ArcObjects - Create a map in the background from layers and save as JPG

Question

Given a series of map layers is it possible to arrange them in some order, add basic map features (north arrow, scale bar) and then save the result as a JPG. I'd like to accomplish this in the background as a button-triggered event in an ArcMap Add-On.

I've seen ExportActiveView, but I think this will only work if I have the map layers already loaded into the ActiveView and on the users' screen.

Is it possible to create this map behind the scenes?

Answer 1

Something similar I have done in the past is use IMapDocument. It does require a hard file, so I just create a temp file for the process, and delete after the export. In the code snippet below, the MapExportFormat is a little enumerator I created representing different output formats (pdf,gif,png).

private static void ExportMap(IMapDocument map,MapExportFormat exportFormat, string outputFile)
        {
            int OUTPUT_RES = 600;
            IExport export = null;

            switch (exportFormat)
            {
                case MapExportFormat.PDF:
                    IExportPDF pdfExport = new ExportPDFClass();
                    pdfExport.ImageCompression = esriExportImageCompression.esriExportImageCompressionDeflate;
                    pdfExport.EmbedFonts = true;
                    pdfExport.Compressed = true;
                    //IExportPDF2 pdfExport2 = (IExportPDF2)pdfExport;
                    //pdfExport2.ExportPDFLayersAndFeatureAttributes = esriExportPDFLayerOptions.esriExportPDFLayerOptionsLayersOnly;
                    export = (IExport)pdfExport;
                    break;
                case MapExportFormat.GIF:
                    IExportGIF gifExport = new ExportGIFClass();
                    export = (IExport)gifExport;
                    break;
                case MapExportFormat.JPG:
                    IExportJPEG jpgExport = new ExportJPEGClass();
                    export = (IExport)jpgExport;
                    break;
                case MapExportFormat.PNG:
                    IExportPNG pngExport = new ExportPNGClass();
                    export = (IExport)pngExport;
                    break;

            }

            export.Resolution = OUTPUT_RES;
            export.ExportFileName = outputFile;

            tagRECT exportFrame = map.ActiveView.ExportFrame;
            IEnvelope exportEnvelope = new EnvelopeClass();
            exportEnvelope.PutCoords(exportFrame.left, exportFrame.top, exportFrame.right, exportFrame.bottom);
            export.PixelBounds = exportEnvelope;

            int hdc = export.StartExporting();
            map.ActiveView.Output(hdc, OUTPUT_RES,exportFrame,null,null);
            export.FinishExporting();
            export.Cleanup();
        }