ArcGIS API for JavaScript 4.19 and 3.36

[Noah-Sager]

Tell me that your API has released, without telling me that your API has released.
Well, here goes: 35 bugs fixed. 11 new or updated samples. Officially released ES modules (no more beta). And so much more.

Quarterly performance review

We improved the performance of point FeatureLayers hosted on ArcGIS Online. The FeatureLayer will now fetch all its features immediately from the server. Once loaded, the features won't need to be re-requested.

https://developers.arcgis.com/javascript/latest/release-notes/ - performance-improvements

Performance improvements

Improved 3D rendering

The new lighting and shading model adds more contrast and definition to 3D content. Existing scenes will benefit from this visual improvement when SceneView.qualityProfile is set to medium or high. Objects with Physically-Based Rendering (PBR) materials, such as used in WebStyleSymbols, now display light reflections on glass or metallic surfaces.

Improved rendering quality (3D)

It’s business time for ES modules

The ES modules are out of beta and ready for production use. These modules make it easier to do local builds of the API when integrating with third party frameworks and build tools. Read more here:

https://www.esri.com/arcgis-blog/products/js-api-arcgis/announcements/arcgis-api-for-javascript-work...

Oh snap!

Self-snapping is now supported when creating or updating line and polygon features in 2D. We also added support for feature snapping in both 2D and 3D.

The Sketch widget's UI now includes an options menu to toggle snapping on/off. 

The Editor widget now provides the ability to set snapping when creating or updating features.

https://developers.arcgis.com/javascript/latest/release-notes/ - snapping

Want more? Want to use snapping with the Editor widget in 3D? We got you.

https://developers.arcgis.com/javascript/latest/sample-code/widgets-editor-3d/

Edit features in 3D with the Editor widget (with snapping)

Drop the reading glasses…

We added a Magnifier (2D and 3D) that displays a portion of the view as a magnified image. The Magnifier can improve the editing and drawing experience of applications utilizing the Sketch and Editor widgets, especially when pairing with the new snapping functionality.

https://developers.arcgis.com/javascript/latest/api-reference/esri-views-Magnifier.html

Magnifier

Widget upgrades

Widgets are reusable user-interface components and are key to providing a rich user experience. The ArcGIS for JavaScript API provides a set of ready-to-use widgets. Beginning with version 4.19, the story gets even better.

The FeatureTable widget was enhanced to improve compatibility with API themes. It is also now possible to filter out what is displayed within the table.

The FloorFilter widget filters features from floor-aware layers to control visualization in both MapView and SceneView. Once you have defined the floorInfo for a map or scene, you can use the FloorFilter widget to interactively filter your floor plan data.

FloorFilter widget

The Popup widget now dynamically displays content in the header and footer to handle longer strings. This can be seen when displaying action text with a lot of characters. Additionally, title and description properties were added for the Attachments, Fields, and Media content elements.

The Directions widget now allows a Time Unspecified departure option. This uses the average travel time to calculate estimated travel durations.

I don’t always take notes, but when I do, I take them in a map

The MapNotesLayer can now be edited if it was created in the new Map Viewer. Map notes can be added, updated, and deleted - allowing you to easily sketch, add, remove, or update notes from any map, then persist your changes. Map notes created with Map Viewer Classic can be displayed, but the map notes cannot be modified or accessed with this class.

https://developers.arcgis.com/javascript/latest/sample-code/layers-mapnoteslayer/

MapNotesLayer

Rest easy with these new modules

We've ported the majority of Tasks functionality to simple functional rest modules. This will make it easier to incorporate into a more modular app design, and also reduce unnecessary dependencies (you only import what you want). The next release will see the rest of the Tasks ported over, and then we will deprecate Tasks.

https://developers.arcgis.com/javascript/latest/release-notes/ - rest-modules

References

Release Blog

What’s New in ArcGIS API for JavaScript (4.19)

4.19 Release Notes

https://developers.arcgis.com/javascript/latest/guide/release-notes/index.html

4.19 Samples

https://developers.arcgis.com/javascript/latest/sample-code/?tagged=4.19

3.36 What’s New

https://developers.arcgis.com/javascript/3/jshelp/whats_new.html

Breaking Changes across all 4x releases

https://developers.arcgis.com/javascript/latest/guide/breaking-changes/index.html

[JoelBennett]

It was said previously the API and documentation would be available for download yesterday, but as of now it still does not appear to be available.  Is there any chance you might have a new ETA?  Thank you -

[BjornSvensson]

@JoelBennett , the new ETA for the downloads is next Thursday - May 6.
I'm curious when/how people use the downloads. Are you waiting for the API or the SDK? Are you waiting for 3x or 4x? For 4x API especially, are you aware of all the other options for using the API?

[JoelBennett]

@BjornSvensson, thank you for the update.   

I'll be downloading both the API and the SDK for both 3.x and 4.x. We have primarily transitioned to 4.x (still using AMD), but are still supporting our 3.x-based framework in parallel for the time being.

We host the API and SDK locally for two primary reasons. First and foremost, is that our applications must continue to operate even if a connection to the internet is not available. In some cases, we also support our framework on networks that have no internet access, so a locally hosted API is a must. Secondly, having the API allows us to work around its issues immediately, without being reliant on a third-party for technical support.  I have 11 such "fixes" for 3.35, and 10 for 4.18, of varying criticality. For example, this one would be a deal-breaker; I couldn't release our solutions into production with something like that going on.

All in all, the ArcGIS API for JavaScript continues to be an outstanding platform; thank you and your team for all you do in continuing to make it happen.

[JoelBennett]

I was able to download the files for 3.36 yesterday, but the ones for 4.19 are still missing.  Is there another update on when we might be able to download 4.19?

[Noah-Sager]

Hi @JoelBennett, we apologize for the inconvenience. The updated ETA for the 4.19 download is Thursday, May 13.