topic Help with Enhanced Search Widget, Viewer, customization questions in ArcGIS Viewer for Flex Questions

Help with Enhanced Search Widget, Viewer, customization questions

MichelleKinseth — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 15:45:47 GMT

Hello,
Last week I inherited a Flex Viewer that was built by someone else several (~6?) months ago, then put aside. When I was given the viewer I was also given a short list of customization's desired by the viewer owner, and so I'm trying to accommodate his requests. The viewer is built on Flex 2.5, and the Enhanced Search v2.x is the main functionality of the viewer. I have downloaded the recent upgrades for both but haven't been able to make the upgrade yet, mainly because the person who worked on this before me did some editing in some of the mxml files and so trying to track changes made in some of those files has been quite burdensome; honestly I'm not sure what in the new code are updates versus what were changes made by my predecessor; but that's something I'll have to figure out. The eSearch widget should be a bit simpler to upgrade, I hope.

My issues are thus:
1. The owner of the viewer does not want a popup to show when a search is completed in the eSearch widget. I've read some threads here that have mentioned commenting out things such as Highlight and/or MouseOver Events and I've tried several combinations of those various possibilities but nothing has worked. Any hints here would be very helpful and very much appreciated. (there are no popups enabled in the main config). Disabling the popup is a primary desire of the viewer owner so if nothing else, I'd really like to accomplish this for him.

2. The owner of the viewer does not want the search results to show in the widget "window", either. As the widget functions now, when a search is completed the results appear in the fixed table at the bottom of the map, in the search widget window, and in the popup (when activated). This is a redundancy of information for our particular use and the owner wants only for the results to appear in the fixed table. Is this possible? I feel comfortable making some changes to the compiled code if I am given some guidance because as it is I have no idea where to start. If this is not possible, that is fine too - I will happily tell the viewer owner that I can't do this for him.

3a. Is there any way to have the map open with a set of features selected (meaning symbolized as "highlighted" when the map initializes) as if the features had been selected from the search widget? The viewer displays water data, so features that aren't relevant to a user are shown along with the ones they are interested in and not until they perform a search with the widget can they tell which ones are applicable to their issue. Does that make sense? I have a feeling this one might not be possible, but I wanted to ask those who know more than I.

3b. Conversely, is there a way to disable selecting features that do not contain the url parameter (or part of it) that zoomed the map (the parameter is a unique ID to identify specific features as well as to define extent)?

4. I was asked to embed the Layer List and eSearch Widget into a sidebar of the viewer so they aren't "floating" above the map. I know there must be existing code for this functionality but I can't seem to find it in the help section.

Please keep in mind that until last week I had never opened Flash Builder or seen the compiled code of a Flex viewer before (or any compiled code at all) though I've done a lot of xml editing. I am not a developer at all, but if given a path to follow I can usually suss out code through forums and help doc's. Sadly, ESRI has not helped me much with these particular tasks so now I'm asking for help! Three days of staring at this while randomly changing things without a real clue as to where to start is long enough, I think.

Thank you in advance for any help anyone can give me on any of these issues.

Re: Help with Enhanced Search Widget, Viewer, customization questions

RobertScheitlin__GISP — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 16:24:16 GMT

Michelle,

To being with I will have to say I really don't want to provide help for doing this in an old version such as 2.4 if there is no real need for you to be that far behind the power curve (3.1 is coming in a couple of months). If you can start with Flex Viewer 3.0 than you will not be wasting a bunch of time (not sure if this is what you meant when you said you downloaded the recent upgrades).

So do not want popups at all? This could be quite involved.

Removing the search results from the widget altogether would be virtually a complete re-write of the widget... You can stop the widget from switching to the results view once the search is completed. You would search for the showStateResults in each of the search functions like queryFeaturesText and queryFeaturesGraphical.

a & b: Using the url search will allow of this. There is pretty good documentation on this Enhanced Search Widget URL Search Configuration.pdf

Sidebars... Hmm... No there is nothing OTB for this (sort of). It would be possible to set the right attribute of the map to 300 or something and have the eSearch and layer list widget fixed in that space using left, right, top, bottom attributes.

Re: Help with Enhanced Search Widget, Viewer, customization questions

MichelleKinseth — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 16:47:42 GMT

So do not want popups at all? This could be quite involved.

