DotSpatial Documentation

 

DotSpatial Tutorials
Visit the DotSpatial Tutorials page for tutorials and sample code

Developer Getting Started Guide
The guide below will help get you started with the basics of dragging and dropping controls as well as controlling symbology.  Any references to MapWindow should be replaced with DotSpatial.  The libraries have been recently refactored into the modular layout shown to the right, so it will take time to update our documentation to cover all the new modules.  Areas for which some documentation is available or under development appear in color.  Areas which are not yet documented are gray.


Developer's Corner

DotSpatial Design Principles
DotSpatial StyleCop Status
DotSpatial FXCop Status

DotSpatial SDK-style documentation online

Download documentation as chm

(You can't download .chm files from a web browser and simply click Open.  You will see "Navigation to the webpage was canceled" when you try and view the file.

  • Copy the help file to your hard drive and open it from there. Trying to view a help file from a network share can cause the content to be blocked.
  • If a security dialog appears asking if you want to open the file, uncheck the "Always ask before opening this file" checkbox.
  • If the file is still blocked, open Windows Explorer, right-click the CHM file, select Properties, and then click the Unblock option.
  • Apply the file property changes and open the help file again.

The design architecture of DotSpatial follows two paradigms.  The first is to separate the graphical user interfaces from the business logic.  The second is to use a larger number of modules to increase code reusability, and allow access to parts of the framework without requiring the entire thing.  However, great energy is being spent to ensure the libraries work as well together as if they were all part of the same framework.

Library Specific Documentation
DotSpatial.Projections
DotSpatial.Topology
DotSpatial.Data
DotSpatial.Analysis
DotSpatial.Positioning
Tools Analysis    
Shape Editor App Controls    
  Modeling Forms Modeling  
  Symbology Forms Symbology  
  Data Forms Data GDAL Extension
  Projections Forms Projections Topology
  Positioning Forms Positioning Serialization

Last edited Feb 8, 2011 at 9:27 PM by jirikadlec2, version 64

Comments

Joska Sep 17, 2012 at 1:34 AM 
How to Setup the Tool Manager
http://screencast.com/t/GFIbtZ3iB

i did this and some searching on the forum and the tools didnt appear.... is it cause im using 2010 express?

Joska Sep 5, 2012 at 6:53 PM 
In my opinion the programm deserves a more up to date step by step to set the most used items up.... so man things arent as obvious as you may expect.... when in fact they are...

I for now am very busy to understand why I couldnt install the toolbox... its a lot of work to understand every next step... some things are obsolete, most examples out of date or written in csharp or many easy assumptions are made in examples.....

matspca May 13, 2012 at 4:53 PM 
I am going to attempt to make the data model persistent using VelocityDB. Any suggestions for how to start this task and how to stay up to date with new versions of dotspatial? Essentially XML serializtion would no longer be needed. VelocityDB persistence is way more efficient and can happen while working on a project automaticly. I am brand new to this but I have clients who wants this functionality with persitence in VelocityDB. Any suggestions are welcome. Send to Mats@VelocityDB.com

mudnug Apr 30, 2012 at 9:24 PM 
Note that the first video is very much out of date, but there are some newer tutorials at http://dotspatial.codeplex.com/wikipage?title=DotSpatial%20Tutorials&referringTitle=Documentation

DruidGetitfixed Apr 16, 2012 at 11:00 PM 
Please, please, please add some more videos. Preferably with a step or two beyond where these get to and with a little more explanation of why things are done the way they are. These are so useful in understanding the relationships between the various elements of the DotSpatial framework and the intentions of the designers of how they are meant to be used.

mudnug Feb 4, 2011 at 4:06 PM 
Here are a few videos to help you get started with the Dec 15, 2010 release.

Creating a new project and getting the visual components and references wired up in Visual C# 2010 Express (except Tool Manager).
http://screencast.com/t/htiyqvLh

How to add DotSpatial controls to Toolbox
http://screencast.com/t/tuEfbInl

How to Setup the Tool Manager
http://screencast.com/t/GFIbtZ3iB