How to create add-in projects


Summary Project templates are available to aid in the creation of add-ins. Separate templates allow you to create add-in projects containing a Button, CheckBox, ComboBox, DockWindow, Gallery, or Extension. When you use the templates, wizards guide you through a few simple steps.

In this topic

About creating add-in projects

ArcGIS Explorer installs several project templates to accelerate the customization development process and removes the need to create projects and items from scratch. These templates also set up the required steps to automatically create, verify, and deploy add-in files when the project is built.
Each template is available in VB .NET and C# for Visual Studio 2008, Visual Studio 2010, and Visual Studio Express editions.

Selecting project templates

Do the following steps to create an add-in project by using the ArcGIS Explorer project templates for a DockWindow, Button, Extension, or Gallery add-in project:
  1. Start Microsoft Visual Studio.
  2. Click File, New, and Project. The New Project dialog box appears.
  3. On the New Project dialog box, select the applicable language, that is, Visual C# or Visual Basic.
  4. Under the Project types area for your selected language, click ArcGIS, then Explorer. Ensure that the Explorer node is selected.
  5. Select the applicable ArcGIS Explorer project template from the Templates pane.
  6. Type a name for the add-in project in the Name text box, then click OK. See the following screen shots:

Specifying project settings
  1. After you have selected a project template and clicked OK on the preceding New Project dialog box, a wizard appears to guide you through the process of specifying the project settings. The project settings include the Name, Description, Group Caption, and Publisher of the add-in.

    Hover the mouse pointer over the Help icons on the wizard for ToolTips about each type of setting. See the following screen shots:


  2. The second page of the wizard has settings that are specific to the Button, CheckBox, ComboBox, DockWindow, Extension, or Gallery, depending on the selected template. See the following screen shots:


  3. You can also hover the mouse pointer over the Help icons on the wizard for ToolTips about each type of setting. A default image is included as an icon for each new customization, which can be changed to a different image. The ArcGIS Explorer software development kit (SDK) includes standard images to use as icons. For more information, see ArcGIS Explorer add-in icons.
  4. When you complete the wizard and click Finish, an add-in project is created with your specified settings. See the following screen shots:

Building the add-in

The new add-in is ready to be built and used in ArcGIS Explorer. For more information, see Building and verifying add-in projects, Testing add-ins on a developer machine, and How to debug add-ins in Visual Studio.
Additional buttons, check boxes, combo boxes, dockable windows, extensions, or galleries can be added to projects created this way. For more information, see How to add new customizations to existing add-in projects.