Removing the search results from the widget altogether would be virtually a complete re-write of the widget... You can stop the widget from switching to the results view once the search is completed. You would search for the showStateResults in each of the search functions like queryFeaturesText and queryFeaturesGraphical.

a & b: Using the url search will allow of this. There is pretty good documentation on this Enhanced Search Widget URL Search Configuration.pdf

Sidebars... Hmm... No there is nothing OTB for this (sort of). It would be possible to set the right attribute of the map to 300 or something and have the eSearch and layer list widget fixed in that space using left, right, top, bottom attributes.

Robert-
Thanks for the reply. I definitely understand your caution regarding the version I am working with. I am attempting an update to Flex 3.0 today (looks like I actually have 2.5 now), so fingers crossed that goes smoothly...

1. You are correct, I, or rather the viewer owner, don't want popups at all. I'm not sure what you mean by quite involved - like extensive editing of the compiled code? If so, I'll happily tell him it might not be cost effective for me to spend the time figuring it out.

2. Stopping the widget from switching to results would accomplish the goal, basically the viewer owner doesn't want the results to show so however that happens is okay. I will search for those lines of code you mentioned and give that a try. Thank you!!

3. I will look that documentation over again.

4. ah, yes. I can "fake" it with those attributes. Thank you for reminding me of that.

Thanks for the response. In your opinion I should upgrade both the Viewer and widget before pursuing these edits, I assume.

Re: Help with Enhanced Search Widget, Viewer, customization questions

RobertScheitlin__GISP — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 17:13:55 GMT

Michelle,

Yes first order of business it to get to version 3.x for both the viewer and the eSearch Widget.

Maybe "quite involved" was to strong. It would require you to comment out a line of code in two mxmls (hopefully that is all of them).
In the eSearchWidget.mxml you would need to find the mouseOverSearchResult function and comment out this line:

hitimer = setTimeout(showHighlight, 300, [ searchResult ]);

In the SearchWidgetFixedDG.mxml you would need to find the onItemRollOver function and comment out:

showInfoWindow2(searchResult);

Don't forget to click the Mark as answer check on this post and to click the top arrow (promote).
Follow the steps as shown in the below graphic:

Re: Help with Enhanced Search Widget, Viewer, customization questions

MichelleKinseth — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 21:48:14 GMT

Michelle,

Yes first order of business it to get to version 3.x for both the viewer and the eSearch Widget.

Thanks Robert.

I'm wondering if maybe you (or anyone) has any idea as to why, when I bring the new Flex 3.0 code into Flash Builder I get over 80 errors all related to the src/com/esri/viewer path? I have no idea what the problem is; all I did was unzip and open a new project with the new code (I also added the appropriate .swc file). I've done no edits, copy/pasting of xmls, or mxml editing. Any ideas? The older version I was using worked fine, though the organization of the com/esri/viewer was structured differently. I've been using Flash Builder (yes, I have SDK 4.6) for four days and I still don't understand much of it's functionality so it's entirely possible this is user error as this is my first time setting up a new project. I'm just not sure where to look for more solutions. I'm abandoning this task for the day, and will resume tomorrow. When hopefully I can also attempt to address the other solutions you provided me above.

thanks.
Michelle

Re: Help with Enhanced Search Widget, Viewer, customization questions

RobertScheitlin__GISP — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 01:01:30 GMT

Michelle,

In Flash Builder there is a project menu and a Clean... command run that and see if it resolves the errors.

Re: Help with Enhanced Search Widget, Viewer, customization questions

MichelleKinseth — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 14:27:12 GMT

Michelle,

In Flash Builder there is a project menu and a Clean... command run that and see if it resolves the errors.

Thanks for the tip, Robert. I ran Clean... but it didn't fix my errors. I shall have to do a bit more investigating.

Re: Help with Enhanced Search Widget, Viewer, customization questions

RobertScheitlin__GISP — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 14:46:58 GMT

Michelle,

Can you post a screen shot of the errors?

Re: Help with Enhanced Search Widget, Viewer, customization questions

MichelleKinseth — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 14:59:58 GMT

Michelle,

Can you post a screen shot of the errors?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]17852[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]17853[/ATTACH]

and there are more that wouldn't fit on the screen - all 1046

Re: Help with Enhanced Search Widget, Viewer, customization questions

RobertScheitlin__GISP — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 15:56:06 GMT

Michelle,

So you are sure that you added the agslib-3.0-2012-06-06.swc to the libs folder?

