topic Re: VBScript to report XY coordinates in ArcPad Questions

VBScript to report XY coordinates

CarlBeyerhelm — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 00:09:19 GMT

The VBScript listed below returns zeros for both the X and Y coordinates when fired by a point form's OnLoad event. This should be pretty straight-forward stuff. What am I missing?

Thanks...

Sub UpdateXY()
'get a reference to the form
Dim pForm
Set pForm = ThisEvent.Object

'get the new point feature's X and Y
Dim X
Dim Y
X = pForm.Fields.Shape.X
Y = pForm.Fields.Shape.Y
pForm.Pages("page1").Controls("X_Coord").Value = X
pForm.Pages("page1").Controls("Y_Coord").Value = Y
End Sub

Re: VBScript to report XY coordinates

RolfBroch — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 11:38:51 GMT

The Fields property refers to the current record in the recordset. This record is actually empty until you save (click OK) in the form (only for new objects).

Re: VBScript to report XY coordinates

CarlBeyerhelm — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 13:33:18 GMT

I can see that might be the case for a newly created ("pending") point feature, but it also returns zeros for X and Y coordinates when an existing point feature is selected, and its form opened.

So, how would you get a newly created point feature's X and Y coords? They do appear in the form's Geography page, so the form must "have" them. I just don't know how to access them. Any ideas?

I'm using AXF layers and AP 8 SP3.

Thanks...

Re: VBScript to report XY coordinates

RolfBroch — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 09:09:43 GMT

Is pForm.Pages("page1") the active page when you execute the script?

If not you need to activate the page first

pForm.Pages("page1").Activate
pForm.Pages("page1").Controls("X_Coord").Value = X
pForm.Pages("page1").Controls("Y_Coord").Value = Y

Re: VBScript to report XY coordinates

CarlBeyerhelm — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 01:46:17 GMT

Yes, pForm.Pages("Page1") is already active when the form opens.

Re: VBScript to report XY coordinates

EricShyer — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 18:00:59 GMT

Carl,

I have two scripts in my \system\ArcPad.apx.
The first in the .vbs script is as follows:
Option Explicit

Sub AddSturgeonTags

Dim dblX, dblY, objToolButton, blnLyrExists
'Get a reference to the tool button object
Set objToolButton = ThisEvent.Object
'Initialize blnLyrExists flag to False
blnLyrExists = False
'If SturgeonTags layer exists,
'set the blnLyrExists flag to true
Dim objLyr
For Each objLyr in Map.Layers
    If StrComp (objLyr.Name, "Water", 1) = 0 Then
      blnLyrExists = True
      Exit For
    End If
Next
'If ISturgeonTags layer does not exist:
'Notify the user, return the tool button to its original state, and exit.
If Not blnLyrExists Then
    MsgBox "Water layer is not present in the current map.", vbExclamation, "Layer not present"
    objToolButton.Click
    Exit Sub
End If
'If the ISturgeonTags layer does exist:
'Get the coordinates of the map where the user clicked
dblX = Map.PointerX
dblY = Map.PointerY
'Get a reference to the Invasive Plants Layer object
Dim objLayer
Set objLayer = Map.Layers("Water")
'If the layer can be made editable, make it editable
If objLayer.CanEdit Then
    objLayer.Editable = True
    'Add a new Invasive Plant (point feature) at the clicked location
    Call Map.AddFeatureXY(dblX,dblY)
    'Return the tool button to its original state
    objToolButton.Click
End If
End Sub

The second is added onto the .apx config file SystemObjects
                                                                      maps   as an onfeatureadded script

Dim MyCoordSys
Dim objRS
Set MyCoordSys = Application.Map.CoordinateSystem
Set objRS = Map.Selectionlayer.Records
objRS.Bookmark = Map.SelectionBookmark
If Left(objRS.Fields.ShapeType, 1) = 1 Then
If MyCoordSys.GeographicName = "GCS_WGS_1984" Then
For Each f in objRS.Fields
   If f.name = "X" Then
    f.Value = objRS.Fields.Shape.Y
   ElseIf f.name = "Y" Then
    f.Value = objRS.Fields.Shape.X
   ElseIf f.name = "Z" Then
    f.Value = GPS.Z
   ElseIf f.name = "LATITUDE" Then
    f.Value = objRS.Fields.Shape.Y
   ElseIf f.name = "LONGITUDE" Then
    f.Value = objRS.Fields.Shape.X
   ElseIf f.name = "ALTITUDE" Then
    f.Value = GPS.Altitude
   End If

