topic Re: How to share a custom UI in ArcGIS Pro? in ArcGIS Pro Questions

How to share a custom UI in ArcGIS Pro?

CharlesBailey3 — Thu, 31 May 2018 17:59:21 GMT

Is there any way to share the UI customizations in ArcGIS Pro through a template? I need to use a project package but the pane arrangement, visibility etc. is not carried with the package. I need something similar to the 'Normal.mxt' template in ArcMap which will honor the changes to the default UI and share them along with the package. Is this possible? Thanks, cob

Re: How to share a custom UI in ArcGIS Pro?

DanPatterson_Retired — Thu, 31 May 2018 20:13:37 GMT

Share Project and what it will share

Project Template and what it does

But as you have found, there is no mention of the UI. IF it is mission critical and your data are all locally organized, relative to the *.aprx, then old-school, zip and ship seems to be about it

Re: How to share a custom UI in ArcGIS Pro?

CharlesBailey3 — Fri, 01 Jun 2018 12:18:19 GMT

The project has local data and hosted feature services shared with the org

account, as well as a task item requiring two add-ons that are sent in the

attachments. Can zip and ship handle that? Thanks, cob

Re: How to share a custom UI in ArcGIS Pro?

DanPatterson_Retired — Fri, 01 Jun 2018 17:39:48 GMT

You can try by moving the zip and unzipping on the machine beside you... assuming you have a 2nd

Re: How to share a custom UI in ArcGIS Pro?

CharlesBailey3 — Fri, 01 Jun 2018 19:49:32 GMT

Yes. It doesn't work on several levels right off the bat. The UI settings

are still not honored, and the script tool in the first step cannot be

found, even though it shows up in the catalog folder where it should be. It

does however seem to maintain the data sources from local and hosted data.

Any other ideas? Thanks Dan - cob

Re: How to share a custom UI in ArcGIS Pro?

DanPatterson_Retired — Fri, 01 Jun 2018 20:10:24 GMT

Not if the UI settings are still no honored.

As for the script, 'relative paths' need to be set and the scripts and toolbox need to be within the project folder structure

http://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/help/analysis/geoprocessing/share-analysis/packaging-python-scripts.htm

That I have never had problems with. I will investigate further if script validation code and locating necessary components of the project isn't cutting it.

Re: How to share a custom UI in ArcGIS Pro?

CharlesBailey3 — Fri, 01 Jun 2018 21:50:44 GMT

The script has been imported into the project toolbox - it imports os and

shutil and just looks for a folder on C:/Users and deletes it if found. It

works fine with a project package. I thought that Pro used relative

references by default - and I don't see how to change it in the project

options. The root fix that could nullify the need for the UI adjustments in

this case is if a def. query or selection layer tool could be run through a

task step - but I suppose that's still not possible? Thanks again Dan - cob

Re: How to share a custom UI in ArcGIS Pro?

DanPatterson_Retired — Fri, 01 Jun 2018 22:11:07 GMT

Import os and shutil wouldn't be an issue, nor would checking for a folder.

None of those would affect the UI

As for relative paths....

If you get the time, can you show what is actually changing in the UI with screen grabs

Re: How to share a custom UI in ArcGIS Pro?

KoryKramer — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 13:23:10 GMT

If there is something about panes or tabs along with visibility of layers, etc. that are important to a workflow that you're sharing with others, consider setting up a Task for the workflow: What is a task?—ArcGIS Pro | ArcGIS Desktop

Those things can be controlled by the Task author so when a user gets to a step where you need a certain layer to be selectable (and all other not selectable) a certain tool to be activated, a specific contextual tab to be showing, etc. all of that can be set up for the person running the Task.

Re: How to share a custom UI in ArcGIS Pro?

CharlesBailey3 — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 17:21:35 GMT

Yes, that's what I've been working with. Although the contents can be

manipulated to some extent with each step (as long as you are not working

with an active layout), I don't see how to make tabs or panels visible from

within that menu or anywhere else in the task designer. I am running a

command as a step which displays the contents pane, but by default it

displays over the top of the task pane - see the attached image for

details. The reason I need both visible is due to another bug in the task

process - at this point a task step cannot be configured to run a

definition query or selection layer command. Our users are all new to

ArcGIS Pro... we are trying to use the task as a tutorial launching pad but

they are understandably confused when the task pane is suddenly hidden from

view.

Re: How to share a custom UI in ArcGIS Pro?