Re: Help with Enhanced Search Widget, Viewer, customization questions

MichelleKinseth — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 16:20:37 GMT

Michelle,

So you are sure that you added the agslib-3.0-2012-06-06.swc to the libs folder?

haha, oops. No I don't have that one and I actually wondered about that. That particular swc wasn't in the Viewer for Flex download. Which is not convenient. The swc that came up when I followed the provided link to the ESRI site was the drslib-3.0-2012-9-6.swc. heh, now I feel silly...I'll find that now and add it.

Re: Help with Enhanced Search Widget, Viewer, customization questions

MichelleKinseth — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 21:09:02 GMT

Michelle,

So you are sure that you added the agslib-3.0-2012-06-06.swc to the libs folder?

Robert - thank you for your help thus far. I wondered if you had any idea as to why, even though I have the agslib swc added now, why I still have this one, single error in my index.mxml? I can't figure it out...

As it is, when I launch the app the web page opens white with "Error 2032" in text at the bottom; but if I comment out the line, the map opens with my data drawn but with the error as seen in the second image I posted. Thanks.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]17860[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=CONFIG]17861[/ATTACH]

Re: Help with Enhanced Search Widget, Viewer, customization questions

RobertScheitlin__GISP — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 21:28:42 GMT

Michelle,

What and why are you adding to the index.mxml?

Re: Help with Enhanced Search Widget, Viewer, customization questions

MichelleKinseth — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 21:37:21 GMT

Michelle,

What and why are you adding to the index.mxml?

The index.mxml was heavily edited/altered in the previous Flex version by my predecessor; I copied the code and pasted it into the 3.0 index.mxml.

Re: Help with Enhanced Search Widget, Viewer, customization questions

RobertScheitlin__GISP — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 22:13:32 GMT

Michelle,

You should post that code as many package names have changed.

Re: Help with Enhanced Search Widget, Viewer, customization questions

MichelleKinseth — Sat, 11 Dec 2021 21:21:28 GMT

Michelle,

You should post that code as many package names have changed.

Thank you for your help Robert; this code all worked as expected in version 2.5 and now (in 3.0) the commented out line for ags.symbols shows as an error.

<!--
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// Copyright (c) 2010-2011 Esri. All Rights Reserved.
//
// Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
// you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
// You may obtain a copy of the License at
//
//    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
//
// Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
// distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
// WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
// See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
// limitations under the License.
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
-->
<s:Application xmlns:fx="http://ns.adobe.com/mxml/2009"
      xmlns:s="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/spark"
      xmlns:mx="library://ns.adobe.com/flex/mx"
      xmlns:viewer="com.esri.viewer.*"
      xmlns:managers="com.esri.viewer.managers.*"
      xmlns:esri="http://www.esri.com/2008/ags"
      initialize="onAppPreinitialize(event)"
      pageTitle="Hydrographic &amp; Impairment Statistics Viewer">
 
 <!-- ArcGIS API 3.0 -->
 <!-- Adobe SDK 4.6 -->
 
 <fx:Style source="defaults.css"/>
 
 <fx:Metadata>
  [ResourceBundle("ViewerStrings")]
 </fx:Metadata>
 
 <fx:Script> 
  <![CDATA[
   
   //import Globals.*;
   import com.esri.ags.FeatureSet;
   import com.esri.ags.Graphic;
   import com.esri.ags.Map;
   import com.esri.ags.geometry.Extent;
   import com.esri.ags.tasks.QueryTask;
   import com.esri.ags.tasks.supportClasses.Query;
   import com.esri.ags.utils.GraphicUtil;
   
//    import com.esri.ags.symbols
   
   import mx.controls.Alert;
   import mx.core.FlexGlobals;
   import mx.events.BrowserChangeEvent;
   import mx.events.FlexEvent;
   import mx.managers.BrowserManager;
   import mx.managers.IBrowserManager;
   import mx.rpc.AsyncResponder;
   import mx.utils.URLUtil;
   
   private var params:Object = null;
   
   private var queryTask:QueryTask = new QueryTask(null);
   private var query:Query = new Query();
   private var featureExtent:Extent = null;
   private var bm:IBrowserManager; 
   
   public var featureSet:FeatureSet
   
   [Bindable]
   private var NPS_List_ID:String = null;
   private var Park:String = null;
   //private var NPS_List_ID:String = "GOGA_CAR2011303020070615132740_OLEMA CREEK";
   [Bindable]
   private var Unit_Code:String;
   private var queryURLS:Array = new Array("http:...rest/services/NRSS/HIS_Dissolved/MapServer/0",
    "http://...rest/services/NRSS/HIS_Dissolved/MapServer/1",
    "http://...rest/services/NRSS/HIS_Dissolved/MapServer/2",
    "http://...rest/services/NRSS/HIS_Dissolved/MapServer/3");
   
