Looking to use MapPoint from VB

k...I had mappoint installed on one of my laptops and they list out all the VB methods in the help option of the Mappoint application.  I don't have any development software installed on that laptop so I can't toy with it unless I install it on my development machine.  Maybe I'll do that.  Still, check out all the avialable methods and properties that you have from VB.  It seems like you can pretty much automate the creation of maps without much trouble at all.  Mind you, GIS isn't my specialty, but it looks like there is enough methods exposed for you to solve your problem.

An easy way to do this is to automate both Distiller and Mappoint from VB.  Then I think you can just copy a selection (map) from Mappoint and paste it into Distiller before you use Distiller to generate the PDF file.  The alternitive is to figure out how to grab an image directly from the Mappoint API and insert it directly into Distiller (not using the clipboard).  Or a further alternitive is to use a temporary file to store the image between Mappoint and Distiller.  It all depends on what methods are visible through the Mappoint and Distiller API's.

By the way, Word and Excel are actually pretty easy to automate.  The only problem with all these Microsoft products is that they give you too much flexability and thus it is tough to learn all the avaliable methods and properties.  You gotta learn a mess of stuff just to do something simple.  Still, thats better then not having enough versitility.  I haven't looked into the Distiller API yet, but I bet if you do have any trouble it will be because Distiller has some limitations on its API.  For instance, Adobe Photoshop has some clear limitations on its API that make it a pain to try to do some fancy stuff with.  So, if you have trouble I bet it will be with Distiller and not Mappoint.  But again, I haven't toyed around with either yet (at least progammaticlly).

Doh!!!  Who would have thought to look in help.  Anyway, it does look like it doesn't support output to an image or PS/PDF.  Perhaps via the Acrobat print devices it'll work out.  This will take some playing around.  What I'd like is to select a map that fits within some boundaries and then print to PS/PDF.

Distiller simply turns PS into PDF, so I need to find out how to print to the PDF or PS (and if PS, then it's into the Distiller input directory".

I wish I could figure out how to get an image out of MapPoint - that would simplify things, but the save and saveas output seem to only be other mappoint files (for the save) and html for saveas.  No images (go figure).

I wonder if this would be do-able via Visio.

Doesn't Distiller allow you to create PDF files (from scratch)?  Or is that another Adobe product?  Oh, maybe that was Illistrator that does that.  Maybe you need to be using Illistrator and Mappoint.  I have Illistrator installed on something in my office...let me hunt it down and see what it can do as well....are you already commited to Distiller?

Actually, what you need is a PDF control so you can dump Illistrator and/or Distiller completely, but I think they are probably pretty expensive.  Adobe is pretty protective over its PDF format.  Still I could probably find you a PDF writter control somewhere (probably cost over $500 for a one user site license would be my guess).

The costs are peanuts.  This is for an application at work.  Still, I can't print to PDF unless MapPoint supports that, and it doesn't.  It appears I need to print to the Adobe printer devices and specify the output file.  That's do-able.  Just a pain.  I was reading that MapPoint 2004 can generate images at output.  I think would probably go over okay (I can always stick them in a PDF if necessary).  It's supposed to be out in a week, so that would be good.  I wonder if I can get a beta somewhere?

Thanks for the ideas.

We do need PDF in the end, althogh I think an image might be acceptable.  I need to have one of my guys solidify user requirements tomorrow.

Assuming that, I think we have to print via a print driver.  It's hard to see where in MapPoint we could hook in a component.  MapPoint itself doesn't appear to support the saving of images at this point (just maps).  The only non-map it seems to support creating is HTML files with embedded image (which I know we can "borrow").  It sounds like MapPoint 2004 supports output of images (B&W or Color) directly and that's out in < 2 weeks, so I'm hopeful it will give us this extra step.  I've put in my pre-order on it.

Anyway, any help on the selecting of a map region via a longitude/latitude bounding box would be helpful.

No, what I mean is that you simply use MapPoint to generate images (JPG, BMP, etc).  You instruct MapPoint to give you the image through the MapPoint VB Component and the MapPoint API.  You write your VB application to load the MapPoint application (in the backgroud so it will look semeless to the user of your VB App) and once loaded your VB application will set up MapPoint to get the Map image that you want.  Then your VB App gets that image from MapPoint.  Now, by "gets that image" there is some thought required on how you want to do that.  If the Mappoint API allows you to directly access the current Maps image (they call it ActiveMap) then you just grab it that way (very easy).  Otherwise, you will need to use the Copy method within the MapPoint ActiveMap to copy the image over to the clipboard and then from the clipboard into your VB application (or directly to whatever application you choose to generate the PDF--but lets ignore the PDF side of things for a secound).  The only other way I can think of getting the image over to your VB application is to have your VB application tell MapPoint to save the image into a file (JPG, BMP, whatever it can do).  Then you can have your VB application load it from that file.  The file will be a temporary file that is simply used to transfer images between Mappoint and your VB application (its just a long about way of doing the same thing that the Clipboard does--and you would only want to do this if you couldn't transfer the image in one of the other ways).

