ArcIMS 9.2 is a major release with new functionality. The following is a summary of these changes.
ArcIMS introduces a Web Manager for creating Web applications. The Web Manager provides step-by-step instructions that guide you through the application building process.
- First, you are prompted for which services you want to access. You can select not only Image and ArcMap Image Services, but also ArcGIS Server services, ArcWeb services, and WMS services. You can add more than one service, and the Web application will automatically merge the services for you.
- Second, you can select what functionality you want to add to the application such as finding addresses or searching for features. You can also add map elements such as a table of contents or overview map.
The output is a Web Mapping Application that can be deployed immediately. The Web Mapping Application uses current technology such as AJAX, and includes seamless panning, scroll-wheel zoom, keyboard navigation, and a fully functional table of contents with swatches, among other new features.
The Web Manager comes in two versions:
- ArcIMS 9.2 Web Manager for the Microsoft .NET Framework
- ArcIMS 9.2 Web Manager for the Java Platform
ArcIMS includes a Web Application Developer Framework (Web ADF). Like Web Manager, the Web ADF is available for the Microsoft .NET Framework and for the Java Platform.
When using the Web ADF, you can work with Image and ArcMap Image Services, ArcGIS Server services, ArcWeb services, and WMS services. The same Web ADF can be used with both ArcIMS and ArcGIS Server.
As a developer, you have access to a full set of mapping-related Web controls and an API that wraps ArcXML functionality. Since the Web Mapping Application is built using these components, you can take the output from Web Manager into an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and modify the output. You can also use the Web controls and build your own application from scratch.
The Web ADF includes comprehensive online support via the ESRI Developer Network (EDN), including Getting Started guides, detailed API discussions, Scenarios and Samples, and Library References.
Web ADF for the Microsoft .NET Framework
The .NET 2.0 framework is required. Visual Studio 2005 or Visual Studio Web Express Edition must be installed to work with the Web controls and templates.
The Web ADF also includes a .NET ArcIMS API, which replaces the .NET Link. The API has an object model that comprehensively wraps all ArcXML functionality. The exception at ArcIMS 9.2 is that Metadata elements are not part of the API.
Web ADF for the Java Platform
The Web ADF for the Java Platform uses Java Server Faces (JSF), which provides the framework for the Web controls and tasks. The Web ADF uses the Java Connector for communication with ArcIMS services. While developers can use any IDE that supports JSF, the recommended IDE's are Eclipse or Sun Studio Creator.
For those who use Metadata Services, a new, ready-to-use Metadata Explorer application based on the Web ADF for the Java Platform is provided for accessing Metadata Services.
| Documentation and online help |
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- ArcIMS documentation is accessible from one location and has been enhanced with new content and better organization. On Windows, the documentation is accessible from the Start menu. The list includes the ArcIMS Help, Errors and Warnings, ArcXML Programmer's Reference Guide, Metadata Services, WMS Connector, WFS Connector, and customizing guides.
- An overview section has been added that provides steps for creating a successful ArcIMS site.
- Checklists have been added that focus on best practices for optimizing ArcIMS services and administering your site.
- The Web ADF's have documentation installed when the respective ADF is installed. This documentation is separate from the main ArcIMS documentation.
The Spatial Server has been updated to improve performance and stability. The following enhancements have been made.
- Image and ArcMap Image Services will not include geometry by default in the response to a GET_FEATURES request if the output mode is binary. With this change, ArcMap cannot be used to download vector data served in ArcIMS without the knowledge of the service provider. ArcIMS administrators have the option to allow geometry when the output mode is xml or newxml, to allow geometry for all cases, or to disallow geometry for all cases. For more information, see Restricting geometry in responses.
- The Spatial Server will stop processing a request if the Application Server times out. This should make Spatial Server instances available more quickly for new requests. For more information on timeouts, see Setting timeouts.
- Support for projections has been upgraded.
- Many projections that did not work at all or worked incorrectly are supported.
- More datum transformations are supported.
- If a service uses a datum transformation, the datum transformation will be honored, even if the request does not include any datum transformation information.
- The following improvements have been made for data support.
- To support faster service creation time of very large ArcSDE Raster catalogs, a server parameter has been added to disallow preloading the entire catalog into a cache. The initial service creation time is less and raster rows are loaded by demand when that portion of image is first requested. For more details, see Setting connection parameters for ArcSDE.
- Support was added for using attribute indices with shapefiles. This improves performance of queries using IN and OR.
- Querying shapefiles with mixed case field names is supported.
- Query responses return geometry of polygon features containing a hole correctly.
- On Solaris platforms, the 256 file handle restriction has been removed.
- Additional font directory locations for the Spatial Server can be specified. This allows the Spatial Server to automatically locate ESRI fonts, system fonts, and other fonts in a specified directory. For more information, see Locating and pointing to font directories.
- Spatial Server log files have been updated.