   /**
    * Listen application preinitialize handler
    */
   protected function onAppPreinitialize(event:FlexEvent):void
   {
    params = getURLParameters();
    configureQuery();
    /* for (var i:int = 0; i<queryURLS.length; ++i) {
    configureQuery(url);
    } */
   }
   
   private function getURLParameters():Object
   {
    var result:URLVariables = new URLVariables();
    
    try
    {
     if (ExternalInterface.available)
     {
      // Use JavaScript to get the search string from the current browser location.
      // Use substring() to remove leading '?'.
      // See http://livedocs.adobe.com/flex/3/langref/flash/external/ExternalInterface.html
      var search:String = ExternalInterface.call("location.search.substring", 1);
      if (search && search.length > 0)
      {
       result.decode(search);
      }
     }
    }
    catch (error:Error)
    {
     Alert.show(error.toString());
    }
    
    return result;
   }
   
   private function configureQuery():void
   {
    if (params["NPS_List_ID"]) {
     
     // Configure the query task
     queryTask = new QueryTask(null); 
     queryTask.useAMF = false;
     NPS_List_ID = params["NPS_List_ID"];
     // TODO: Need to iterate all layers or add query param based on initial table
     //queryTask.url = queryURLS;
     queryTask.url = "http://...rest/services/NRSS/HIS_Dissolved/MapServer/0";
     
     //new Array("http://...rest/services/NRSS/HIS_Dissolved/MapServer/0",
     //"http://...rest/services/NRSS/HIS_Dissolved/MapServer/1",
     //"http://...rest/services/NRSS/HIS_Dissolved/MapServer/2",
     //"http://...rest/services/NRSS/HIS_Dissolved/MapServer/3");   
     // "http://...rest/services/NRSS/HIS_Dissolved/MapServer/0";  // TODO: SHould be an array
     //dynamically insert the 1, 2, 3, 4 from an array into the url above?
     
     query.where = "NPS_LIST_ID = '" + NPS_List_ID + "'";
     query.returnGeometry = true;
     //     public function SimpleLineSymbol(style:"solid", color: 0xff0000, alpha:1, width:5);
    }
    else if (params["Park"]) {
     // Configure the query task
     queryTask = new QueryTask(null);
     queryTask.useAMF = false;
     Park = params["Park"];
     // TODO: Need to iterate all layers or add query param based on initial table
     //queryTask.url = queryURL
     queryTask.url = "http://...rest/services/NPSData/NPS_Boundaries_WebMercator_labelfree/MapServer/0"; 
     query.where = "UNIT_CODE = '" + Park + "'";
     query.returnGeometry = true;
     //     public function SimpleLineSymbol(style:"solid", color: 0xff0000, alpha:1, width:5);
    }
    else 
    {trace("ERROR: NPS_List_ID or Park not detected."); }
   }
   
   private function queryPark():void
   {
    queryTask = new QueryTask(null);
    queryTask.useAMF = false;
    queryTask.url = "http://...rest/services/NPSData/NPS_Boundaries_WebMercator_labelfree/MapServer/0";
    query.where = "UNIT_CODE = '"+ Globals.Unit_Code +"'";
    query.returnGeometry = true;
    function onResult(featureSet:FeatureSet, token:Object = null):void
    {
     trace("Number of features: " + featureSet.features.length); 
     // Set map extent to extent of Park features
     var graphicsExtent:Extent = GraphicUtil.getGraphicsExtent(featureSet.features); // GraphicUtil.getGraphicsExtent(queryURLS:Array);
     if (graphicsExtent)
     {
      trace(mapManager.map.extent);
      trace(graphicsExtent);
      //Zoom out by 25%
      mapManager.map.extent = graphicsExtent.expand(1.5);
      trace(mapManager.map.extent);
     }
    }
    function onFault(info:Object, token:Object = null):void
    {
     trace("query issue");
     Alert.show(info.toString(), "ERROR: Problem querying park extent from service.");
    }
   }
   
