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<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=118281317-19072006>Just to throw my 2 cents into this debate:
although I would prefer an XML interface over the existing interface, I worry
that if there are 2 different interfaces that they will quickly get out of sync,
make development of new features more difficult and generally cause more bugs
than they solve.</SPAN></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=118281317-19072006></SPAN></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr align=left><FONT face=Arial color=#0000ff size=2><SPAN
class=118281317-19072006>ned.</SPAN></FONT></DIV><BR>
<DIV class=OutlookMessageHeader lang=en-us dir=ltr align=left>
<HR tabIndex=-1>
<FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>From:</B> UMN MapServer Developers List
[mailto:MAPSERVER-DEV@LISTS.UMN.EDU] <B>On Behalf Of </B>Julien,
Heryk<BR><B>Sent:</B> Tuesday, July 18, 2006 7:45 AM<BR><B>To:</B>
MAPSERVER-DEV@LISTS.UMN.EDU<BR><B>Subject:</B> [UMN_MAPSERVER-DEV] XML
Mapfiles... are we looking to far?<BR></FONT><BR></DIV>
<DIV></DIV>
<DIV class=Section1>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN lang=EN-CA
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Hi
Tamas,<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN lang=EN-CA
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">I think there are many advantages in
using xml. First, XML files are easy to create and schema validation can check
document structure while you are writing it. Schema aware editors can also give
you hints and do automatic inputs of required tags while writing mapfile
document. Yes Mapserver validates mapfiles, but I think the addition of a
mapfile structure validator like xsd would facilitate mapfile creation and
debugging.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN lang=EN-CA
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN lang=EN-CA
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Schemas can help newbie's to create
there first config files and advanced users and developers visualise,
communicate and work on the current mapfile format. I also think that it would
be easier to extend the mapfile structure in future Mapserver versions if we
where using an xml format... for example adding new OGC tags to mapfiles would
be very easy.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN lang=EN-CA
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN lang=EN-CA
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Plus with all the new xml editing
tools out there, schema creation, visualisation and validation has become a
child's play (hmmm.... well almost!). <o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN lang=EN-CA
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN lang=EN-CA
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Just as you said earlier, automating
map config creation would be another great benefit. And if Mapserver could read
non static mapfiles (via URL's), xml would be a great way to create dynamically
generated mapfiles. If we consider mapfiles as being a kind of database (or
database pointer), wouldn't it be great to be able to easily process it on the
fly? XML coupled with xsl, xpath and databases would be one great way to do that
kind of manipulation. A little like OGC WMC layers that are pointing to
different data layers (wms layers), we could have dynamically generated mapfiles
instead of one huge static file containing all data
layers.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN lang=EN-CA
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN lang=EN-CA
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Xml being rapidly more and more
widespread, ways for developers to input serialization data into Mapserver would
be much greater and flexible. Mapfile management would be more open and greatly
enhanced with the use of xml. For example a url fetched xml mapfile would enable
us to easily modify a mapfile service according to certain parameter like
language. We could thus have an automated multilingual mapfile. Currently we
have to save a static mapfile for every language. They all point to the same
data but containing language specific titles and
metadata.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN lang=EN-CA
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN lang=EN-CA
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Being an OGC fan, I think there
decision to use xml to disseminate data and ease interop has been a good choice.
In that same line of thought, I think an xml mapfiles format to serialize
Mapserver would be a logical next step.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN lang=EN-CA
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Cheers<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial">Héryk<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face=Arial size=2><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
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<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal><STRONG><B><FONT face="Brush Script MT" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Brush Script MT'">_____________________________</SPAN></FONT></B></STRONG><o:p></o:p></P>
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ProductID="Héryk Julien"><STRONG><B><FONT face="Brush Script MT" size=3><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Brush Script MT'">Héryk
Julien</SPAN></FONT></B></STRONG></st1:PersonName><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=1><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 7.5pt">Research Officer</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=1><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 7.5pt">Natural Resources Canada</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=1><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 7.5pt">490 rue de la Couronne</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><FONT face="Times New Roman" size=1><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 7.5pt">Québec, Canada</SPAN></FONT><o:p></o:p></P></DIV>
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