KoryKramer — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 08:26:41 GMT

I think what you're running into is https://community.esri.com/ideas/11404 but maybe Amir Bar-Maor‌ or Jason Camerano‌ could confirm.

Re: How to share a custom UI in ArcGIS Pro?

CharlesBailey3 — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 18:44:24 GMT

Yeah it's similar, but I'm working with UI panes rather than map views - it

should really just conserve the state of the settings with the project when

it is saved. It does this on the original machine so there's some

incarnation of a 'normal' template saved somewhere, but apparently it can't

be transferred to a recipient machine in Pro. I hesitate to ask, but is

this something that might be addressed through a custom configuration? I

went through the tutorials and saw that the ribbon tabs could be

manipulated, but not sure about the UI panes. Even if so it wouldn't be a

feasible solution for us - we'd have to set up a shortcut to the config on

each user's machine and we are spread out all over the state. But I was

just curious if the dev team considered this to be the Pro way to share UI

settings across computers. Thanks - cob

Re: How to share a custom UI in ArcGIS Pro?

JasonCamerano — Mon, 04 Jun 2018 20:42:23 GMT

Yea, unfortunately the placement of the actual TASK pane is by default docked on the left side and it can be overlapped by other panes. We have made undocking the Task Pane and even the Designer pane a best practice for proper usage of Tasks. I'm not sure of custom configuration of re-skinning the application right now. As per Kory Kramers link to an idea, that is another feature entirely that has been requested that we have thought about. Being able to format the views to a certain layout/docking order.

Re: How to share a custom UI in ArcGIS Pro?

JillHalchin — Wed, 06 Jun 2018 17:50:31 GMT

You can share a lot of the customizations.

These might be helpful.

Quick Access toolbar

More customization

Favorites

Re: How to share a custom UI in ArcGIS Pro?

CharlesBailey3 — Wed, 06 Jun 2018 18:13:56 GMT

This is great, but are you saying these customizations can be shared in a

project, template or package? It seems to me that all of these settings are

saved on the user's local machine and not in the project or template or any

where else I can find... please correct me if I'm wrong... thanks, cob

Re: How to share a custom UI in ArcGIS Pro?

JillHalchin — Thu, 21 Jun 2018 14:53:40 GMT

It doesn't look like the interface customizations, favorites, etc. go with a package, template or project. Those are in files in your user profile on your machine (user/appdata/...). The hacks that I linked to tell you which folders/files in your profile will contain the customizations. You can copy those files from your machine and put them on another person's computer, or on another computer that you use. Because the files go in the user profile, each person who uses the computer will need the files added to their personal profile.

Re: How to share a custom UI in ArcGIS Pro?

MatthewDriscoll — Wed, 03 Jul 2019 16:45:14 GMT

Did you ever find the equivalent of the normal.mxt for Pro?

Re: How to share a custom UI in ArcGIS Pro?

CharlesBailey3 — Wed, 03 Jul 2019 17:22:09 GMT

No, we just have a doc that tells the user where to find the task and dock

it in a panel. We actually thought about setting it up manually on each

user's machine, which would be much easier than the custom configuration

and we would still have to make the shortcut for them. Let me know if you

find a better way. Thanks, cob

Re: How to share a custom UI in ArcGIS Pro?

MatthewDriscoll — Wed, 03 Jul 2019 18:13:00 GMT

Just found this on a reddit post. I have not tested it yet. We have one very picky user and want to have this information ready if needed.

C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\ESRI\ArcGIS.Desktop.Config.daml

https://www.reddit.com/r/gis/comments/9gl9vr/does_arcgis_pro_have_a_way_to_save_customization/

Re: How to share a custom UI in ArcGIS Pro?

CharlesBailey3 — Thu, 04 Jul 2019 01:59:22 GMT

Yeah I remember the daml from going through the custom config tutorial. I

don't see that file on my test machine, and I think it would only be there

if someone had previously created a custom configuration. Furthermore I

don't think you could just copy this file to the folder on the target

machine ala ArcMap, because you have to set up the shortcut with the path

to the pro exe as well as the daml location. And the user.config file seems

to only contain elements pertaining to tool environment settings and such,

not the UI. However, I did find an xml file in there which seems to

reference (since I'm not an xml expert) panel docking settings kinda like

you would see on a web page so I am going to copy this file to the same

folder on another machine and see what happens - no great expectations but

will let you know. Thanks, cob