[Qgis-developer] RFC vector data providers handling

[Jürgen E. Fischer]

Hi Godofredo,

On Tue, 22. Apr 2008 at 15:57:10 +0000, godofredo contreras wrote:
> Yes, I also think that  notation should be private to the provider.
> This way we can add new types easier without touching any other
> code(OGR case).

Or every other provider.


> > In the process QgsDbSourceSelect should be renamed to QgsSourceSelect.
> > The gui should list should list the registered vector data providers (classes).
 
> I was thinking a little about this and I think we can unify raster,
> vector (file based) and vector(database based) and even wfs and wms in
> a dialog. This way we can simplify a lot the gui.

I just thought (and cared) about vector layers yet, but your right.
QgsProviderRegistery doesn't make a difference there.  We can take it to
the QgsMapLayer level.


> > Each data provider should have a private list of connections (ie. database
> > connection in PostgreSQL, datasources in OGR) and offer class methods to

> > - list connections by name,
> > - remove a connection by name,
> > - add and edit new connections (this would include a provider specific gui),
> > - return a list of datasource with the available vector layers through a named
> >   connection (ie. layers in OGR, geometry columns in PostgreSQL).  To support
> >   provider specific grouping (eg. for schemas in the PostgreSQL provider) that
> >   could be aggregated in a QDomNod.

> Have you thought about the layer creation? should it be included in
> provider? 
> How will we access the new functionality in the provider? do the
> interface needs to be extended?

Above is as good as a list of methods I'd like to add to the providers.
I intended to add class methods.  But we could also add and export
functions (or wrappers for the class methods;  similar to
fileVectorFilters()).

QGISEXTERN QStringList getConnections();
// would return a of registered connection names in the driver
// QgsSourceSelect would call it to fill the connection combobox after
// the provider is selected. This should also get an "New..." entry.

QGISEXTERN bool editConnection(QString connection);
// would be tied to the add/edit button and add/edit a selected
// connection in the combobox and open a provider specific dialog box.
// That gui could optionally include and "Add Layer..." button to create
// a new layer (ie. QgsGeomTypeDialog for OGR, but not tied to just
// shapes).

QGISEXTERN bool removeConnection(QString connection);
// would be tied to the remove button to remove the connection

QGISEXTERN QDomNode *getLayerList(QString connection);
// would be tied to the list layers button (to replace "Connect")
// and return a list of layers that is used to fill QgsSourceSelect
// lists layer list.

QGISEXTERN QgsMapLayer *getLayer(const QDomNode *);
// would instantiate a QgsMapLayer with a selected layer

And the vector data providers might need and additional method to fire
up a gui to set a filter (ie. QgsPgQueryBuilder for the postgres
provider and something similar for OGR layers that support it).


Jürgen

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