Latest Contributions by DAVIDDAS1

Thanks Robert! Your multi-part graphics selection feature using a mix of selection tools already does a lot more than your Flex version. In the Flex version, I could only use a single selection tool during a multi-part graphics session. In this WAB version, I was surprised to find that you could start with the Rectangle Tool, then switch to the Circle Tool, and then use the Polygon Tool, and each geometry was recognized in the final selection set. Your Enhanced Search Widget along with its companion Identify Widget are the two most essential and valuable Widgets in any Web Application. After the brilliant work you have done on the Flex version, all our users now naturally expect to find the same implementation on the JavaScript apps. I never thought I would ever see all the Flex functionality carried over to the Web AppBuilder. You are making the impossible possible! Tapas ... View more

Hi Robert, Your Multi-part graphics option is an excellent feature where one can define more that one graphical selection area before hitting the Search button. Further, one can set a buffer distance to buffer these selection graphics prior to running the Search operation. Could you tweak this a little bit to make it possible to mix and match the selection tools within one session? To illustrate what I am trying to do, let's examine 6 test cases: http://www.tapasdas.com/Maps/Phones/app31 In the By Shape Pane, I am enabling multi-part graphics. I am setting the buffer distance to 1 mile. Case-1: I am adding 2 points on the map When I press Search, a 1-mile buffer is drawn around these two points, and all the Schools within these buffer zones are returned. The is perfect. Case-2: I am adding a Line on the map. Next, I am adding a PolyLine on the map When I press Search, I get a 1-mile buffer around the Line and PolyLine, and it finds all the Schools within these buffers. Perfect! Case-3: I am adding a Rectangle, a Circle, and a Polygon on the map. When I press Search, it draws the buffer around these shapes and returns the Schools. Marvelous!! I am amazed that your tool can handle this. However, let's push this a little further. Case-4: I am adding a Point followed by a Line When I press Search, nothing happens. I have to restart the application. Case-5: I am adding a Line followed by a Rectangle. When I press Search, nothing happens again. Case-6: I am adding a Point followed by a Rectangle. When I press Search, nothing happens. Will it be possible to enhance this Widget so that users can freely mix and match selection tools during a multi-part graphics session? Thanks, Tapas ... View more

Hi Stan, That is an awesome tool! You have developed the perfect solution. I will be using your Widget that includes the Zoom In, Zoom Out, and Pan controls. This is the best part of this discussion list. There is always a helpful expert willing to share their solutions ... View more

Stan, Yes, that works!! Now you have established yourself as the master of workarounds Another solution would be to add a Pan Tool on the map itself right below the Zoom In/Out Tools. This way the user can switch modes. Thanks, Tapas ... View more

Hi Stan, Thanks for the excellent workarounds! 1. Yes, adding the Widget to the Header Controller Bar as opposed to adding it as an In-Panel widget solves the problem. You can minimize the widget by tapping the down chevrons as you indicated. 2. Yes, I just verified this workaround. You can tap on the Widget Icon to close the Widget. I did not know of this trick! 3. Here is one use case where it may be convenient to have an additional selection tool that deactivates the others. Let's say you are using Robert's Enhanced Search Widget and you want to make a graphical search based on two circles on your map spaced quite a distance apart. So, first you would open the By Shape pane. You would check the Enable multi-part graphics option. You would tap once on the Select by Circle tool. It would turn gray showing that this tool is now activated. Next, you would draw a circle by tapping once on the map to define the center, and then drag to define the radius. So far, so good. However, now you want to pan the map to a different location before you tap the center of the second circle. Here is where it would be nice to have a "Select None" tool. You can tap on this tool to deactivate the others. You can now pan the map to a different location. Then you can activate the circle tool and proceed to draw your second circle. Finally, you can press the Search button to trigger your search based on these two circles on the map. Thanks, Tapas ... View more

