Custom button for adding aerials

[jonathankoehler]

I would like to make a custom button in ArcGIS 10 that will automatically load aerial photo tiles for a given extent when I click on it.  For example, I would open a new project and zoom in to an area of interest, click the button, and the appropriate tiles would be added.  I have a polygon "index" shapefile with the names of each raster tile listed as an attribute.  I have limited code experience, so please let me know if this can be done.  Thanks,

Jonathan

[T__WayneWhitley · Accepted solution]

Actually, a similar 'legacy device' called an image catalog is still functional in ArcGIS 10.  No need for code, except for the initial setup...it is a table that performs as you describe 'fetching' the image tiles as you zoom/pan to a desired extent.  In fact, you don't even need to press a button to load the imagery.  Generally, at full extent, a default wireframe is drawn in place of the images (I think the default is to draw the wireframe at 9 tiles).  Much like a layer, you can override some of the default display properties.  For example, I usually set them to display at a certain scale.

This table is recognized by ArcMap as an image catalog when it contains the fields:
IMAGE, XMIN, YMIN, XMAX, YMAX

And since you already have an fc with the names, you can simply set up a loop w/ Python code to extract the XY bounds and record them in the attribute table.  When finished, export the fc to table, then add it to your map!  If you need the code for the setup let me know (you only need it when you 1st build the catalog).  It is short work, just need to figure out where I put it...lol.