[Mapserver-users] A STYLE with no COLOR is hardly a STYLE

[Ryan, Adam]

Dear List,

I'm having a hard time with the concept of treating polygons as lines when
there is no COLOR parameter in a STYLE object.  This seriously limits the
great improvement that stacked STYLE objects provide by essentially
forbidding a foreground color of a line-type STYLE.  Many STYLE objects that
render wonderfully in line-type LAYERs are simply not reproducible in
polygon-type LAYERs. 

For example, if I want to use a 'railroad tie' style as an outline of a
simple fill style in a polygon-type layer, I'd want to use a symbol like
this that works in line-type layers:

SYMBOL
  NAME "tie"
  TYPE truetype
  FONT "arial"
  CHARACTER "|"
  GAP 10
END  

Problem is, with no COLOR parameter (which I can't use because it would
cause the features to be filled by this symbol) all I can get is a 3 pixel
wide outlined character if I use OUTLINECOLOR, or nothing at all.

Is this correct or am I missing something here?

The push toward STYLE objects is right on, so why not put a TYPE parameter
in the STYLE object?

Adam Ryan
GIS Analyst
Linn County GIS Department
County Courthouse / Room 25
300 SW Fourth Ave.
Albany, OR 97321
541.812.8760
aryan at co.linn.or.us