[mapserver-users] novice questions

[Stephen Lime]

- Transparent fills aren't possible yet. GD-2.0 allows alpha channel blending so this
wiil likely be supported in the future. You can achieve something kinda similar 
using hatched symbols. There was another reply to your message that goes into
that.

- MapServer cannot connect to external databases. I hope to add ODBC support
at some level in 3.5, but not for the initial release. There are work arounds using
small helper programs though that work very effectively. As long as you have a
primary key in your shapefiles you can pretty easily link apps.

- Not officially. There we're some folks maintaining similar functionally to MapScript
in a COM interface but I've no idea the status of that development.

Steve

Stephen Lime
Internet Applications Analyst

Minnesota DNR
500 Lafayette Road
St. Paul, MN 55155
651-297-2937

>>> Richard Greenwood <Rich at GreenwoodMap.com> 04/24/01 02:17PM >>>
I've spent less than a day with MapServer, so please excuse my ignorance.
It is possible to have a transparent fill, or cross hatching?
Is it possible to connect to a client-server database for attribute queries?
Is anybody using MapServer with (don't gag) Active Server Pages?

TIA,
Rich



Richard W. Greenwood, PLS
Greenwood Mapping, Inc.
Rich at GreenwoodMap.com 
(307) 733-0203 fax: 733-4018
http://www.GreenwoodMap.com