Configuration files

This page describes an older version, please read about the latest version at:
http://resources.arcgis.com/en/help/flex-viewer/concepts/

Editing configuration files

The ArcGIS Viewer for Flex application can be configured and customized by editing Extensible Markup Language (XML) configuration files. XML files (.xml extension) have a simple structure consisting of XML tags and attributes that can be edited using NotePad, TextPad, or any XML editor program.

The following are the types of configuration files for the ArcGIS Viewer for Flex:

• Viewer configuration file—Application level
• Widget configuration file—Widget level

Note:

When editing XML configuration files, XML tags are case sensitive and must be lowercase. All configuration files have a <configuration> tag at the beginning of the file to identify it as a configuration file for the Viewer.

Viewer configuration files are located in the main flexviewer folder directory. They control the appearance, functionality, and data content in the Viewer. The Viewer application has a main configuration file called config.xml, which is the application's default primary configuration file. For more information, see Main configuration file. Additional sample Viewer configuration files are included in the apps folder to show different configuration examples of the Viewer.

Each widget in the Viewer application, also has its own configuration file that controls the various settings and properties for the widget. In the ArcGIS Viewer for Flex installation directory, inside the widgets folder, each widget has its own subfolder (labeled with the widget name) containing its respective configuration file. For example, BookmarkWidget.xml is the configuration file for the Bookmark widget.

For a quick introduction to editing the config.xml file, see Part 2 of Getting started with the ArcGIS Viewer for Flex.

Help documentation

For each configuration file, the help documentation consists of the following sections:

• Configuration file structure conceptual diagram
• Description of each XML tag and its attributes

The configuration file structure conceptual diagram provides users with an overall picture of the general structure of a particular configuration file. It shows the general relationships between different XML tags that can be found within the configuration file.

In the preceding image, the following relationships are true:

• ConfigurationFileX has eight unique XML tags
• XML tags 1 and 8 do not have any child tags
• XML tag 2 has two child tags, XML tags 3 and 4
• XML tag 5 has one child tag, XML tag 6
• XML tag 6 has one child tag, XML tag 7
• XML tag 7 is not a direct child tag to XML tag 5

Following the conceptual diagram, each XML tag in the configuration file is explained with information on its attributes.

• <XML tags> are shown in bold font enclosed within angled brackets.
• Attributes are shown in italic font, followed by information on valid values.