J.F.,
I don't think a MapServer workbench (since "Studio" is taken) would
necessarily need to be any more OO than MapServer itself. All you
need to start is to allow people to visualize and save style, class,
and layer mapfile fragments, and then mix fragments together into a
single mapfile for export. IIRC, there is even some very preliminary
support in MapServer for instantiating objects from mapfile fragments.
cheers,
Sean
On Dec 14, 2005, at 9:13 AM, Doyon, Jean-Francois wrote:
I agree for the need for such a tool ... We've been dying for one
here. I
also don't think it should be web based, but something that
geographers/cartographers could easily use, so a desktop
application, a la
"Workbench"/ArcMap/etc ...
I actually started writing one using Python/wxPython! But quickly
ran into
issues with some of the design of MapServer, and problems
integrating it
into a desktop app (vs. the web). If anyone is curious, I could
share my
experiences in this department.
I've since discovered and learned to love Eclipse though, so there's
definite potential there! That'd imply a well supported Java
MapScript
though ... Is it mature? (And even then, as I suggested, some
changes to
mapserver would be necessary, bringing a C program into a purre OO
world
presents interesting challenges ...).
Such a project could eventually find itself in the foundation, but
yes, it's
inception should be community driven.
J.F.
---
Sean Gillies
sgillies at frii dot com
http://zcologia.com/news
