[mapguide-internals] A RFC proposal

[Kenneth, GEOGRAF A/S]

I would like to propose a Rfc:

Currencly, the runtime map is stored on the server as an attachment to a 
dummy resource in the session repository. This version of the map is in 
a binary format, and is thus not easily accessible by thirdparty 
software (eg. not using the server API).

I suppose the internal format is used for speed concerns. If that is the 
case, it would be unwise to remove the internal usage of the binary format.

As the map definition is already defined as Xml and used in the library 
repository, there should be a method to convert the binary format to xml 
and vice versa. If this option was avalible from the Web API, one could 
disregard this internal format, and avoid creating binary serializers 
and deserializers.

If the coversion allowed updating an existing binary format with xml, 
the changelists in the binary format could also be updated the reflect 
the difference between the two versions, and everything should work as 
before.

The two methods i propose in the Web API are:

GetXmlMap(string resourceid)
SetXmlMap(string resourceid, bool create)

The resourceid should point to an existing dummy resource, that contains 
the current runtime map, eg "Session:???//Map1.Map".
The create parameter can be used to overwrite the map, or update it.

-- 
Regards, Kenneth, GEOGRAF A/S