There was a lot of great discussion on ArcGIS Pro 1.4 at the recent Esri Developer Summit, especially on the new Configurations capability for Pro customization. In this post, we’ll do a quick recap on the 1.4 Pro SDK and then talk a bit more about some of the API enhancements and new resources that came out with it.
First, a quick note that the videos for all of the Pro SDK sessions at Dev Summit will be made available in the coming weeks on the Esri E360 website. We’ll let you know when those are published.
Also, a quick note about the ArcGIS Pro Road Ahead session at Dev Summit, where attendees were informed about the many new features coming in the next Pro release, ArcGIS Pro 2.0, and beyond. Many of these features are described in the new and important ArcGIS Pro Roadmap page on GeoNet. Definitely check it out.
Updates to the Pro SDK were of course discussed in the session, in particular new support at 2.0 for strong-naming of assemblies. This session had some attendees asking the question, “Should we wait until Pro 2.0 comes out before developing with the Pro SDK?”
Answer: You could, as 2.0 will be released relatively soon, although we always encourage you to get started now. The Pro SDK development patterns will stay the same, and by getting rolling now, you’ll have a clearer picture of the upcoming changes at 2.0. Take advantage of the many Pro and Pro SDK online resources that are already out there for getting up to speed. As we’ve mentioned in earlier Pro SDK posts, it’s important to first get a solid understanding of how Pro works and how it’s different from ArcMap, along with the new opportunities, before jumping into your development. The more you as a developer know about the fundamentals of Pro and the development patterns in the Pro SDK, the more you’ll feel comfortable with your work plan and can make the right decisions when 2.0 is released.
Pro 1.4 SDK Recap
The Pro SDK at 1.4 has some great updates, the following is a list of those primary enhancements:
- Configurations – a new add-in pattern / template which allows you to customize the Pro UI/UX at start-up. See the new ProConcepts and ProGuide docs for more information.
- Light/dark theme styling – with the new Pro 1.4 light and dark theme capability, the SDK allows you to style your add-ins and configurations for the best visibility. See the new ProGuide for details.
- API enhancements – there are new classes and methods for working with geodatabase joins and SQL syntax, horizontal/vertical datums, as well as new controls. These are listed below.
- New code samples and guides – found at the community samples site and the SDK documentation wiki. The new community samples are listed below.
As we’ve recently done a couple posts on the new configurations and light/dark theme UI styling capabilities, this post provides information on the 1.4 API enhancements and resources.
API Enhancements
At Pro 1.4 there are a number of new API enhancements links outlined in the What’s New for Developers page which includes a new “Highlights” section with links to some of the more notable API/SDK update content in the release. The What’s New page includes a detailed “API Changes” section with a full listing of all the new additions. This can be very helpful as you navigate the new release updates. Let’s looks a little closer at some of the enhancements and the many documentation resources which you can explore further.
UI Controls
There are a number of new UI controls which provide options for a richer UI experience in your add-ins. These are introduced in this helpful new section in the ProConcepts Framework document with helpful descriptions and snippets. Links are provided below for each of the controls in the API reference.
- Burger Button
- Circular Animation
- Message Label
- Search TextBox
- Waiting Cursor
- Coordinate System picker
- Coordinate Systems Details
- ProWindow
Geodatabase
There are a number of new Geodatabase-focused classes for the handling of joins, relationships and SQL syntax, as well as documentation and samples, the following provides links to the ProConcept doc sections and the API reference pages:
- Join Class: Concepts / API Ref
- SQL Syntax Class: Concepts / API Ref
- Virtual Relationship Class: Concepts / API Ref
- New Concepts doc section on Working with Feature Data
- New community sample which illustrates how to preform related tabular queries in a geodatabase using QueryDef – QueryDefDataQuery
Vertical Transformation
There are two new vertical transformation classes which have been added to support transformation of vertical coordinate systems. There is excellent Concepts documentation for vertical transformation at the links below, and code snippets to support your use of the new classes.
Also new is the ability to obtain the Z geometry value from a surface using the new GetZsFromSurfaceAsync method in the Map class.
CityEngine Support
You can now set a symbol reference with a procedural symbol layer for a CityEngine rule package using the SymbolFactory.ConstructProceduralSymbol method. There is also a new community sample, ProceduralSymbolLayersWithRulePackages, which uses this new method and demonstrates rendering a polygon feature layer using a CityEngine rule package.
More SDK Resources
New Community Samples
The following is a list of new community sample solutions available from the main samples page:
- Framework – ConditionQuery – illustrates how to query the application state to determine which conditions are currently enabled.
- Framework – ConfigWithMap – presents the many capabilities of configurations
- Framework – ConfigWithStartWizard – shows several different Pro start page ideas
- Framework – CustomStyling – presents an approach to apply custom styles to a usercontrol which supports both light and dark themes
- Geodatabase – QueryDefDataQuery – illustrates how to perform related tabular queries using QueryDef
- Geometry – CoordinateSystemDialog – shows how to implement the re-usable Coordinate Picker User Control
- Map Authoring – ProceduralSymbolLayersWithRulePackages – demonstrates rendering a feature layer with a CityEngine rule package
New Training Resources
The new official Esri Training course on the Pro SDK, “Extending ArcGIS Pro with Add-Ins”, is now available. This three-day, instructor-led class from Esri Educational Services provides a comprehensive introduction to the Pro SDK. This is an excellent way to start and/or enhance your current development.
Also, introductory Pro SDK demo videos are available here.
Summary
We hope you’ll take advantage of these new Pro SDK capabilities when developing your add-ins. Pro 1.4 was significant with the new SDK configurations capabilities and this will continue to be an important and growing pattern in coming releases. As always, if you need additional assistance with your Pro add-ins and configurations, a great place to look for answers is the ArcGIS Pro SDK Group on GeoNet.
We look forward to hearing about the great work that your organization will accomplish with Pro customization.
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