WFS GetFeature Filters and character case

[Yewondwossen Assefa]

Tom,

   There is nothing in the sepcs AFAIK that really discusses the
case-(in)sensitive issue (so in the case of Mapserver, the values are
taken as is).

  I agree It can be quite useful in the case you described. I have
entered an enhancement bug for it
(http://mapserver.gis.umn.edu/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=1219) and depending
on time/financing, It can be adressed for future releases.

Later,



Kralidis,Tom [Burlington] wrote:

> Hi,
>
> When I query my MapServer WFS with a filter (like PropertyIsEqualTo or
> PropertyIsLike), the queries must be passed as case-sensitive with what
> is in the underlying repository.  For example, if I have a table with a
> record with a column value named "Birds":
>
> This works:
>
> <Filter>
>  <PropertyIsEqualTo>
>   <PropertyName>title</PropertyName>
>   <Literal>Birds</Literal>
>  </PropertyIsEqualTo>
> </Filter>
>
> This doesn't:
>
> <Filter>
>  <PropertyIsEqualTo>
>   <PropertyName>title</PropertyName>
>   <Literal>birds</Literal>
>  </PropertyIsEqualTo>
> </Filter>
>
> I couldn't find anything in the Filter 1.0.0 spec w.r.t. this.
>
> I find this cumbersome, especially in the context of having a WFS as a
> search server.  A WFS client with no prior knowledge may not be able to
> fetch the results it's looking for due to case sensitive input.
>
> My question is: whose problem is this?  Does the Filter spec allow for
> case-insensitive filters?  If no, the spec does allow a WFS to advertise
> and support user-defined functions.  Perhaps MapServer WFS can support
> such a function?
>
> While we're on this topic, some useful enhancements for WFS functions
> would be:
>
> - Min()
> - Max()
> - Average()
>
> ..Tom
>
>


--
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Assefa Yewondwossen
Software Analyst

Email: assefa at dmsolutions.ca
http://www.dmsolutions.ca/

Phone: (613) 565-5056 (ext 14)
Fax:   (613) 565-0925
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