Hi Robert, Thanks for the explanation. Now I realize how much more complicated and involved the process is on developing widgets for the Web AppBuilder. You have to tie everything to the Base Widget and build on top of that. It was a lot simpler on the Flex platform where the Flash Player took care of all browser inconsistencies. So long your device could run Flash, and you downloaded the latest version of the Adobe Flash Player, your Flex Apps were guaranteed to work. With the Web AppBuilder, one has to test the Web Apps on all browsers (Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Internet Explorer) and the specific versions as well as all devices, especially Tablets with a touch interface to see how every control in the UI responds. Yes, this one is for Moxie and his team to fix. They monitor your thread. The message has already been delivered! Tapas ... View more

Hi Robert, Your Enhanced Search Widget and Identify Widget is now almost perfect. It is amazing how well it performs on all Desktops and Laptops with a pointing device such as a mouse or trackpad. I was wondering if you could add a few minor enhancements to improve the usability on some Tablets. I will run through a few examples with screenshots using the following devices: Apple iPhone 6 Apple iPad Air 2 Google Nexus 9 Microsoft Surface Pro 3 I am testing them against your Enhanced Search Widget 1.1.6 and Identify Widget 1.1.2 http://www.TapasDas.com/Maps/Phones/app31 First, let's test the behavior of the Enhanced Search Widget on an Apple iPhone 6 where it rocks!! When I open the Enhanced Search Widget, I get the By Attribute Pane which fills up the whole screen. Wonderful! I can tap the X icon which closes the widget. I can tap the Search button which returns my results. The Results Pane displays my Search Results. I can tap on the down arrow to go back to the main Map. If I want to close this In-Panel Widget, I have two choices. I can tap on the eSearch icon. or, I can tap the X button on the bottom bar. Both work as expected on an iPhone 6. This is perfect. Now let's repeat this process on an Apple iPad Air 2 Open the Enhanced Search Widget Tap Search The results pane displays the results. I can tap on the header and drag the results pane to a different location. However, I cannot close this pane by tapping the X button on the header! The only way I can close this In-Panel widget is to open another In-Panel widget. In this example, when I open your Identify Widget, it closes the Enhanced Search Widget. Now I am stuck with the Identify Widget. I cannot close it. I can open your Enhanced Basemap Gallery to close the Identify Widget. Can the Life Cycle of In-Panel Widgets be modified to fix this issue on Tablets? Here is another usability issue I am facing. When I activate a Selection Tool by tapping it once, it turns gray. This is perfect. However, when I tap it the second time, it still remains gray. Unless the gray background is toggled back to white, I have not visual clue as to what state this is in. Let's try the same steps on a Google Nexus 9 Tablet. Open the Enhanced Search Widget and tap Search on the By Attribute Pane. Here again, I cannot close the Results Pane. I can move the widget, but I cannot tap X on the header to close the widget. Just like on the iPad Air 2, the Search Tool does not display the deactivated state when I tap on it again. I can chose a different tool, which deactivates the previous one. But now, I cannot deactivate this new tool. Visually, it keeps showing the gray background, although in practice, the tool is really deactivated. Finally, let's run these steps on a Microsoft Surface Pro 3 which is a hybrid device. I am using Firefox version 37. I can tap the X icon on the screen and it closes the Enhanced Search Widget as expected. Works perfectly! Once an In-Panel Widget is closed, it is grayed out, showing that it is closed. There are no issues closing a Widget on the Microsoft Surface Pro 3. These leads me to these 3 enhancement requests to make the user experience better on Tablets. Add a Minimize button on the header of the Widget When you close the Widget, it also removes the selection graphics. A minimize button will allow me to keep the selection graphics on the screen, while preserving the screen real estate. All your Flex Widgets had this minimize option. Make the Close button work on Tablets Add a None Section Tool This will remove the ambiguity. You can tell that no Selection Tool is active, when this Null Tool is gray. I need to deactivate the selection tools when I am trying to Pan the map. Thanks again for the wonderful tools you are creating for us. I hope you get a special recognition for all your hard work on the Web AppBuilder at the ESRI User Conference! Tapas ... View more

Hi Rebecca, Thanks so much for linking my User Guide to your Web AppBuilder Customization Resource List. Your suggestion of creating my own blog is an excellent idea. However, I think your Resource List is the central clearing house for all topics related to the Web AppBuilder. Everyone will be able to find my User Guide now that you have linked it in two places in your Master Doc. Best regards, Tapas ... View more

