[mapguide-dev] Unmanaged Data APIs RFC

[Jason Birch]

Looks good.
 
I would personally prefer to see a single delimiter in the returned list, as it's slightly easier to deal with in code.
 
I'm probably overly sensitive to this, but I'm wondering if the resource list will be cached on the server?  I know that the 6.5 MapGuide author caches the responses internally.  I have to hit "update" to get a new list if something (data store, feature source, feature source schema) changes in the current session.  Can we count on the clients doing this to prevent unnecessary network traffic re-enumerating the resources?
 
Jason

 
________________________________

From: Tony Fang [mailto:tony.fang at autodesk.com]
Sent: Fri 2006-11-03 4:41 PM
To: dev at mapguide.osgeo.org
Subject: RE: [mapguide-dev] Unmanaged Data APIs RFC



I've updated the RFC with the drive mappings suggestion. Any feedback on the returned list of drive mappings (using square brackets on the drive mapping name) would be appreciated.

 

 

The server's unmanaged data directories will be specified using the serverconfig.ini. A new section defining directory mappings will be used to specify the unmanaged data directories. 

For windows, it may look like this: 

[Unmanaged Data Mappings]
SomeSdfFiles = c:\mydata\sdf
Some Shp Files = d:\otherdata\shp
BigArseImages = \\some_other_machine\data\images
Some ???? DwfFiles = c:\mydata\????Dwf
??sdf = c:\mydata\bigsdf 

For linux, it may look like this: 

[Unmanaged Data Mappings]
SomeSdfFiles = /usr/mydata/sdf
Some Shp Files = /usr/otherdata/shp
BigArseImages = /mnt/some_other_machine/data/images
Some ???? DwfFiles = /usr/mydata/????Dwf
??sdf = /usr/mydata/bigsdf 

Unicode characters are supported in the mapping names. Spaces in the mappings are also supported. Square brackets [ and ] are not allowed. They are reserved characters for the serverconfig.ini section titles. 

We will add API methods to return the unmanaged data mappings, set the mappings, and also verify that the mappings are valid and accessible. 

We will add an API to enumerate the unmanaged data files available on the server machine. The files will be prefaced with their mapping names. You may enumerate all files from all the available drive mappings, or you may select a single drive mapping. 

A returned list from all available drive mappings may look like this: 

[SomeSdfFiles]world.sdf
[Some Shp Files]ecuador.shp
[Some ???? DwfFiles]large.dwf
[Some ???? DwfFiles]subdir/Big.dwf
[??sdf]reallybig.sdf 

 

 

Thanks,

Tony

 

________________________________

From: Robert Bray [mailto:rbray at robertbray.net] 
Sent: Friday, November 03, 2006 9:05 AM
To: dev at mapguide.osgeo.org
Subject: Re: [mapguide-dev] Unmanaged Data APIs RFC

 

Jason,

Good questions. In addition I think it would make sense / be highly desirable for all RFCs that add or modify APIs to include more detail with respect to those changes. It would be nice to see the actual API function signatures for example.

Bob


Jason Birch wrote: 

That would be cool.  That way we can have a theme, and a nested hierarchy within that theme if we need the complexity.  Are we restricted to single-word mappings, or will spaces be supported?  ASCII characters only or full internationalisation?
 
What about schema changes?  Will there be a way of updating the repository's knowledge of unmanaged data schemae?  Or are these maybe cached on a session basis like the RDBMS schemae?
 
There would also need to be a method that allows the author UIs to validate resources that reference unmanaged data sources, to make sure that any dependancies (properties, maptips, themes, etc) are still valid, and give a graphical indication when the world slips.
 
Jason
 
________________________________
 
From: Robert Bray [mailto:rbray at robertbray.net]
Sent: Thu 2006-11-02 10:46 PM
To: dev at mapguide.osgeo.org
Subject: Re: [mapguide-dev] Unmanaged Data APIs RFC
 
 
I too am concerned this will make data management hard for people with lots of data / multiple projects. It might be better to dedicate a section in serverconfig.ini to define path mappings as follows:
 
[Path Mappings]
SomeSdfFiles = <some path>
SomeShpFiles = <some other path>
BigArseImages = <path to SAN disk>
...
 
In Studio / Web Studio the user would be presented the list of path mappings. Once they select a path mapping they can browse all files and folders below that path.
 
My 2 cents...
 
Bob
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