MapWindow:CustomFunctionality

From MapWindow GIS

Adding Custom Functionality to MapWindow by Writing Plug-Ins

MapWindow is based on an extensible architecture that allows third-party developers to produce plug-ins that add functionality to the core product.

MapWindow 2.7 required plug-ins to be built in Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0. This was a fairly limiting design decision because of limitations associated with Visual Basic 6.0 and the COM interface (including various problems keeping things straight in the system registry). However, starting with MapWindow 3.0 the plug-in interface has been developed using the Microsoft .NET framework. This has alleviated our registry issues and has actually made it possible to extend the plug-in interface to include dynamic menus, and passing of native .NET objects accross the interface. This also extends the ability for plug-in development to C#, a new Microsoft language (C++ derivative) that many programmers are finding to be very useful.

For more information about developing MapWindow plug-ins, please see the Developer Documentation and the MapWindow Forums at http://forums.mapwindow.org