Latest Contributions by JohnDye

Anytime I create a new file in AppStudio, the project root directory is always named 'MyApp' in QtCreator. I've noticed that in the sample apps Esri provides, this is not the case. For instance, in the MapViewer sample, the root directory is named 'MapViewer'. How do you change the name of the root folder as displayed in QtCreator. I thought it would be as simple as changing a folder name but when I opened the directory in finder, the folder name was a GUID, so I'm thinking it's a property I need to change in a file somewhere. ... View more

I'm completely new to AppStudio and Qt and I'm really trying hard to get started, but the documentation is highly lacking. Anyway, I've downloaded some example apps and all of them have their initial <appname>.qml file importing another file from within a subdirectory in the project. In the above picture, MapViewer.qml is importing MapViewerApp.qml, which is located in a the MapViewer subdirectory. I'm trying to figure out how to create a subfolder in the project through QtCreator but even Google is not giving me any helpful information because it wants me to edit a .pro file which doesn't exist in an AppStudio app. ... View more

Has anyone else noticed that applications built using AppStudio tend to look significantly better on Mac than they do on Windows? Windows apps built using AppStudio, imho, seem to have an issue with antialiasing or scaling of digital assets. I'm not sure what it is but there is a noticeable difference. I've also noticed that Windows Apps seem to be more buggy. Take Survey123Connect for example. On the Mac (left), the everything is clean and crisp, text is centered inside the buttons, it looks great. On Windows however, there are some noticeable issues with centering text inside the buttons and the lines GUI elements aren't quite as smooth or clean as they are on a Mac. Why is this and is there anything I can do to fix it on Windows-versions of my apps? Am I just crazy? ... View more

I'm using Survey123Connect to build a new survey. I'm trying to apply a constraint to a field using the following regex: regex('[A-Za-z]{3}[0-9]{3}$') The result of this should be a 6-character string where the first three values must be Alpha and the second three values must be numeric. For example, ABC123 would be a valid value, as would abc123. I've applied the expression to the field's constraint field and supplied a constraint message. Survey123Connect will then convert the form and display it without raising any issues but I can put whatever I want in the field and the constraint message is never raised. ... View more

We have GISday coming up in November and we're doing a medium-sized event at my company. Last year we did a Name-That-Place competition and gave away some pretty decent prizes. This year we'll do the same but also want to add a couple more activities. We plan on doing a Session Raffle, so that people who attend most of our sessions automagically get entered to win a prize. I'm trying to think of an activity that will get people engaged with out solution demonstrations as well. I thought about perhaps a StoryMap competition or a Hackathon, but would like to know what kinds of other contests and activities other folks do. I also thought about a Geocache but that's really hard to pull off without distracting from the event. ... View more

Python Addins have a terrible, awful, no good debugging process. Code > Build > Initialize Client App > Install > Test > Repeat. Honestly, it wouldn't be so bad if ArcMap didn't take so long to initialize that I could grow a beard while waiting for it to get a license and load a blank document. Python Addins need a process to reload the addin module, and by reload I mean completely, including the config.xml and image files from the assembly cache. If this were possible, we could change the debugging process to: Code > Build > Reload > Test Why would we not want to do that? Additionally, if we could manipulate the config.xml and reload, that would bring new functionality to the table, including the ability to create semi-dynamic GUIs that could change based on a set of conditions, such as changing the image asset used for a button based on a specific condition. ... View more

SUPPORT CONSUMPTION OF VECTOR TILES IN ARCMAP!!!   Vector Tiles are a fantastic new addition to the ArcGIS Platform. They draw incredibly fast, are scale independent, never pixelate, have insignificant storage requirements compared to raster tiles and their styling is done via simple json and is completely decoupled from the actual vector data from which the tiles are generated.   Simply put, they are pretty amazing.   ArcGIS Professional supports the creation and consumption of Vector Tiles. However, ArcMap does not. So for consumption in ArcMap, you have to use the traditional raster tile Basemap services. I'll be the first to admin that this is not really a problem when Esri hosts lots of different raster basemaps and provides those services for free, but what about when you want to a custom basemap which can be consumed in both ArcGIS Professional and ArcMap? Your only choice is a raster-tile basemap service.   The cooking-time and storage requirements to produce and host a raster-tile basemap service are orders of magnitude greater than that of a Vector Basemap, not to mention the additional capabilities that Vector Tiles bring to the table.   With raster tiles, you have to cook an entirely new basemap for every style you want to support creating a compounding storage requirement. Sure, you could host your raster-basemap service for the entire Country, Continent or World on ArcGIS Online, let me know how that works out for you when you see how many credits that burns though. With vector tiles, you host the data in vector format once which is a much smaller storage requirement and style that vector data with simple json client-side.   With raster tiles, if the device is rotated, any labels or markers you cooked into the basemap also get rotated, giving you sideways or even inverted labels and/or markers. With vector tiles, those elements are decoupled from the basemap.   With raster tiles, you have to choose your scale ranges wisely, balancing your storage capabilities against the level of scale granularity in your basemap service. With vector tiles, that issue goes away as the vector data can scale indefinitely.   There are still many capabilities that exist only in ArcMap which do not exist in ArcGIS Pro. Esri themselves will gladly tell you that ArcMap is not going away for a very, very long time because it will take a very, very long time for ArcGIS Pro to catch up to ArcMap in terms of capabilities.   If that's true, then ArcMap needs to support Vector Tiles so that customers hosting their own custom basemaps can put their NAS devices and SANs to good use, instead of being forced to continue to cook and host a massive set of raster tiles simply for the purpose of supporting the legacy product which continues to remain Esri's Flagship Product while it's successor plays catch up.   SUPPORT CONSUMPTION OF VECTOR TILES IN ARCMAP!!! ... View more