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# MS RFC 31: Loading MapServer Objects from Strings

Date

  2007/06/19

Author

  Steve Lime

Contact

  Steve.Lime at DNR.State.MN.US

Version

  5.0

Status

  Accepted (2007/06/22) Implemented

Description: This RFC addresses the ability of the MapServer tokenizer (in maplexer.l and mapfile.c) to work from strings as well as files. A mapfile-wide ability was added to 5.0 source and this RFC looks at loading MapServer objects (layers, scalebars, etc…) via MapScript and via URLs.

## Current State

Presently MapServer can load entire mapfile’s from a text block using msLoadMapFromString. This is a new capability in 5.0. MapServer has long been able to load/modify individual values via URL using a map_object_property syntax (e.g. map_scalebar_units).

The problem with the URL support is that it is cumbersome for the user and results in a ton of duplicative code in mapfile.c making maintenance difficult. Developers will often add a parameter but forget to add a URL equivalent. This proposal removes that redundant code and relies on a single tokenizing function for each object.

## C API Changes

All major objects would get a new …LoadFromString function (e.g. msLoadLayerFromString and so on). These functions would be very simple and would take an existing reference to an object and a string snippet. They would:

1. establish lexer thread locks

2. set lexer state to MS_TOKENIZE_STRING

3. call loadObject (e.g. loadLayer)

In effect this would be a way to load an empty object or update a new one.

The loadObject functions would need minor changes:

1. Each function would need to remove restrictions for duplicate properties. That is setting a parameter twice should not generate an error as is does now.

2. Properties with allocated memory (e.g. char * ) should be free’d if they already have values and are being updated.

3. the object main keyword (e.g. LAYER or CLASS) should be allowed as a token within that object loader. When parsing a file the object identifier (e.g. LAYER) is stripped off with the parent object. For example, a CLASS is recognized by loadLayer so that token never is encountered by loadClass. It makes the most sense to pass entire object definitions including the object identifier for ease of use.

## MapScript

I’m open to suggestions but I think the easiest thing to do would be to add an updateFromString method to all major objects. It would simply take a string snippet and would wrap the …LoadFromString methods mentioned above. They would return MS_SUCCESS or MS_FAILURE. Might consider adding a “clear” method to (freeObject then initObject) so that users could clean things out and reload from a string. I’m not sure about the effects on reference counting here.

## URL

I propose removing all the loadObjectValue (e.g. loadLayerValue) functions in favor of entire object loading. So, instead of doing something like:

> …map_scalebar_units=meters&map_scalebar_intervals=5&map_scalebar_size=300+2…

You would do:

> …map_scalebar=UNITS+METERS+INTERVALS+5+SIZE+300+2…

The major objects would still be referenced by map_scalebar or map_legend or map_layername, but all other properties would be loaded through snippets.

The function msLoadMapParameter would become msUpdateMapFromURL and it would set the lexer state, acquire a thread lock and then call the appropriate loadObject function.

One issue is that the loadObject functions have traditionally worked just from files so there are no limitations on what can be altered. Obviously from a URL you can’t allow just anything to be altered (e.g. CONNECTION, DUMP and so on). So, we would create a new lexer state, MS_TOKENIZE_URL, that would only recognize the parameters that we want. In that state the lexer would not return tokens like DUMP or CONNECTION so the loadObject functions would not handle those cases. This is a simple addition to the lexer. Any parameter exposed to URL modification will have the relevant loading block examined so that there are no memory leaks or buffer overflow possibilities.

In addition, it was pointed out that URL configuration should not be a default behavior but should be enabled explicitly. Enabling this feature would happen by way of a new parameter within the webObj- URLCONFIG [pattern], with a default of NULL. The pattern would be a regular expression that would be applied against any map_* variables. So, one could limit changes to just the scalebar object with URLCONFIG ‘scalebar’ or allow more with URLCONFIG ‘.’. The default would not to be allow any URL configuration.

## Backwards Compatibility

The URL change will break backwards compatibility but I feel this is a relatively lightly used option and this change will be very beneficial.

## Post Implementation Notes

Apparently a number of folks are having trouble with porting applications to use the new url configuration. Below are more examples and lists of supported keywords by object type. Rule of thumb one: when there is the opportunity for more than one of a particular object (e.g. layers, classes and styles) the syntax must uniquely identify the object in question in the variable name (e.g. map.layer[lakes]) and then the mapfile snippet to modify the object is given as the variable value. We have no way to modify 5 styles at once because the mapfile syntax is so freeform. Rule of thumb two: any parameters or objects that hang off the mapObj must be referenced in the variable name (e.g. map.imagetype).

Example 1, changing a scalebar object:

    ...&map.scalebar=UNITS+MILES+COLOR+121+121+121+SIZE+300+2&...

Example 2, changing a presentation style:

    ...&map.layer[lakes].class[0].style[0]=SYMBOL+crosshatch+COLOR+151+51+151+SIZE+15&...

Example 3, creating a new feature:

    ...&map_layer[3]=FEATURE+POINTS+500000+1000000+END+TEXT+'A+test+point'+END&...

Changeable objects/keywords by object type.

mapObj (example - …&map.angle=50&map.imagecolor=255+0+0&…)

    angle,config,extent,imagecolor,imagetype,layer,legend,projection,querymap,reference,resolution,
    scalebar,size,shapepath,transparent,units,web

layerObj (example - …&map.layer[lakes].data=myTempShapefile&…

    class,data (subject to DATAPATTERN validation),feature,footer (subject to TEMPLATEPATTERN
    validation),header (subject to TEMPLATEPATTERN validation),labelitem,opacity,projection,status,
    template (subject to TEMPLATEPATTERN validation),tolerance,units

classObj (example - …&map.layer[lakes].class[0].style[1]=COLOR+255+0+0…)

    color,label,outlinecolor,overlaycolor,overlayoutlinecolor,overlaysize,overlaysymbolsize,size,
    status,style,symbol,text (note that setting of color etc... should really be done through
    a styleObj and not the class shortcuts)

labelObj (example - …&map.scalebar=LABEL+COLOR+255+0+0+SIZE+15+END)

    angle,antialias,backgroundcolor,backgroundshadowcolor,backgroundshadowsize,color,font,
    outlinecolor,position,shadowcolor,shadowsize,size

styleObj (example - …&map.layer[lakes].class[0].style[0]=COLOR+255+0+0+ANGLE+50+SIZE+30…)

    angle,backgroundcolor,color,outlinecolor,size,symbol,width

featureObj (example - …&map_layer[3]=FEATURE+POINTS+500000+1000000+END+TEXT+’A+test+point’+END&…)

    points,text,wkt

More to come…

## Bug IDs

https://github.com/mapserver/mapserver/issues/2143

## Voting history

+1 from SteveL, SteveW, TomK, FrankW, AssefaY, PericlesN

+0 from JeffM