- ArcMap Image Services support the following ArcMap functionality:
- Reading File Geodatabases
- Maplex labeling
- Representations
- ArcMap Image Services have the following improvements:
- Domain descriptions, Subtype descriptions, and field aliases set in the ArcMap document or geodatabase are returned in query responses. The GET_FEATURES request must included outputmode="newxml".
- Definition queries are supported in requests. Layers containing the results of a definition query can be dynamically rendered using SIMPLERENDERER.
- Annotation, multipatch, and group layers are identified when requesting service information.
When using Extract Server, if there are no layers to extract in a request, an error message is returned instead of returning an empty zip file.
Support has been added for new geocoding styles: World Cities with Country, US Cities with State and US Streets with City, State and Zip. For more information, see Adding geocode parameters to the geocode extension
- Direct connect is supported in Author for accessing ArcSDE layers. For more information, see Adding ArcSDE data.
- Metadata Explorer has been updated to use the Web ADF for the Java Platform. Existing JSP-based Metadata Explorer applications will continue to work with ArcIMS 9.2, but the Metadata Explorer and Advanced Metadata Explorer sample included in ArcIMS 9.1 are no longer available in the product.
- In the Metadata Service configuration file, you can set the following attributes:
- A DBTUNE keyword to use when the Metadata Service tables are created in the database.
- A toggle to store metadata documents uncompressed in the database.
- A custom XPath index definition file.
- Search results can be ordered by the date when the metadata documents were published or updated, either from newest to oldest or oldest to newest.
- New metadata services have a unique constraint placed on the DocUUID column in the Metadata Service business table and its associated deleted table. This eliminates the possibility of duplicate records.
- Contents of the feature class associated with a Metadata Service can be previewed, but not copied or pasted, in ArcCatalog.
- The CSW Connector has the following new features:
- It is easier to extend the connector to support alternative CSW profiles.
- The connector has a new Web administration page, similar to the WMS and WFS Connectors.
- Support has been added for two CSW profiles: OpenGISŪ Catalogue Services Specification 2.0 - ISO1915/ISO19119 Application Profile for CSW 2.0 and OGC Catalogue Services - ebRIM (ISO/TS 15000-3) profile of CSW
.
- New RDBMS support for Metadata Services includes SQL Server 2005 and SQL Express with Advanced Services with either Enterprise ArcSDE or Workgroup ArcSDE.
- The following changes have been made to the gazetteer:
- Data to support a Gazetteer Metadata Services is provided on a separate disk with the ArcIMS product. The data can be accessed directly from the disk or copied locally.
- A world gazetteer is provided as well as U.S.-only subest of the gazetteer places.
- ArcSDE export files containing pre-loaded Gazetteer Metadata Services continue to be provided along with shapefiles containing the source gazetteer data.
- Scripts for loading the ArcSDE export files have been improved; they continue to be provided with the ArcIMS install.
- The WMS Connector has OGC Styled Layer Descriptor (SLD) support. SLD uses a Styled Layer Descriptor XML file to define symbolization of a map. The XML file must follow the SLD schema as defined in the OGC Styled Layer Description Implementation Specification. You can use your own XML file or reference an XML file at a different location. The file reference must be included in the WMS GetMap request URL or as an embedded XML fragment. For more information, see Styled Layer Descriptor support.
- Requests to WMS-enabled services will honor the datum transformation parameters set in the service.
- A problem with messages about invalid SRS values in GetMap requests has been resolved.
- The WFS Connector has OGC Filter encoding support. With Filter support, you can describe a set of features on which to operate. The OGC Filter is defined in the "OGC Filter Encoding Implementation Specification".
- The following are some highlights for ArcXML.
- Support has been added for requesting acetate objects such as a scale bar in a separate image.
- The scale dependency set for a layer or label can be requested as a relative scale rather than units per pixel.
- For Image Services, the relative scale of the map can be requested along with the image.
- For a complete list of updates to ArcXML, see What's New in ArcXML 1.1 for ArcIMS 9.2
| Internationalization/localization |
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- For the Metadata Explorer, locales that use a comma for a decimal delimiter will function correctly for searches.
- ArcXML builder for metadata requests can be localized like the other map ArcXML builders.
- The layer name can be internationalized in the Active X Connector.
- Able to render TIFF images using a comma as the decimal in the world file on non-English locales.
- Additional font directory locations for the Spatial Server can be specified. This allows the Spatial Server to automatically locate ESRI fonts, system fonts, and other fonts in a specified directory.
- The WFS Connector has been internationalized.
- Versions 9.0 and higher of ArcIMS must be registered before they can be used. The end result of the registration process is an authorization file that is used to enable the software for use. All users must obtain a 9.2 authorization file to enable ArcIMS 9.2, even if you had an authorization file for an earlier release.
- The Windows ArcIMS installation is separated into three parts. The first is for the core components such as the administrative tools and the server components. The others are for the Web ADF for the Microsoft .NET Framework and the Web ADF for the Java Platform. All features needed to support these frameworks have been moved to their own setup programs.