Next

   Else
For Each f in objRS.Fields
   If f.name = "X" Then
    f.Value = objRS.Fields.Shape.X
   ElseIf f.name = "Y" Then
    f.Value = objRS.Fields.Shape.Y
   ElseIf f.name = "Z" Then
    f.Value = GPS.Z
   ElseIf f.name = "LATITUDE" Then
    f.Value = objRS.Fields.Shape.X
   ElseIf f.name = "LONGITUDE" Then
    f.Value = objRS.Fields.Shape.Y
   ElseIf f.name = "ALTITUDE" Then
    f.Value = GPS.Altitude
   End If

Next
End If

End If
objRS.Update
Map.Refresh(True)

The second script will add the XY or Z of the point IF you have either an X , Y and or Z ( or Latitude, Longitude, Altitude) attribute field in your .dbf

Hope this helps,

Eric

Re: VBScript to report XY coordinates

CarlBeyerhelm — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 03:48:29 GMT

Thanks for the post, but that's not really what I'm after since it appears to be capturing X and Y from existing features.

What I'd like is to be able to capture a newly created point's X and Y coordinates prior to clicking the OK button on the attribute capture form so that I can use those coords to copy an attribute from a polygon that the point falls within. The issue is that I don't know how to capture the newly created point feature's X and Y before it has actually become a feature...before OK has been clicked.

The form obviously "has" the pending X and Y coords to create the feature from. I just don't know how to access those pending X and Y coords.

For instance, the attached image illustrates what happens when I select an existing feature and open its Feature Properties form. The X and Y are captured from the existing point feature, and the Cover type of the polygon the point falls within is written to the point's Cover type field. The trick is to be able to discover the X and Y of a pending point feature before the OK button is clicked.

I'm a rookie at this, so maybe I'm missing something simple...

Re: VBScript to report XY coordinates

RolfBroch — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 11:15:06 GMT

I created a quick project and did some modifications to the editform by adding a comand button that when clicked would run

MessageBox EditForm.Fields.Shape.X

This reported back my x-coordinate.

shapefile and modified apl is attached.

Rolf

Could it be that your code does not work since it runs in the onload event? My example above happens after the form has been loaded.

Re: VBScript to report XY coordinates

CarlBeyerhelm — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 22:38:05 GMT

Thanks for sticking with me on this one Rolf. I appreciate it.

Could you try posting your ZIP file again. It doesn't seem to have any content when I download it.

Thanks...

Re: VBScript to report XY coordinates

RolfBroch — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 06:59:05 GMT

I'll try again.

Rolf

Re: VBScript to report XY coordinates

RolfBroch — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 07:04:35 GMT

Seems that the Attachment manager has some problems dealing with zip files created in Windows 7 so I just past the code for the .apl here. The main line is this

<BUTTON onclick="Messagebox EditForm.Fields.Shape.X" name="Button1" x="0" y="54" width="50" height="14" caption="TST" tooltip="" tabstop="true" border="false" alignment="center"/>

<ArcPad>
<LAYER name="Punkter" quickcapture="false">
<FORMS>
   <EDITFORM name="EDITFORM" caption="Punkter" width="130" height="80" picturepagevisible="true" attributespagevisible="false" symbologypagevisible="true" geographypagevisible="true" required="false">
    <PAGE name="PAGE1" caption="Punkt">
     <LABEL name="LABEL1" x="1" y="1" width="43" height="12" caption="Navn" tooltip="" border="false"/>
     <EDIT name="NAVN" x="45" y="1" width="84" height="12" defaultvalue="" tooltip="" tabstop="true" border="true" field="NAVN"/>
     <LABEL name="LABEL2" x="1" y="14" width="43" height="12" caption="Kategori" tooltip="" border="false"/>
     <SYMBOLOGYFIELD name="KATEGORI" x="45" y="14" width="84" height="12" defaultvalue="" listtable="" listvaluefield="" listtextfield="" tooltip="" tabstop="true" border="true" limittolist="false" field="KATEGORI"/>
     <LABEL name="LABEL3" x="1" y="27" width="43" height="14" caption="Dato" tooltip="" border="false"/>
     <DATETIME name="DATO" x="45" y="27" width="84" height="14" defaultvalue="" tooltip="" tabstop="true" border="true" field="DATO" allownulls="false"/>
     <LABEL name="LABEL4" x="1" y="42" width="43" height="12" caption="Kommentar" tooltip="" border="false"/>
     <EDIT name="KOMMENTAR" x="45" y="42" width="84" height="36" defaultvalue="" tooltip="" tabstop="true" border="true" field="KOMMENTAR" multiline="true"/>
     <BUTTON onclick="Messagebox EditForm.Fields.Shape.X" name="Button1" x="0" y="54" width="50" height="14" caption="TST" tooltip="" tabstop="true" border="false" alignment="center"/>
    </PAGE>
    <PICTUREPAGE>
     <PICTUREFIELD field="Foto"/>
    </PICTUREPAGE>
   </EDITFORM>
</FORMS>
<METADATA>
   <COMMENTS>QuickProject : Punkter</COMMENTS>
</METADATA>
<HYPERLINK field="Foto"/>
<SYMBOLOGY>
   <SIMPLELABELRENDERER field="Navn" visible="true"/>
   <VALUEMAPRENDERER lookupfield="Kategori">
    <EXACT label="Kategori 1" value="1" quickcapture="true">
     <SIMPLEMARKERSYMBOL type="circle" color="Red" width="5" outlinewidth="1"/>
    </EXACT>
    <EXACT label="Kategori 2" value="2" quickcapture="true">
     <SIMPLEMARKERSYMBOL type="square" color="GreenYellow" width="5" outlinewidth="1"/>
    </EXACT>
    <EXACT label="Kategori 3" value="3" quickcapture="true">
     <SIMPLEMARKERSYMBOL type="star" color="LightskyBlue" width="5" outlinewidth="1"/>
    </EXACT>
    <EXACT label="Kategori 4" value="4">
     <SIMPLEMARKERSYMBOL type="triangle" color="Gold" width="5" outlinewidth="1"/>
    </EXACT>
    <EXACT label="Kategori 5" value="5">
     <SIMPLEMARKERSYMBOL type="diamond" color="MediumOrchid" width="5" outlinewidth="1"/>
    </EXACT>
    <OTHER label="Andre kategorier">
     <SIMPLEMARKERSYMBOL type="x" color="Black" width="5" outlinewidth="1"/>
    </OTHER>
   </VALUEMAPRENDERER>
</SYMBOLOGY>
</LAYER>
</ArcPad>

