[mapserver-dev] RFC 61: some questions

[Frank Warmerdam]

roman wrote:
> First, thanks for this useful addition, it greatly simplifies data
> preparation for MapServer. I am testing it and I have some questions.
> 
> 1) Line pattern does not seem to work, e.g. PEN(c:#FF0000,w:2px,p:"3px
> 5px"). Is it already implemented?

Roman,

My experience is that MapServer does not honour pen patterns from OGR.
I looked at adding this a month or two ago but was intimidated by the
complexity.

> 2) Labels - OGR style specification allows to reference to other attribute
> value, e.g. LABEL(c:#FFFFFF,f:"Arial",s:1.5g,p:2,t:{TextValue}). With
> MapServer I was successful only with literal text, e.g.
> LABEL(c:#FFFFFF,f:"Arial",s:1.5g,p:2,t:"text"). Should referencing work in
> MapServer? In my case, TextValue is used for other purposes so referencing
> it would avoid redundancy.

Referencing is not implemented in mapserver, and I don't believe any existing
OGR drivers actually returned text values pulled by reference.

I think RFC 61 is an excellent step, but it is important to know that no
application implements the full set of functionality of the OGR Style
Specification including MapServer.  The details of what is implemented are
somewhat vague, and it might be desirable to make this more clear as we
make more use of the OGR style functionality.

Best regards,
-- 
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I set the clouds in motion - turn up   | Frank Warmerdam, warmerdam at pobox.com
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and watch the world go round - Rush    | Geospatial Programmer for Rent