation is done by printing to a bitmap and this bitmap could become huge).
For example to print in A0 I have to reduce the the printer resolution to 150dpi.

Re: Printing in SL 2.0 comparsion

LakshmananVenkatesan — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 12:00:23 GMT

Thanks for wonderful sample and replies.

Re: Printing in SL 2.0 comparsion

NathalieNeagle — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 20:18:05 GMT

Dominique,

Your sample is great but I'm having a little bit of trouble migrating your printing code to my application do you have any documentation to do this?

Thanks
Nathalie

Re: Printing in SL 2.0 comparsion

DominiqueBroux — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 06:18:49 GMT

Hi Nathalie,

I am sorry, there was no documentation on how include the controls in a new project.

I just posted a new version with a Readme (readme.txt under MapPrintingControls) and a few bugs/enhancements to simplify the user experience with Blend.

Please download this new version and let me know if you get any problem with.

Thanks

Re: Printing in SL 2.0 comparsion

NathalieNeagle — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 02:22:21 GMT

Thanks Dominique,
I will check it out.
Nathalie

Re: Printing in SL 2.0 comparsion

SamuelDantas — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 11:26:11 GMT

Dominique,

I'm trying to change the layout of the page by changing the template property in execution time to another ControlTemplate definition but it's not working.

How can I change the template in execution time?

Thanks a lot.

Re: Printing in SL 2.0 comparsion

DominiqueBroux — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 03:47:38 GMT

To change the layout of the page with Blend:

Right click on the map printer control

Select 'Edit Template'

Select 'Edit a Copy'

Accept the creation of the new style

You can now change the page layout

Basically, the template property in XAML looks by default like this:

 
         <Setter Property="Template">
          <Setter.Value>
           <ControlTemplate TargetType="controls:MapPrinter">
            <Border BorderBrush="{TemplateBinding BorderBrush}" BorderThickness="{TemplateBinding BorderThickness}" CornerRadius="0">
             <Border Padding="{TemplateBinding Padding}" Background="{TemplateBinding Background}" Margin="0">
              <Grid>
               <Grid.RowDefinitions>
                <RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
                <RowDefinition />
                <RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
               </Grid.RowDefinitions>
 
               <!-- Header -->
               <TextBlock Text="{Binding PrintDocumentName}" HorizontalAlignment="Center" FontSize="12" Grid.Row="0"
                Visibility="{Binding PrintDocumentName, Converter={StaticResource toVisibility}}"/>
 
               <!-- Body-->
               <Grid Grid.Row="1">
                   <!-- Map-->
                   <esri:Map x:Name="PrintMap" IsLogoVisible="False" />
                  <!-- Scale Bar -->
                  <esri:ScaleBar Map="{Binding ElementName=PrintMap}" HorizontalAlignment="Left" VerticalAlignment="Bottom" Margin="20,0,0,10" Grid.Row="1" TextColor="Black"/>
               </Grid>
 
               <!-- Footer -->
               <TextBlock HorizontalAlignment="Left" VerticalAlignment="Bottom" Grid.Row="2"
                Text="{Binding Now, StringFormat='Printed \{0:d\} '}" />
               <TextBlock HorizontalAlignment="Center" VerticalAlignment="Bottom" Grid.Row="2"
                Text="{Binding Scale, StringFormat='1 : \{0:F0\} '}" />
               <StackPanel HorizontalAlignment="Right" VerticalAlignment="Bottom" Orientation="Horizontal" Grid.Row="2">
                <TextBlock Text="{Binding CurrentPage, StringFormat='Page \{0\} '}" />
                <TextBlock Text="{Binding PageCount, StringFormat=/ \{0\}}" />
               </StackPanel>
              </Grid>
             </Border>
            </Border>
           </ControlTemplate>
          </Setter.Value>
         </Setter>

By changing this template, you will change the layout of the page.

Re: Printing in SL 2.0 comparsion

SamuelDantas — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 10:44:39 GMT

Thanks Dominique, but when I try to change the template programmatically the print preview goes blank.

Any ideas?

Re: Printing in SL 2.0 comparsion

FengLin — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 11:59:35 GMT

Is it possible to print to PDF file (like export to PDF file), instead of print to printer driver?

Re: Printing in SL 2.0 comparsion

DominiqueBroux — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 03:47:40 GMT

Thanks Dominique, but when I try to change the template programmatically the print preview goes blank.

I didn't reproduce the issue.
I tested by changing programmaticaly the template (with the control template of my previous mail) and it's working well.