- The UNIX and Linux ArcIMS installation id separated into two parts: one for the core components of ArcIMS and one for the Web ADF for the Java Platform.
- The documentstion for the Web ADF for the Java Platform is on a separate CD and is installed separately.
- A separate CD containing gazetteer data for Metadata Services is included with ArcIMS. This CD is in its own folder and is not part of the media kit.
- The core ArcIMS installation features for all platforms have been reorganized and offer the following:
- Administration components including Author, Designer for the HTML, Java Custom and Java Standard Viewers, Administrator, and Service Administrator
- Manager that was included with ArcIMS 3.x, 9.0, and 9.1 has been removed from ArcIMS. Use the stand-alone versions of Author, Designer, and Administrator instead.
- Server components including the Application Server, Spatial Server, ArcMap Server, and Servlet Connector
- Metadata solutions including connectors and applications
- WMS, WFS, ActiveX, and ColdFusion Connectors
- The .NET Link has been removed. It has been replaced by the ArcXML object library as part of the Web ADF for the Microsoft .NET Framework.
- The Java Connector has been moved and is part of the Web ADF for the Java Platform.
- Samples and tutorial data
- World datasets from the sample data have been removed.
The Web ADF for the Microsoft Framework Framework CD contains the following:
- ArcIMS Web Manager for the Microsoft .NET Framework
- Web Application Developer Framework for the Microsoft .NET Framework, including the runtime components and the software developer kit. The ArcXML object library is part of the software developer kit.
The Web ADF for the Java Platform CD contains the following:
- ArcIMS Web Manager for the Java Platform
- Web Application Developer Framework for the Java Platform
- Java Connector
- Metadata Explorer
ArcIMS 9.2 ships with J2SE Runtime Environment 5.0 Update 6 on Windows, Solaris, and Linux, J2SE Runtime Environment 5.0 Update 3 on HP-UX, and J2SE Runtime Environment 5.0 on AIX.
The Data Delivery Extenstion (DDE) is supported only on Windows platforms. For all other platforms, please contact SAFE Software.
| Platform, Web server, and servlet engine updates |
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- New platform support:
- RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) 4.0
- HPUX 11.23 (PA-RISC)
- Support removed for:
- RHEL (Red Hat Enterprise Linux) 3.0
- Newly supported servlet engines and web servers for PC-Intel Windows:
- Apache 2x with Tomcat 5.5
- Oracle 10g R2 (10.1.2.0.1)
- Sun Java System (Sun ONE) Application Server 8
- WebLogic 9
- Websphere Application Server 6.0
- Newly supported servlet engines and web servers for Sun Solaris:
- Apache 2x with Tomcat 5.5
- Oracle 10g R2 (10.1.2.0.1)
- Sun Java System (Sun ONE) Application Server 8
- WebLogic 9
- Websphere Application Server 6.0
- Newly supported servlet engines and web servers for Linux-Intel Red Hat:
- Apache 2x with Tomcat 5.5
- Oracle 10g R2 (10.1.2.0.1)
- Sun Java System (Sun ONE) Application Server 8
- WebLogic 9
- Websphere Application Server 6.0
- Newly supported servlet engines and web servers for Linux-Intel SUSE:
- Apache 2x with Tomcat 5.5
- Newly supported servlet engines and web servers for HP:
- Apache 2x with Tomcat 5.5
- Oracle 10g R2 (10.1.2.0.1)
- Sun Java System (Sun ONE) Application Server 8
- WebLogic 9
- Websphere Application Server 6.0
- Newly supported servlet engines and web servers for IBM AIX:
- Apache 2x with Tomcat 5.5
- WebLogic 9
- Websphere Application Server 6.0
For a list of all supported platforms, servlet engines, and Web servers, see System Requirements for ArcIMS.
As ArcIMS adds new features and functionality, older components are marked for deprecation. Deprecation means that a particular feature is completely supported but may be removed in a future release. Features are not normally removed from ArcIMS unless there is a new feature to replace it.
Features deprecated in ArcIMS 9.2
The following features are marked as deprecated in ArcIMS 9.2. They continue to be fully supported; however, they may be removed in a future release:
- ArcSDE connection administration in the Service Administrator (Not the entire Service Administrator)
- Java Viewer API for use with the Java Custom Viewer. Note: The Java Custom Viewer itself is not being deprecated.
- ActiveX Connector
Features removed from ArcIMS 9.2
- Browser-based ArcIMS Manager available in ArcIMS 3.x, 9.0, and 9.1. You will need to use Author, Designer, and Administrator. For remote management, the Service Administrator is available. This Manager should not be confused with the ArcIMS Web Manager, which is a new feature.
- Metadata Explorer and the Advanced Metadata Explorer sample are no longer available from the setup. They have been replaced with a new Metadata Explorer that takes advantage of features in the Web ADF for the Java Platform.
- The ArcXML elements AVIMSWORKSPACE, MOIMSWORKSPACE, GET_USER, and PUT_USER.
- World and cities shapefiles from the sample data.
