"Capturing" mapserver images

[Stephen Davies]

Greetings.

I need to be able to present a series of maps for "time lapse" display.

The PostgreSQL database behind the mapserver application in question 
contains both geometry and time-based attribute values and the map file 
currently used to display the data uses layers, filters and classes to 
colour geometries according to current attribute values.

The idea is to somehow capture the images showing the geometry states 
at, for example, noon each day for the past month and then use 
javascript to display those images as a "movie" similar to those 
provided by many weather bureaux.

I have tried doing it simply by pausing in the browser between repaint 
requests but there is too much variability between browsers and - in 
particular - between broadband and dialup users.

I know I could achieve the objective by writing a PERL or Java program 
to emulate a browser, retrieve the output image name and ignore the 
output but wondered if there were a simpler method such as invoking 
mapserver in map mode from a shell.

Any suggestions and/or advice would be most welcome.

Cheers and thanks,
Stephen Davies
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