request for comment: adding xslt processing to mapserver

[Frank Warmerdam]

Paul Spencer wrote:
> Correct, it could be accomplished using WxS.  One of the objectives of 
> this work would be to reduce the IT infrastructure requirements for 
> deploying new OGC services.   Using WxS is equivalent to using an 
> external service in this case, and would require the following 
> additional steps beyond using a mapserv cgi:
> 
> * building and installing mapserv with a mapscript extension
> * configuring web server for the particular flavour of mapscript you 
> want to use
> * ensuring the scripting language has packages for xml and xslt
> * writing/maintaining code in the mapscript language to implement the 
> parsing and transformation
> * maintaining the scripting language installation over time as security 
> patches come out (etc)

Paul,

I don't honestly find this a compelling argument.  I'd think the project
could be cast as producing some php functions to do the xslt via mapscript.
If a person is using pre-built binaries like MS4W or FGS that includes
php then presumably all the other stuff would be taken care of.

You could use the same argument to say that we should write a "mapserver
scripting language" so folks don't have to futz about with an external
scripting language environment.

Nevertheless, if xslt support can be easily (and optionally) added to the
mapserver core without undue complications then I think it would be desirable.

I must confess I haven't been able to follow all the discussions in this
thread, though some of Steve's early concerns about it being hard to maintain
a consistent view of a service like WFS if xslt transformations have to be
applied to capabilities, queries, results and so forth.  I'm also
quite concerned that we not put ourselves in a box where full GML results
have to be held in some sort of memory document tree organization before they
are converted to xml.  To me this suggests applying libxml2 to WFS query
results is a problem.

Sorry if the above have already been responded too.  No need to answer them
for me - I'm mostly planning to sit this issue out.  Call me a "0".

Best regards,
-- 
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I set the clouds in motion - turn up   | Frank Warmerdam, warmerdam at pobox.com
light and sound - activate the windows | http://pobox.com/~warmerdam
and watch the world go round - Rush    | President OSGeo, http://osgeo.org