FindPlaceTask control

The FindPlaceTask control is designed to use ArcWeb Services that provide place-name searchable layers. The control interface includes a simple textbox to enter a place name. The results (matched places) are provided as an ADO.NET DataSet to be displayed in a TaskResults control and on a map. You must provide an ArcWeb Services account to use with the FindPlaceTask control. Either a Commercial Services or Public Services account may be used with the FindPlaceTask control. For information on obtaining an ArcWeb Services account, please visit the ArcWeb Services page at the ESRI Web site.

Assembly: ESRI.ArcGIS.ADF.Tasks.dll
Class: ESRI.ArcGIS.ADF.Tasks.FindPlaceTask

Using the FindPlaceTask control

Add supporting controls to the page

In order to take full advantage of the FindPlaceTask control, a number of supporting controls must be available. Set up a Web application with MapResourceManager and Map controls using their discussion topics as a guide. Add a TaskResults control using that control's discussion topic as a guide. At runtime, the TaskResults control displays the results of the FindPlaceTask. Through the TaskReslts control, returned places are displayed as interactive client-side graphics with map tips (by default). Users can then interact with the results to change map extent, display selected features, or re-execute the task. TaskResults also displays a message to the user while the task executes.

To hide the find place panel at website startup, set the FindPlaceTask.Visible property to false. To allow the user to call up the form from a link on the page, add a Menu control from the standard ASP.NET Navigation tools, and then add a TaskManager from the ArcGIS Web Controls toolbox group. Set the BuddyControl property of the TaskManager to the Menu control you added. If you want to display the find place panel immediately upon application startup, make sure the FindPlaceTask.Visible property is set to true. Note, a TaskManager and ASP.NET Navigation control are not required to use the FindPlaceTask, they are merely designed to assist when using the task at runtime.
Add a FindPlaceTask control

In Visual Studio, display the prepared Web form in design mode, select the Toolbox, and expand the ArcGIS Web Controls tab. Drag and drop a FindPlaceTask control into the TaskManager control, or if you did not add a TaskManager control, just drag the FindAddressTask onto the page. Your page might resemble the following layout, which was arranged using a table:
Set properties for the FindPlaceTask control

In design mode, click the FindPlaceTask control, which displays the smart tag arrow in the upper right of the control. Click on this arrow to display the smart tag menu. This menu displays common properties that you can set, though others are available in the Properties window for the control.

a. Task results container

Click the first item in the smart tag menu to choose the Task Results container, or click the TaskResultsContainers property button in the Properties window. This brings up the BuddyControl collection editor. Click Add to add an item to the collection. With the TaskResults1 item selected, in the right side of the dialog, click the drop-down list and select the TaskResults control you added earlier. This is where the FindPlaceTask displays results that are found when the user executes a query.

b. Set the task, ArcWeb source, and results properties

Click the second item in the smart tag menu, "Configure Task". One dialog with three tabs will be displayed.
- The General tab will enable you to set the GeocodeResourceManager and GeocodeResource you want to use with the FindAddressTask. You can also set the runtime name of the task (as it appears in the ASP.NET Navigation control), the text of the button in the task to initiate the execute the task, and a help tip to provide end users with some assistance at runtime when the mouse cursor hovers over the FindAddressTask panel (e.g. provide address examples to illustrate input format).
- The Settings tag enables you to specify the ArcWeb Services account and service to use and the types of places to search for.
  1. In the User Name and Password text boxes, enter a valid ArcWeb Services account. Visit the ArcWeb Services page for information on obtaining an ArcWeb account.
  2. After entering account information, click the drop-down list for Service and choose an ArcWeb service to find places. See the ArcWeb Services Place Finder Web Service page for details on each service.
  3. Once you choose a service, the columns for Available Places and Search These Places are populated. Use the arrow buttons between the columns to enable/disable searching on types of places.
  4. Select whether to find places starting with, or exactly matching, the user's input string.
  5. Click OK to set the options and dismiss the dialog.
- The Results tab enables you to set the render properties of places (points) returned from executing the FindPlaceTask. A TaskResults control is required and must be configured as a task results container for the FindPlaceTask (see additional property setting discussion below). The TaskResults control must be buddied with a Map control to view the FindPlaceTask results in the Map. The Results tab contains two buttons to set the default renderer and highlight renderer of places returned from a query (the results). At runtime, place will be displayed in a map as a graphic feature using the renderers defined in this dialog. When hovering over a result in the TaskResults control or a place graphic feature in the map, the respective highlight renderer will be displayed. The "Show MapTips" check box will enable MapTips on each graphic feature and display the fields returned for each place.
  
