ArcObjects Library Reference (Editor)

IEditLayers Interface

Available with ArcGIS Desktop.

The IEditLayers interface exposes members for setting and getting the editor's current layer and current subtype. The current layer (or target layer) determines which layer will contain newly created features. For instance, if you set the target layer to 'Buildings', any new features created will be part of the Buildings layer. Edit tasks and commands that create new features use this property to determine which layer to write out the new features to. For example, the 'Create New Features' task and the 'Union' command both create new features in the target layer.

[C#]

 private void SetCurrentLayer(String layerName,int  subType)
{
    //get editor extension
    UID editorUID = new UIDClass();
    editorUID.Value = "esriEditor.Editor";

    IEditor editor = m_application.FindExtensionByCLSID(editorUID) as IEditor;
    bool isLayerFound = false;
    IEditLayers editLayers =editor as IEditLayers;
    IMap map = editor.Map;
    if (map != null)
    {
        //Loop through all of the maps layers to find the desired one
        for (int count = 0; count < map.LayerCount; count++)
        {
            ILayer currentLayer = map.get_Layer(count);
            if (currentLayer.Name == layerName)
            {
                isLayerFound = true;
                //Make sure the layer is editable
                if (editLayers.IsEditable(currentLayer as IFeatureLayer))
                {
                    editLayers.SetCurrentLayer(currentLayer as IFeatureLayer, subType);
                    return;
                }
                else
                {
                    System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show("This layer is not editable");
                }
            }
        }
        if (isLayerFound == false)
        {
            System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show("Layer " + layerName + " could not be found");
        }
    }
    else
    {
        System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show("Please start editing session");
    }
}