by Danny Stratton
2/4/06
Today, I put several maps and viewers on the new development server and they actually worked! The EDN package of software arrived a couple of weeks ago. It was not very difficult to install ArcIMS. The tricky part was installing other required software first. ServletExec and Java. We had it going in about a week, between other business. I've been struggling for another week to make a website where maps could be displayed by clicking on links. That darn Designer program somehow put the machine at 100% CPU usage for a while. I ended up reinstalling ArcIMS several times. I think the trick with Designer is to use it ONLY ONCE when creating HTML pages. Then, make new viewers manually.
Here's what I did to make the viewers work:
- put map shapefiles and other map files in a new folder called "maps"
- used Author to create maps. Author saves them as .AXL files
- used Administrator to create an image service for each of these .AXL files
- used Designer to create ONE HTML viewer of one map only.
- manually made additional viewers - one for each .AXL file.
- made a simple webpage, including a link to each map's viewers.html file.
I ended up with a very simple HTML webpage using frames with a bar across the top showing links to maps viewable in the large frame below. A simple page is ideal for this server. It is intended to provide quality maps to dial up Internet users in a rural area. That's why I picked HTML viewers. The java viewer requires Internet Explorer and a 25 MB download, which is too big to easily download at dial up speeds.
Next? I need to "pretty up" the webpages and viewers. I might find time to finish "Designing better Maps - A Guide for GIS Users," a surprisingly interesting book. But, it is Super Bowl weekend!
2/7/06
I played with the ArcIMSparam.js file today. This file controls the look of the ArcIMS HTML viewer and what it displays. Just open it with Wordpad, not Notepad, and edit the plain text. There are lots of easy instructions and examples built in. For instance, the "Identify/Select/Query/Buffer parameters" section makes it possible to change the results shown by queries. There are lines setting the "selFieldList" variables for each layer. For instance, a query of the sixth layer produces data in the categories: NAME ADDRESS CITY COUNTY STATE ZIP. But, we don't want to show the name and address fields. The instructions clearly tell how to do this and have examples. Simply change the text from
selFieldList[5]="#ALL#";
to
selFieldList[5]="CITY COUNTY STATE ZIP #ID# #SHAPE#";
It's amazing how easy it is to change the viewer by editing ArcIMSparam.js. If you want to change the available tools, just change "true" to "false" or vice versa in this section":
var usePanNorth=false;
var usePanWest=false;
var usePanEast=false;
var usePanSouth=false;
var useZoomIn=true;
var useZoomOut=true;
var useFullExtent=true;
etc....
Just save the ArcIMSparam.js file and the changes take effect. But, you probably need to clear your web browser cache (Internet history) before you can see the changes.
Now, I need to find a way to make hyperlinks from a map to external websites. For some reason, the built in hyperlink HTML viewer does not work. I browsed to several map sites with hyperlink features. But, they didn't work either.
3/14/06
I've neglected to update this page for over a month! I'll try to do better. I've learned a lot in that time.
I learned how to make hyperlinks work with .mxd files. It was very simple. But, I suspect a bug in ArcIMS 0.1 won't let hyperlinks work with .axl files. I struggled with that for way too long. Just follow the instructions in ESRI's "Customizing the HTML Viewer."
I discovered ESRI's forums. They are a great resource for solving tough problems. ESRI's FAQs are helpful, too.
I created a viewer for a map of local restaurants with a drop down menu of cuisine types. Clicking on a type produces a list of restaurants of that type with data including name, phone, address, credit cards accepted, meals served, etc. The City of Mesquite, TX, has a map of parks with a similar feature. But, similar formatted links didn't work on my map. An ESRI forum thread led me to a FAQ article that provided a solution. It seems .mxd maps use a slightly different format than .axl maps. See "What parameters can be passed to an HTML Viewer's URL?" Another forum thread helped show query results. They won't appear unless a couple simple changes are made in javascript files. The only unsolved problem involves links to queries that locate only one result. The map doesn't appear then. I simply added duplicate entries in the database for restaurants that are the only one of their types.
I discovered one really irritating feature of ArcIMS 9.1 on a WinXP system. Some of the data for the restaurant map is in an Access database (.mdb file). Windows won't let me change or delete that file until I stop that map service using Administrator and reboot the system. I tried lots of other methods. None worked. There has got to be a better way!
