Build shapefiles with PHP/MapScript

[G-Net Consulting]

Hello list!

I'm new to MapServer, and, with the gmap example code,
have built the map I'm looking for.

Now I'm looking to build my own shapefile, based on the
latitude/longitude of data in a MySQL db.  The data is
pulled from a monthly update published via CD.  So I think
the best way is to "simply" build the shapefile when I
update the db, instead of querying everytime for data
that's not changing.

I'm having a problem finishing the code.  My data is currently
stored like the following (taken from the DBF file built):

=============================================
ID,State,Location Name,Serial #,Latitude,Longitude
5938, AK, CHUGIAK, NG  943265, 612701, 1491918
6120, AK, ANCHORAGE, NG  954376, 611341, 1494241
6125, AK, MULDOON, NG  954377, 611354, 1494234
6121, AK, FORT RICHARDSON, NG  954378, 611425, 1494110
6122, AK, FORT RICHARDSON, NG  954379, 611646, 1493744
=============================================

I was trying to use the code from the MapScript PHP example
to do it.  Here's a snippet:

=============================================
// produce shapefile
 function createPoint($longitude, $latitude, $plotID, $state, $plotName,
$serialNum) {
     GLOBAL $shpFile, $dbfFile;

     // create our point
  $oShp = ms_newShapeObj(MS_SHP_POINT);
     $newPoint = ms_newPointObj();
  $newPoint->setXY($latitude, $longitude);
  $oLine = ms_newLineObj();
     $oLine->addXY($latitude, $longitude);
     $oShp->add($oLine);
     $shpFile->addShape($oShp);

     // Write attribute record
     dbase_add_record($dbfFile, array($plotID, $state, $plotName,
$serialNum, $latitude, $longitude));
 }

 // create our array of dbase columns to write
 $arrFields = array(array("ID", "N", 4, 0),
        array("XSC", "C", 4),
        array("RAL", "C", 24),
        array("SER", "C", 10),
        array("XLA", "C", 6),
        array("XLG", "C", 7));

 // set our variables to save our files as
 $shpFname = "/var/www/html/gmf/data/gmf";
 $shpFile = ms_newShapeFileObj($shpFname, MS_SHP_POINT);
 $dbfFile = dbase_create("/var/www/html/gmf/data/gmf.dbf", $arrFields);

 // loop through our query, and process accordingly
 while ($qryRow = mysql_fetch_array($qryPlots)) {
  // create compliant lat/long values
  $latitude = substr($qryRow["XLA"], 0, strlen($qryRow["XLA"]) - 1);
  $longitude = substr($qryRow["XLG"], 0, strlen($qryRow["XLG"]) - 1);
  if (substr($longitude, 0, 1) == 0) {
   $longitude = substr($longitude, 1, strlen($qryRow["XLG"]));
  }
  // create our points
  createPoint($longitude, $latitude, $qryRow["ID"], $qryRow["XSC"],
$qryRow["RAL"], $qryRow["SER"]);
 }
=============================================

I need to get those sensors to display on my map.  A shapefile is created,
but WAY not what I need it to be.

Any help would be appreciated.  Thanks for your time.

Joel

Details:
PHP 4.3.8 (cgi)
MapServer version 4.2.1 OUTPUT=PNG OUTPUT=JPEG OUTPUT=WBMP OUTPUT=PDF
SUPPORTS=PROJ SUPPORTS=FREETYPE SUPPORTS=WMS_SERVER SUPPORTS=WMS_CLIENT
SUPPORTS=WFS_SERVER SUPPORTS=WFS_CLIENT INPUT=OGR INPUT=GDAL INPUT=SHAPEFILE
Linux Red Hat 9 (Fedora)