 
ControlTemplate dt = (ControlTemplate)Resources["myMapPrinterCT"];
mapPrinterWithPreview.Template = dt;

I tested also changing the style programmaticaly : looks OK.

I would need more info on how to reproduce your issue.
Thanks.

Re: Printing in SL 2.0 comparsion

DominiqueBroux — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 18:15:47 GMT

Is it possible to print to PDF file (like export to PDF file), instead of print to printer driver?

You can use a PDF printer driver. For example, these PDF : A4, A3, A2, A0, A4 4 pages, A4 16 pages have been generated with PDFCreator as printer driver.

Re: Printing in SL 2.0 comparsion

LakshmananVenkatesan — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 07:20:52 GMT

Hi

I liked your sample very much, how do I customise.?. All I want is I want to print some text information along with the Map in the same page.

Im new to SL can you quickly give few steps to begin with?

SR

Re: Printing in SL 2.0 comparsion

DominiqueBroux — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 03:47:43 GMT

Hi,

You can print text inforamtion along the map.

You have to edit the mapPrinter template (for example with BLEND as described in this thread).

As example, if you define this style:

 
    <UserControl.Resources>
        <controls:ToVisibilityConverter x:Key="toVisibility" />
  <Style x:Key="mapPrinterStyle" TargetType="controls:MapPrinter">
   <Setter Property="Foreground" Value="#FF333333"/>
   <Setter Property="Background">
    <Setter.Value>
     <LinearGradientBrush EndPoint=".7,1" StartPoint=".7,0">
      <GradientStop Color="#FFFFFFFF" Offset="0"/>
      <GradientStop Color="#FFF9FAFB" Offset="0.375"/>
      <GradientStop Color="#FFE5E8EB" Offset="0.625"/>
      <GradientStop Color="#FFCBD1D7" Offset="1"/>
     </LinearGradientBrush>
    </Setter.Value>
   </Setter>
   <Setter Property="BorderBrush">
    <Setter.Value>
     <LinearGradientBrush EndPoint="0.5,1" StartPoint="0.5,0">
      <GradientStop Color="#FFA3AEB9" Offset="0"/>
      <GradientStop Color="#FF8399A9" Offset="0.375"/>
      <GradientStop Color="#FF718597" Offset="0.375"/>
      <GradientStop Color="#FF617584" Offset="1"/>
     </LinearGradientBrush>
    </Setter.Value>
   </Setter>
   <Setter Property="BorderThickness" Value="1" />
   <Setter Property="Height" Value="1050" />
   <Setter Property="Width" Value="750" />
   <Setter Property="ExtentFillSymbol">
    <Setter.Value>
     <esri:SimpleFillSymbol Fill="#05FF0000" BorderBrush="Red" BorderThickness="2" />
    </Setter.Value>
   </Setter>
   <Setter Property="PageFillSymbol">
    <Setter.Value>
     <esri:SimpleFillSymbol Fill="#050000FF" BorderBrush="Blue" BorderThickness="2" />
    </Setter.Value>
   </Setter>
   <Setter Property="TextSymbol">
    <Setter.Value>
     <esri:MarkerSymbol >
      <esri:MarkerSymbol.ControlTemplate>
       <ControlTemplate>
        <TextBlock RenderTransformOrigin="0,0"  Text="{Binding Attributes[Page]}" FontSize="72" Foreground="#800000FF">
                                <TextBlock.RenderTransform>
                                    <CompositeTransform TranslateX="-35" TranslateY="-50" ScaleX="1" ScaleY="1" />                   
                       </TextBlock.RenderTransform>
        </TextBlock>
       </ControlTemplate>
      </esri:MarkerSymbol.ControlTemplate>
     </esri:MarkerSymbol>
    </Setter.Value>
   </Setter>
   <Setter Property="Template">
    <Setter.Value>
     <ControlTemplate TargetType="controls:MapPrinter">
      <Border BorderBrush="{TemplateBinding BorderBrush}" BorderThickness="{TemplateBinding BorderThickness}" CornerRadius="0">
       <Border Padding="{TemplateBinding Padding}" Background="{TemplateBinding Background}" Margin="0">
        <Grid>
         <Grid.RowDefinitions>
          <RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
          <RowDefinition />
          <RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
          <RowDefinition Height="Auto"/>
         </Grid.RowDefinitions>
         <Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
          <ColumnDefinition Width="300" />
          <ColumnDefinition Width="*" />
         </Grid.ColumnDefinitions>
         <!-- Header -->
         <TextBlock Text="{TemplateBinding PrintDocumentName}" HorizontalAlignment="Center" FontSize="12" Grid.Row="0" Grid.ColumnSpan="2"
           Visibility="{Binding PrintDocumentName, RelativeSource={RelativeSource TemplatedParent}, Converter={StaticResource toVisibility}}"/>
 