  Optionally, you can set some of these properties via the properties dialog in Visual Studio.
Setting the position of input form

By default, the FindPlaceTask form appears in a floating window, which the user may drag to a new position within the Web page. The opening position does not necessarily correspond to its position on the Web page design form. If preferred, the query window may be fixed at a specific position.

To fix the position of the query form at a specific location, set the position style of the FindPlaceTask or a containing control or DIV. To set the style, switch the Web page from Design view to HTML view in Visual Studio. Find the FindPlaceTask in the page listing. Insert a style attribute within the control tag, and set its position properties to specific values. Use "position:absolute" to set the query form at an exact position on the page. Use "position:relative" to fix the position relative to its placement to other controls. In the following example, relative placement is used to ensure the query window is placed within a table cell:
```
<td>
  <esriTasks:FindPlaceTask style="position:relative;top:5px;left:0px;" 
    ID="FindPlaceTask1" runat="server" ...>
  </esriTasks:FindPlaceTask >
<td>
```
When fixing the position of the query window, you may want to set the CloseButton, Draggable, ExpandCollapseButton, HeightResizable and WidthResizable properties to false to disallow modifying the find place dialog form. Setting Draggable to false disallows moving the find place dialog.

Optionally, in design view you can right click on the task control and set the position property. The design time location of the task control will not change. At runtime, the task panel used to provide input and execute the task will be displayed in the position defined for the task at design time.
Other properties for FindPlaceTask

Some of the properties you may wish to modify for your application include:
- Title : displayed at the top of the query form to the user. You should change this from the default, which is the ID of the control. Choose a title that describes what the query does. An example would be, "Find world place".
- LabelText: Text prompt displayed immediately before the user input text box. Default is "Find place".
- ButtonText: Text for the button the user clicks to execute the query
- MaxRecords: Maximum number of features found by the query. Default is 50.
- FeatureSelectionColor: After query results display, and the user checks the box next to a feature, the feature is highlighted with this color on the map.
- ShowDetailsInTable: Whether to display feature attributes in the query results for each feature
Using the FindPlaceTask at runtime

Using the FindPlaceTask is similar to using the SearchAttributesTask. An example of the query form the user might see would be:

The user enters a value, then clicks Find. The results are displayed in the TaskResults control output. See TaskResults for a discussion and examples of using the results from a query.

Members

Properties

The following table provides a list of properties of interest. For complete reference information, see the FindPlaceTask control in the library reference section.

Property Name Type Description

ButtonText string The text which appears on the button to executes the task.

DefaultValue string An optional value which appears in the input box by default.

FeatureSelectionColor Color The Color of selected features.

FindPlaceProperties FindPlaceProperties Displays the Find Place properties dialog for configuring the task.

InputWidth Unit Input field width.

LabelText string The text for the label which appears beside the input box.

MaxRecords int An integer specifying the maximum number of records that the task will return.

GroupResultsByTable bool Whether the results of this task will have the results grouped by layers.

NavigationPath string The path to the task as it would appear in a hierarchical data control buddied to the task's TaskManager.

ShowFieldAttributes bool Whether the results of this task will have the field attributes.

ShowLegend bool Whether the results of this task will have a legend. Legend is only available if GroupResultsByTable is true.

TaskResultsContainers BuddyControl Collection The controls in which results from this task are displayed.

ToolTip string The tooltip displayed when the mouse is over the control.

Property Name	Type	Description
ButtonText	string	The text which appears on the button to executes the task.
DefaultValue	string	An optional value which appears in the input box by default.
FeatureSelectionColor	Color	The Color of selected features.
FindPlaceProperties	FindPlaceProperties	Displays the Find Place properties dialog for configuring the task.
InputWidth	Unit	Input field width.
LabelText	string	The text for the label which appears beside the input box.
MaxRecords	int	An integer specifying the maximum number of records that the task will return.
GroupResultsByTable	bool	Whether the results of this task will have the results grouped by layers.
NavigationPath	string	The path to the task as it would appear in a hierarchical data control buddied to the task's TaskManager.
ShowFieldAttributes	bool	Whether the results of this task will have the field attributes.
ShowLegend	bool	Whether the results of this task will have a legend. Legend is only available if GroupResultsByTable is true.
TaskResultsContainers	BuddyControl Collection	The controls in which results from this task are displayed.
ToolTip	string	The tooltip displayed when the mouse is over the control.