[OpenLayers-Dev] Map Initialization (was [GeoExt] Map widgets)

Tim Coulter tcoulter at opengeo.org
Wed Jan 14 12:38:51 EST 2009


Thanks for the feedback, Eric. CC'ing to the OL dev list.

Back story for the OL developers: 

When working with Ext and OpenLayers, I realized that due to OpenLayer's
Map class requiring a div on initialization, my code contained a
circular dependency. The problem was that Ext's Viewport code needed
things initialized before it laid out HTML elements for each component;
on the other hand, OL needed HTML elements defined before it could
create a map. Because they both needed each other, I was at an impasse.

To get around this, I edited OpenLayers to not require a div on
initialization. At the same time, I added the named argument "renderTo"
to get rid of the reliance on positional arguments if
rendering-on-initialization was required.

http://trac.openlayers.org/changeset/8608

Examples of this code's use are here[1] and here[2]. Note that in the
second case, I'm initializing a map with no parameters.

The implementation (as far as arguments are concerned) is backwards
compatible. You can still use the positional argument if you'd like to,
but preference is given to renderTo. Neither are required. 

I'd be very interested if this is helpful for others in the community.
I'd also be happy to give more back story if needed.

On the GeoExt list (geoext at lists.opengoe.org), Eric Lemoine asked the
question:
 
> With your new OpenLayers code, can one do:
> 
> 1 map = new OpenLayers.Map();
> 2 map.addLayer(new OpenLayers.Layer.WMS());
> 3 map.render("map-div")

That was the intention, yes. Aside from needing to call some form of
setCenter/zoomToExtent/etc. after render(), the above should work.

He brought up a good bug:

> I'm concerned with addLayer failing if maxResolution is "auto" - the
> map doesn't have a div at addLayer time, so resolutions can't be
> calculated. Even if I'm correct, that may be ok, users should just be
> warned.

Is the default value for maxResolution "auto"? If not, I haven't run
into a case where this happens. Can you provide an example?

What does everyone think? I plan on opening a ticket today and
submitting a patch to get this discussion going there.

Tim

[1]
http://dev.openlayers.org/sandbox/tcoulter/teleporter/examples/teleportation.html
[2]
http://dev.openlayers.org/sandbox/tcoulter/teleporter/examples/late-render.html

On Wed, 2009-01-14 at 07:34 +0100, Eric Lemoine wrote:
> On Tue, Jan 13, 2009 at 6:55 PM, Tim Coulter <tcoulter at opengeo.org> wrote:
> > 2) It supports both passing an already-created map (as per my last
> > email), as well as allowing a configuration to be passed as this.map. In
> > the latter case, the map is created for the developer by the MapPanel.
> 
> I like the idea of having the map option either be a Map instance or a
> Map config.
> 
> > 3) I've removed synonymous functions. I've also removed TimS's layer and
> > control convenience functions/features; I think these could be put back
> > in, though if OpenLayers allows the "layers" and "controls" named
> > parameters (I know "controls" is there), then there may be no need for
> > MapPanel to handle it.
> 
> Adding support to OpenLayers for a "layers" map option would be very
> useful I think. Otherwise, if I'm correct with the above
> "maxResolution set to auto" issue, we'd need the MapPanel to trigger
> an event to know when layers can be safely added to the map.
> 
> In any way, I think we'd need our map panel to trigger events, at
> least one to tell the world that the map instance is created. This
> discussed with Andreas and Bart, they even started coding things
> around that if I remember correctly.
> 
> > 4) I haven't yet gotten the changes to Map.js looked at or approved by
> > the OpenLayers folks, so if it's something we'd like to use, we should
> > start some conversation over there. (I know a lot of you guys are on
> > this list. :) )
> >
> > Given that the circular dependencies in Map.js are removed, and the
> > MapPanel accepts a map as well as a configuration, it more reflects my
> > coding style while (I think) supporting everyone else's.
> >
> > Let me know what you guys think. I'm really interested in knowing if
> > others find this useful.
> 
> Thanks Tim,
> 
> --
> Eric
> 
> 
> --
> Archive: http://lists.opengeo.org/geoext/archive/2009/01/1231915041656
> To unsubscribe send an email with subject "unsubscribe" to geoext at lists.opengeo.org.  Please contact geoext-manager at lists.opengeo.org for questions.




More information about the Dev mailing list