[OpenLayers-Users] is there really no way to get the layer extent from wms layers?

[Greg Allensworth]

On 8/15/2011 5:53 AM, Andreas Hocevar wrote:
> For WMS, all you get is the layer extent advertised in the
> GetCapabilities document. This is what is explained in the
 > 2nd post you linked.

Yep, Andreas is entirely right. That's how I'd do it.

Use OpenLayers' Request.GET to download the WMS server's capabilities 
document. Then use Format.XML to parse the XML and get the extent of the 
layer.

For convenience, you could store these as new attributes within the 
Layer.WMS instance:
     trafficlayer.wmsbbox = new OpenLayers.Bounds(1,2,3,4)

And call them up similarly:
     <checkbox onClick="map.zoomToExtent(trafficlayer.wmsbbox)" />

-- 
Greg Allensworth, Web GIS Developer
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