Changing Bitmap on BaseCommands/Tools at runtime

A common scenario that ArcObjects developers come across is creating a button or tool in ArcMap whose image changes when clicked.

Example: Say you wish to create a “LogOn” button whose bitmap needs to change to “LogOff” bitmap once the user has logged in.

Just setting base.m_bitmap to the new bitmap does not update the bitmap in ArcMap. Instead you need to use the BaseCommand.UpdateBitmap method.

Per ESRI .Net documentation:
UpdateBitmap changes the Bitmap for the command. Call this method to update the icon used for the command at runtime, after the command has already been instantiated.

IWorkspaceFactorySchemaCache

When working with bulk editing or editing operations that might cause performance hits, try using IWorkspaceFactorySchemaCache and enable schema caching. This is supposed to improve the performance. Some people have reported improved performance (3 times) on even DifferenceCursors when enabling schema cache.

File based geodatabase and ADO.Net

In our applications, we use Access based Personal GDB files to cache data in order to limit network read/writes and also improve performance by doing processing locally. The best thing with Access was ability to use Jet OleDB provider and ADO.Net to read/write and do complex math on our data. That way we are not limited to use relatively slower and limited functionality ArcObjects. However, the problem with Access is the delay in flushing data. We would insert some data to a table and sometimes this data would not be flushed to the mdb file, hence immediate reading of the table would not return the just inserted records.

As we are investigating other options, I liked the idea of file based gdb in ArcGIS 9.2. However, the limitation is inability to use ADO.Net Oledb provider to access data. ESRI Oledb provider can be used for reads (no inserts and deletes), but there is no documentation if it supports file based gdb. My wishlist for ArcGIS 10.0 would be for ESRI to extend the ADO.Net Oledb provider and give native access to ESRI geodatabase data.

.Net Coding Guidelines

This is an excellent white paper on .Net coding guidelines. I couldn’t have written it better. A must read.

Delay sending mails in Outlook 2003

We all have experiences where we send emails (particularly in replying to our managers on client questions) and then realize, the clients should not have been in the cc list. In such cases, adding a delay to any sent mail is very beneficial, in case we change our mind and wish to make edits.

To add a delay, go to Tools –> ‘Rules and Alerts’, add a new rule –> ‘Check messages after sending’, then add the delay time you wish to use. From now on, whenever you send a mail, the mail will reside in the Outbox for the delay period before it is sent.

ArcGIS 9.2 SP1 now available

The first service pack for the ArcGIS 9.2 release is available for
download. For a detailed list of issues addressed and to download the
patch, visit the appropriate page—ArcGIS 9.2 SP1, ArcIMS 9.2 SP1, or ArcSDE 9.2 SP1.

Happy New Year 2007

This is Wishing you all a very Happy New Year. May all your resolutions get fulfilled!

Is ESRI going Microsoft way with licensing?

Here is a really nice video parody on how Microsoft would have marketed iPod if it were their product (link).

With ArcGIS Server 9.2, ESRI seems to be going completely MS way. They have 3 different editions (Advanced,Standard,Basic) of the product in 2 categories(Enterprise,Workgroup). When we do all the permutations and combinations, it comes to 6 different versions of a single product. Isn’t it overkill.

There has been a lot of discussion in the blogger world on the new licensing evilness. I am really confused. Why could ESRI not make just 2 types of licenses … Enterprise and Strandard. Can you imagine a person purchasing Enterprise license with a Basic Edition? Never, if the user is willing to pay for Enterprise why would they pinch money limiting it to single cpu (oh, is it a single socket or a single core … arghhhh).

For those interested, here is a white paper on ArcGIS Server licensing (link). I am disappointed ESRI.

GIS Podcasts

A colleague pointed me to this website having a bunch of GIS related podcasts. Check them out, I believe listening and watching is much easier than reading.

Networking for an introvert

I am not an introvert, but in the same sentence, would not consider myself an extrovert either. Business Pundit has this nice article about networking for introverts. Here is the link.