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ArcGIS JavaScript API 3.18

ArcGIS JavaScript API 3.18

ArcGIS JavaScript API 3.18 was released by Esri last week. Great news for those still using the 3 series - and FYI, ArcGIS JavaScript API 4.1 was also release last week.

What’s New in ArcGIS JavaScript API 3.18

The biggest update in ArcGIS JavaScript API 3.18 looks to be an overhaul of the FeatureTable Widget. There are lots of new and improved features, including the long anticipated support for related records. Selection behaviour in the table has been improved, but if you have been leveraging this in the past you might want to test first, as there are some major changes here.

Another big update is for VectorTileLayer support. The new implementation is more baked-in to the API instead of seeming so isolated in the past. And if you need more browser compatibility, this update now also supports IE11 and Edge (a showstopper missing feature for many in the past).

With all these changes in place for VectorTileLayers, there is a small warning from Esri:

The internal implementation of vector tile layers in 3.x has changed. If you were using any of the undocumented APIs that were part of the previous implementation they will not work with the new version.

Minor changes

The usual small bug fixes, and enhancements to the Elevation Profile Widget, new Calcite theme (dark) are also included in this release. Not surprising, there are also bug fixes for the Measure Widget, which is still one of those tools that is surprising difficult to fully implement without hitting an issue. On the bright side, they keeping squishing bugs as we report them.

Overall, this release is a must for those who plan on using VectorTiles moving forward. That said, this is also setting up for VectorTiles to be supported in “any ArcGIS supported spatial reference”, which is a huge step forward to this being the new publishing standard (for Esri map services).


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