.NET Controls

Overview

MapLink 11.3.1 onwards provide simple mechanisms for integrating MapLink visuals and interactions into your .NET applications. There are several options available, and the underlying mechanism can be used to create controls for a host of frameworks. The MapLink install currently provides controls for WPF and Avalonia (Windows only) applications. Samples for the controls can be found in the installer and also in our GitHub samples repo.

WPF Control

The WPF control provides an interactive MapLink display “out of the box” with minimal set up. It natively supports pan and zoom controls. It also provides mechanisms for more advanced interactions with the underlying drawing surface if required.

XAML API

To get started, first add the bin64/Envitia.MapLink.TSLNSkiaDrawingSurfaceWPFControl.dll as a reference in your .NET 10 project.

Then add the following code snippets to your applications xaml file :

    xmlns:ctrl="clr-namespace:Envitia.MapLink.TSLNSkiaDrawingSurfaceControl;assembly=Envitia.MapLink.TSLNSkiaDrawingSurfaceWPFControl"

    <ctrl:TSLNSkiaDrawingSurfaceWPFControl x:Name="MapControl" 
                                    MinWidth="100"
                                    MinHeight="100"
                                    BaseMap ="C:\Program Files\Envitia\MapLink Pro\11.2\Maps\NaturalEarthBasic\NaturalEarthBasic.map" 
                                    />

Where BaseMap is set to the location of the map you want to load.

Programming API

The control can be accessed programmatically via the MapControl handle. It provides the following API:

Name	Signature	Description
LoadMap	bool LoadMap(string mapPath)	Load a map layer
Zoom	bool Zoom(int percentage, bool zoomIn)	Programmatic zoom
Pan	bool Pan(double x, double y)	Pan to user-unit coordinate
DUToUU	bool DUToUU(int deviceX, int deviceY, out double userX, out double userY)	Convert device → map coordinates
ResetView	void ResetView()	Reset to full map extent
RequestRender	void RequestRender()	Trigger a re-render

Advanced Features

The control exposes a property named DrawingSurface that can be accessed via MapControl.DrawingSurface to provide access to the full API provided by TSLNSkiaDrawingSurface.

Avalonia Control

XAML API

This functions in a very similar way to the WPF control. Add the bin64/Envitia.MapLink.TSLNSkiaDrawingSurfaceAvaloniaControl.dll assembly to your project, then add the following snippets to your .axaml file:

      xmlns:ctrl="clr-namespace:Envitia.MapLink.TSLNSkiaDrawingSurfaceControl;assembly=Envitia.MapLink.TSLNSkiaDrawingSurfaceAvaloniaControl"

      <ctrl:TSLNSkiaDrawingSurfaceAvaloniaControl x:Name="MapControl"
                                          HorizontalAlignment="Stretch"
                                          VerticalAlignment="Stretch"
                                          BaseMap="C:\Program Files\Envitia\MapLink Pro\11.3\Maps\NaturalEarthBasic\NaturalEarthBasic.map"/>

The control can then be accessed programmatically in the same way as the WPF control.