[maplab-users] Is MapLab really working?

[Zak James]

Hi Vito,

Maplab creates the mapfile content from the parameters you enter into
the forms in the editor. It has it's own parser and doesn't use
mapserver to validate the syntax. While things like type and object
nesting logic are validated, it can't know things like whether an
expression is valid with your data until mapserver attempts to draw
the map.

Assuming it had no bugs, Mapedit would always produce syntactically
valid mapfiles. That wouldn't guarantee that they were functionally
valid and couldn't cause php crashes.

There are some other packages that provide mechanisms for working with
mapfiles. Check out qgis (http://qgis.org) which can export a mapfile
and mapstorer (http://mapstorer.org) which approaches the problem in a
different way.

zak

On 1/10/07, Vito Meuli <v.meuli at tecnologieavanzate.it> wrote:
> Hi Zak.
> Thank you very much for your useful suggestions.
>
> I'm using FGS (fgs-mapserver_phpmapscript_4.8.2-1.2-linux-i386.bin) and maplab
> 2.2.1.
>
> It seems to go better, but it is still samewhat unreliable. Maybe it is as you
> said about the map application written in PHP. I don't understand why "it's
> easy to put the mapfile in an invalid state when editing it with mapedit".
> You mean that MapEdit can write an invalid mapfile itself?
>
> I created invalid mapfiles (without a STYLE object wrapping a COLOR statement,
> for example) when I wrote them by myself, but I thought that creating and
> editing them only using MapEdit would lead to valid mapfiles everytime.
>
> Now i'm try to use it the same, at least trying to find out what a way of
> building a mapfile with it can be.
> I write mapfiles by myself, with a text editor, but I need to let other people
> do this, and they are scared from writing such code lines...
>
> I'll let you know how it is going.
> Thanks again!
>
> Cheers,
> Vito
>
>
> Alle 15:35, lunedì 08 gennaio 2007, Zak James ha scritto:
> > Hi,
> >
> > With the 4.3.9 version of PHP, it should be functional. 4.3.11 had
> > some changes in how references were handled that broke mapedit. PHP
> > 4.4 resolved the issue so that is the recommended version for Maplab.
> >
> > Maplab is just php code and should work with any functioning
> > mapserver/php mapscript installation. You may want to try
> > http://maptools.org/fgs/ if you're having trouble with your setup.
> >
> > As always, the fatal drawback of a map editing application written in
> > php is that things go awry quickly if php mapscript encounters an
> > error parsing the mapfile and stops execution of php. Since it's easy
> > to put the mapfile in an invalid state when editing it with mapedit,
> > this is a common problem.
> >
> > zak
> >
> > On 1/8/07, Vito Meuli <v.meuli at tecnologieavanzate.it> wrote:
> > > Hi everybody!
> > >
> > > A bad question to pose, but I really need an answer to it:
> > > Is MapLab really working?
> > >
> > > It's already a week that I'm struggling with it, but on my main server
> > > (Red Hat Enterprise Linux AS4, with its PHP 4.3.9-3.15) it is unreliable,
> > > it crashes every 5 mouse clicks...
> > >
> > > Now I'm trying with Host GIS Linux, an old one with PHP 4.3.11, but until
> > > now it doesn't work.
> > >
> > > Can you suggest me a reliable way of installing it?
> > >
> > > Is it going better with Windows?
> > >
> > > Bye
> > > Vito
> > >
> > > --
> > > Ing. Vito Meuli
> > >
> > > Tecnologie Avanzate S.r.l.
> > > via B. Croce, 49
> > > 70015 Noci (BA)
> > > tel. +39 080 4979652
> > > fax  +39 080 4979263
> > >
> > > email: v.meuli at tecnologieavanzate.it
> > > http://www.tecnologieavanzate.it
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > Maplab-users mailing list
> > > Maplab-users at lists.maptools.org
> > > http://lists.maptools.org/mailman/listinfo/maplab-users
>
> --
> Ing. Vito Meuli
>
> Tecnologie Avanzate S.r.l.
> via B. Croce, 49
> 70015 Noci (BA)
> tel. +39 080 4979652
> fax  +39 080 4979263
>
> email: v.meuli at tecnologieavanzate.it
> http://www.tecnologieavanzate.it
>


-- 
Zak James
Applications and Software Development
DM Solutions Group Inc.
http://www.dmsolutions.ca