"If we want something "studio-like" for MapServer, we really ought to start by improving the core infrastructure to provide a better view into the underlying data sources."
Definitely, though it's not just about data sources ... Flexible access to symbology and fonts also comes to mind. "Alternatively, we might see this as a reason not to go down the "approved studio-like application" road since doing so would require quite a bit of internal re-engineering." I see it the other way around, this could be a good motivating factor for improving mapserver's internal architecture, which in the end benefits every one, not just the "studio" apps. "At the risk of raising a hornets nest, I think MapServer Enterprise provides much more sophisticated (though complicated) views into the underlying datasources, and other map objects. While I haven't tried, I think this makes it much easier to build general purpose front ends to it. My personal inclination is to keep MapServer relatively simple, even if this somewhat hobbles fronts ends like MapLab." Possibly. I should point out that none of what I said suggests MapServer should do things it isn't doing, or anything like that. I still firmly believe in MapServer doing what it does, and doing it well, and being a good purpose built solution for mapping. This however isn't what the issue is so much as how it goes about it (The internal design), and why (the internal API's, how they get exposed to the rest of the world, and the developper/programmer community being looked at as an important target audience that should also be satisfied, as well as mapping not being limited to the web). J.F. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Frank Warmerdam Sent: December 14, 2005 12:23 PM To: Doyon, Jean-Francois Cc: [email protected] Subject: Re: [UMN_MAPSERVER-USERS] Foundation and Mapserver MAP file manag e tool On 12/14/05, Doyon, Jean-Francois <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Allow me to elaborate :) > > Some examples of things I ran into: ... > - For the OO thing: MapServer does not abstract a lot of it's > dependencies into consistent interfaces. So someone who writes code > around mapscript needs to do a lot of a various conditional checking > and adapt around many possibilities. Case in point: Last I checked, > I couldn't get a list of attribute names for a given data source from > MapServer proper. I need to know it's a shapefile, use a third party > DBF module, and do the work manually. If the data source is postgis, > I need a whole different set of code and exceptions, and so on ... > Knowing MapServer itself is already compiled against all these things, > I start seriously feeling like I'm re-inventing the wheel, and adding > more and more dependencies ... Which is not long-term sustainable. J.F. I completely agree. MapServer only demands enough from the various feature store types to implement map rendering and simple query support. On the raster side things are even more primitive. If we want something "studio-like" for MapServer, we really ought to start by improving the core infrastructure to provide a better view into the underlying data sources. Alternatively, we might see this as a reason not to go down the "approved studio-like application" road since doing so would require quite a bit of internal re-engineering. At the risk of raising a hornets nest, I think MapServer Enterprise provides much more sophisticated (though complicated) views into the underlying datasources, and other map objects. While I haven't tried, I think this makes it much easier to build general purpose front ends to it. My personal inclination is to keep MapServer relatively simple, even if this somewhat hobbles fronts ends like MapLab. Best regards, -- ---------------------------------------+-------------------------------- ---------------------------------------+------ I set the clouds in motion - turn up | Frank Warmerdam, [EMAIL PROTECTED] light and sound - activate the windows | http://pobox.com/~warmerdam and watch the world go round - Rush | Geospatial Programmer for Rent
