Common Questions

Yes. ESRI has the ArcGIS Engine Resource Center, which provides you with access to online software developer kits, code galleries, sample code, and content that you can include in your applications.

Other free resources include

• ESRI Instructional Series Podcasts and Speaker Series Podcasts
• ArcGIS Engine Development Blog

Yes, the ArcGIS Engine Developer Kit provides all the necessary components to build applications that allow you to edit a geodatabase. To run the application, you will need ArcGIS Engine Runtime with the Geodatabase Update extension license or ArcEditor.

No. Custom applications built with the ArcGIS Engine Developer Kit are not dependent on ArcView, ArcEditor, or ArcInfo. Custom ArcGIS Engine applications only need ArcGIS Engine Runtime.

ArcGIS Engine supports and integrates with Visual Studio 2005 and 2008. The ArcGIS Engine Software Developer Kit (SDK) for .NET includes a number of commands, wizards, and templates that can help you create projects and classes to develop ArcGIS Engine applications more efficiently. As a Java developer, you can use any IDE to build applications based on ArcGIS Engine—Java; however, Eclipse 3.2 or 3.3 is recommended. The ArcGIS Engine—Java SDK provides Eclipse plug-ins, which offer an enhanced developer experience through templates, code snippets, and project wizards.

No. ESRI will not deliver or install the Visual Basic 6.0 SDK and ArcGIS Engine Runtime with any of the ArcGIS 9.4 products. ESRI strongly encourages you to start moving your Visual Basic 6.0 applications to C#, Visual Basic .NET, or Visual C++.

No. The use of any ArcGIS components within a .NET Windows service is not currently supported under any ESRI product or developer license. However, ArcGIS Server provides both a framework and a licensing model to use ArcGIS components within a SOAP or REST Web service. The ArcGIS Server model can provide the desired GIS functionality to a small, focused group or a large audience. ArcGIS Server application Web services can be created with either Java or .NET and deployed on a large number of platforms.

Yes. The ArcGIS Engine Developer Kit is a single use license product, and a license must be dedicated for each computer that has access to the software. With the ArcGIS Engine Developer Kit, you can develop an unlimited number of applications on a single computer.

Yes. ArcGIS Engine Runtime is a single use license, and each machine running a custom application developed with the ArcGIS Engine Developer Kit requires an ArcGIS Engine Runtime license or an ArcGIS Desktop license. The ArcGIS Engine Runtime license does not permit ArcGIS Engine Runtime to be used for development purposes or to be deployed on a server machine.

No, custom ArcGIS Engine applications can be deployed to existing ArcGIS Desktop users without your having to purchase an ArcGIS Engine Runtime license.