EZClick Tools Extension for ArcView 3.x

Getting Started

• Save the ezclick-3_2.avx file into your X:\esri\av_gis30\arcview\ext32 folder (where X is the drive letter where you installed ArcView).
  
  
• Start ArcView and open an existing project (you can also start with a blank project).
  
  
• From the File menu click on Extensions... then use the scroll bar to locate EZClick Tools v3.2.  Place a check mark in the box next to EZClick Tools v3.2 and then click OK.
  
  
• One new menu, seven new buttons, and one new tool will be added to your ArcView interface.

Shockwave Flash Demos of EZClick Tools in action are now available.

• From the EZ-Click menu, choose Create or Append an EZClick Index Theme.

• Navigate to the data you wish to index. Select one or more "feature data sources" or "image data sources" from within the folder you would like to have indexed.  Hold down the SHIFT key to select multiple files.  EZClick Tools currently supports shapefiles (SHP), Arc/Info Coverages, Microstation (DGN) files, AutoCad 14 or earlier (DWG) files, and georeferenced images (TIF, IMG, JPG, SID, IMG, LAN, GIS, RLC, RAS, ECW, etc.) and Arc/Info GRIDs.

• Choose an indexing option.  Then click OK.

• If you selected a folder, EZClick will display a list of all the folders found within the folder you selected.  Use the scroll bar to review the folder list.  You may also resize the dialog box to view more folders at once.  If you would like EZClick to ignore certain folders when it builds your index, select those folders with the mouse.  Folders you select are highlighted in black.  Click OK when ready.

• Use the scroll bar to review the file list.  You may also resize the dialog box to view more files at once.  Again, use the mouse to select which files you would like EZClick to ignore when it builds the index.  Click OK when ready.

• At this point, you can choose to index data based on the number of characters in the filename.  This option is useful if there are several different categories of data in a set of folders, and these categories are distinguishable from each other based on the number of characters in the filename or data source.

• In addition, you can choose to index data based on a search pattern.  Data is selected for indexing if the combination of characters that you enter appear in the filename. 

• Once again you may use the scroll bar to review the file list.  You have one more opportunity to select which files you would like EZClick to ignore when it builds the index.  Click OK when ready.

• EZClick will display the file list from which it will build the EZClick Index shapefile.  Click OK to continue.

• Give your data a category description.  All the data in this batch will share this data description.  This is how you will identify your data within the list of data categories when you use the EZClick Tool later on.

• If you have an EZClick Index that was created previously, you may append the current index records to it by clicking the Yes button.  To create a new EZClick Index, click the No button.

• Navigate to the folder where you would like to save your new index, give it a name, and then click the OK button.

• As long as you are indexing images or grids, you have the additional option of creating an image catalog.

• Navigate to the folder where you would like to save your new image catalog, give it a name, and then click the OK button.  Make sure you don't give your image catalog the same name as your EZClick Index shapefile!

EZClick will now index the list of images, drawings, coverages or grids.  The status bar at the bottom of the ArcView window shows the indexing progress and which data source is currently being indexed.  The EZClick Index Theme is added to the view when indexing is completed.

Each rectangle shape within the index theme represents the graphical extent of its corresponding data source.  Use the Identify Tool to get the attribute data of one or more rectangles.

With the example I used above, it took this particular computer (an 800MHz with 128MB of RAM) just under 2 minutes to index 2,828 orthophotos.  Click here to see a screenshot of Hamilton County, Tennessee GIS data before indexing.

Click here to see a screenshot of the EZ_Data_Index.shp theme after indexing.  The "Ortho 1ft 2001 JPGs" are one category of GIS data.  ArcView users in the Hamilton County GIS Department and the Engineering Department presently use a single EZClick Index comprised of 19 separate data categories, totaling over 14,500 records.  Each user has point-and-click access to over 14,500 separate data files.  These include 2-foot, 5-foot and 10-foot topo maps, 1997, 2000 and 2001 orthophotos (each in several different image formats), parcel maps, collared and uncollared tax maps, shaded relief elevation GRIDs, digital elevation models, and legacy Arc/Info library coverages.

Now that you have created the beginnings of an EZClick index, run Create or Append an EZClick Index Theme again. Locate some more data to index. This time, choose to append your current index to an existing one (the one you just created).  Repeat the Create or Append an EZClick Index Theme procedure until you are satisfied with your index.  Remember, each time you go through this process, you are adding a new category of GIS data to an EZClick Index.

Once you have successfully built your index, use the EZClick Tool to interactively add the data to the view.  All you have to do is click or draw a box on the view.  A dialog box shows you all the categories of GIS data you have at that location.  Pick the category of data you would like displayed, and EZClick loads them up automatically into your view!

Switching to another index is easy. Just load the new index into your view, highlight it (make the theme active), and click the EZClick Tool once. A dialog box shows you that the new index theme you specified is now being used by the EZClick Tool. All the GIS data pointed to by this new index is now available. Build as many indexes as you like. For the fastest way to get mouse-click access to all your data, keep all your indexes together in one index shapefile. These index themes have been thoroughly tested, and each one can hold more than 30,000 records!
 

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