Now, that is the easy part.  You now have a bitmap image of whatever map you wanted (based on your coordinates) in your VB application.  So, now you add a function to your application that generates the PDF file.  That function can generate the file directly if you buy a PDF control for VB.  Or that function will generate the PDF by creating a new document within some third party application (Illistrator for instance--though we will need to check to see if Illistrator is controallable by your VB application).  In either case, you create a new PDF document and then fill that document with whatever you want in that document.  For instance, you might start your function by putting a company logo at the top of the page.  Then maybe the company address.  Then a little ways down you put in a paragraph explaining the map that is to follow on the page.  Then finally you drop the map on the page.  The page will be layed out just like a form is layed out.  So if you want the map (or text or whatever) placed on the page you simply tell it the X,Y location where you want it (making sure you stay within the dimensions of the page.

After you write all that to the page you then save the page to the PDF file.  This is to say that the page is created in memory and after you get everything on it you just use the Save method to save the page to your hard disk as a PDF file.

This is the overal approuch to your application.  I think it shouldn't be too difficult.  I might toy with it as well since it sounds like an interesting problem.  So, maybe I'll have a better grasp on the actual syntax in a day or so.  So, if you have any specific coding questions I'd be happy to consider them.  Take care.


Note: Remember that you really don't want MapPoint to create any files for you at all.  You just want to use it as a map database (super low grade GIS--single layer if you will).  You just want to tell it that your VB application wants some map image that you will then use to create the PDF file (using some other PDF writting application or by useing a VB PDF control).  The only time that you would care about the format that MapPoint would save a map image to some file would be if you couldn't get the Map image out of Mappoint directly (or by using the Clipboard).

Like for instance, here is some code that will grab a map image from MapPoint and put it into a picturebox within your VB application.  I didn't have time to read through the MapPoint methods and properties, so this is just an easy way that doesn't involve thinking much.  A better way would be to try to eliminate the clipboard alltogether and grab the image directly from MapPoint (if that is possible--won't know until I read through the MapPoint methods and properties).  Anyway, see how easy it is to get a map given a lat/long:

Option Explicit

Private Sub cmdMapIt_Click()
  Dim objApp As New MapPoint.Application
  Dim objLoc As MapPoint.Location
 
  objApp.Visible = False
  objApp.UserControl = False
 
  Set objLoc = objApp.ActiveMap.GetLocation(52, -0#)
   
  objApp.ActiveMap.CopyMap
   
  Set Pic1 = Clipboard.GetData
End Sub

To make this work just drop a command button (called cmdMapIt) and a picturebox (called Pic1) on a form.  Also, make sure you add the reference to the MapPoint application object in your VB references.

Actually, you also need to put in a objLoc.GoTo or it won't get the correct map.  Like here is the code that will get a map of Boston.


Private Sub cmdMapIt_Click()
  Dim objApp As New MapPoint.Application
  Dim objLoc As MapPoint.Location
 
  objApp.Visible = False
  objApp.UserControl = False
 
  'Or better yet here is Boston
  Set objLoc = objApp.ActiveMap.GetLocation(42.37, -71.06, 10)
  objLoc.GoTo
   
  objApp.ActiveMap.CopyMap
   
  Set Image1 = Clipboard.GetData

End Sub

Opps, I also switch the picturebox to an image control.  I wanted to use the stretch property of the image control.  Let me post the code online for you....hold up....

Ok, just download the project from here and give it a try:

http://www.enlade.com/MapPointTest.zip

So, without much thinking this code gets the map image from MapPoint (though I would recommend that you check to see if you can get the image directly without going through the clipboard).  So, now you just need to create a function that will dump the image over to Illistrator or Distiller so that you can generate the PDF file (or use a VB PDF control to do it directly).  In either case, if you just want the image in the PDF file you will probably be able to do it in just a few lines of code.  However, if you want to add text and logos and all sorts of other stuff you will need to put more effort into the creation of the PDF (still, I suspect it won't be too hard).

Then the only thing left is to get a little more control over Mappoint so that the exported map images don't have all those Locations on them (the little squares and junk).  You need to turn them all off and maybe add your own so that they show up on the graph with text or given a color that you index in the text that you write to the PDF document.