Working with mobile projects in Manager

Using ArcGIS Server Manager, you can create and manage a catalog of mobile projects. Each project that you create can be deployed to a number of Windows Mobile devices for use with the ArcGIS Mobile application. Each mobile project that you create using Manager configures the ArcGIS Mobile application with a predefined set of tasks and map resources.

When you click Mobile Projects on the Applications panel, you are provided with a catalog of mobile projects that have been created on the Web server you are connected to. To create and manage mobile projects, your login account for Manager must be within the ArcGIS Server Administrators group. For each project listed in the catalog, you are provided with the following information:

• Project name
• Project description
• Author of the project
• Date and time that it was last modified
• URL of the page provided for deployment of the project and ArcGIS Mobile application to the mobile device
• Edit button to further configure the project
• Delete button to remove the project from the catalog and server
• Rename button to change the name of the project

The mobile project that you have created is stored within a catalog on the Web server. This catalog is accessible as both a Web page and a Web service. The catalog contains not only the mobile projects that you create using Manager but also links to the ArcGIS Mobile application CAB file. To use the project file, the mobile device must already have the ArcGIS Mobile application installed. The CAB file has been signed by ESRI so that you simply copy it to your mobile device and run the installer.

There are two ways to access the Mobile Projects Catalog from your mobile device:

• Using the Web browser on a mobile device

• Using the ArcGIS Mobile application

The Mobile Projects Catalog Web page is mobile browser friendly. Using the browser of your choice, you can navigate to the URL of the Web catalog by typing "http://<server_name>/ArcGIS/MobileManager/Default.aspx".

If you have already installed the ArcGIS Mobile application, simply click the Mobile project that you have created and it will prompt you to save a .amp file to your device. The .amp file is the ArcGIS Mobile project file that contains the customization or configuration necessary for the ArcGIS Mobile application to display the map and tasks that you have configured.

Note that you will need to create an ArcGIS Mobile folder inside the My Documents folder on the device or storage card and save the .amp file to that folder location so that the ArcGIS Mobile application can find and open it.

You can customize the look and feel of this Web page by directly updating the XSL file associated with the application. The XSL file is stored within the InetPub\wwwroot\ArcGIS\Mobile folder and is titled MobileProjects.xsl.

Using the ArcGIS Mobile application on your Windows Mobile device, you can directly access the Web service catalog by typing the name of the server containing the catalog. ArcGIS Mobile will scrape the Web service on the Web server and generate a list of projects that can be downloaded and consumed on the device. When you choose an project, it will create the necessary folder structure under your My Documents folder on the device or storage card.

For large mobile deployments, you may want to use custom deployment software such as Microsoft Systems Management Server (SMS) or SOTI MobiControl to push both the installation of the application and the project file to the device.