[GIS] What are the pros and cons of using the ArcGIS Viewer for Flex vs. creating your own GIS application vs creating your own framework

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Simple question, but perhaps hard to answer. I have broken the title question into three distinct questions in order to clearly identify what we are considering for options each time we build an GIS web application in Flex.

  1. What are the pros and cons of using the ArcGIS Viewer for Flex application as a starting point for GIS applications?
  2. What are the pros and cons of creating your own application from scratch using the ArcGIS API for Flex? Note: This would be a focused application. In this case it is not intended to be a reusable application from which other applications could be configured / built.
  3. What are the pros and cons of creating your own custom framework using the ArcGIS API for Flex from which multiple applications could be built? While the primary goal would be to build an application that meets the customers needs a secondary goal would be to have a reusable framework from which other applications can be configured / built, much like the Flex Viewer.

Unlike many other decisions the choice to use one method over the other is not an easily reversible one. Assume you will have to live with this decision for a very long time (years).

Best Answer

  1. Benefit of using the ArcGIS Viewer for Flex application is that you get a flexible out-of-the box viewer with no coding and minimal configuration. There are also a number of widgets available for the viewer that you can use for extending your application. It is a great option for those looking to minimize the amount of time and effort required in setting up an ESRI Flex Application.
  2. Pros of creating your own application is that you can customize the application to look and feel exactly the way you want it to. You can build in tools that you want and leave out those you don't want. Biggest con is the fact you need to spend far more time and effort developing your own custom solution. Often a nice compromise is using a pre-built framework (i.e. the Flex Viewer) and customizing it, including writing your own widgets for it. The Flex Viewer allows you to customize it in any way you want as ESRI provides the source code for it.
  3. Pros and Cons of building your own custom framework are similar to #2. It should only be considered if you will have the need for re-usability further on down the road. If you consider this option, make sure you consider the pros and cons of writing your own framework from scratch vs. using another framework to build upon such as the Flex Viewer. Additionally, you need to consider backward/forward compatibility not only with the Flex API, but with the Viewer itself.

Ultimately, there is no easy answer to your question. It entirely depends on your requirements, time, and budget. Usually you will need to find a good compromise based on those three factors.

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