[mapserver-dev] pdf output development?

[Brent Fraser]

thomas bonfort wrote:
> On Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 01:45, Steve Lime <Steve.Lime at dnr.state.mn.us> wrote:
>> Hi Brent: It's neat to see the possibilities in this area. As an asside I don't think format options
>> will be useful though. Just too many options. I've wondered if XHTML/CSS could be used, kinda
>> like query templates. You'd reserve space for the map, legend etc... with css and div's and render
>> to that space with the appropriate driver.  (wonders about tools like webkit, gecko,...) Would be
>> great to author a map layout in a web editor with text and stuff like that surrounding the map. If
>> you could do that you'd have a winner. Easy to create with a true map-like presentation.
> 
> My first reaction is I'd be a bit reluctant to have that kind of
> functionality inside the mapserver code.
> Camptocamp has been working on getting print output that does just
> what you've presented I think, by preparing a template for the
> placement of the map, copyright, comments, etc, and then letting those
> be filled in the user interface. The backend uses mapserver's svg
> outputformat.
> 
> check it out here:
> http://demo.mapfish.org/mapfishsample/trunk/examples/print/simple.html
> 

My goal is to enhance Mapserver just a little to make it's PDF (and SVG?) output more digestible to other page layout/scripting tools and let them do the majority of the layout operations.   

Brent