customNet

How to use ET Surface functionality in .NET

All the functions of ET Surface 7 can be used in custom applications developed in .NET. The syntax of each ET Surface function is described in the main topic of the function ==> .NET implementation.

There are two ways to execute the functionality of ET Surface in .NET

A. As a separate process - The advantages are:

Your application can be 32 Or 64-bit.
You don't need to copy additional files in the folder of your application

Example:

Prerequisites

ET Surface 7 installed on the computer and registered.
Microsoft Visual Studio

Start Visual Studio
Go to File ==> New ==> Project
- Select Project Type (for the purpose of this example - Windows Forms Application)
Create a button on your form
Double click on the button to start editing the code
Paste the code below

Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
     'Set the path to ETSRun.exe
     Dim ETRunPath As String = "C:\Program Files\ETSpatialTechniques\ETSurface\ETSRun.exe"
     'We are going to use the Create TIN function for the example
     Dim sFunction As String = "CreateTin"
     'Set the input dataset with the full path to the shapefile. Note that the Argument separator is space. If a string might contain a space, you need to double quote it.
     Dim sInDataset As String = Chr(34) & "C:\testData\points.shp" & Chr(34)
     'Set the full name of the output
     Dim sOutTin As String = Chr(34) & "C:\testData\PointTin" & Chr(34)
     'Set the name of the field to be used for elevation values.
     Dim sFieldName As String = Chr(34) & "Elevation" & Chr(34)
     'Set the triangulation type.
     Dim sTriangulation As String = Chr(34) & "Point" & Chr(34)
     'Execute the CreateTin function
     Dim sArgumentList As String = sFunction & " " & sInDataset & " " & sOutTin & " " & sFieldName & " " & sTriangulation
     Dim wProc As Diagnostics.Process = New Diagnostics.Process
     Dim procParam As String = sArgumentList
     wProc.StartInfo.FileName = ETRunPath
     wProc.StartInfo.Arguments = procParam
     wProc.Start()
     Dim wProcID As Integer = wProc.Id
     wProc.WaitForExit()
     Dim iResult As Integer
     If wProc.HasExited Then
         'Check the result - iResult = 0 - Success, any other returned value indicate that the function failed.
         iResult = wProc.ExitCode
     If iResult = 0 Then
         MsgBox("Function completed successfully!!!")
     Else
         MsgBox("Problems encountered during the execution!!! See the log file for details.")
          End If
     End If
End Sub

B. Using directly the Core ET Surface DLL

Advantages:
- Seamless integration.
- You we'll be able to use some utility functions provided in the core ET Surface DLL
Disadvantages
- Your application must be 64-bit
- You have to copy several files in the folder from which your application will run

Example:

Prerequisites

ET Surface 7 installed on the computer and registered.
Microsoft Visual Studio

Start Visual Studio
Go to File ==> New ==> Project
- Select Project Type (for the purpose of this example - Windows Forms Application)
Go to Project ==> Properties ==> References:
- Add reference ==> Browse ==> navigate to the installation folder of ET Surface 7 and select ETSOutX.dll. Make sure that "Copy Local" is set to true in the reference properties.
Make sure that your application is 64-Bit
- Go to Project ==> Properties ==> Compile ==> Target CPU = x64
Save the Assembly and Build it.
Copy from the ET Surface 70 installation folder to the folder where your application is the following files
- the entire GDAL sub-folder
- gdalconst_csharp.dll, gdalconst_wrap.dll, gdal_wrap.dll, ogr_wrap.dll, osr_wrap.dll
Create a button on your form
Double click on the button to start editing the code
Paste the code below

Private Sub Button1_Click(sender As Object, e As EventArgs) Handles Button1.Click
     'Get reference to ETSOutRun
     Dim ETSOut As ETSOutX.ETSOutRun = New ETSOutX.ETSOutRun(True)
     'We are going to use the Create TIN function for the example
     'Set the input dataset with the full path to the shapefile
     Dim sInDataset As String = "C:\testData\Points.shp"
     'Set the full name of the output
     Dim sOutTin As String = "C:\testData\PointTin"
     'Set the name of the field to be used for elevation values.
     Dim sFieldName As String = "Elevation"
     'Set the triangulation type.
     Dim sTriangulation As String = "Point"
     'Execute the CreateTIN function
     Dim iResult As Integer = ETSOut.CreateTin(sInDataset, sOutTin, sFieldName, sTriangulation)
     'Check the result - iResult = 0 - Success, any other returned value indicate that the function failed.
     If iResult = 0 Then
          MsgBox("Function completed successfully!!!")
     Else
          MsgBox("Problems encountered during the execution!!! See the log file for details.")
     End If
End Sub