ArcGIS – How to Verify if a FeatureLayer Already Exists

Question

I am currently working on a project where when user loads up their map (mxd) into our system, we create several custom featuerlayers for them. My problem is though, I have no idea how to check if I have ALREADY created those layers already (say user loads up mxd, layers created, save, re-load the mxd, should verify if layers already exists).

Is there a Unique Id for a FeatuerLayerClass in ArcEngine10, there are OIDName, and ObjectClassID in FeatureLayerClass.FeatureClass, but those don't seem to work (cannot assign ObjectClassId, and want to use UniqueId for OIDName)?

I created my layer as featurelayerclass business object like this.

Code:

    /// <summary>
    ///     Unique Route LayerId
    /// </summary>
    public static Guid RouteFeatureLayerId
    {
        get { return Guid.Parse("ba25a332-0e48-4ce5-a4c5-38dc36c0700c"); }
    }

    /// <summary>
    ///     Feature class that stores info on the routes
    /// </summary>
    public FeatureLayerClass RouteFeatureLayer
    {
        get
        {
            if (_routeFeatureClass == null)
            {
                IPropertySet property = new PropertySetClass();
                property.SetProperty("Id", RouteFeatureLayerId);

                _routeFeatureClass = new FeatureLayerClass();
                _routeFeatureClass.FeatureClass = CreateFeatureClass(Workspace, null, ShapeType.Polylines.ToString(), CreateFields(ShapeType.Polylines, FeatureLayerType.Routes), null, null, "");
                _routeFeatureClass.Name = "Routes";
                _routeFeatureClass.Visible = true;
                _routeFeatureClass.Cached = true;
                _routeFeatureClass.AddExtension(property);
                CustomLayers.Add(_routeFeatureClass); 

            }

            return _routeFeatureClass;
        }
        set
        {
            _routeFeatureClass = value;
        }
    }

Creating workspace

    /// <summary>
    ///     Create a workspace for the shapefile or geodatabase
    /// </summary>
private IWorkspace CreateWorkspace(string workspaceType, string workspaceDirectory)
{
    Type factoryType = null;
    IWorkspaceFactory workspaceFactory = null;

    switch (workspaceType)
    {
        case "Shapefile":
            // Instantiate a Shapefile workspace factory
            factoryType = Type.GetTypeFromProgID("esriDataSourcesFile.ShapefileWorkspaceFactory");
            break;
        case "PersonalGeodatabase":
            // Instantiate an Access workspace factory
            factoryType = Type.GetTypeFromProgID("esriDataSourcesGDB.AccessWorkspaceFactory");
            break;
        case "FileGeodatabase":
            // Instantiate a file geodatabase workspace factory
            factoryType = Type.GetTypeFromProgID("esriDataSourcesGDB.FileGDBWorkspaceFactory");
            break;
    }

    workspaceFactory = (IWorkspaceFactory)Activator.CreateInstance(factoryType);

    //Create a directory hierarchy to seperate out datasets created for Points, Polylines, and Polygons
    Directory.CreateDirectory(workspaceDirectory);

    IWorkspaceName workspaceName = workspaceFactory.Create(workspaceDirectory + "\\", workspaceType, null, 0);
    IName Name = (IName)workspaceName;
    IWorkspace workspace = (IWorkspace)(Name.Open());
    return workspace;

}

Creating FeatureClass

        /// <summary>
        ///     Helper to create a Feature Class.
        /// </summary>
        private IFeatureClass CreateFeatureClass(IWorkspace workspace, IFeatureDataset featureDataset, string featureClassName, IFields fields, ESRI.ArcGIS.esriSystem.UID CLSID, ESRI.ArcGIS.esriSystem.UID CLSEXT, string configKeyword)
        {
            IFeatureClass featureClass = null;
            IFeatureWorkspace featureWorkspace = (IFeatureWorkspace)workspace; // Explicit Cast
            string shapeFieldName = String.Empty;

            try
            {
                if (featureClassName == "")
                {
                    return null; // name was not passed in
                }
                //else if (((IWorkspace2)workspace).get_NameExists(esriDatasetType.esriDTFeatureClass, featureClassName))
                //{
                //    featureClass = featureWorkspace.OpenFeatureClass(featureClassName); // feature class with that name already exists
                //    return featureClass;
                //}

