ArcGIS API For JavaScript 2.0 Public Beta Now Available!

The ArcGIS API for JavaScript 2.0 Public Beta has now been made available for use. There are a number of pre-summit seminar demonstrations currently underway at the ESRI Developer Summit 2010 showcasing the ArcGIS API for JavaScript 2.0 and now you can try it yourself.

The next generation of the ArcGIS API for JavaScript, version 2.0, is now available to everyone through a public beta release. Visit the ArcGIS API for JavaScript 2.0 online SDK page to explore the new API. You’ll find a full set of help, samples, and developer reference topics to help you get started.

Version 2.0 introduces support for Web editing workflows, a new "feature layer" for working with client-side graphics, support for time-aware layers, an expanded geometry service, and many other new features.

There are bundles of new features in this latest version. Some of these include:

• Feature Layers
• Editing
• Time Aware Layers
• Network Analyst
• Image Server
• New Samples
• Updates To The Geometry Service
• Mapping Enhancements

Full information on these enhancements can be found here: http://resources.esri.com/help/… 

You can access the online SDK here:

There are loads of samples, concepts and developer reference topics that should help you get started easily.

The ArcGIS API for JavaScript 2.0 is really designed to work against ArcGIS Server 10. While the new features require ArcGIS Server 10, existing features will still work against ArcGIS Server 9.3.1. If you are wanting to take advantage of some of the new features but do not have ArcGIS Server 10 yet, there is a solution:

Many of the new features are designed to work with the forthcoming ArcGIS 10. If you’re not part of the ArcGIS 10 beta program, you can still get a feel for the API using an ArcGIS 10 sample server that ESRI has made available. All the samples in the online SDK use this sample server.

The ArcGIS Server 10 sample server can be found here: http://sampleserver3.arcgisonline.com/ArcGIS/…

This is a great opportunity to test drive and have a play with the latest ArcGIS API for JavaScript 2.0. As mentioned above it comes packed with loads of new features so give it a go!