[Mapserver-users] Connecting to Oracle 9i to set and retrieve data

[Jean-Francois.Doyon at CCRS.NRCan.gc.ca]

Barbara,

Well, depends if said users update geometry, or only attributes.

One way I've used successfully, is to use MapServer CGI, and have in the
.dbf of the shapefile an "index" type value(s), that correlates with data in
your database.

You then create a query template that redirects to a script you wrote (in
any language you like) that takes said index value(s) and generates output
from database queries (a "manual" JOIN if you will). This is limited in
functionality, but simplicity is allways a good thing, and this design works
great if it's what you need.

If for some reason you need more control and flexibility, then yes MapScript
would be your next best option. You can do lots and lots of things at this
point, and most likely whatever it is you're trying to achieve, if the first
solution I proposed doesn't work for you, then using mapscript most
definitely will.

For the updating of your database, MapServer is NOT the tool for that
obviously.

Hope this helps!
J.F.


-----Original Message-----
From: Barbara H. Hageman [mailto:barbara at integ.com]
Sent: Friday, February 14, 2003 8:59 AM
To: mapserver-users at lists.gis.umn.edu
Subject: [Mapserver-users] Connecting to Oracle 9i to set and retrieve
data


Hi everyone,

I'm hoping someone can just point me in the right direction here.  We are
currently generating shapefiles from data in our Oracle database (based on
user selections) which in turn are used by Mapserver.  This is working out
great.  But now, I need to add the capability for the user to update
database records.  I also need to add the capability to display additional
database information dynamically (when the user clicks on the map).  I can't
add the additional information to the shapefile for various reasons.  It has
to be retrieved when the user specifically asks for it.  I'm confused as to
what I should be looking at now, Mapscript?, Mapserver CGI?, customizing the
Mapserver source code?. We are running Mapserver 3.6.4 on Linux and Oracle
9i (not spatial) on Solaris.

Thanks in advance for your help,
Barbara Hageman

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