[Mapserver-users] pointObj method 'draw'

[Sean Gillies]

Manfred,

Why the difference?

First, it must be understood that the development of the MapServer 
software
is primarily driven by advances in the mapserv program, and that the
mapscript module has been developed by wrapping structures and functions
used in mapserv.  I don't think that the mapscript module has been 
through
much design, rather it grows by judicious accretion of features from
mapserv.

In mapserv, lines are only drawn within the context of layer features or
within the context of a legend, hence there is no drawing of lines only,
only the function that we wrap to use with shapeObj::draw.
Because of the need for annotation, there are functions to draw points
outside of the layer feature context and this is the basis for 
pointObj::draw.

You are right that the mapscript API implies that there may exist a
lineObj::draw, and I agree that such a function could be useful.  
However,
I am not in favor of extending the general drawing features of mapscript
in the current API.  In my opinion, pointObj::draw and shapeObj::draw 
are
elements of bad design and we shouldn't increase bad design with a
lineObj::draw.

Hope this explains, cheers,
Sean

On May 16, 2004, at 10:30 PM, Manfred Meier wrote:

> Thank you for your answer, Daniel,
>
> I knew that, and I would like to know, why there is this difference. 
> But it's not so very important.
>
> Mapserver and mapscript are very helpful for me. I'm trying to display 
> the location of busses with information about delays.
>
> Manfred
>
--
Sean Gillies
sgillies at frii dot com
http://users.frii.com/sgillies