Overview - In this three-day course students will be introduced to ArcGIS and it's customization environment. Participants learn to use VBA development tools including VB editor, customize dialog box, and online help resources. The user interface and Customize dialog is discussed, and students will be introduced to MS component object model (COM), in addition to fundamental programming concepts, conventions and techniques for Visual Basic. ArcGIS Desktop software programs (ArcView 8, ArcEditor 8, and ArcInfo 8) share the same architecture, and the knowledge gained in this course applies to all three. Class time is mostly spent doing hands-on programming exercises, where students write code that exposes them to many typical GIS programming tasks as well as to the most commonly used ArcObjects classes. Students will make use of the ArcObjects Developer Help and Object Model Diagrams to perform programming tasks.

Audience - Whether you are an experienced ArcInfo user or new to GIS, this class is designed to provide the knowledge and understanding necessary to implement ArcGIS within your organization.  This course is for those who work with ArcMap and ArcCatalog on a technical level (analysts, programmers, and project managers) but may be new to programming with VBA. It is ideal for users who want to increase productivity by extending ArcGIS applications and explore development options available to create custom applications using VBA.

Goals -
• Customizing the ArcMap User Interface
• Overview of the ArcGIS Customization Framework
• VBA overview
• Overview of the VBA Integrated Design Evironment
• Navigate the ArcObjects OMD
• Program with ArcMap objects

Topics Covered -
• Object Model overview; Object Model diagrams
• Customizing the ArcMap user interface; Toolbars, custom commands
• ArcGIS customization framework; defining an object and it's properties and methods, relationships, object events
• VBA overview and coding; modification of the Template Project, debug, IDE options, forms, variables, looping, arrays, functions, subroutines, events, error handling, file I/O
• Navigating ArcObjects; Object Model Diagrams
• Using ArcObjects; spatial overlay query, distribute code, create dll and add to ArcMap

Prerequisites and Recommendations - Registrants should have taken Introduction to ArcGIS I (for ArcView, ArcEditor, and ArcInfo), or have equivalent knowledge.  Attendees should be familiar with ArcMap and ArcCatalog.

It is NOT required that registrants have experience with VB/VBA before taking this course. Students who have dabbled with ArcView's Avenue, or ArcInfo's AML are ideal candidates for this course. Registrants for this course should already have a working knowledge of ArcMap, and previous AML or Avenue experience would be a plus, but not a requirement.

It should be noted that prior programming is NOT a requirement, as this is an introductory course for the new development environment of ArcGIS.  It is meant to allow ArcGIS users to experience the new development environment with real hands on exercises and not feel intimidated because they are not programmers.