         <!-- Body-->
         <StackPanel Grid.Row="1" Grid.Column="0">
          <TextBlock  TextWrapping="Wrap"  Text="Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Vivamus at leo eu dolor rhoncus lacinia at a elit. Praesent in justo tellus, in consectetur magna. Vivamus nec velit urna, ut posuere odio. Quisque placerat odio id nibh bibendum tristique. Suspendisse ullamcorper mauris in turpis adipiscing cursus. Nullam malesuada ultricies elit id sodales. Nam tincidunt, enim at dapibus facilisis, quam nulla iaculis dolor, vel eleifend nisi ligula at massa. Integer aliquam vestibulum velit, sed vestibulum neque sollicitudin at. Vestibulum magna diam, porta in varius ut, tempus nec mi. Proin rhoncus lacinia tortor, et laoreet neque tincidunt in. Cras varius sagittis augue sed congue. Fusce ipsum enim, iaculis quis luctus nec, facilisis ac sem.
In tortor orci, tempus vel accumsan a, rhoncus vitae arcu. Praesent nisl diam, lobortis et venenatis vitae, pretium eget felis. In porta mi vel libero mattis vel bibendum felis tempus. Vestibulum vehicula suscipit hendrerit. Praesent luctus mattis lorem. Vivamus pharetra nunc placerat tortor consequat a tempus leo aliquam. Etiam iaculis lacus quis tortor porta gravida. Duis congue hendrerit sem, sed consectetur justo sollicitudin eu. Sed fringilla tortor et tortor ullamcorper vitae pulvinar orci luctus. Ut egestas ullamcorper nibh, nec venenatis nulla suscipit sed. In nec quam leo, at fermentum nisi.
Curabitur at pretium ligula. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Fusce porttitor, risus eget rhoncus lobortis, felis leo placerat turpis, eget aliquam odio nibh non massa. Integer vel nunc sem, vel lacinia enim. Ut auctor erat ut nisl tristique eget sodales risus gravida. Duis velit dolor, porta eu posuere ac, hendrerit ac nisl. Nam id molestie ante. Sed molestie sodales purus, malesuada dictum nisi sollicitudin a. Nulla mattis auctor turpis, non tempus nisl tempor a. Donec vel libero vitae elit congue sollicitudin.
Nullam volutpat bibendum convallis. Nulla id urna nunc. Donec molestie volutpat risus, ac accumsan est tristique non. Aliquam commodo, nisi quis luctus consequat, leo ligula blandit sapien, hendrerit sagittis nisi nisl a dui. Maecenas varius leo ut ante pellentesque euismod. Praesent placerat ornare ante id tincidunt. Cras scelerisque lacinia facilisis. Aenean felis odio, imperdiet nec porttitor nec, pulvinar id urna. Phasellus congue lectus vitae nisi commodo nec blandit leo accumsan. Nullam ultrices lectus id quam vestibulum in molestie leo malesuada. Cras augue orci, mattis in hendrerit et, tincidunt vel urna. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Proin vestibulum tortor in leo feugiat aliquet. Duis nulla mauris, malesuada sed molestie id, imperdiet vitae nisi. Phasellus facilisis aliquam sem, ac porta dolor euismod bibendum.
" />
         </StackPanel>
         <Grid Grid.Row="1" Grid.Column="1">
          <!-- Map-->
          <!--<Border BorderBrush="{TemplateBinding BorderBrush}" BorderThickness="{TemplateBinding BorderThickness}">-->
          <esri:Map x:Name="PrintMap" IsLogoVisible="False" />
          <!--</Border>-->
          <!-- Scale Bar -->
          <esri:ScaleBar Map="{Binding ElementName=PrintMap}" HorizontalAlignment="Left" VerticalAlignment="Bottom" Margin="20,0,0,10" Grid.Row="1" TextColor="Black"/>
         </Grid>
         <!-- Footer -->
         <TextBlock TextWrapping="Wrap"  Grid.Row="2" Grid.ColumnSpan="2"
              Text="Duis elit tortor, sollicitudin in pharetra ut, facilisis fringilla nisi. Donec tortor est, rhoncus dapibus pretium quis, sollicitudin in neque. Morbi rhoncus tincidunt nulla. Vestibulum tincidunt suscipit sem, ut ultrices elit sollicitudin eu. Nunc dapibus venenatis augue id iaculis. Proin porta pulvinar augue id lobortis. Vivamus in vestibulum libero. Fusce ac purus eget ante sollicitudin porttitor. Morbi convallis, mi a consequat elementum, odio mauris suscipit diam, eu consectetur sem enim vitae lacus. Sed dictum massa eu sem vehicula adipiscing. Donec vitae nunc id nisl blandit lobortis in eget tellus. In sit amet tincidunt elit. Praesent ac turpis eget nibh laoreet varius nec sit amet magna. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. "/>
         <TextBlock HorizontalAlignment="Left" VerticalAlignment="Bottom" Grid.Row="3"
                                   Text="{Binding Now, StringFormat='Printed {0:d} '}" />
         <TextBlock HorizontalAlignment="Center" VerticalAlignment="Bottom" Grid.Row="3" Grid.ColumnSpan="2"
                                   Text="{Binding Scale, StringFormat='1 : {0:F0} '}" />
         <StackPanel HorizontalAlignment="Right" VerticalAlignment="Bottom" Orientation="Horizontal" Grid.Row="3" Grid.ColumnSpan="2">
          <TextBlock Text="{Binding CurrentPage, RelativeSource={RelativeSource TemplatedParent}, StringFormat='Page {0} '}" />
          <TextBlock Text="{Binding PageCount, RelativeSource={RelativeSource TemplatedParent}, StringFormat='/ {0}'}" />
         </StackPanel>
        </Grid>
       </Border>
      </Border>
     </ControlTemplate>
    </Setter.Value>
   </Setter>
  </Style>
 </UserControl.Resources>