Re: VBScript to report XY coordinates

CarlBeyerhelm — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 23:52:14 GMT

Progress! The code works nicely when the form is referenced directly as "EditForm" (as you have done) instead of referencing it (as I was doing) as:

Dim pForm
Set pForm = ThisEvent.Object

I'll experiment some more and report back in several days.

Thank you!

Re: VBScript to report XY coordinates

CarlBeyerhelm — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 13:51:51 GMT

A new wrinkle has developed.

The code MessageBox EditForm.Fields.Shape.X returns a legitimate X value when called from the OnLoad event of a point shapefile's form .apl that was created as a QuickProject.

However, the identical code called from the OnLoad event of an AXF point layer's form returns a zero.

Perhaps shapefiles and AXF layers don't behave the same way?

Re: VBScript to report XY coordinates

RolfBroch — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 09:22:00 GMT

They should behave the same way.

Have you tried to attach the code to a command button as in my example so you can run the code after the form has loaded?

Re: VBScript to report XY coordinates

RolfBroch — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 09:29:41 GMT

when you deal with the datasource through the editform they should behave the same. Have you tried to run the code from a button in the editform instead of the onload event?

Re: VBScript to report XY coordinates

CarlBeyerhelm — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 23:16:59 GMT

I created a QuickProject, and an AXF checkout. I added a "Get X Coord" button to each of the edit forms. The button's On Click event calls:

MessageBox "The X coord is " & EditForm.Fields.Shape.X

The AXF form returns a zero. The QuickProject form returns a legitimate X coord. See attached images.

I don't know why the two forms produce a different result even though their code is identical.

Re: VBScript to report XY coordinates

MichaelFraser — Mon, 07 Feb 2011 20:56:13 GMT

Carl, did you ever figure this one out? I am encoutering the same problem. Funny thing is that the code worked just fine in ArcPad 7.1.1, but now in ArcPad 10 I get 0 for the Shape.X and Shape.Y values.

Re: VBScript to report XY coordinates

CarlBeyerhelm — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 12:31:23 GMT

No, I was unable to work it out. The two forms, one running against a shapefile and the other running against an AXF file, produce different results even though their code is identical. It is mysterious and disappointing...

Re: VBScript to report XY coordinates

RolfBroch — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 10:26:06 GMT

Log it with ESRI support to hear why.

Re: VBScript to report XY coordinates

GregoryElwood — Thu, 26 May 2011 16:33:28 GMT

Did anyone ever hear from ESRI on this?

I have two scripts I'm working (hacking!) on, one that allows the user to click on a custom tool and place a point anywhere they want, with maybe a form to populate the XYZ values if the user wants to after the point has been created. The other allows the user to tap and have the GPS position populate the XYZ of the created point. I'd really like some simple, easy to plug-in lines of VBS script to just populate the X, Y and Z attribute fields of the point shapefile with the point's current values. I don't need the values to be from a pending point, as saving the points is not a problem after they have been created. The many forum posts and script samples have been helpful, especially since I'm new to all of this, but a simple answer that fits my VBS skill level still eludes me.

Thanks for bearing with me (and, apparently, others) as I learn VBS for ArcPad10.

Gregory