Hi Robert, I created a PDF Guide with screenshots that shows all the steps for installing and testing your Enhanced Search Widget in the Developer Edition of the Web AppBuilder. This is more like a hands-on demo that covers the entire process of creating a web application with your custom widgets, setting up a proxy, and deploying the web application on a web server. This may help a beginner how to: Download the Developer Edition of the Web AppBuilder Download and install your custom widgets Create a Web Map Launch the Developer Edition of the Web AppBuilder Create a Web Application Configure and test your custom widgets Set up a proxy Deploy the Web Application Here is the download link: http://www.TapasDas.com/WAB.pdf Here is a link to the working demo: Schools Thanks so much for spending all your free time in designing these absolutely essential tools for the Web AppBuilder Community! Best regards, Tapas ... View more

Hi Robert, Thanks again for the new features in your Enhanced Search Widget version 1.1.6 today! I like the way you can now select the collection of Graphical search tools. This gives it a simpler and cleaner look. I made another app to test how it works alongside your Identify Widget version 1.1.2 http://www.tapasdas.com/Maps/Phones/app30 I like how you can have the same set of Graphical tools on your Identify Widget. I like the way you can disable some of the Search Tabs to make the interface even simpler. I like the way you can format numeric fields, set the precision and specify a thousands separator. This gives it a professional look when displaying numbers. I also like the fact that I can dive directly into the "config_Enhanced Search.json" file and make any changes I like. This is the best of both worlds. In the Flex version, we had to directly edit the xml file. In this Web AppBuilder version, all the configuration can be done via an elegant GUI. This makes it idiot proof. Robert you have done an amazing job with the Enhanced Search Widget. This offers so much functionality and flexibility, while keeping the interface deceptively simple. This widget is going into each of my Web Apps!! Tapas ... View more

Hi Robert, Your new Identify Widget version 1.1.2 Rocks!!! Thank you so much for spending your Saturday and Sunday afternoon coding this new version. Do you ever take a break? I made a new app with your Identify Widget version 1.1.2 and Enhanced Search Widget version 1.1.5.   http://www.tapasdas.com/Maps/Phones/app29 The Results Pane and the Popups in the Identify Widget looks picture perfect. All the artifacts are gone. I can add my own alias names. All the attributes show up. The hyperlinks work perfectly. I like the way the Item Names appear in Italics in both the Results Pane and the Popup Window. Your Identify Widget is ready for Prime Time. This is a great companion tool to your Enhanced Search Widget where I may want to list the attributes of a specific layer or drill down all the layers. I had a minor enhancement request on your Identify Widget. This is not a showstopper. When I go to add a link, I find that I could not scroll down all the way to the bottom. I am using Firefox 37.0.1 Your Enhanced Search Widget does not have this issue. I can scroll all the way down to select my link item {CityData}. There is another great feature you have implemented on your Enhanced Search Widget. I can reorder the Search Layers any way I wish. Will it be possible to add this feature on your Identify Widget? Here is another feature that I find very useful on your Identify Widget. You allow certain items to appear in the Popup only. This makes it possible to have an uncluttered listing in the Results Pane, while the details are displayed in the Popup. Would it be possible to add this feature to your Enhanced Search Widget? What can I say Robert? You are the ultimate Widget Wizard. I check your discussion threads every morning to see what new goodies you have created for us! I have no clue how your ported over 8000 lines of Flex code from your Enhanced Search Widget. We are grateful that you are designing all these fancy widgets for our Web AppBuilder Community. Tapas ... View more

Sounds great Robert!!! Tapas ... View more

Hi Robert, Yes, that did the trick!!! You are faster that the wind. Thanks for fixing my JSON file. I am puzzled too as to why the alias names instead of the Field Names showed up in the config_Identify.json file. I did all the configuration through your GUI. This is how it appears: Once I doctored the config_Identify.json file with your edits like so: Everything worked like a charm. I could now see all the Attribute values listed next to the Field Aliases in the Results Pane and the Popup. However, is there a way to get rid of this [:undefined] Artifact? Here is one more enhancement request. On your Identify Widget, I can limit the graphical search methods to a simple set like: Points, Rectangle, Circle, and Polygon On your Enhanced Search Widget, I get too many choices. Can you include a way to limit these choices, just the way you have it for the Identify Widget? This turned out to be a very productive afternoon! Your Identify Widget and Enhanced Search Widget are the mainstays of all my web applications. Best regards, Tapas ... View more

