topic Re: ArcGIS Map Web Part (2.1.1) is unable to connect to ArcGIS's REST services in ArcGIS for SharePoint Questions

ArcGIS Map Web Part (2.1.1) is unable to connect to ArcGIS's REST services

PongthepMiankaew1 — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 14:32:01 GMT

Hello,

I have a ArcGIS 10 server and I have installed ArcGIS for SharePoint 2.1.1 on my SharePoint 2010 server.
For the ArcGIS Map Web Part, I successfully connected to sampleserver1.arcgisonline.com or sampleserver3.arcgisonline.com, but I tried to browse and connect to my ArcGIS server's REST service, it said "Connection Error: Unable to connect to http://myserver/arcgis/rest/services/mymap/mapserver". I don't understand why?
Because I set the ArcGIS Mapping Connections for this url and successful tested the connection (It could access its ArcGIS Services Directory).

Could you please advise?

Thank you,
Pongthep

Re: ArcGIS Map Web Part (2.1.1) is unable to connect to ArcGIS's REST services

AlagiriVenkatachal — Wed, 25 Jul 2012 21:57:29 GMT

For the ArcGIS Map Web Part, I successfully connected to sampleserver1.arcgisonline.com or sampleserver3.arcgisonline.com, but I tried to browse and connect to my ArcGIS server's REST service, it said "Connection Error: Unable to connect to http://myserver/arcgis/rest/services/mymap/mapserver". I don't understand why?

Hi,
I think you might need a ClientAccessPolicy.xml or CrossDomain.xml on your Web Server that is hosting the ArcGIS Server REST Service.

Thanks,
Alagiri

Re: ArcGIS Map Web Part (2.1.1) is unable to connect to ArcGIS's REST services

AlastairClinkscale — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 14:32:11 GMT

Can anyone confirm that, when you want to consume any WMS in the ArcGIS web part, that the host server of the WMS must have the ClientAccessPolicy.xml and/or CrossDomain.xml files installed on the server?

If this is the case, is it not a problem when you want to consume WMSs from other organisations? With more and more GIS data being published as WMS, would we have to contact each organisation that publishes a WMS we wish to consume and ask them to kindly add the url of our SharePoint server to their xml files to enable us to access it (assuming some of these organisations aren't willing to open access to all potential users - eg. for fear of heavy traffic on their server)?

And likewise, if we wish to publish our own WMS for consumption by other organisations, we'd have to add their urls to our .xmls files?

Thanks.

Re: ArcGIS Map Web Part (2.1.1) is unable to connect to ArcGIS's REST services

HolgerSchade — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 08:16:21 GMT

Can anyone confirm that, when you want to consume any WMS in the ArcGIS web part, that the host server of the WMS must have the ClientAccessPolicy.xml and/or CrossDomain.xml files installed on the server?

If this is the case, is it not a problem when you want to consume WMSs from other organisations? With more and more GIS data being published as WMS, would we have to contact each organisation that publishes a WMS we wish to consume and ask them to kindly add the url of our SharePoint server to their xml files to enable us to access it (assuming some of these organisations aren't willing to open access to all potential users - eg. for fear of heavy traffic on their server)?

And likewise, if we wish to publish our own WMS for consumption by other organisations, we'd have to add their urls to our .xmls files?

Thanks.

I think you are misunderstanding the concept of crossdomain and clientaccesspolicy. If it is a publicly available WMS, the crossdomain.xml and clientaccesspolicy.xml will typically "wildcard" the access to these specific services - so that it is not necessary to include each foreign domain in the xml file. If the WMS shall be restriced in access, you can use the XML files to restrict the access to the WMS to individual computers or domains. So I definitely would suggest to use crossdomain.xml and clientaccesspolicy.xml on your webserver root to allow or restrict foreign access.

Re: ArcGIS Map Web Part (2.1.1) is unable to connect to ArcGIS's REST services

AlastairClinkscale — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 13:15:22 GMT

I think you are misunderstanding the concept of crossdomain and clientaccesspolicy. If it is a publicly available WMS, the crossdomain.xml and clientaccesspolicy.xml will typically "wildcard" the access to these specific services - so that it is not necessary to include each foreign domain in the xml file. If the WMS shall be restriced in access, you can use the XML files to restrict the access to the WMS to individual computers or domains. So I definitely would suggest to use crossdomain.xml and clientaccesspolicy.xml on your webserver root to allow or restrict foreign access.

