[mapserver-dev] Proposal to add built-in OpenLayers map viewer

[Lime, Steve D (DNR)]

So where are we at? I do like the idea. The technical solution, IMHO, will probably point to how this might work operationally. For example, if the plan were to simply embed a HTML/OL template in code then a mode=openlayers would make sense. However, if the template were stored externally and a basic one shipped with MapServer then I'd opt for mode=browse&template=openlayers. The advantage of the external templates is extensibility and users could edit the one(s) provided or add their own. They could also disable the functionality altogether by removing all templates. The downside is setting up access and then security. If external templates used the templating code and magic strings that would mitigate many issues...

Steve

From: mapserver-dev-bounces at lists.osgeo.org [mailto:mapserver-dev-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of Tamas Szekeres
Sent: Friday, September 24, 2010 4:46 PM
To: Daniel Morissette
Cc: MapServer Dev List
Subject: Re: [mapserver-dev] Proposal to add built-in OpenLayers map viewer

Daniel,

Adding a viewer with zoom and pan capabilities is a good idea which is better then having a single image in some cases. I foresee a reasonable Web administration interface to mapserver could also be established by such additions which would be a requirement too.
However embedding code from a separate project seems to be a hassle, though the technical solution hasn't yet been mentioned in the ticket.

I would be in favour of doing either:

1. Create a simple  (mapserver specific) .js to provide the required functionality (which could be extended later with further options)
2. Provide a (pluggable) interface for use by the potential viewers in mapserver, and  create a separate support package for at least one (like openlayers for instance) and include the external code to this package.


(Just to put my 2 cents in)

Best regards,

Tamas




2010/9/24 Daniel Morissette <dmorissette at mapgears.com<mailto:dmorissette at mapgears.com>>
This was discussed at the code sprint in Barcelona, and I just created a
ticket for it. We'd like to add this to 6.0... but I am realizing just
now that maybe I should start with a RFC...

Anyway, here is what I wrote in the ticket, please feel free to comment,
keeping in mind this has to remain __simple__:

http://trac.osgeo.org/mapserver/ticket/3549

Every once in a while we get requests for a simple way to test a
mapfile. One way to handle this could be to do as GeoServer does and
provide a built-in OpenLayers based map viewer. In the GeoServer case,
this viewer is returned when one issues a WMS GetMap request with
format=application/openlayers in it.

I propose that we provide a similar functionality in MapServer, which
would be triggered in one of two ways:

1- Using mapserv?map=/path/to/my.map&'''mode=openlayers''' ... in this
case the viewer would be initialized based on the mapfile defaults, and
some of the traditional mapserv CGI params may also work (such as map
size, layer selection, etc.)

2- Using '''format=application/openlayers''' in a WMS GetMap request as
GeoServer does. Note that in this case the rest of the GetMap parameters
would be used to configure the map to view (BBOX, WIDTH, HEIGHT, LAYERS,
etc.)

Both cases would call the same function internally to produce a simple
OpenLayeres viewer with one singletile layer for the whole map with the
selected layers.


--
Daniel Morissette
http://www.mapgears.com/
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