Now, I'll try to find a way to add thin cross hairs to the Restaurant map. It's difficult to pinpoint the restaurant zoomed to in some areas. Some way is needed to emphasize it. A better solution might be to change the color or size of the dot for that restaurant.
4/13/06
I discovered a nifty new Map Tips script by Bryan Baker on ESRi's site - http://arcscripts.esri.com/details.asp?dbid=13400 Installing it was relatively simple. I modified the script a little by removing the field name in the popup by changing line 202 of GetMaptipData.asp to
Response.Write "<b>" ' Field name
Now, the restaurant map shows the name of each place when the mouse is over it. The only drawback is our little training server takes about 30 seconds to serve the maptips.
I found a better way to change files in use by ArcIMS. They can be changed if ALL IMS services are stopped with the Windows Task Manager. The system does not need to be rebooted. This still sucks.
I still haven't made progress on the crosshairs.
4/25/06
I'm here at the MAGIC 2006 Symposium. It's several hundred GIS freaks getting together to share GIS knowledge. I've learned a lot about web authoring and ArcView. But, I haven't found much ArcIMS knowledge. Most sessions haven't focused on ArcIMS. The one session that did present lots of ArcIMS info was way over my head. We are working with a single server system without ArcSDE, not a complex of servers running all kinds of stuff. I've met a few folks here with similar situations. We may be able to help each other gain knowledge in this fascinating field.
I still haven't made progress on the crosshairs.
8/2/06
I can't believe it's been four months since the last update. Time flies! I've finally gotten the hang of ArcIMS. The new Dell production server is now online at www.semogis.com/ The biggest difficulty I've had was adding aerial photo images to .axl maps. I finally discovered the "trick" needed to do this in Author. The NAIP photos, and other raster images, don't appear in Author. When they are added to a map containing other layers, the "zoom to layer" tool takes you way over to the side (0,0) when used on the raster image. The trick is to zoom to any other layer and save the map. Zooming to full extent doesn't work either.
I still haven't made progress on the crosshairs.
Today, I put several maps and viewers on the new development server and they actually worked! The EDN package of software arrived a couple of weeks ago. It was not very difficult to install ArcIMS. The tricky part was installing other required software first. ServletExec and Java. We had it going in about a week, between other business. I've been struggling for another week to make a website where maps could be displayed by clicking on links. That darn Designer program somehow put the machine at 100% CPU usage for a while. I ended up reinstalling ArcIMS several times. I think the trick with Designer is to use it ONLY ONCE when creating HTML pages. Then, make new viewers manually.
Here's what I did to make the viewers work:
- put map shapefiles and other map files in a new folder called "maps"
- used Author to create maps. Author saves them as .AXL files
- used Administrator to create an image service for each of these .AXL files
- used Designer to create ONE HTML viewer of one map only.
- manually made additional viewers - one for each .AXL file.
| Designer creates a folder for the new viewer. Make similar folders for each additional viewer. Copy all the files and folders in the new viewer's folder to each additional folder. Use Wordpad to change the service name twice in each ArcIMSparam.js file. |
I ended up with a very simple HTML webpage using frames with a bar across the top showing links to maps viewable in the large frame below. A simple page is ideal for this server. It is intended to provide quality maps to dial up Internet users in a rural area. That's why I picked HTML viewers. The java viewer requires Internet Explorer and a 25 MB download, which is too big to easily download at dial up speeds.
Next? I need to "pretty up" the webpages and viewers. I might find time to finish "Designing better Maps - A Guide for GIS Users," a surprisingly interesting book. But, it is Super Bowl weekend!
2/7/06
I played with the ArcIMSparam.js file today. This file controls the look of the ArcIMS HTML viewer and what it displays. Just open it with Wordpad, not Notepad, and edit the plain text. There are lots of easy instructions and examples built in. For instance, the "Identify/Select/Query/Buffer parameters" section makes it possible to change the results shown by queries. There are lines setting the "selFieldList" variables for each layer. For instance, a query of the sixth layer produces data in the categories: NAME ADDRESS CITY COUNTY STATE ZIP. But, we don't want to show the name and address fields. The instructions clearly tell how to do this and have examples. Simply change the text from
selFieldList[5]="#ALL#";
to
selFieldList[5]="CITY COUNTY STATE ZIP #ID# #SHAPE#";
It's amazing how easy it is to change the viewer by editing ArcIMSparam.js. If you want to change the available tools, just change "true" to "false" or vice versa in this section":
var usePanNorth=false;
var usePanWest=false;
var usePanEast=false;
var usePanSouth=false;
var useZoomIn=true;
var useZoomOut=true;
var useFullExtent=true;
etc....
