Overview

ArcPad Studio, which is installed on desktop PC's with ArcPad 8.0, is the primary development environment for building custom ArcPad applications for mobile GIS projects. Creating a customized field solution for data collection and data maintenance is essential to ensure the integrity and value of your GIS data. The ability to accurately capture attribute and spatial data directly in the field improves efficiency and reduces time spent correcting or reentering the data into the main database back in the office.

With ArcPad Studio, you can:

• Design custom forms to streamline data collection
• Ensure data integrity by validating data directly in the field
• Tailor applications to user skill levels and specific fields tasks
• Write scripts that interact with ArcPad’s internal objects
• Develop scripts to support data collection devices

With ArcPad Studio, you can hide toolbars, create new toolbars, design custom forms, build applets, and access object properties and methods. Little or no programming is required to accomplish many of these tasks. For more advanced users, ArcPad’s development environment exposes an extensive object model that can be accessed via scripts. ArcPad operates as a scripting host for Microsoft’s VBScript and JScript scripting languages, enabling you to create and edit VBScript or JScript source code files.

You can perform some customization outside of ArcPad Studio. This includes:

• Creating quick custom input forms for any shapefile in ArcPad
• Using the Quick Access menu within ArcPad to hide / show toolbars, or to move toolbars around your screen
• Defining a Favorites toolbar in ArcPad (on the Favorites tab of the ArcPad Options dialog), choosing from ArcPad default tools
• Using the ArcPad Toolbar Manager to alter the toolbars the default ArcPad.apx file or create a new Toolbars (.apx) file containing only ArcPad default tools

The table below summarizes the different types of customizations that are possible, along with the level of programming and development environment required for each type.

Customization	Programming requirements	Development environment
Hide toolbars	None	ArcPad, ArcPad Studio
Create new toolbars	None	ArcPad (Favorites), ArcPad Toolbar Manager, ArcPad Studio
Build new tools	VBScript/JScript	ArcPad Studio
Design custom forms	None	ArcPad (QuickForm), ArcPad Studio
Validate data in form controls	VBScript/JScript	ArcPad Studio
Configure the status bar	None	ArcPad Studio
Prepare Symbology	None	ArcGIS Desktop
Develop applets	VBScript/JScript	ArcPad Studio
Access object properties and methods	VBScript/JScript	ArcPad Studio
Support new input devices	VBScript/JScript or C/C++	ArcPad Studio or Visual Studio/Embedded C++
Support new data formats	C/C++	Visual Studio/Embedded C++
Support new coordiante systems and datum tarnsformations	C/C++	Visual Studio/Embedded C++