[MapServer-dev] Adding a STYLES parameter to GetStyles requests

[Steve Lime]

Would style ids be just index values (e.g. 0 for the first style
associated) or names? I have no issues conceptually with the addition -
good idea!

On Mon, Sep 28, 2026 at 12:06 PM Seth G via MapServer-dev <
mapserver-dev at lists.osgeo.org> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I've been working on the MapServer SLD functionality recently, and making
> use of GetStyles WMS requests to return SLD for client-side styling in
> OpenLayers (thanks to the newly graduated OSGeo project GeoStyler [1]).
>
> Currently all styles for a layer are returned for a GetStyles request. For
> example:
>
>
> https://mapserver-workshop-k8hvw.ondigitalocean.app/?map=/etc/mapserver/polygons.map&REQUEST=GetStyles&SERVICE=WMS&VERSION=1.3.0&LAYERS=buildings
>
> Has 2 different styles (defined by the GROUP of the CLASSes in a LAYER in
> the Mapfile):
>
> <UserStyle>
> <se:Name>university</se:Name>
> ...
> <UserStyle>
> <se:Name>other</se:Name>
> ...
>
> It would be nice to be able to pick just one of these by supplying a
> STYLES= parameter, in the same way GetMap, GetFeatureInfo and
> GetLegendGraphic work. Reusing it for GetStyles keeps the same meaning and
> the same comma-separated, one style per layer format.
>
> In terms of other software, GeoServer seems to support GetStyles [2], but
> I see no mention of it in their docs [3].
> QGIS also supports GetStyles [4], but has no STYLES= parameter.
>
> GetStyles is hard to track down in terms of where it fits with WMS version
> numbers, WMS 1.1.1 has no GetStyles, but the SLD 1.0.0 specification
> extends WMS 1.1.x with it. WMS 1.3.0 uses SLD 1.1.0, which seems to have
> dropped GetStyles completely. However MapServer still supports it for all
> WMS versions. It is documented in
> https://docs.ogc.org/is/02-070/02-070/pdf in section 13.1
>
> Adding a "vendor" parameter of STYLES would be a handy addition to
> MapServer, and may also help with implementing OGC API Styles which has a
> URL per style (/collections/{id}/styles/{styleId}. If the parameter is
> missing or empty all styles would be returned as in the current case.
>
> Anyone with thoughts/comments on the above?
>
> Seth
>
>
>
> [1] https://www.osgeo.org/projects/geostyler/
> [2]
> https://discourse.osgeo.org/t/geoserver-devel-does-getstyles-work-in-geoserver-2-12/104946
> [3] https://docs.geoserver.org/main/
> [4]
> https://docs.qgis.org/3.44/en/docs/server_manual/services/wms.html#wms-getstyle
> _______________________________________________
> MapServer-dev mailing list
> MapServer-dev at lists.osgeo.org
> https://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/mapserver-dev
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/mapserver-dev/attachments/20260930/ac7f5069/attachment.htm>