WORKSHOP FOR ARCIMS By Timucin Bakirtas GIS Developer & Research Associate MERI – 2002

References

This Tutorial will provide you detailed information about ArcIMS 3.0. We will apply live demonstration on a workstation and we will use online tutorial I-)ArcIMS Architecture. II-)Connections between Web server and ArcIMS III-)Demonstrate linking features to data in an external database IV-) Implement a WAP Solution Using ArcIMS V-) Modifying Html and JavaScript Files.

ArcIMS Architecture

1-)The Presentation Tier includes the ArcIMS3.1 client viewer for accessing, viewing and for analyzing geographic data. 2-)The Business Logic Tier is used for handling request and administering the ArcIMS3.0 site. 3-) The Data Storage Tier includes all data sources available for use with ArcIMS )ArcIMS Management.( Administrator, Designer, Author)

1-) Web Server: A web server handles requests from a client using Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP). 2-) Java Virtual Machine: Many of the ArcIMS3.0 components are java 2 components and they require Java VM, which provides a basic API for running these applications. [ 3-) Servlet Engine: ArcIMS3.0 requires also a servlet engine. Servlet engine is an extension to the Java VM and provides support for servlets through a servlet API.

The servlet engine plugs in to a web server and provides the link between the Java VM and the web server. You can get a servlet engine from [ A complete list of web server and servlet engines supported for use of ArcIMS3.0 available at [

ARCIMS MANAGEMENT Authoring: Find your shapefiles or (and) images in Author and click “add Layers”, and save it as xxxx.axl Creating A Map Server:Use xxxx.axl file for creating the map server. Designing: Use the same Map server When you design the arcims web site

ArcIMS Connectors

ArcIMS Connectors Generate ArcXML Before Sending Request to the ArcIMS Application Server

1-)ArcIMS Servlet Connector. The ArcIMS Servlet Connector is the default connector for ArcIMS. This connector uses the servlet engine to provide a communication link between the Web server and the ArcIMS Application Server. 2-)ArcIMS ColdFusion® Connector. The ColdFusion Connector processes requests from the ColdFusion Server before handing the request to the ArcIMS Application Server.

3-)ArcIMS ActiveX® Connector. The ActiveX Connector is a Component Object Model (COM) DLL that can be used in a COM application such as Microsoft® ASP. The ActiveX Connector is available on Windows only. 4-)ArcIMS Java Connector. The ArcIMS Java Connector is a set of JavaBeans that allows users to create client and server applications, custom servlets, and JSPapplications. A JSP tag library is also included for supporting JSP applications.

What is ActiveX Connector? The ActiveX Connector is a COM DLL that can be used in a COM application such as Microsoft Active Server Pages. Unlike the ArcIMS HTML Viewer that generates ArcXML requests on the client side, the ActiveX Connector implementation allows for processing on the server side.

What is the AppServerLink? The AppServerLink is a JavaBean; specifically, it is a reusable software component that exposes a set of methods and properties that you can set and access from your Java application. AppServerLink can be utilized by creating a custom servlet or by using JSP

Demonstrate linking features to data in an external database

IIS ASP Parcel IDAddressOwner ADO INTERNET ArcIMS Application Server Database Servlet OLE DB Driver Active X

Implementing WAP Solution Using ArcIMS

Although ArcIMS does not directly support WAP implementations for wireless devices, the ActiveX, ColdFusion, and (in ArcIMS 3.1) AppServerLink connectors can be used to service ArcIMS Web sites in a WAP environment. ASP, ColdFusion, and JSP can easily be used to process incoming requests and format outgoing content for WAP enabled wireless devices. One of the most diffcult issues with WAP sites is creating images in a WAP- compatible format know as WBMP. You can easily convert ArcIMS output images to WBMP with one of the image conversion tools available for the ActiveX, ColdFusion, or (at 3.1) the JSP connectors.

EXAMPLE: A site has been created to demonstrate the capabilities of ArcIMS in the wireless environment using ASP, IIS, and WBMPCreator (a Java package used to convert images into WBMP format.) The sample site will query the client for an address to geocode and return the location on a map image (in WBMP format). In addition, four zoom levels will be defined to allow the client to view the location at different map scales.

