Web.Maps.VE 2.0 Feature Roadmap (ASP.NET Bing Maps Server Control)

This is the feature road map for the Web.Maps.VE v2.0 product, and shows what features/enhancements are planned for a future updates of the product. Any planned release dates will also be shown here. If there is a feature that the control does not yet support and you don't see it listed here; please post your suggestion in the forums or by contacting us.

Web.Maps.VE v2.0 is sold using a "Per Developer" licensing model, instead of the "Per Website" license that v1.0 uses.

v2.00.04 - Released May 19, 2009

• MiniMapExtender Control JavaScript API - Added "SetHorizontalOffset" and "SetVerticalOffset" methods to the MiniMapExtender Control's Client-Side JavaScript API. Their usage is mentioned in the "Using the MiniMapExtender" Tutorial.
• Easily Resize the Map from Server-Side .NET or Client-Side JavaScript code - Added the capability for the Map controls Height and Width to get passed to/from the client and server during an asynchronous postback. Now when you change the Height or Width it will get reflected in the Map on the client. This release also added the "GetWidth" and "GetHeight" JavaScript API methods and fixed the "Resize" method so you can eaily and correctly resize the Map from within JavaScript. Both Server-Side and Client-Side examples have been added to the Sample Website.
• Color.FromHtml Method - The FromHtml static/shared method has been added to the Simplovation.Web.Maps.VE.Color object to allow for simple conversion from an HTML Color representation to the equivalent Simplovation.Web.Maps.VE.Color representation.
  

• Removing Multiple ShapeLayers during Async Postback - An issue with using the Map.Layers.Remove(), Map.Layers.RemoveAt() and Map.Layers.RemoveAll() methods to remove multiple shape layers during the same asynchronous postback was fixed.
• Rare Exception Thrown During Map.OnPreRender during Asynchronous Postbacks - Added an extra check that will reload the License file in case it happens to be Null during the OnPreRender method. Added some extra checks that will throw an exception with a meaningful message if the Page.Header happens to be Null.

v2.00.03 - Released March 13, 2009

New Features:

• .CHM Help File - This is the first release that also includes a .CHM Help File with full Namespace/Class documentation for the Simplovation.Web.Maps.VE.dll library.
  
• Map.EnableBirdseye Property - A Boolean value that specifies whether or not to enable the Birdseye map style in the map control. The default value is True.
• Map.EnableDashboardLabels Property - A Boolean value that specifies whether or not lables appear on the map when a user clicks the Aerial or Birdseye map style buttons on the map control dashboard. The default value is True.
• Map.LoadBaseTiles Property - A Boolean value indicating whether or not to load the base map tiles. The default value is True.
• Map.BirdseyeOrientation Property and Orientation Enumeration - A Orientation Enumeration value indicating the orientation of the bird's eye map. The default value is Orientation.North.
• Map.UseVirtualEarthStagingUrl Property - A Boolean value that specifies whether to use the MS Virtual Earth Staging Url for pulling in the Virtual Earth JavaScript API. The default value is False.
  

• LatLong.Latitude and LatLong.Longitude properties have been changed to the Nullable Double type, from just a regular Double that they were in previous releases. Most code should work correctly with this change, but be aware of it in case it causes exceptions when upgrading to this update release. This change was made so that more compatible support for Birdseye Map Style could be implemented.
  

v2.00.02 - Released Jan. 21, 2009

New Features:

• Added Map.GetShapeByTag(tag) Method to JavaScript API - This method allows you to retrieve the VEShape object using JavaScript that has its' Tag ("SimplovationTag") property set to the value passed in.
• Added LocationLink.ShapeTag and LocationButton.ShapeTag Properties - The ShapeTag property allows you to set the Tag value of the Shape you want to center the map on.
• Added example within the Dynamic Search example in the Sample Website that demonstrates how to show a Shape's InfoBox when you click on the Item in the List below the Map.
  

Enhancements/Changes:

• Fix JSON Serialization issue caused by running on .NET 3.5 SP1.
  
