[gdal-dev] RFC 35: Delete, reorder and alter field definitions of OGR layers - Call for discussion

[Even Rouault]

Hi,

I've written a new RFC to add the capability to delete fields, reorder fields 
and alter field definitions, in OGR layer definitions.

	http://trac.osgeo.org/gdal/wiki/rfc35_deletereorderalterfielddefn

Currently, an OGR layer definition can only be altered to add a new field 
definition with OGRLayer::CreateField(). It is desirable to extend OGR 
capabilities to be able to delete, reorder and alter field definitions of 
existing layers. Such wish has been expressed in ticket #2671 and comes back 
regularly on QGIS mailing list (e.g. http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/qgis-
user/2011-May/011935.html). QGIS currently has a "Table Manager" extension to 
work around the lack of DeleteField(), so a proper solution is clearly needed.

I'd appreciate review and comments. I've attached a patch to ticket 
http://trac.osgeo.org/gdal/ticket/2671 with the implementation, as well as a 
Python test.

Best regards,

Even