T U T O R I A L S

Using multiple services in a single application

In this tutorial, we will create an ASP.NET Web application in Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 to consume an ArcGIS Server Web map, geocode, and geometry service.   all services will share the same set of common value object types.  The MapServer, GeocodeServer, and GeometryServer proxies and value objects will be created dynamically on the command line using the SOAP toolkit (wsdl.exe) included with the .NET 2.0+ SDK.  The application will use the ArcGIS Server SOAP API draw a map, locate an address, reproject the geocoded point, construct and buffer a polyline, use the buffer to select features in the map service, and draw both the buffer and selected features in a map.  ASP.NET Web controls are used to host inputs and outputs from ArcGIS Server services and ASP.NET AJAX controls are used to enable asynchronous behavior.     

Sample code for this tutorial is available here: SharedTypes.zip

 

Generate the Web service proxies and shared value objects

 

  1. Open a Visual Studio 2008 command prompt and type "wsdl.exe".  Note the help content returned in the console.  

  2. Create a temp directory (e.g. c:\temp) and create a text file in the directory named "sharedsoaptypes.bat".

  3. Open the text file in a text editor (e.g. notepad) and add the following line.  This line represents a command which will generate a class file that contains SOAP proxies and value object types for the requested service descriptions (wsdls).

    wsdl.exe /sharetypes /language:CS /namespace:SharedNamespace /out:.\ArcGISSOAP_SharedTypes.cs /protocol:SOAP http://localhost/arcgis/services/MapService/MapServer?wsdl http://localhost/arcgis/services/GeocodeService/GeocodeServer?wsdl http://localhost/arcgis/services/Geometry/GeometryServer?wsdl

    The following command line parameters are used:
     

    Parameter

    Description

    /sharetypes

    Create one type for all common type definitions in each defined wsdl

     

    /language:CS

    The language of the class file generated by this command.
     

    /namespace:SharedNamespace
     

    The namespace of the proxies and value object types in the generated class file.

    /out:.\ArcGISSOAP_SharedTypes.cs

    The name of the class file containing the proxies and value objects generated from each defined wsdl
     

    /protocol:SOAP

    The protocol format of the Web requests generated by the proxies and value objects.  

     

    *.wsdl

    The path or url to one or more wsdls used to generate native .NET class file.

     

     

    Confirm that three ArcGIS Server Web services are available: a map, geocode, and geometry service.   The map and geocode services should share the same geographic region, but not the same spatial reference (projection).  For example, the map service may work with San Francisco data in a geographic coordinate system, while the reference data for the geocode service is a San Francisco streets layer in a California StatePlane projected coordinate system.    
     

  4. Add another line to the text file ""sharedsoaptypes.bat".   The CSharp class compiler csc.exe will be used to compile the class file generated by wsdl.exe into an assembly.  

    csc.exe /target:library /out:ArcGISSOAP_SharedTypes.dll ArcGISSOAP_SharedTypes.cs

    The /target parameter defines the output type from the compiler as a library (dll).  The /out parameter defines the library name.  
     

  5. Since the file extension of the text file is ".bat", you can type the file name "sharedsoaptypes.bat" on the command line to execute both commands.  Upon completion, you should have a file named ArcGISSOAP_SharedTypes.dll in the temp directory you created eariler in this section.  This assembly will be referenced by the project created in the next section.  

 

Create the Web Site project
 

  1. In Visual Studio 2008, click File, New Web Site.

  2. In the New Web Site dialog, select the .NET Framework 3.5 option.  

  3. Under Templates, select ASP.NET Web Site.  

  4. The Location setting can be File System or HTTP.  In this tutorial, we will use File System.  

  5. The Language setting can be C# or VB.NET.  In this tutorial, we will use C#.

  6. Specify a path to the new Web Site and name the project "SOAPSharedTypes".


     

 

Add library with proxies and shared value object types

 

  1. In the Solution Explorer window, right click the Web project and select "Add Reference...".  

  2. In the Add Reference dialog, select the Browse tab and navigate to the ArcGISSOAP_SharedTypes.dll and add it to the project.  Now you can use the native .NET types defined in the assembly to communicate with a map, geocode, and geometry service.