• Fixed Serialization issue involving LatLong object and the Map.GetDirections method.
• Fixed OnClick Cast to Double Exception when in Birdseye Map Style
• Fixed Deserialization Error when Deserializing AsyncMapData - The "value '51.5' cannot be parsed as type 'Int32'" error sometimes occured, so this fix uses the JavaScript parseInt method on the client-side prior to posting the data back to the server to prevent this error. This error applied to the AsyncMapData.EventArgs.mapX, AsyncMapData.EventArgs.mapY, AsyncMapData.EventArgs.clientX, and AsyncMapData.EventArgs.clientY properties. - link to info about it: http://simplovation.com/forums/thread.aspx?id=53f14ffe-48ec-4ede-a7ca-6e68e11757fc
• Remove "Shape Not Found" prompt - This caused issues when clearing the shapes from the map in some cases, where it would show this prompt for each shape it couldn't find, which could be all shapes plotted before the Asynch Postback was raised. Removing this prompt will suppress it and not cause any adverse effects to the control.
• Pulls in the New Virtual Earth v6.2 Map Control API to be able to take advantage of any bug fixes made to the Virtual Earth in the latest release.
  

v2.00.01 - Released July 7, 2008

New Features:

• SimpleAnimationExtender - The SimpleAnimationExtender adds the ability to automatically move the map through a series of points on timed intervals. You can use this extender to show an animated slideshow of map locations.

Enhancements/Changes

• LatLong.ToString Method - The LatLong objects ToString method has been modified to return a string representation of the Lat/Long point it represents just like the VELatLong object does in Virtual Earth. It now returns a string in the following format "Latitude, Longitude"; for example "40.5137991550441, -97.734375"
  
• ShapeLayer.Visible Fix - The previous release had a small issue that caused the ShapeLayer.Visible property to not work correctly. This is fixed in this release.
• DirtyStateList Object Fix - This fix affects the ShapeLayer.Shapes and Map.Layers properties. Support for the RemoveAt, RemoveRange and RemoveAll methods have been added to the Simplovation.Web.Maps.VE.Collections.DirtyStateList<> object. The previous release did not remove the Shape or Layer from the client-side if these methods were used to remove them on the server-side. This is fixed in this release.
  

v2.00.00 - Released June 17, 2008

This version supports ASP.NET v3.5, and includes better Virtual Earth feature support including Find functionality, Reverse Geocoding, Shape Layers, improved 3D map support, and many other items listed below:

New Features Beyond What v1.0 Offers

• No Dependency on the AjaxControlToolkit
• Added Find and Reverse Geocode (FindLocations) Support via Map.Find and Map.FindLocations Methods
• Shape Layer support
  • Layer Object Added along with "Map.Layers" Collection Property
• Added LocationLink and LocationButton Controls to make navigating the Map to different locations easier
• Added Heading, Altitude and Pitch Properties to the Map Object for improved 3D map support
• Added Altitude and AltitudeMode Properties to the LatLong Object
• Added Altitude and AltitudeMode Properties to the Shape Object
• Added Map.AltitudeMode Property
• Added the following Objects: CustomIconSpecification, Pixel, Place, FindArguments, FindResult
• Added the following Enumerations: FindType, MatchCode
• Added Server-Side Support for OnInitMode and OnModeNotAvailable Client-Side Map Events
• Added SetCenterOnShape and SetCenterOnShapeByID Methods to the JavaScript API

Enhancements/Changes Beyond What v1.0 Offers

• Removed "UseSSL" Property - The "Map.UseSSL" property has beed removed, and the component will automatically detect if the website is using SSL, and load Virtual Earth using SSL automatically.
• Renamed AsyncMapDataEventArgs to AsyncMapEventArgs - The AsyncMapDataEventArgs object has been renamed to AsyncMapEventArgs to better reflect its purpose.
• Removed "Map.Shapes" Property - The "Map.Shapes" property has been replaced by the "Map.Layers" property in order to support Shape Layers.
• Removed "_Handled" Properties - The Map properties that are suffixed with "_Handled" have been removed. These properties were used behind the scenes only, so these properties have been removed to clean up the Web.Maps.VE API.
• Changed "Shape.CustomIcon" Property to be of Type CustomIconSpecification - Use the "CustomIconSpecification.CustomHTML" propertie to set custom HTML to define the look of a pushpin, instead of setting the Shape.CustomIcon property to the HTML string itself.