and use it as style for your mapPrinter:

 
<controls:PrintPreview x:Name="PrintPreview" Background="{StaticResource CommonBackgroundBrush}" >
  <controls:MapPrinter Map="{Binding ElementName=Map}" PrintDocumentName="Tour de France 2010" IsActive="True" Height="1050" Width="750"
Style="{StaticResource mapPrinterStyle}"
IsScaleFixed="True" Scale="2000000" PrintExtent="-400000, 5230000, 840000, 6870000"
BorderBrush="DarkBlue" BorderThickness="1" Foreground="White" Background="MediumSlateBlue" />
</controls:PrintPreview>

You will get a result looking like the attached document.
�??

Re: Printing in SL 2.0 comparsion

FrankTrevino — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 17:24:40 GMT

Hello,
I've downloaded the MapPrinting source code, but I keep getting: The tag 'Legend' does not exist in XML namespace 'http://schemas.esri.com/arcgis/client/2009'.

The type 'esri:Legend' was not found. Verify that you are not missing an assembly reference and that all referenced assemblies have been built.

is there something else I need to add to recognize the 'Legend' tag and also the 'Style' tag found in type 'Legend'

Thanks.
Frank.

Re: Printing in SL 2.0 comparsion

DominiqueBroux — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 17:51:38 GMT

The legend control is new in 2.1. So, it's not there if you are using 2.0 version.

In the print map sample, the legend is only used in a sample of print style. If you remove it, you no longer need 2.1 version.

BTW : The 2.1 final is now available for download : http://help.arcgis.com/en/webapi/silverlight/

Re: Printing in SL 2.0 comparsion

DanielWalton — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 02:54:38 GMT

Dominique,

If I set RotateMap="'True" in XAML, I get a runtime exception. Am I doing something wrong?

Re: Printing in SL 2.0 comparsion

DominiqueBroux — Sun, 12 Dec 2021 03:47:46 GMT

It's a bug in the sample.

To fix it,

1) in MapPrinter.xaml.cs(OnRotateMapChanged method), add a test on _isLoaded:

private void OnRotateMapChanged(bool rotateMap)
{
   if (_isLoaded)
   {
        _printMap.Rotation = (rotateMap ? -90 : 0);
        PreparePages();
   }
}

2) in MapPrinter.xaml.cs(OnApplyTemplate method), initialize the map rotation:

 _isLoaded = true;
_printMap.SizeChanged += (s, e) => { PreparePages(); SetPrintMapExtent(CurrentPage); }; // Calculate print pages when printMap size will be known (or changed by selecting a printer or a printer paper size)
_printMap.Rotation = (RotateMap ? -90 : 0);
PreparePages();

3) in CloneMap.cs(Clone method), don't initialize the map rotation:

 map.TimeExtent = mapToClone.TimeExtent;
//map.Rotation = mapToClone.Rotation;
int index = 0;

Thanks for pointing this out.