[mapserver-users] msLoadMap(): Unable to access file.

Mon Sep 9 19:48:15 EDT 2002

Hello MapServer listers;

I recently downloaded and successfully installed the MapServer Itasca demo
(itasca3.5.tar.gz), but have since been unable to get the application going
using my own data.  (We're running IIS 5.0 on Windows 2000, and I'm using
the pre-compiled MapServer exe found in ms36gif_wms.zip.)  I - naively -
edited the mapfile in the demo data to reflect shapefiles I placed in the
"data" folder, and updated the layer names in the demo_init.html file,
thinking it might work.  Alas, no luck.  I get the error message:
msLoadMap(): Unable to access file.
(c:\inetpub\wwwroot\mapserver\map236.map).  Much hacking, template and map
file references in hand, has not helped.

Then I tried constructing a very simple map file, with a very simple
template; still no luck: same message.  I know the demo works, so the IIS
permissions etc. should be OK.  Can anyone give me a clue why else I might
be receiving this error message?  Alternatively, does anyone have a
drop-dead simple set of initialization, map and template files for
displaying one shapefile from which I could start building a working app?
(The on-line tutorial doesn't seem to show all the files needed to construct
a browsable map, just the mapfile listing.)   Thanks in advance for any
help.

The template file:

<html>
<head><title>MapServer Map 236 Demo</title></head>
<td valign="top" align=center>
<body bgcolor=#FFFFFF>

<center><h1>MapServer Map 236 Demo</h1></center>
<hr>
<form method=GET action="[program]">

<center>
<table border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=4 bgcolor="#000000">
<tr>
  <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0">
    <tr><td colspan="2"><INPUT NAME="img" TYPE="image" SRC="[img]" width=600
height=600 border=0></td></tr>
    <tr>
      <td>&nbsp;<font size=-1 face="arial,helvetica"
color="#FFFFFF"><b>Powered by MapServer</b></font></td>
    </tr>
  </table>
</td>

The map file:

WEB
  TEMPLATE map236.html	
END

NAME MAP236
EXTENT 150000 5400000 875000 6650000
SIZE 600 600
SHAPEPATH "data"
LAYER
  NAME "MAP236"	
  DATA geol_py
  STATUS ON
  TYPE POLYGON
  CLASS
    COLOR 220 220 220
    OUTLINECOLOR 0 0 0
  END # end of class object
END # end of layer object
END # end of map file

I'm testing these with the following URL:

http://mywebserver/cgi-bin/mapserv.exe?map=c%3A%5Cinetpub%5Cwwwroot%5Cmapser
ver%5Cmap236.map&layer=geol_py&zoomsize=2&program=%5Ccgi-bin%5Cmapserv.exe&m
ap_web_imagepath=c%3A%5Cinetpub%5Cwwwroot%5Ctmp%5C&map_web_imageurl=%5Ctmp%5
C

Joan Waters, P.Geol.
Alberta Geological Survey, Alberta Energy and Utilities Board
joan.waters at gov.ab.ca

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