WEBSERVER In order to implement a wireless internet site using WAP, you must enable your Web services to recognize and process wireless requests in the WAP environment. WBMBP Creater Wireless Gateway

Make the following changes to the MIME types for the Web server; these can be changed by opening the Web server site Properties dialog box, switch to the HTTP Headers tab, and click File Types under the MIME Map section. Content MIME type Extension Wireless bitmaps image/vnd.wap.wbmp wbmp WML source text/vnd.wap.wml wml

//-- filename: wml_start.wml Enter Address: The input address (variable name 'Address') is passed to the wml_image.asp file as a key/value pair ('Addr=$(Address)'). For example, the address "50 Peachtree Ln" is entered and passed to the appropriate file in the URL as ' where '%20 is the encoded value for a space in a URL. Once an address is passed to the wml_image.asp file, the processing begin

Modifying The Interface of ArcIMS Web Applications

A Modified ArcIMS Web Application

ArcIMS generates a hierarchy of new directory and files when you create a new website using ArcIMS Designer. The web site directory (It is the same name where you specify the directory for the “website’ in ArcIMS Designer) contains a set of HTML files and a parameters file, along with two subdirectories, JavaScript and images. Apply online Tutorial, page 20 – TMLViewer1.pdf

You may want to customize following ways:  Changing frame layout.  Modifying toolbar.  Adding functionality.  Changing graphic look.  Inserting your own company logo.

 HTML viewer frame layout: As in all the websites, index.htm or default.htm are the basic files that you should have to create a website. But in ArcIMS if you go in to index.htm, you will see that it takes you to default.htm and if you go into default.htm you will see that it checks the browser that the client is using, gets the title that is specified in ArcIMS designer and takes you to viewer.htm page which is the page where the actual frame layout is specified. So you can always change the frames size layouts or backgrounds.

The diagram below shows the defaults for the Internet Explorer HTML Viewer.

 ArcIMSparam.js: To change anything that is in map frame (for examples copy rights or color of the map frame background, map size…)  Some of the JavaScript files contain the functions that perform many of the common operations are zoom-in, zoom- out, pan, detail e.g.. These functions that are predefined by ArcIMS and you can modify them or you can always add more functions and use them in your website.

 TopFrame: Top.htm Defines content of top frame. Topframe is across the top of the viewer and contains the title text and ArcIMS logo.  MapFame and Overview: MapFrame.htm defines the content of MapFrame. MapFrame displays the map image. When the frame loads, it sets a variety of additional JavaScript files to enable the viewer to perform much of it’s functionality.  The overview map is included in MapFrame. It is defined in MapFrame.htm using dynamic cascading style sheet in Internet Explorer or a layer in Netscape.

 ToolFrame: Toolbar.htm defines the content for ToolsFrame. Toolbar.htm checks the values of key parameter set in ArcIMSparam.js, and using JavaScript, it dynamically creates toolbar based on the tool selects.  TocFrame: TocFrame.htm and toc.htm define the content for TOCFrame. TOCFrame.htm is loaded initially, and then toc.htm is written to define the Layer List and Legend displayed in TOCFrame.  ModeFrame: ModeFrame.htm defines the content for ModeFrame. ModeFrame displays the current cursor mode, which is defined by current tool. When a different tool is selected, the mode changes and ModeFrame.htm is reloaded.

 TextFrame: Text.htm is a placeholder for content of Text frame. The content for TextFrame is dynamically written based on the tool chosen. It displays forms and information returned from the ArcIMS Spatial Server.  PostFrame: JsForm.htm defines the content for PostFrame. PostFrame is hidden frame that contains the hidden form named Post Form. This form sends the ArcIMS requests to the ArcIMS Servlet Connector.  BottonFrame: bottome.htm defines the content for BottomFrame. BottomFrame is positioned next to the ModeFrame to visually complete the graphic along the bottom of the viewer.