The API is built on the Microsoft Silverlight platform which is integrated with Visual Studio 2010 and Expression Blend 4. The ArcGIS API for Silverlight enables you to create rich internet and desktop applications that utilize the powerful mapping, geocoding, and geoprocessing capabilities provided by ArcGIS Server and Bing™ services.
To use the API, simply download and install the ArcGIS API for Silverlight and start creating your Silverlight applications using Visual Studio 2010 or Expression Blend 4.
v2.2 [Sep 30, 2011]
Updates and enhancements
The following enhancements are included in 2.2:
- Wrap-around support in the map
- Improved ArcGIS Online integration
- New graphic shape types
- Editor enhancements: rotate, scale, and distinguish graphic and vertex moves
- Additional changes, including enhancements for reading FeatureLayers from ArcGIS JSON, addition of a credentials property for layers and tasks, retrieving table information, new controls, and the MapAutomationPeer class becoming public to enable custom navigation and animation solutions.
Wrap-around support in the map
The Map control now supports continuous pan across the dateline when the spatial reference is geographic World Geodetic System 1984 ([WGS84] WKID 4326), or Web Mercator (WKID 102100). To enable, set the WrapAround property on the Map control to true.
Tiled map services, feature layers, and graphics layers are supported. Dynamic map services that support a spatial reference defined as well-known text (WKT) are supported. This includes ArcGIS Server 10 REST services. When the WrapAround mode for a Map control is true, map coordinates may be returned using absolute values outside real-world coordinates. Use the Geometry.NormalizeCentralMeridian method to normalize geometry to the correct coordinate space.
Improved ArcGIS Online integration
ArcGIS Online viewers now support the creation of Map Notes with pop-up definitions to store information in a web map. In addition, pop-ups can be configured to reference attribute metadata and additional media for features in feature services and layers within dynamic and tiled map services. The Document class in the ESRI.ArcGIS.Client.WebMap library has been enhanced with additional attached properties to access this information and create a Map control with pre-configured layer functionality (such as generating MapTips for feature layers with pop-ups configured or providing pop-up content in a data template for layers in tiled or dynamic map services).
Web maps hosted on a Mobile Content Server are now also supported. Set the ServerBaseUrl property on the Document class in the ESRI.ArcGIS.Client.WebMap library to a valid endpoint
New graphic shape types
With version 2.2, new graphic shape types were added. The new shapes include arrow, triangle, circle, and ellipses. They are available for both Draw and Editor classes and can be used by specifying the applicable DrawMode.
Editor enhancements: rotate, scale, and distinguish graphic and vertex moves
In addition to the new shape types, the Editor class now supports additional interactive graphic editing, including rotations and scaling. When editing vertices, set the RotateEnabled property on the Editor to true for interactive rotation. For scaling of a graphic, set the ScaleEnabled property to true. When changing scale, it is common to want to maintain the aspect ratio of the graphic. Set another new property added to the Editor, MaintainAspectRatio, to true to maintain the aspect ratio.
With 2.2, it is now possible to distinguish between moves to a graphic as a whole and edits to individual vertices when the EditVertices command is active. The new MoveEnabled property on the Editor class specifies if a geometry can be moved, while the EditVerticesEnabled property specifies if the individual vertices can be edited.
In addition, a new EditGeometry class is available for more fine-grained control when editing graphics. For example, to start editing a graphic, enable the EditGeometry class and pass a graphic instance to the StartEditing method. To change the symbology of a vertex, scale box, scale point, or rotate symbol, set the respective property on the EditGeometry class.
Additional changes
A new method, FromJson, is available on the FeatureLayer, Renderer, and Symbol classes to create a native type from ArcGIS JSON. Likewise, a new method, ToJson, is available on Renderers and Symbols to generate ArcGIS JSON from native types.
GraphicsLayer has a new GraphicsSource property to support binding to a collection of graphics.
Table information is available for stand-alone tables hosed in ArcGIS dynamic and tiled map services (ArcGISDynamicMapServiceLayer and ArcGISTiledMapServiceLayer) through the Tables property on the layer.
The new ScaleLine control provides another option for interactively displaying the map scale.
Localization resources are available for messages and internal user interface (UI) text strings (text that cannot be modified via a control template). The following cultures are supported: Arabic (ar), German (de), Spanish (es), French (fr), Italian (it), Japanese (ja), Brazilian Portuguese (pt-BR), Russian (ru), and Simplified Chinese (zh-CN, zh-Hans).
