[mapserver-users] MapScript -> flash output

[Assefa Yewondwossen]

Hi There,

 I am actually working on a Flash output using the ming library. The way It is
going to be implemented is by linking the ming libary with mapserver and use the
ming api to output vector/raster flash directly form mapserver. (The user would
be able to specify his output format as beeing Flash). There should be a first
vesion in the next weeks and of course would be improved over time. I would be
very interested to have discussions/opinions on this once the basic output
functionnalities are implemented.

 Best Regards,

Jan Hartmann wrote:

> I have experimented with Flash output for MapServer using Ming and
> PHP-MapScript. Basically there seem to be three possibilities:
>
> 1) Generate a mapfile (PNG or JPG) and convert it to SWF. You can use the
> Ming routines within PHP. Ming only supports JPG, which as a rule is not
> very suitable for maps. PNG files first have to be converted to something
> called DBL (DefineBitsLossless) format; a conversion program is in the Util
> directory of the Ming distribution. It is slow, but it works.
> Much faster is incorporating SWF output directly into MapServer, linking it
> with the Ming C-library. I replaced the call to gdImageJpeg in maputil.c
> with my own subroutines (hacked together from Ming and GD source code), so
> now my version of MapServer outputs SWF when it thinks it is generating JPG.
> This also works with the CGI version. Of course this is just a hack: a full
> implemetation of SWF output within MapServer would require adding code for
> an additional output type and embedding it in configure/make for both Unix
> and Windows (my source tree is Windows only). I don't have enough experience
> with the internals of Mapserver for this, but if anyone of the MS developers
> would care to implement this, I would be glad to contribute my conversion
> code.
>
> 2) Read out the coordinate values of the ShapeObjects (see
> http://mapserver.gis.umn.edu/wilma/mapserver-users/0204/msg00559.html how
> to). You can use these coordinates to generate an SWF-file with Ming
> server-side, or send them in some kind of ASCII-format (e.g. XML) to the
> browser and handle them there with ActionScript. This is not suitable for
> complete maps, but for individual items, such as point or query layers, you
> can get very nice results, even animated ones. For final results you can use
> a combination of bitmap and vector outputs.
>
> 3) Ideally, MapServer should be able to produce vector output directly in
> formats like SVG, GML or Flash SWF. There has  been some discussion on this
> list, including a posting by Steve Lime last year that GML output would be
> available soon (
> http://mapserver.gis.umn.edu/wilma/mapserver-users/0108/msg00249.html ), but
> I don't know how far thing have moved forward by now.  I would appreciate
> some information on this.
>
> Jan Hartmann
> Department of Geography
> University of Amsterdam
> jhart at frw.uva.nl
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-mapserver-users at lists.gis.umn.edu
> [mailto:owner-mapserver-users at lists.gis.umn.edu]On Behalf Of Enrique
> Motilla
> Sent: Thursday, May 02, 2002 5:14 AM
> To: mapserver-users at lists.gis.umn.edu
> Subject: [mapserver-users] MapScript -> flash output
>
> Hello,
>
> My name is Enrique, I would like to implement a Flash (from Macromedia)
> output to the MapScript from a php script, probably using a library such as
> ming or freemovie. I think there are two ways to do it, either get the
> Layer, Shape, Line and Point Objects within a PHP script (which by the way I
> have no clue -apart from the point object- of how to get it) and from those
> objects generate the map output as an interactive animation (SWF file). A
> second option which would be faster and more reliable would be to make an
> additional Drawing function using the ming library within the mapServer, but
> so far I have no experience with the internals of MapServer and would
> appreciate feedback in people willing to do this.
>
> The goal of doing this is just to enhance the mapping experience by panning,
> zooming and so using the flexibility of flash (so far I have made a map to
> zoom and pan with no HTML refresh, and XML-RPC connections, but now I would
> like to use MapServer as the platform in the backend).
>
> if you want to see an excellent example of mapping using this output take a
> look into: www.geofactory.com
> ming -> tool for generating SWF files from a php script:
> http://opaque.net/ming/index.html
>
> Hence, if anyone interested in giving a boost to the output of the MapServer
> either from MapScripting or directly from inside MapServer code, then it
> would be great. I'd be glad to share my experience as ActionScript
> programmer to make this an very nice way to interact with MapServer.
>
> Kindest regards from the sunny Mexico,
>
> E
> ----
> Enrique Motilla Moreno, MSc. Log.
> emotilla at ipicyt.edu.mx
> Departamento de Matemáticas Aplicadas y Sistemas Computacionales,
> Instituto Potosino de Investigación Científica y Tecnológica, A.C.
> Av. Venustiano Carranza #2425-A
> Col. Lomas, C.P. 78210
> San Luis Potosi, S.L.P.
> MEXICO
> t: +52 (444) 833 5411 ext 2043
> f: +52 (444) 833 5412

--
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Assefa Yewondwossen
Software Analyst

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

Phone: (613) 565-5056 (ext 14)
Fax:   (613) 565-0925
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