Holger,

I appreciate that the wildcard can be used but my main question is that, if I want to be able to consume some other organisation's WMS on my SharePoint web part, would they have to have the crossdomain.xml and/or clientaccesspolicy.xml files installed on their server to permit me accessing their WMS?

I am concerned that I could find myself having to ask every organisation that hosts a WMS that I wish to consume to put these .xml files on their server, just so my Silverlight web part can consume it?

Re: ArcGIS Map Web Part (2.1.1) is unable to connect to ArcGIS's REST services

JustinShepard — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 16:19:50 GMT

adcadc, This isn't really a SharePoint issue. The crossdomain applies to the service so if you can access the service from other applications (i.e. another Silverlight map application or ArcMap) then the host has permission set so that it is accessible and therefore can be used in your SharePoint map too. If you can't access the service from any application then yes you will have to ask the host to grant permission.

To check if a service is configured for crossdomain you can try:
"There is an easy way to check whether a service is set up correctly for cross-domain access. Open a browser and browse to http://service_domain/clientaccesspolicy.xml and then to http://service_domain/crossdomain.xml. If at least one of these is present, is valid, and is configured to allow cross-domain access, then the service will be accessible from domains other than the domain it is in." - http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc197938(v=VS.95).aspx

Re: ArcGIS Map Web Part (2.1.1) is unable to connect to ArcGIS's REST services

HolgerSchade — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 19:04:33 GMT

Crossdomain policy and clientaccess policy are configuration files of your webserver (specifically IIS) and they affect access to all http requests (this can be the WMS but also all other resources on the webserver). I think you worry too much - the web server administrators who run the WMS should know about the fact that they should have a clientaccesspolicy and crossdomain on their webserver,

Re: ArcGIS Map Web Part (2.1.1) is unable to connect to ArcGIS's REST services

AlastairClinkscale — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 11:11:43 GMT

Thanks for the replies.

I'm wondering, then, if the problem I have is actually nothing to do with the .xml files.

Basically, I've not yet been able to successfully load any WMS feeds into the ArcGIS web part. The basemaps supplied with the web part all work fine, including the Bing ones, after sorting out the key.

But I've tried around 7 or 8 different WMS, all of which I've been able to successfully load into ArcGIS desktop, and ArcGIS.com map viewer and ArGIS Explorer Online, so the WMSs appear to be fine. Yet I can't get any of them to load into the ArcGIS web part - all I get is a message saying "Unable to connect to ...<WMS url>....".

As an example, would somebody mind trying to load into the ArcGIS web part the WMS below? It's hosted by Scottish Natural Heritage and covers Forestry Commission areas in Scotland. It works fine in ArcGIS dektop, ArcGIS.com and both ArcGIS Explorer Desktop and Online, but for me at least, not in SharePoint:

http://mapgateway.snh.gov.uk/ServicesWMS/FCS_Admin_Boundaries/MapServer/WMSServer?

Thanks for any assistance.

Re: ArcGIS Map Web Part (2.1.1) is unable to connect to ArcGIS's REST services

BradCroft — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 21:38:55 GMT

Hi

I'm having the same issue, only ArcGIS Server and SharePoint are on the same development server. I have tried the recommended xml files in various locations (ArcGIS root, IIS root, SharePoint 80 root) to no avail. Did you ever get this resolved?

Re: ArcGIS Map Web Part (2.1.1) is unable to connect to ArcGIS's REST services

AlastairClinkscale — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 15:18:19 GMT

I didn't get this resolved.

It's now been suggested to me that the web part cannot consume WMS without customisation to enable this. Is this true? What is the connections library for if not for WMS connections?

Re: ArcGIS Map Web Part (2.1.1) is unable to connect to ArcGIS's REST services

deleted-user-2qj0mslSQL55 — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 15:42:30 GMT

it doesnt require customization, but you do need to configure the appropriate connection.. have you tried using IP instead of server name? thats what worked for me. I also setup crossdomain/ClientAccessPolicy xml files which i placed in wwwroot.

