Building add-ins for ArcGIS Desktop

In this topic

• About add-ins
• When to use add-ins
• Python
• Classic COM extensibility
• Add-in types
• Managing add-ins
• Add-in file anatomy
• Building add-ins

About add-ins

When to use add-ins

Python

Classic COM extensibility

Add-in types

• Buttons and tools
  Buttons and tools are simple controls that can appear on toolbars or—in the case of buttons—on menus.
• Combo boxes
  A combo box provides a drop-down list of items and can optionally provide an editable input area.
• Menus and context menus
  A menu presents a drop-down list of buttons, submenus, and multi-items. Menu items can come from built-in sources, add-in sources, or a combination of both. Menus are typically hosted on toolbars, but they may also appear independently as context (pop-up) menus and root menus.
• Multi-items
  A multi-item is a dynamic collection of menu items created at run time. Multi-items are useful when the items on a menu cannot be determined prior to run time or the items need to be modified based on the state of the system.
• Toolbars
  A toolbar can host buttons, tools, menus, tool palettes, and combo boxes. As with menus, controls that appear on toolbars can come from built-in sources, add-in sources, or a combination of both. Toolbars can be configured to automatically appear when initially added to an application to make their presence more obvious to users.
• Tool palettes
  Tool palettes provide a compact way to group a related set of tools. The most recently used tool appears on the toolbar alongside a small drop-down button used to access other tools in the group. As with menus, tools that appear on tool palettes can come from built-in sources, add-in sources, or a combination of both.
• Dockable windows
  Dockable windows are floating or docked windows that appear within the ArcGIS Desktop applications. You can populate dockable windows with any sort of content: charts, slide shows, video, mini-maps, or custom dialog boxes containing other controls—including ESRI controls. Add-in developers have considerable control over where the dockable window initially appears and whether it will be grouped with other dockable windows.
• Application extensions
  Application extensions are used to coordinate activities between other components—such as buttons, tools and dockable windows—within a containing add-in. Application extensions are usually responsible for storing state associated with the add-in as a whole and are often used to listen for and respond to various events exposed by the host application. Application extensions can be configured to load when needed or automatically when their associated application is started; extensions can also be configured to appear in the standard ArcGIS extension dialog box.
• Editor extensions
  Editor extensions allow you to customize your editing workflows by plugging directly into the editing framework. As opposed to application extensions, editor extension add-ins are loaded when the edit session starts (Editor>Start Editing). You can customize the behavior of your editing session (for example, listening for edit events) by creating editor extensions.

Managing add-ins

Add-in file anatomy

<ESRI.Configuration
  xmlns="http://schemas.esri.com/Desktop/AddIns"
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
  <Name>
    Acme Custom Mapping Extension
  </Name>
  <AddInID>{6fa0df73-57ab-491e-a73d-e58ce07af414}</AddInID>
  <Description>Custom mapping toolbar.</Description>
  <Version>1.0</Version>
  <Image>Images\Acme.png</Image>
  <Author>John Locke</Author>
  <Company>Acme</Company>
  <Date>5/28/2009</Date>
  <Targets>
    <Target name="Desktop" version="10.0"/>
  </Targets>
  <AddIn language="CLR" library="Acme.dll" namespace="Acme">
    <ArcMap>
      <Commands>
        <Button
          id="Acme_ToggleDockWinBtn"
          class="ToggleDockWinBtn"
          caption="OpenDockWin"
          category="Acme Tools"
          image="Images\ToggleDockWinBtn.png"
          tip="Toggle dockable window."
          message="Open dockable window.">
          <Help heading="Toggle">Turns the ACME dockable window on and off.</Help>
        </Button>
      </Commands>
      <Toolbars>
        <Toolbar id="Acme_Toolbar" caption="Acme Toolbar">
          <Items>
            <Button refID="Acme_ToggleDockWinBtn"/>
          </Items>
        </Toolbar>
      </Toolbars>
    </ArcMap>
  </AddIn>
</ESRI.Configuration>

public class ToggleDockWndBtn: Button
{
    public ToggleDockWndBtn(){}

    protected override void OnClick()
    {
        //Get dockable window.
        UID dockWinID = new UIDClass();
        dockWinID.Value = @"ESRI_SelectionSample_SelCountDockWin";
        s_dockWindow = ArcMap.DockableWindowManager.GetDockableWindow(dockWinID);
    }
}

Public Class ToggleDockWinBtn
    Inherits ESRI.ArcGIS.Desktop.AddIns.Button
    
    Public Sub New()
        
    End Sub
    
    Protected Overrides Sub OnClick()
    
    'Get dockable window.
    Dim dockWinID As UID = New UIDClass()
    dockWinID.Value = "ESRI_SelectionSample_SelCountDockWin"
    s_dockWindow = ArcMap.DockableWindowManager.GetDockableWindow(dockWinID)
End Sub

Building add-ins

See Also: