Configuring tasks and capabilities

ArcGIS for Windows Mobile provides a set of built-in tasks you can configure for your field workers' workflow. You can also extend these tasks or develop new ones using ArcGIS Runtime SDK for Windows Mobile.

You can also develop extensions, also known as capabilities, with the SDK and add them to your project.

You can configure built-in tasks, custom tasks, and capabilities in Mobile Project Center (MPC). They deploy automatically with the project. For details on developing custom functionality and adding it to your project, see the SDK help.

Note:

In ArcGIS for Windows Mobile 10.0 and earlier, field crew tracking and field crew logging were included as part of the tasks and capabilities. In the current release, these two components are implemented as configurations for an operational map layer, which minimizes restrictions on the layers' schema. For more information, see Configuring map layer properties and Configuring logging and field crew layers.

Tasks described

By default, every mobile project includes a set of built-in tasks that you can configure, reorder, and remove from your project. Each task performs the same functionality in Windows as it does on Windows Mobile devices. Tasks include:

• View Map—Displays the map of the study area
• Collect Features (using Windows Mobile device) and Collecting Features (using Windows device)—Collects point, line, and polygon features and their attributes using a Windows Mobile and a Windows device
• Search—Searches for features using predefined or on-the-fly queries
• View Work List—Shows the features added to the work list by field crew for inspection
• Manage Edits—Lists the features added, modified, or deleted during the field work session, and provides additional abilities such as canceling edits
• Synchronize—Synchronizes edits to operational data between office and field. This function is only available if your operational data consists of services
• Route task (only available in a Windows device)—Routes to multiple stops in a disconnected manner

Configuring tasks and capabilities

You can use MPC to configure tasks in a project. To access the list of tasks, follow the steps below:

1. Create or open a project in MPC.
2. Click the Tasks button at the bottom of the main screen.
3. The Tasks pane opens on the left hand side and list the tasks included in the project.

You can configure both built-in and custom tasks and capabilities using the Tasks and Capabilities tabs in MPC. For custom tasks/capabilities, configurable properties depend on how you implement the task/capability. For built-in tasks, you can configure the following properties:

• Name
• Description
• Order in the tasks list
• Task-specific properties. For example, if you build queries using the Search task when authoring a project, your field crew can run the query immediately when they use the project.

Configuring Route task

Unlike other built-in tasks, MPC does not add a route task to a project by default. To add it, click Add on the Tasks pane, then click Route. MPC adds the route task to your project, and you can edit its name and description properties.

The Route task needs a streetmap dataset to run in the field (the same type of data used as basemaps). After project creation, deploy the dataset to use on the field devices. Read Deploying a streetmap dataset for routing to learn more.

Tip:

Although the streetmap dataset consumed by the Route task is the same type of data as the one used as basemaps, to use the Route task alone, you do not need to add the streetmap dataset as a basemap, and vice versa. If you prefer, you can even specify separate streetmap datasets for routing and for basemaps.

Including custom tasks and capabilities in mobile projects

A custom task or capability comes as two or three components, each being a separate .dll file. You need to develop a component for MPC so that you can include the task/capability in a mobile project and configure the task/capability in MPC. You must build and deploy a separate .dll file for each platform on which the field application runs. That is, if you deploy your task/capability to both field applications (the application for Windows Mobile devices and the application for Windows devices and laptops), you must build two separate .dll files. Since a separate .dll is required for each platform, program the task/capability to deliver different functions.

Deploying custom tasks and capabilities

After you develop the custom task or capability assemblies, store them in specific locations on your computer (see Deploying and updating custom tasks/extensions for details) so that when you start MPC, the task or capability appears on the Tasks or Capabilities tab (respectively). You can then add the task or capability to your project.

When you save a project that includes a custom task/extension, MPC automatically includes a copy of the corresponding assembly with your project data and packages them together. When you share or deploy the project, the custom task or capability is deployed as well automatically.

Using tasks and capabilities in field applications

Default tasks work similarly in functionality across both field application platforms even though the user interface is different. Custom tasks and capabilities, however, can work differently across platforms.

Built-in and custom tasks that you add to your project appear the same way in the task list of both field applications. Custom capabilities, on the other hand, may not have a user interface component but performs certain actions or extend existing functions in other tasks. For example, the custom-built Map Snapshot capability only has a menu item for your field crew to capture the map content to an image file. See Map Snapshot Extension for more information.

Tip:

To view all default and custom tasks and capabilities available within a project on a field device, check the Project information page in the field applications.