[mapguide-internals] Re: OpenLayers + SVG = MapGuide Vector Viewer

[Zac Spitzer]

http://www.polymaps.org/ is interesting

On 17 Sep 2010 23:23, "Trevor Wekel" <trevor_wekel at otxsystems.com> wrote:
> Hi Jason,
>
> I do not believe this is a greenfield project. It leverages our existing
software stack. We'd be using and building infrastructure around the
currently available support for vector layers in OpenLayers. In fact, we may
not touch anything to do with SVG. The OpenLayers project will (hopefully)
handle SVG-on-IE9 for us. Here's some doc links for OpenLayers
>
> http://dev.openlayers.org/apidocs/files/OpenLayers/Feature/Vector-js.html
> http://dev.openlayers.org/apidocs/files/OpenLayers/Layer/Vector-js.html
>
> Fusion is build on OpenLayers. You can use OpenLayers vector layers in
Fusion today if you are willing to write some javascript. What we will be
doing with Fusion is to really leverage that functionality.
>
> There will definitely be code change for Fusion. Most of control
functionality is implemented in Fusion and things like selection and
attributes/properties display will change dramatically. Can we support the
old interaction model and new interaction model side-by-side in the same
javascript code base without turning it into spaghetti-scipt? I hope so.
>
> This will definitely be an interesting "enhancement" project. And
maintaining backward compatibility for existing clients will force us to
think a little harder on how we implement it. A well thought out RFC
detailing all the API changes will be required. We may have to break it into
multiple RFCs for readability purposes:
>
> JSON Transport of Features
> Client based Selection and Properties display
> OpenLayers based Vector Rendering and Stylization
> Client based Layer Legend
> (additional controls... Measure, markup, etc)
>
>
> Regards,
> Trevor
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: mapguide-internals-bounces at lists.osgeo.org [mailto:
mapguide-internals-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of Jason Birch
> Sent: September 17, 2010 12:33 AM
> To: MapGuide Internals Mail List
> Subject: Re: [mapguide-internals] Re: OpenLayers + SVG = MapGuide Vector
Viewer
>
> I should be clear that I wasn't asking for IE6 support (given up on that a
> long time ago) just to make allowances for IE8, the last XP browser. And
> I'm not convinced that Opera support is a requirement either.
>
> Perhaps I misunderstand the effort, but if SVG is just another layer type
in
> OpenLayers it sure doesn't seem like it would be easier to build another
> custom viewing framework from scratch than to extend Fusion. We'll have to
> support rasters anyway to display imagery in the SVG viewer.
>
> Greenfield implementations are sexy and easier for developers to manage,
but
> are incredibly bad for implementers, their clients, and their end users.
> Many of us are not in a position where we can realistically dictate to our
> end users, especially not if it means ruling out computers that are only
> three years old, or re-implementing our UI from scratch after only a year
of
> semi-stability. Massive change is almost always bad. I only sometimes
agree
> with Joel, but in this case he's dead right:
> http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000069.html
>
> Jason
>
> On 16 September 2010 14:24, Dave Wilson wrote:
>
>> Actually IE6 is not included in the pretending :)
>>
>>
>>
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ie/archive/2008/08/27/introducing-compatibility-view.aspx
>>
>> Basically it allows IE8 to pretend to be IE7.
>>
>> Sadly given the nature of security issues today it's not reasonable to
>> expect support for IE6. Unfortunately that means there is a lot of code
out
>> there that needs updating. It requires a lot of engineering to support 5
>> common browsers (Opera, Chrome, Safari, IE and Firefox) and their legacy
>> versions. Trying QA'ing 9 or 10 browser versions...that doesn't even
include
>> the code required to handle all the cases as generally one set of code
does
>> not behave the same in all browsers. It's not just a little bit of extra
>> engineering effort. Given the time frame MG is developed in Enterprise vs
OS
>> you can't fault either side for having to cut things off. If we just
>> "engineered it a little bit more" each time we'd never deliver anything.
>>
>> Old users will still have AJAX, but if you want the cool new stuff you
have
>> to upgrade. Consider online banking. If you don't use the browser the
bank
>> dictates you don't get to log on. It's that simple. Upgrading is a way of
>> life. Unfortunately the history of browsers and html standards has
created a
>> large gap with IE6 that people and governments will have to deal with.
>>
>> Conceptually I like Trevor's breakdown in terms of supporting what you
can
>> given the browser version, but if customers want your service they will
have
>> to use what you dictate. Hopefully you don't do major upheavals like this
>> often. The move to MGE was a big one after how many years? The
deprecation
>> of DWF was sad, but given it's platform specific and was another free
tool
>> that required a significant amount of resources to produce you can't
fault
>> Autodesk for cutting back in hard times just like everyone else. The fact
>> you can even get MGOS is still huge.
>>
>> Just another point of view.
>> Regards,
>> Dave
>>
>>
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