[mapguide-internals] MapStudio OS

[Kenneth, GEOGRAF A/S]

Hi list.

I have a feeling that the main barrier for newcomers to the MapGuide 
Open Source project, is the fact that they have to start out purchasing 
Autodesk MapGuide Studio.
I also want to customize certain aspects in Autodesk MapGuide Studio, 
such as extra "bult in" menus and the like. Autodesk has replied that 
they do not currently support this.
I have been looking at WebStudio, but it lacks some features, notable 
the WebLayout feature. I also dislike web applications for operations 
that I do more than occasionally.
On top of that, browser security restrictions limits the possible 
potential for the application.

To remedy all of the above, I have created a standalone GUI application, 
that looks a bit like MapGuide Studio, and supports some of the things 
MapGuide Studio supports.
I have released the application under the LGPL license, so that a third 
party company (ea. Autodesk), may redistribute the binaries, packed with 
proprietary extensions.

The application has most of the framework ready, and has basic editors 
for layer, layout, map and featuresource. Some functions are still 
missing, like line width, point styling on symbol libraries, layer draw 
order etc.
Some things do work, like creating a featuresource, layer, map and layout.
It does not have a preview functionality yet.

The code is written in managed C#, .Net 1.1. It should work on mono, but 
there are some missing functionality in System.Windows.Forms, so it 
might not.
It contains a fully independant client library that uses only the Web 
API, and fully managed code.

If anyone wants to contribute to the project, I am open for questions to 
the code.

I have written a page with some pros and cons for the project:
http://www.hexad.dk/opensource/mapstudio.html

The page contains screenshots, binaries and source code.

I would like this project to eventually become part of the MapGuide Open 
Source project (or at least the OSGeo website).
How do I apply for that?

Please note that this project is my own hobby project, and is unrelated 
to GEOGRAF A/S.

-- 
Regards, Kenneth, GEOGRAF A/S