Sorry for the delay in my SUM. I have had a lot of responses to my questions. Thanks to all who answered. My first question was....... "Does anyone have a suggestion for a good book on Avenue? I found one on Amazon.com called Arcview Gis/Avenue Developer's Guide by Amir H. Razavi. I was wondering if anyone has used this book or another book and would recommend one." It appears from the responses that Razavi's book is a good choice. I have included most of the responses regarding this question. There were a couple people who felt differently though. My second question was..... "Also, has anyone heard about the future of Avenue? I have been hearing where Avenue might be phased out." Once again I got a lot responses. Yes, Avenue is being phased out. Now I am faced with a decision as to whether I should place more time in learnig Avenue or focus back to VB. I am getting the impression that a lot of people will continue to use the 3.x vesions of Arcview. Toward the end of this SUM is the responses to the Avenue question. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That one is a very good book, but if you have budget for only one book I would advise you: "ArcView GIS/Avenue Programmer's Reference" from Razavi and Warwick. This book is full of Avenue scripts from which you learn a lot of tricks. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Razavi's book is very well done. It is very easy to understand, and comes with hundreds of sample scripts. It is true that Avenue will be phased out. ArcView 8 (planned to be released in Jan. or Feb.) will be backended by visual basic. Mike Homer -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- That's the one most recommended. I purchased it along with his companion text ArcView GIS/Avenue Programmer's Reference when I first started coding in avenue and used it all the time, well worth the money for the time it saves you in learning. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I bought the book you mentioned and I haven't used it much. If you have the "Using Avenue" book that came with the software then I wouldn't recommend getting this book. This doesn't go over any more material then the "Using Avenue" book. It certainly is not worth the $50. Yes is the answer to your second question. ArcView 8.1 will be a Windows COM based architecture and will use VisualBasic instead of Avenue. Rumors say there wont be any conversion programs to convert between the two since it will be complicated to do. J.M. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I think our resources for Avenue are pretty much limited to Razavi's books. I use his Programmer's Reference and the Help function. That, cannabalized scripts from the ESRI script site, and some pounding of my head on my desk seems to get me through. Cindy Craig National Geodetic Survey Project Development Branch Spatial Reference System Division -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes Mr Razavi's book is very good. I learnt avenue using the ESRI manual (that comes with ArcView) and Developers Guide you refer to. The combination of the two was excellent. Also, just having to do lots of Avenue work was also a help - nothing link being thrown in the deep end - you either sink or swim! In terms of the future, I have heard that VB will replace Avenue, similar to what has happened to AML in the ArcInfo world. When the new version of ArcView comes out, based on ArcObjects, you will do development in VB (or C or Delphi or any other COM compliant language). However, I believe ESRI are going to release two streams of ArcView. ArcView 8 the new one in which you will use VB and ArcView 3.x, which will be maintained for a few more years and that will be as we know it know it now. There was a big article on this type of stuff in either that last, or second to last ESRI ArcNews. I haven't looked, but there might be info on this on the ESRI website (the ARCNews is on the website anyway I think) Good luck. Harley Prowse GIS Business Analyst United Networks Limited New Zealand -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have the book you mentioned, and it is pretty good.. Even better is the "ArcView GIS/Avenue Programmer's Reference", also by Amir H. Razavi. I have this book open whenever I'm writing Avenue code. It contains descriptions of all the Avenue objects and methods, as well as sample scripts. I HIGHLY recommend it. -Mike Winchell Northeast River Forecast Center -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Question 2. "Has anyone heard about the future of Avenue? I have been hearing where Avenue might be phased out." That is right as well. If you will start a big project now, I would not advise you ArcView and Avenue. All of us will have to move soon or later to ArcGIS8.1. But because you cannot just sit and wait one year until they release the new ArcView (besides I do not know the price) you can start learning the new technology with MapObjects. I think there is a trail version for free in the ESRI homepage. Fernando Toro Botero Coastal Research Laboratory Institute of Geosciences Christian Albrechts University -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes, Avenue is being phased out in exchange for development in VBA. Other ESRI products will now be programmable with a number of standard development packages such as JAVA, VB, DELPHI. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The next version of ArcView, which will be 8.1, will no longer support Avenue. They are going to Visual Basic, instead (Sigh. I am NOT a programmer!) However, it was my understanding from the ESRI User's Conference that Avenue will still be supported for those who remain with older versions of ArcView. Cindy Craig National Geodetic Survey Project Development Branch Spatial Reference System Division -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I heard from the ESRI - Philly office that ArcGIS 8.1 will not support Avenue. So if you upgrade ArcView 3.2a to ArcView 8.1, avenue goes away. If you don't upgrade you'll still be able to work with ArcView 3.2, but there won't be any support. There will be bug fixes to ArcView 3.x. So maybe you'll see an ArcView 3.3, but you'll never see ArcView 4.0. As far as good Avenue books. Razavi's books are the only ones I ever see listed. He has several books on ArcView. Since AV 8.1 will be VBA enabled, you may not want to invest too much time to learning Avenue. You will have to learn how to translate Avenue to VBA. I don't even want to start that, but I guess it is inevitable. I have delayed development on a new GIS project because I know that AV 8.1 will be out before the new year. I hope this helps. If you have any questions, or you want to verify the death of Avenue, contact your local ESRI office. I'm sure someone there can give you up to date information. Good Luck. Ken Lynch, E.I.T. GIS Analyst Keller Engineers, Inc 420 Allegheny Street Hollidaysburg, PA 16648 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For general information, kindly refer to the "Future of ArcView" interview at http://www.directionsmag.com/features.asp?FeatureID=38 and our articles on the 2000 ESRI User Conference at http://www.directionsmag.com/default.asp. The article "ArcView's transformation" at http://www.directionsmag.com/article.asp?ArticleID=72 addresses your question directly. Regards, Bill Huber Directions Magazine and Quantitative Decisions (www.quantdec.com) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The language of Avenue stops with ArcView 3.x. ArcView 8.1 is to be released in January (? give or take a few months?) and included with it is Visual Basic for Applications VBA. Avenue scripts will not work in the new environment. ESRI will continue to support ArcView 3.x and do some upgrades to the product but the future is clearly with ArcView 8.1. The skills that you have with Avenue are not lost. VBA is also object oriented but it is a better language, especially for error handling. You mentioned that you had problems finding books on Avenue, well there are plenty for VB. Below is a link to the ArcObjects Online and it explains COM (the foundation of the new ESRI products) and how to customize ArcView, called ArcMap. Hope this helps, Scott http://www.esri.com/devsupport/arcinfo/samples/arcobjects_online/arcobjectsonline.htm --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------