To get started with the course, please review the orientation module before moving on to the course lessons.

• Read the course orientation.
• Set up your course notifications.
• Introduce yourself in the Introduce Yourself Discussion in Canvas.
• Install PyScripter.

Course Website and Canvas

Registered students in the online Penn State courses that use this text need to navigate between several environments in the World Wide Web. These include:

• Course Website [1]: The course website consists of lessons, each including pages of text, graphics, and activities. Activities prompt readers to explore selected websites, to download data and/or software, or other adventures. Registered students may also be prompted to navigate to Canvas to take practice quizzes and graded quizzes.
• Canvas [2]: Penn State's enterprise course management system [3]. In Canvas, registered students consult course calendars, communicate with instructors and fellow students, submit project reports, receive individual project critiques from instructors, take online quizzes and a final exam, and check assignment scores and course grades.

Set Your Canvas Profile and Notification Preferences

PyScripter is an easy IDE to install for ArcGIS Pro development. If you are using ArcGIS Pro version 2.2 or newer, you will first have to create and activate a clone of the ArcGIS default Python environment (see here [4] for details on this issue). To do this, click on "Manage Environments" just above "Installed Packages", choose "Clone Default", and wait around 10 minutes or so, while ArcGIS is creating the clone (in version 2.7 you should see a list of packages being installed which will tell you that the clone is being created). If the cloning fails with an error message saying that a Python package couldn't be installed, you may need to run ArcPro as an Administrator (do a right-click -> Run as administrator on the ArcGIS Pro icon) and repeat the steps above (it's also helpful to mouseover that error box in Pro and see if it gives you any additional details).

When the cloning is done, the new environment "arcgispro-py3-clone" (or whatever you choose to call it - but we'll be assuming it's called the default name) can be activated by clicking on the button on the left. Do so and also note down the path where the cloned environment has been installed, appearing below the name. It should be something like C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\ESRI\conda\envs\arcgispro-py3-clone. Then click the OK button. You often need to restart Pro to get this change to take effect, and you may see a message telling you to restart.

Now perform the following steps to install PyScripter:

1. Download the installer from PyScripter's soureceforge download page. here [5]
2. Follow the steps to install it, Checking the additional shortcuts if you want those features. Create a desktop shortcut does what it says it does. A Quick Launch shortcut is placed in the Task Bar, and the Add 'Edit' with PyScripter' to File Explorer context menu adds the option to use PyScripter in the menu that appears when you right click on a file.
3. Click the Install button and follow the prompts. Check the Launch PyScripter and click Finish.
4. Once PyScripter opens, we need to point it to the cloned environment we made. To do this, find the Python 3.x (64-bit) on the bottom bar . Your Python might mbe different, and that is ok for now. Click on the Python and it will open a window listing all of the Python environments it found. If your clone is not listed, you need to click on the gear with the plus and navigate to where it was created. You can get this path by referring to the Package Manage in Pro. Once you get to the parent folder of the environment, select it and it will add it to the list of Unregistered Versions.
5. Double click on the environment to activate it. If you get an Abort Error, click ok to close the prompt.
6. Verify that your environment is active. It will have a large arrow next to it. Close the Python Versions window.
   
7. It is a good idea to close the application and restart it to ensure that it saves your activated environment. If the settings revert back to the defaults, repeat the step 4 through 7 again and it should save.

If you're unable to click Install (e.g. it's greyed out) and get an error message stating "Note: Cannot modify the default Python environment. Clone and activate a new environment.", go back to what is said above about cloning the environment and activating the clone, and make sure you performed these steps correctly (you may need to restart Pro).

If you are familiar with another IDE you're welcome to use it instead of PyScripter (just verify that it is using Python 3!) but we recommend that you still install PyScripter to be able to work through the following sections and the sections on debugging in Lesson 2.

If you haven't already, now would be a good time to complete the process for setting up your Penn State OneID by following the steps below.

1. Setting up your Penn State Account.
2. Set up a Penn State OneID account at https://accounts.psu.edu/ [6]
3. Select “New to Penn State?”. When you complete this step continue to b,
4. Email me at jmk649@psu.edu [7] or (reply to this email) your name, Penn State OneID accounts (both the alphanumeric and 9-digit accounts), and your preferred email address for course communication. You can use this a template:
   1. name: Student
   2. User ID:     aaaNNNN
   3. Penn State ID:  123456789
   4. Preferred email:  
   5. If you would fill out these questions, it will help me gauge your experience level and reasons for taking this course.
      1. Why are you taking this course?
      2. Do you have any experience in programming? If yes, what languages?
      3. What do you hope to achieve with the skills you will gain from the completion of the course?
5. I’ll enter your account and add you to the course so you can access Penn State’s Canvas Learning System.