Re: ArcGIS Map Web Part (2.1.1) is unable to connect to ArcGIS's REST services

AlastairClinkscale — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 17:32:48 GMT

The advice that the out-of-the-box web part doesn't work with WMS, and needs customisation, actually came from an ESRI UK representative. So they are wrong? They pointed to http://sharepoint.arcgis.com/SitePages/WMS%20Layer.aspx as evidence of this, but I thought that example was how a regular SharePoint user could add a WMS to a map without having to have SharePoint permissions to add connections to the connections library. Is the ESRI UK representative wrong?

I haven't tried IP address but I don't actually have access to an ArcGIS Server to create/host my own WMS yet (hopefully will have within a few months). So far, I've only been able to try other organisation's WMS, thus my example a few posts above to see if anyone else could get it to load, as I can't.

I'm becoming more confused as this issue goes on....

Re: ArcGIS Map Web Part (2.1.1) is unable to connect to ArcGIS's REST services

AlastairClinkscale — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 07:46:07 GMT

In this thread from October 2011, an ESRI rep explicitly states that

"WMS services are not directly supported by ArcGIS for SharePoint out-of-the-box. It is possible though an add-in �?? there is a sample in the interactive SDK"

Is this really true?

Re: ArcGIS Map Web Part (2.1.1) is unable to connect to ArcGIS's REST services

BradCroft — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 14:49:57 GMT

Hello

I finally got ArcGIS for SharePoint to recognize my WMS service. As documented, I had to place a "clientaccesspolicy.xml" in the ArcGIS Server root directory (can be c:\inetpub\wwwroot or C:\arcgisserver or other, depending on configuration of your server). The XML file must be accessible from the web server root directory e.g. http://SERVERNAME/clientaccesspolicy.xml.

Note that I have tried to access other WMS on the internet as well and have not been able to add them to ArcGIS for SharePoint either. This is likely due to the lack of a "clientaccesspolicy.xml" in their site because they were not anticipating access through a Silverlight app. Surely Microsoft could have handled this security issue in Silverlight differently!

Re: ArcGIS Map Web Part (2.1.1) is unable to connect to ArcGIS's REST services

AlastairClinkscale — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 16:42:05 GMT

Brad, many thanks for posting the update. I think it confirms to me a couple of things:

1. The web part does not need customisation (ie. program code) to consume WMS?

2. It's perfectly conceivable that external organisations that host WMSs that I wish to consume in the web part may not know anything about the Silverlight security requirement that the clientaccesspolicy.xml file be put in a particular correct location of their WMS host server, so I may end up having to contact multiple organisations and ask that they do that, especially for me and my Silverlight web part?

Re: ArcGIS Map Web Part (2.1.1) is unable to connect to ArcGIS's REST services

BradCroft — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 21:26:19 GMT

Hi

I did some more experimentation and your ESRI rep is correct. The ArcGIS for Sharepoint Web Part does not connect to an OGC WMS, only to an ArcGIS Server endpoint or Spatial Data Service. So to confrm your previous items...

1. The web part does need customisation (ie. program code) to consume WMS.
>>The Silverlight API is supposed to be able to connect to WMS, not sure why ESRI chose to not allow this in the SharePoint product. Right now it appears that you have to write custom code to connect to OGC WMS from SharePoint

2. It's perfectly conceivable that external organisations that host WMSs that I wish to consume in the web part may not know anything about the Silverlight security requirement that the clientaccesspolicy.xml file be put in a particular correct location of their WMS host server, so I may end up having to contact multiple organisations and ask that they do that, especially for me and my Silverlight web part?
>>To the best of my knowledge, this is still correct but I have only confirmed with an ArcGIS Server endpoint.

Re: ArcGIS Map Web Part (2.1.1) is unable to connect to ArcGIS's REST services

AlastairClinkscale — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 09:11:21 GMT

That's useful to know, Brad. Thanks for posting.

I think that also confirms to me that I remain confused by the terminology - map service, web map service, OSG web map service, dynamic map service, spatial data service, REST service. I was kinda thinking (hoping) they were all more or less the same thing - just WMS, but I guess they're not.

In terms of the web part being able to connect to REST endpoints, presumably it should be able to connect to other organisation's REST endpoints, provided they have the clientaccesspolicy/crossdomian xml files in root of server, so it should still be possible to consume other organisation's spatial data as service?

Does anyone know of somewhere that succinctly explains what map service, web map service, OSG web map service, dynamic map service, spatial data service, REST service are, and the differences between them, preferably in simple terms.