[mapserver-users] WMS getFields ?

[Kralidis,Tom [Burlington]]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: mapserver-users-bounces at lists.osgeo.org 
> [mailto:mapserver-users-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of 
> Guillaume Sueur
> Sent: 11 March, 2008 1:04 PM
> To: mapserver-users at lists.osgeo.org
> Subject: [mapserver-users] WMS getFields ? 
> 
> Hi list,
> 
> Is there a way to retrieve the fields published for a 
> particular WMS ressource without passing throught a 
> getFeatureInfo on an existing location ?
> I'm trying to build a list of fields for WMS ressource, and 
> I'd like to be able to do that without building a specific 
> web service.
> 
> 

For an SLD-enabled WMS (which is what MapServer supports), you can issue
a DescribeLayer request against the layer, i.e.:

http://example.org/wms?service=WMS&version=1.1.1&request=DescribeLayer&l
ayers=foo

..and then use the output to bind a WFS DescribeFeatureType requests
against the Query/@typeName

Or, you can use mapscript WxS support to support a "GetFieled"
operation, which would just be a tunnel to a WFS DescribeFeatureType
request.

..Tom