What's new in AppStudio for ArcGIS Version 2.1
We are excited to announce the release of the AppStudio for ArcGIS 2.1. This release brings a lot of new features, enhancements, and bug fixes, all to improve your app development experience and to provide more functionality to implement into your apps.
Highlights of 2.1 are as follows:
- New community panel added to Desktop
- UI/UX improvements for AppStudio Desktop tools
- New Material Design layouts
- Map Viewer template supports secured Web Maps and offline map packages (MMPK)
- Quick Report template supports audio and video attachments
- AppStudio Player improvements - Biometric, IWA authentication
- New Plugins in AppFramework – Biometric Authentication, Secure Storage, High Accuracy GPS, and Inter-app share
- Support for non-runtime apps to run on Windows Universal Platform (Beta)
- Underlying Qt framework has been upgraded from 5.8 to 5.9.1
You can get the latest version of AppStudio for ArcGIS at AppStudio for ArcGIS | ArcGIS. Don’t forget to update the mobile companion app AppStudio Player on your device from iTunes and Google Play store.
AppStudio Desktop
In this release, we continue our work on improving UI /UX for AppStudio Desktop tools. Many new features and handy improvements for Desktop are also included, such as Material Design layouts, a new community panel in the Desktop Gallery, support for building UWP apps using cloud Make tool, ability to delete apps both locally and in the organization, ability to share apps directly from the Desktop, easily generate client ID and many many more. Watch out for a detailed blog post to learn more about all the new big and small changes to the AppStudio Desktop very soon.
AppStudio Player
With 2.1, on iOS (MacOS and Windows) devices, you can now login more securely using the newly added biometric authentication functionality (Touch ID). You can enable this feature in the Player Settings.
Note:Support for Android device will be coming in the next release
AppStudio Player now supports Integrated Windows Authentication (IWA) on Portal for ArcGIS. This is a requested feature for users who have configured Player to work with an IWA security to sign in and connect to ArcGIS Online or Portal for ArcGIS. This new feature makes it seamless to use a Windows account to log into Player easier and faster.
AppStudio Templates
All the three templates - Map Viewer, Map Tour and Quick Report have introduced new features, enhancements, and improvements in user experience.
You can now view secured web maps contents in the Map Viewer template. In addition to that, you can also download and view Mobile Map Package (MMPK). Quick Report template now supports audio and video attachments (Beta). A new basemap switcher was added to the Map Tour template and the side panel to view photo and description along with the map for the large screen was improved.
Check this blog post to learn more about what's new in AppStudio templates.
AppStudio Framework
We listen to your feedback carefully and have improved documentation and code samples for the usage of the AppFramework. This is available both inside the Qt Creator help and online.
Exciting new plugins (Beta) now are available with 2.1:
- Biometric Authentication - Authenticates user within the app through fingerprint scan
- Secure Storage - Stores data encrypted in the system Keychain
- Devices - Provides data on connected devices (e.g. printers, weather sensors, laser scanners)
- Positioning - Provides high-accuracy positioning and satellite data from a capable device
- Inter-app Share (AppFramework Clipboard extension) - Brings up the standard iOS, macOS or Android share sheet that allows you to share text or URL to other application
We are excited about the addition of these new plugins. It's just not about new, a bunch of bug fixes and enhancements have also gone into the existing plugins based on your feedback (Thank you). We have also added new samples showcasing how to use the plugins from both the 2.0 and the 2.1 release. These samples are available in AppStudio Desktop and are just a click away. We are planning to write a detailed blog post highlighting some of the new plugins and use cases in the near future.
Note: These new plugins are currently in beta, so we’re looking forward to your feedback in how to improve these features in the future.
We hope you enjoy all the new updates, features and bug fixes included in this release. As always, we will continue listening to your feedback and bringing new features to improve your app development experience. Do not forget to share your awesome app with us to be showcased in the AppStudio Apps Showcase Gallery.
Follow us on Twitter @appstudioarcgis for latest updates and news
List of support issues addressed
BUG-000087195 | AppStudio Player: Return to Gallery (App Exit) translation issues got fixed |
BUG-000095416 | Issue with untranslated Sign In page |
BUG-000103775 | In AppStudio for ArcGIS, a Map Viewer app does now utilize 'feature search' from all layers within the referenced web map. |
BUG-000103906 | Successfully signing in after clicking the 'Upload' or 'Make' button redirects users to the 'Upload' or 'Make' window. |
BUG-000106828 | Fields that have a range domain applied to them now appear in AppStudio Player for ArcGIS. |