Just save the ArcIMSparam.js file and the changes take effect. But, you probably need to clear your web browser cache (Internet history) before you can see the changes.
Now, I need to find a way to make hyperlinks from a map to external websites. For some reason, the built in hyperlink HTML viewer does not work. I browsed to several map sites with hyperlink features. But, they didn't work either.
3/14/06
I've neglected to update this page for over a month! I'll try to do better. I've learned a lot in that time.
I learned how to make hyperlinks work with .mxd files. It was very simple. But, I suspect a bug in ArcIMS 0.1 won't let hyperlinks work with .axl files. I struggled with that for way too long. Just follow the instructions in ESRI's "Customizing the HTML Viewer."
I discovered ESRI's forums. They are a great resource for solving tough problems. ESRI's FAQs are helpful, too.
I created a viewer for a map of local restaurants with a drop down menu of cuisine types. Clicking on a type produces a list of restaurants of that type with data including name, phone, address, credit cards accepted, meals served, etc. The City of Mesquite, TX, has a map of parks with a similar feature. But, similar formatted links didn't work on my map. An ESRI forum thread led me to a FAQ article that provided a solution. It seems .mxd maps use a slightly different format than .axl maps. See "What parameters can be passed to an HTML Viewer's URL?" Another forum thread helped show query results. They won't appear unless a couple simple changes are made in javascript files. The only unsolved problem involves links to queries that locate only one result. The map doesn't appear then. I simply added duplicate entries in the database for restaurants that are the only one of their types.
I discovered one really irritating feature of ArcIMS 9.1 on a WinXP system. Some of the data for the restaurant map is in an Access database (.mdb file). Windows won't let me change or delete that file until I stop that map service using Administrator and reboot the system. I tried lots of other methods. None worked. There has got to be a better way!
Now, I'll try to find a way to add thin cross hairs to the Restaurant map. It's difficult to pinpoint the restaurant zoomed to in some areas. Some way is needed to emphasize it. A better solution might be to change the color or size of the dot for that restaurant.
4/13/06
I discovered a nifty new Map Tips script by Bryan Baker on ESRi's site - http://arcscripts.esri.com/details.asp?dbid=13400 Installing it was relatively simple. I modified the script a little by removing the field name in the popup by changing line 202 of GetMaptipData.asp to
Response.Write "<b>" ' Field name
Now, the restaurant map shows the name of each place when the mouse is over it. The only drawback is our little training server takes about 30 seconds to serve the maptips.
I found a better way to change files in use by ArcIMS. They can be changed if ALL IMS services are stopped with the Windows Task Manager. The system does not need to be rebooted. This still sucks.
I still haven't made progress on the crosshairs.
4/25/06
I'm here at the MAGIC 2006 Symposium. It's several hundred GIS freaks getting together to share GIS knowledge. I've learned a lot about web authoring and ArcView. But, I haven't found much ArcIMS knowledge. Most sessions haven't focused on ArcIMS. The one session that did present lots of ArcIMS info was way over my head. We are working with a single server system without ArcSDE, not a complex of servers running all kinds of stuff. I've met a few folks here with similar situations. We may be able to help each other gain knowledge in this fascinating field.
I still haven't made progress on the crosshairs.
8/2/06
I can't believe it's been four months since the last update. Time flies! I've finally gotten the hang of ArcIMS. The new Dell production server is now online at www.semogis.com/ The biggest difficulty I've had was adding aerial photo images to .axl maps. I finally discovered the "trick" needed to do this in Author. The NAIP photos, and other raster images, don't appear in Author. When they are added to a map containing other layers, the "zoom to layer" tool takes you way over to the side (0,0) when used on the raster image. The trick is to zoom to any other layer and save the map. Zooming to full extent doesn't work either.
I still haven't made progress on the crosshairs.