                // assign the class id value if not assigned
                if (CLSID == null)
                {
                    CLSID = new ESRI.ArcGIS.esriSystem.UIDClass();
                    CLSID.Value = "esriGeoDatabase.Feature";
                }

                // locate the shape field
                for (Int32 j = 0; j < fields.FieldCount; j++)
                {
                    if (fields.get_Field(j).Type == esriFieldType.esriFieldTypeGeometry)
                    {
                        shapeFieldName = fields.get_Field(j).Name;
                    }
                }

                // finally create and return the feature class
                if (featureDataset == null)
                {
                    // if no feature dataset passed in, create at the workspace level
                    featureClass = featureWorkspace.CreateFeatureClass(featureClassName, fields, CLSID, CLSEXT, esriFeatureType.esriFTSimple, shapeFieldName, configKeyword);
                }
                else
                {
                    featureClass = featureDataset.CreateFeatureClass(featureClassName, fields, CLSID, CLSEXT, esriFeatureType.esriFTSimple, shapeFieldName, configKeyword);
                }
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                Debug.Assert(false, ex.ToString());
                Logger.Log.Debug(ex);
            }
            return featureClass;

        }

Code to get layer

            /// <summary>
            ///     Finds the layer
            /// </summary>
            /// <returns>the subcatchment layer</returns>
            private IGeoFeatureLayer GetLayer(FeatureLayerClass featureLayer)
            {
                IGeoFeatureLayer layer = null;
                ILayerExtensions layerExtension;

                for (int x = 0; x < MapControl.LayerCount; x++)
                {
                    layerExtension = ((ILayerExtensions)MapControl.get_Layer(x));

                    if (featureLayer.ExtensionCount > 0 && layerExtension.ExtensionCount > 0 &&
                        layerExtension.get_Extension(0) is PropertySetClass &&
                        featureLayer.get_Extension(0) is PropertySetClass &&
                        ((PropertySetClass)layerExtension.get_Extension(0)).GetProperty("Id") == ((PropertySetClass)featureLayer.get_Extension(0)).GetProperty("Id"))
                    {
                        layer = MapControl.get_Layer(x) as IGeoFeatureLayer;
                        break;
                    }
                }

                return layer;
            }

Thanks and Regards,
Kevin

Answer 1

Feature classes and object classes do have their ids, which are unique within a single geodatabase. This very often satisfies most scenarios similar to yours.

If you cannot uniquely identify a layer based on its feature class, you can leverage layer extensions to store arbitrary data with the layer.

A layer extension can be added to a layer via ILayerExtensions interface. Now, there is no common interface for layer extensions, but they typically implement some persistence through IPersistStream. Your layer extension would not do anything special but store some data by which you will uniquely identify your added layer.

So your task would be as follows:

• Create a COM class which would store your flag (or some kind of generated Id). Implement IPersistStream for this class. EDIT: you can easily use a PropertySet as the layer extension object, instead of creating your own class.
• When you are adding a layer, loop through all the layers in the map and check if any of them has your layer extension assigned, with the stored data you expect.
• If that's the case, do not add the layer as it is already present.
• If not, add the layer, and add an instance of your layer extension to it via ILayerExtensions.

I had a very similar problem and layers extensions turned out to be the best fit.

EDIT: below I post some code for a helper static class which allows you to quickly work with properties set inside a propertyset stored in the layer extension (.NET 3.5 or higher required). It takes care of accessing the extension object and creating it if not already assigned to the layer. It's used like this:

        // 1) is a particular property ("MY.KEY") set on a layer?
        var isPropertySet = PropertySetLayerExtensionHelper.ExtensionPropertySetContainsKey(layer, "MY.KEY");

        // 2) set a property with a value on the layer:
        PropertySetLayerExtensionHelper.ExtensionPropertySetSetValueForKey(layer, "MY.KEY", "SomeValue");

        // 3) retrieve a value for the given key stored at some point before:
        var value = PropertySetLayerExtensionHelper.ExtensionPropertySetGetValueForKey(layer, "MY.KEY");

Instead of "SomeValue" you will probably generate and store some kind of layer identifier in there.