   protected function onMapCreationComplete(event:FlexEvent):void
   {
    if (params["NPS_List_ID"] != null)
    {
     // Execute serivce query for impairment
     // queryTask.execute(query, new AsyncResponder(onResult, onFault));
     queryTask.execute(query, new AsyncResponder(onResult, onFault));
     // Extract unit code from NPS_List_ID
     Unit_Code = NPS_List_ID.substring(0,4);
     Globals.Unit_Code = Unit_Code;
     Globals.NPS_List_ID = params["NPS_List_ID"];
    }
    else if (params["Park"] != null) 
    {
     queryTask.execute(query, new AsyncResponder(onResult, onFault));
     //Extract unit code from NPS_List_ID
     //Unit_Code = NPS_List_ID.substring(0,4);
     //Globals.Unit_Code = Unit_Code;
    }
    function onResult(featureSet:FeatureSet, token:Object = null):void
    {
     trace("Number of features: " + featureSet.features.length); 
     // Set map extent to extent of NPS_List_ID features
     var graphicsExtent:Extent = GraphicUtil.getGraphicsExtent(featureSet.features); // GraphicUtil.getGraphicsExtent(queryURLS:Array);
     if (graphicsExtent)
     {
      //trace(mapManager.map.extent);
      //trace(graphicsExtent);
      //Zoom out by 25%
      mapManager.map.extent = graphicsExtent.expand(1.5);
      //trace(mapManager.map.extent);
     }
    }
    function onFault(info:Object, token:Object = null):void
    {
     //trace("query issue");
     Alert.show(info.toString(), "ERROR: Problem querying impairment from service.");
    }
    
   }
  ]]> 
 </fx:Script>
 
 <viewer:ViewerContainer id="viewerContainer">
  <viewer:configManager>
   <managers:ConfigManager id="configManager"/>
  </viewer:configManager>
  <viewer:dataManager>
   <managers:DataManager id="dataManager"/>
  </viewer:dataManager>
  <viewer:mapManager>
   <managers:MapManager id="mapManager"/>
  </viewer:mapManager>
  <viewer:uiManager>
   <managers:UIManager id="uiManager"/>
  </viewer:uiManager>
  <viewer:widgetManager>
   <managers:WidgetManager id="widgetManager"/>
  </viewer:widgetManager>
 </viewer:ViewerContainer>
 
</s:Application>

Re: Help with Enhanced Search Widget, Viewer, customization questions

RobertScheitlin__GISP — Tue, 25 Sep 2012 15:10:48 GMT

Michelle,

I don't see anywhere in the code that you even need that import at all as there is no code using symbols. Try deleting that line all together.

Re: Help with Enhanced Search Widget, Viewer, customization questions

MichelleKinseth — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 15:51:58 GMT

Michelle,

I don't see anywhere in the code that you even need that import at all as there is no code using symbols. Try deleting that line all together.

Hi Robert, thank you for all your help. I just removed the aforementioned line of code and it doesn't seem to be affecting anything.

After upgrading to the new version (3.0.9) of the widget I was able to disable the popups as well as stop the results of a search from appearing in the widget gui. However, I am now getting no search or relate results to show in the fixed data table after performing a search from the widget. I don't even have a "Results" tab showing in the table. I wonder if when I commented out all the "showStateResults" in each of the search functions that I accidentally commented out one that I wasn't supposed too...would that prevent results from populating the data table or are the two (the widget gui and the data table) mutually exclusive in the code?

All my map services are related to their respective tables, and the search/relates results works in the previous version (Flex v2.5, eSearch v2.5) which is using the same services. (would updating the code from 2.5 to 3.0.9 be causing an issue? I skipped a lot of intermediate versions). Sorry if these are silly questions; I'm still struggling to wrap my mind around how Flex works...

I can start a new thread if needed. Thanks so much.

Michelle

Re: Help with Enhanced Search Widget, Viewer, customization questions

RobertScheitlin__GISP — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 18:43:47 GMT

Michelle,

So when you say

I just removed the aforementioned line of code and it doesn't seem to be affecting anything.

Do you mean that you still get the first error image you provided or is it only the second error image now?

Re: Help with Enhanced Search Widget, Viewer, customization questions

MichelleKinseth — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 18:50:29 GMT

Michelle,

So when you say Do you mean that you still get the first error image you provided or is it only the second error image now?

Sorry, I was unclear. That error was resolved when I removed that line, and there are no other problems or errors in the index.mxml now. I had several other issues that I resolved and now everything is working fine, except I am not getting any search results or related information in the widget's fixed table.

What I get, after selecting a feature with the Enhanced Search Widget...
[ATTACH=CONFIG]18021[/ATTACH]