[mapguide-internals] Potential legend enhancements (was RFC 50-Hide Legend Styles)

[Jason Birch]

Thanks Maksim,

Personally, I'd really rather see this kind of core change made at the
server level so that all users could benefit from it.  The less custom
code required, the more easy it will be to migrate maps from one release
to the next.

My main reason for this change is that my existing MapGuide 6.5 maps
allow me to collapse multiple layers into a single "group" that doesn't
show up as clearly as a folder.  My existing users are going to find it
confusing to click on a folder to turn it on, and then get no visual
representation of what the layers contained in that folder look like.
I'm going to have to do this though, because I can't let them turn the
layers within the group on/off independently.  

MapGuide 6.5 only shows the symbology of the uppermost layer in the
group in this case, so it certainly shouldn't be used as a reference
implementation, but it's better than nothing :)

If there is no further feedback on this (such as, "that's a terrible
idea"), I'll put in an enhancement request.

Jason

-----Original Message-----
From: Maksim Sestic
Subject: RE: [mapguide-internals] Potential legend enhancements (was RFC
50-Hide Legend Styles)

I don't know whether MG legend definition is constrained by certain
standards, but you may consider switching to custom solution as I did
(early
screenshots follow):

http://extjs.com/forum/showthread.php?p=107372

Yes, I'm working on some municipal solution too (spatial and zoning
plans,
cadastre, etc). It requires a bit different approach on displaying
thematic
layers since "thematic" part is very stretched term here :-) as each
spatial
plan has it's own thematic setup users are not allowed to change. BTW,
my
solution was initially designed for POI terminals so it had to follow
specific UI scenarios.

If you still want to go down MG/Fusion way, you may consider displaying
spatial/zoning plans coverage first, then when specific plan (polygon)
is
picked it should display it's contents. Specific thematic maps get
displayed
based on consecutive menu picks.

Regards,
Maksim Sestic

-----Original Message-----
From: mapguide-internals-bounces at lists.osgeo.org
[mailto:mapguide-internals-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of Jason
Birch
Sent: Friday, July 18, 2008 21:49
To: MapGuide Internals Mail List
Subject: [mapguide-internals] Potential legend enhancements (was RFC 50
-Hide Legend Styles)

Heh.

Along those lines, I've been thinking a bit about the current legend
usability.  I'll be putting these in as enhancement requests, but
thought
I'd ask for feedback first:

- Add a new setting to allow the layer to be displayed in the legend
without
the check box next to it.  This allows the theming to be shown, but does
not
allow the layer to be turned on/off.

- Add the ability to define an external resource for a folder or layer
icon,
and allow it to be hidden it entirely.

I have a couple motivations for this:

1. Some layers (like the layers comprising our official community plan)
can
not be displayed or turned on/off in isolation for legal reasons.
As such, I have had to put them all into a single folder, and not
display
any of the individual items in the folder.  This would be much more
useful
from a user perspective if I could turn off the folder icon, display the
folder as a name with a check-box, and have each of the layers shown
underneath without the checkboxes so the user can see what the theming
means.

2. Some features pull data from different layers based on scale range.
In my case, orthophotos pull data from a single layer at one level, and
multiple layers at another. Currently, I am dealing with these by
placing
them into a folder and hiding all of the layers, but it would be nice to
be
able to change the icon for the folder (to a camera?) so that it looks
like
a layer rather than a folder.

Any thoughts?

Jason