Here's the full source code for the PropertySetLayerExtensionHelper class:

public static class PropertySetLayerExtensionHelper
{
    /// <summary>
    /// Returns whether the property set stored in the layer extensions contains a value for the given key.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="layer">The layer.</param>
    /// <param name="key">The key.</param>
    /// <returns>Whether the property set stored in the layer extensions contains a value for the given key.</returns>
    public static bool ExtensionPropertySetContainsKey(ILayer layer, string key)
    {
        if (layer == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("layer");
        if (key == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("key");

        var propertySet = GetPropertySetInLayerExtension(layer);
        return propertySet != null
            && propertySet.AsEnumerable().Any(pair => pair.Key.Equals(key, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase));
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Returns the value for the given key from the property set stored in the layer extension or <b>null</b>
    /// if no such key is present.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="layer">The layer.</param>
    /// <param name="key">The key.</param>
    /// <returns>The value for the given key from the property set stored in the layer extension or <b>null</b>
    /// if no such key is present.</returns>
    public static object ExtensionPropertySetGetValueForKey(ILayer layer, string key)
    {
        if (layer == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("layer");
        if (key == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("key");

        var propertySet = GetPropertySetInLayerExtension(layer);
        if (propertySet == null) return null;

        return propertySet.AsEnumerable()
            .Where(p => p.Key.Equals(key, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
            .Select(p => p.Value)
            .FirstOrDefault();
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Sets the value for the given key in the property set stored in a layer extension. If there is
    /// no property set among the layer's extensions, it is created and assigned to the layer.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="layer">The layer.</param>
    /// <param name="key">The key.</param>
    /// <param name="value">The value for the given key.</param>
    public static void ExtensionPropertySetSetValueForKey(ILayer layer, string key, object value)
    {
        if (layer == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("layer");
        if (key == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("key");

        var propertySet = GetOrCreatePropertySetInLayerExtension(layer);
        if (propertySet == null)
        {
            throw new InvalidOperationException("The given layer does not support layer extensions.");
        }

        propertySet.SetProperty(key, value);
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Returns a property set from a layer extension.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="layer">The layer.</param>
    /// <returns>A property set from a layer extension.</returns>
    public static IPropertySet GetPropertySetInLayerExtension(ILayer layer)
    {
        if (layer == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("layer");

        var layerExtensions = layer as ILayerExtensions;
        if (layerExtensions == null)
        {
            return null;
        }

        var propertySetExtension = layerExtensions.AsEnumerable().OfType<IPropertySet>().FirstOrDefault();
        return propertySetExtension;
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Returns a property set from a layer extension. If not set on the layer,
    /// the property set is created and assigned to it.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="layer">The layer.</param>
    /// <returns>A property set from a layer extension.</returns>
    public static IPropertySet GetOrCreatePropertySetInLayerExtension(ILayer layer)
    {
        if (layer == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("layer");

        var propertySet = GetPropertySetInLayerExtension(layer);
        if (propertySet != null)
        {
            return propertySet;
        }

        var layerExtensions = layer as ILayerExtensions;
        if (layerExtensions == null)
        {
            return null;
        }

        propertySet = new PropertySetClass();
        layerExtensions.AddExtension(propertySet);
        return propertySet;
    }

    private static IEnumerable<object> AsEnumerable(this ILayerExtensions layerExtensions)
    {
        if (layerExtensions == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("layerExtensions");

        for (var i = 0; i < layerExtensions.ExtensionCount; i++)
        {
            yield return layerExtensions.get_Extension(i);
        }
    }

    private static IEnumerable<KeyValuePair<string, object>> AsEnumerable(this IPropertySet propertySet)
    {
        if (propertySet == null) throw new ArgumentNullException("propertySet");
        if (propertySet.Count == 0) yield break;

        object names;
        object values;

        propertySet.GetAllProperties(out names, out values);

        var nameArray = (string[])names;
        var valueArray = (object[])values;

        for (var i = 0; i < nameArray.Length; i++)
        {
            yield return new KeyValuePair<string, object>(nameArray[i], valueArray[i]);
        }
    }
}