[Gdal-dev] Building a customized raster format in ArcGIS 9.2using GDAL

[Peng Gao]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: gdal-dev-bounces at lists.maptools.org 
> [mailto:gdal-dev-bounces at lists.maptools.org] On Behalf Of 
> Frank Warmerdam
> Sent: Wednesday, June 06, 2007 10:24 AM
> To: Lucena, Ivan
> Cc: gdal-dev
> Subject: Re: [Gdal-dev] Building a customized raster format 
> in ArcGIS 9.2using GDAL
> 
> Lucena, Ivan wrote:
> > Hi all,
> > 
> > Does anybody have ever followed those steps to add a raster format 
> > support in ArcGIS using GDAL?
> > 
> > 
> http://webhelp.esri.com/arcgisdesktop/9.2/index.cfm?TopicName=Supporte
> > d_raster_dataset_file_formats
> > 
> > 
> > If I understood it correctly, all you need to do is to build a GDAL 
> > library and give it a name like (let's use GRIB as an example) 
> > gdal_grib.dll or gdal_grib.so, copy it to the ArcGIS's Bin 
> folder and
> 
> Ivan,
> 
> GDAL plugins are not complete gdal libraries.  They are just 
> a single driver linked against GDAL and containing a 
> GDALRegister_GRIB() entry point.  Note that the short name 
> for the driver in the DLL name has to match in case with the 
> registry entry point, so you need to name the DLL 
> gdal_GRIB.DLL if the entry pointis GDALRegister_GRIB().
> 
> The gdal/frmts/mrsid/makefile.vc includes a plugin target as 
> an example of how to build the MrSID driver as a plugin.
> 
> Normally GDAL looks for plugins in the directory indicated in 
> the GDAL_DRIVER_PATH environment variable.  On windows it 
> also tries to look in a gdalplugins directory under the 
> directory containing the currently running .exe.
> 
> I don't know if ArcGIS is otherwise adjusting the driver load path.
> 

ArcGIS uses gdalplugins directory under the directory containing the
currently 
running .exe ("ArcGIS\Bin\gdalplugins").

We have found that, while there are success stories, it's hard to build 
a plugin using standard GDAL release,
and make it work with the gdal*.dll distributed with a particular ArcGIS

release, because of header mismatch, and etc. We plan to make the
matching
include and lib files available for download if there is enough
interest.
Also on Windows ArcGIS 92, and its GDAL library, are built using MSVC7.

Gao, Peng