Customizing the Graphical User Interface-Interpolation of a Point Theme

Introducing Avenue

Arc view GIS meets a wide variety of GIS needs. But you might still need to customize it. And you can, with Arc view’s programming language Avenue. You can use Avenue software to customize the standard graphic user interface (GUI) that comes with Arc view. For instance, you can reorganize the controls (menus, button, tools, and pop-ups), change text or icons and add or remove choices. With Avenue you can also create new function for a specific application. For example, you can combine a series of steps you frequently perform and execute them with a single click of a button. You can even use Avenue to develop a complete application that has its own GUI.

Avenue gives you an easy-to-use framework for customizing controls and creating new functions. You use the customize dialog box to modify controls and the Script Editor to write Avenue programs, called scripts. Your scripts contain the code that executes a new function. By using controls and scripts together, you build a new Arc View GUI.

How Avenue and Arc View GIS work together?

Avenue is an object-oriented programming language. An object is an element, such as a view, them, button, or symbol, that you work with in Arc View. Objects with common characteristics belong to the same class. Each object is associated with a set of actions or requests. For example, request for a layout object include opening, closing and printing. A marker symbol object has a different set of requests, such as setting marker size and color. If you can identify object and their associated request, you can write Avenue scripts.

Avenue and Arc View use the same interface; in fact, all menus, buttons, tools, and pop-ups (collectively called “ control”) in the Arc View interface run Avenue scripts. When you add a new view, you’re actually running the Avenue script “View. Add” To change the way a control works; you modify the script it runs.

You create an Avenue scripts by opening a script document window in Arc View, then using the scripts Editor to write, compile, run, and debug it. In this assignment, you will see how Avenue might be used to customize the Arc View interface for a specific application. You won’t be able to perform steps yourself, due to the script Editor is not available in the sample version of Arc View that accompanies this book; however, the finished project is provided so you can run the application.

We create an Arc View project containing a number of different views, one for kriging, one for tread, and so forth. We use the standard Arc View interface to create the project components, so we have full processing capabilities. Hiding the table of Contents in each view so that it can’t be changed. So in this cause we decide to have only four buttons on the new View interface: One..

We’d like to create a simple Avenue script that finds a view, and then makes it active, bring it of front of the screen. From the Arc View Project window, we open a new Script window and types in the script.

Understanding Avenue Syntax: Scripts contain action lines (perform and action) and comment lines (explain what the scripts is doing). The format of an action line is: Object. Request. Comment lines begin with an apostrophe. We use Scripts Properties from the script menu to name the script and enter a comment describing what it doses.

After wrote script compiles each script using the Compile button on the Script button bar. Then runs each script using the Run button to the make sure it works. We verify that each view displays at the front of the screen. When we run the “HelpBox” script, a help message box displays.

How we remove all the existing controls and add the button that we like and also can link them to the script that we written?

1. Uses the Customize dialog box, which we have to accesses by double-clicking on any blank portion of the scripts button or tool bar.
2. In the type field lists the part of the Arc View interface you can customize (View, tables, Charts, Layouts, Scripts, Projects). The Category field lists the kind of controls you can customize (menu, buttons, tools, pop-ups). We want to customize the View menu bar. By pressing the delete button repeatedly, and then remove all of the View menus.
3. And also change the Category to Buttons and deletes all the buttons, then changes the Category to tools and delete all the tools. The View interface is now completely blank.
4. With the “Buttons” category selected, we press New to add a new button to the Button bar. By default, no icon appears on the button.
5. Set the button’s Click property. This property names the script to execute when the user click the button. Double-clicking on the “Click” property field displays the script Manager, a dialog box that lists all scripts available in the project. (Select the Name that we done)
6. Double-click on the “Help” field to define help message the user sees in the status bar when placing the cursor over the button.
7. The button need an icon, so we have double-clicks on the “Icon” filed to display the Icon Manager, and then choose the read diamond icon for this button, click the OK button on the Icon Manager dialog box, the icon displays in the dialog box.
8. Create the other buttons, assigning a script, and so on. By dragging the button, we can change their order.
9. To separate each of Icon by using the Separate button to put some space between the buttons.
10. For menus, create text labels to describe each button. With “Menus” selected in the Category list, then choose New Menu and double-click on the “LableProperty” field. Here she specifies the menu text that will appear in the Menu bar above each button.
11. The view interface is now complete, but there’s one more thing to do. With the Project window active, chooses Properties from the Project menu. Specify “ Points of Interest’ as the startup script (the script that executes when you start up the project), then clicks OK. When the project opens, it will automatically display the Points of interest view.

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