[mapserver-dev] Is WFS PROPERTYNAME overriding gml_include_items intentional?

[Yewondwossen Assefa]

  Hi Frank,

  You are right, we should filter it through the 
gml_include/exclude_items to make sure that protected fields are not 
returned.
I have added this and will correct it. [1]

Another point related to this is that PROPERTYNAME is defined as being a 
parameter that allows to enumerate " ..which of the non-mandatory 
properties should be included in the response to a GetFeature 
request...". This implies that some fields could be defined as mandatory 
and some as optional. Although this might seem not that important for 
most user, OGC Cite tests (for WFS 1.1) requires this support to pass a 
series of test. I did note this requirement in a bug [2] and will 
address it for 6.0. One idea would be to have the ability to define 
which fileds are mandatory using item_[name]_mandatory = true and use 
the propertyname parameter to augment the manadatory fileds with the 
optional fields.  I believe if we process this at the WFS level and the 
result is used to set gml_inlcude_items, then the different writers will 
not be affected.


[1]:http://trac.osgeo.org/mapserver/ticket/3563
  [2]: http://trac.osgeo.org/mapserver/ticket/3319

best regards,

On 08/10/2010 8:13 PM, Frank Warmerdam wrote:
> Assefa,
>
> From reading the PROPERTYNAME code in mapwfs.c it appears that it is
> possible for a WFS GetFeature request to ask for properties that were
> not in the users gml_include_items metadata and the gml_include_items
> value is just overridden.
>
> Is this the intended behavior?  My understanding from reading the
> documentation is that by not listing an item in gml_include_items it
> was be protected from clients, but perhaps I was reading too much into
> the documentation with regard to intent.
>
> So, is the gml_include_items intended to *protect* fields that aren't
> listed from being accessible?  Or is it just intended as a way of 
> limiting
> the fields in a default WFS response for the sake of avoiding low value
> junk in the response?
>
> Best regards,


-- 
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Assefa Yewondwossen
Software Analyst

Email: yassefa at dmsolutions.ca
http://www.dmsolutions.ca/

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