Save Instance Widget
Edit:
I’m no longer actively developing the free, open-source Save Instance Widget. It was a great starting point, and I’m truly grateful to everyone who tried it out, sent in feedback, and reported bugs — your input shaped the direction of my work and pushed me to build something better.
That’s why I’ve since moved my focus to The Cloud Widget — a complete redesign that takes the concept much further.
The Cloud Widget is designed to transform everyday workflows in ArcGIS Experience Builder, making it easier than ever for users to save, recall, and collaborate within the maps you build.
It allows users to:
Save their work as Droplets (map states that include extent, layers, drawings, basemap, and more).
Recall work instantly with map screenshots for easy identification.
Share Droplets with colleagues for real-time collaboration.
Access saved work anytime, anywhere.
Take advantage of Draw Widget support for richer map editing.
I’ve been working hard to make this the most intuitive and productive save-and-share widget for Experience Builder. If you tried the Save Instance Widget and found it useful, I think you’ll really enjoy what the Cloud Widget can do.
👉Visit my website JensenGIS or this community post to learn more about The Cloud Widget!
I would also like to specifically thank the following individuals for their feedback:
@Brian_McLeer , @JoelEdgar , @AustinWolf1994 , @JasonBOCQUET , @MarkHoyland2 , @BrettMartin1 , @PierreloupDucroix , @Marshal and @Bloomers3166 .
Thank you!
Sven
About the Save Instance Widget (Legacy)
For anyone still interested in the Save Instance Widget, here’s some background and resources:
Hello everyone, my name is Sven. I’m a university student based in Vancouver, BC, currently pursuing a degree in Computer Science with a minor in Geographic Information Science (GIS).
Inspired by the Save Session Widget for Web AppBuilder, I created the Save Instance Widget for Experience Builder.
The Save Instance Widget lets you save and share the current state of your web map in Experience Builder — including extent, visible layers, basemap, graphics, and more. It was designed as an open-source alternative to help fill the gap left by Web AppBuilder.
You can download the latest compiled version of the Save Instance Widget from my Github.
Setup (Legacy)
Once downloaded, follow Esri’s guide on how to add custom widgets to your Experience Builder installation.
- Place the widget inside your /widgets directory.
- In Experience Builder, go to the Insert Widget tab and scroll down to the Custom Widgets section.
- Drag the Save Instance Widget onto your toolbar.
- Configure the widget by selecting a map for it to interact with.
That’s it — you’re ready to go.
Enter a name for the instance and click the Save Instance button.
Load an Instance
Click the Load Instance button to apply a previously saved map state.
Click the Edit Instance Name button and enter a new name when prompted.
Click Download Instance to export a .txt file containing that instance.
You can also download all saved instances using the Download Instances button at the bottom right of the widget.
Click Clear Instance Graphics to remove any graphics associated with the instance from the map.
I'd love to get instance-loaded graphics working with the Esri Draw Widget at some point. It’ll take a bit of setup, but if it’s something people are asking for, I’m happy to start looking into it — just let me know!
Click Delete Instance to permanently remove it from your saved list.
Sharing Instances
To share a saved instance, simply send the .txt file to another user. They can import it using the Upload Instances button in the bottom-left corner of the widget.
In the future, I’d love to add support for cloud storage of instances — let me know if that’s something you’d use!
Feedback
I’m incredibly grateful for all the feedback, bug reports, and feature requests that came in while I was building the Save Instance Widget. That community input has been the driving force behind The Cloud Widget, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts on it as well.
Stay tuned — more tools are coming soon!
Some feedback I would suggest is changing the dialogue boxes like this:
To be something within the widget. This widget offers a function like this when the user clicks delete.
Some feedback I had with working @JeffreyThompson2 on the widget above was adding a user acknowledgment of local storage which the widget above has as well before automatically using local storage. Also a reminder for users that local storage is not a good solution for long term storage.
Other feedback request:
In the settings in developer edition, enable the option to have the clear instance graphics button be hidden or shown within the widget. If the application doesn't have the out of the box Draw tool, the button doesn't have anything to correlate with.