Hi Robert, Thanks so much for the new enhancements to your eSearch Widget version 1.1.5 I made a new Web App to test out some of the new features of your eSearch Widget 1.1.5 and Identify Widget 1.1.1 http://www.tapasdas.com/Maps/Phones/app28 They way you could now limit your Text Search to features within your current map extent is awesome! This will come in handy. Here I am searching for all Schools that contain the string MADISON in the Name field. 11 Schools are found. Now if I zoom in, and check the Limit results to maps extent option, I get the results that fall within the current display area. Wonderful!! This will be an extremely useful feature for us when we are trying to find parcels. For example, finding the parcel that belongs to John while you are zoomed into the Zipcode where John resides. Without this option, the result will display all parcels with first name John in the entire County. I like the way "Search Results" appears before the name of the Layer being searched. I like the way the Title is no longer duplicated in the Popup. The external links are nicely spaced giving it a professional look. Just one minor observation. On the Results pane, the Item Names appear in Italics. This make it easier to differentiate the Item Name from the Attribute value. Could we have the same styling in the Popup with Item Names in Italics? I am still trying to get your Identify 1.1.1 Widget to play nice with your eSearch 1.1.5 Widget. If I run an Identify to identify a Zip Code after the eSearch has found a Zip Code, I get duplicate listings. I know you have mentioned the workaround of clearing the results of the previous eSearch first. This works. However, I still cannot get the attributes to show up correctly in the results pane or in the Popup. There are the correct attributes in the Attribute Table Here is the map service I am using: ZIP Codes: http://arcgis2.geo.az.gov/ArcGIS/rest/services/Zipcodes/MapServer/0 Fields:     OBJECTID ( type: esriFieldTypeOID , alias: OBJECTID )     SHAPE ( type: esriFieldTypeGeometry , alias: SHAPE )     ZIPCODE ( type: esriFieldTypeString , alias: Zip Code , length: 5 )     SqMiles ( type: esriFieldTypeDouble , alias: Sq. Miles )     SqKm ( type: esriFieldTypeDouble , alias: Sq. Km )     Acres ( type: esriFieldTypeDouble , alias: Acres )     Name ( type: esriFieldTypeString , alias: Name , length: 15 )     CityData ( type: esriFieldTypeString , alias: CityData , length: 100 )     SocioEcon ( type: esriFieldTypeString , alias: SocioEcon , length: 100 ) I remember in your Flex version of the Identify Widget, all the item names had to be referenced by their Item Aliases and not their Item Names. Here is a listing of config_Identify.json       { "name": "ZIP Code", "url": "http://arcgis2.geo.az.gov/ArcGIS/rest/services/Zipcodes/MapServer", "id": 0, "zoomscale": "", "forcescale": false, "fields": { "all": false, "field": [             { "name": "Zip Code", "alias": "Zip Code"             },             { "name": "Sq. Miles", "alias": "Sq. Miles", "isnumber": true             },             { "name": "Sq. Km", "alias": "Sq. Km", "isnumber": true             },             { "name": "Acres", "alias": "Acres", "isnumber": true             }           ]         }, "links": { "link": [             {               "alias": "Detailed Profile", "disablelinksifnull": true, "disableinpopup": false, "popuptype": "text", "content": "{CityData}", "icon": ""             }           ]         }       }     ], I know you mentioned that for the Identify Widget to work, the Item Name and Alias must not be the same. In my case, the Item Name = ZIPCODE, and the alias = Zip Code The attributes for ZIPCODE, SqMiles, SqKm does not show up. However the attributes for Acres does show up! I am puzzled. Perhaps you can shed some light! Once again, thank you so much for these constant stream of enhancements. This thread had become the number one example on GeoNet of a successful community driven project. You have added so many features and user requests over the last 9 months. Best regards, Tapas ... View more

Hi Luke, Your test website is working fine: Here is how your unique list looks when I open your website at my end: The listings are in the correct Alphabetical Order. ... View more