MapServer Migration Guide & MapServer 7.0.1 documentation
Last Updated:
Table of Contents
The predefined field names for the union and cluster layers have been changed.
Colons in the field names have been replaced with underscores to avoid producing
invalid GetFeatureInfo results. The field names in the mapfiles should be modified
according to this change.
Layer FILTERs must use MapServer expression syntax only. Drivers will attempt to translate
from MapServer syntax to native syntax (e.g. SQL). Native expressions can still be set either
using: 1) sub-selects in the DATA statement or 2) using the new NATIVE_FILTER processing key.
# OGR Layer Before
FILTER 'where id=234'
# OGR Layer After
PROCESSING 'NATIVE_FILTER=id=234'
MapServer attrribute queries (e.g. mode=item[n]query) must be specified using MapServer
expression syntax (qstring and qitem (opt)). For RDBMS backends you no longer send SQL snippets,
rather the underlying driver will attempt to translate the expression to native systax (e.g. SQL).
If translation fails (or the driver doesn’t support translation) then MapServer will evaluate
the expression instead.
Layer opacity is now depricated a result of RFC 113 - Layer Compositing. The mapfile parser
and MapScript getter/setter functions will continue to function but unpredicable results will
occur if used in conjunction with COMPOSITE blocks. For more information see .
OPACITY 70
OPACITY 70
Handling of non UTF-8 encoded datasources has changed with RFC103. Mapfiles
now must be saved in UTF-8 encoding, and requests returned by MapServer
will always be UTF-8 encoded. Various “xxx_encoding” metadata entries used to
hack around non UTF-8 encoded datasources are now obsolete, and have been
replaced by a LAYER-level ENCODING keyword.
Native ESRI SDE layers are no longer supported (see ).
OGR remains an alternative for those that really need it although the OGR/SDE driver suffers from the
same issues that prompted the removal from MapServer.
GD graphics library support was removed () and
had been optional since 6.2.
GIF output cannot be produced from MapServer although 8-bit PNG output can be be produced using the AGG/PNG8 driver.
Bitmap fonts have been replaced with an embedded TrueType font (see )
RFC 98 - Label/Text Rendering Overhaul () may
result in subtle label/character placement changes. Support for negative MAXLENGTH that implied forced
linebreaks is not supported anymore, workaround implies pre-processing such labels to include linebreaks
or wrap characters.
ExternalGraphics added through SLD must now validate against the
“sld_external_graphic” entry of the MAP-&WEB-&VALIDATION block
VALIDATION
&sld_external_graphic& &^/path/to/symbols/.*png&
The “ows_extent” layer metadata is not used anymore to obtain georeferencing
information for unreferenced raster data. Please use the “extent” layer key
EXTENT -180 90 180 90
Validation patterns cannot be specified in metadata blocks (i.e. using
xxx_validation_pattern and default_xxx metadata entries), use VALIDATION blocks.
see # #4608 or
Build has changed after the switch to cmake. Build instructions are included in
the INSTALL.CMAKE file in the source directory. You will need to have cmake installed
on your system. Users of mapscripts (except php) will also need swig to be installed.
WFS paging parameter startIndex changed to base on 0 instead of 1 (0 is the first
feature). See #4180 for external references.
Template substitution tags were case-sensitive, they are now
case-insensitive.
This section documents the changes that must be made to MapServer
applications when migrating from version 6.0.x (or earlier versions)
to 6.2 (i.e. backwards incompatibilities), as well as information
on some of the new features.
Build system changes
If you are building MapServer from source, then the following may be of interest to you:
Use of libtool: In version 6.2, the Unix/Linux build scripts and Makefiles were converted to use libtool. One impact of this change is that the ‘mapserv’ file in the main source tree is a libtool wrapper script and not the actual binary. To use ‘mapserv’ you actually have to use ‘make install’ and then point to the installed binary. More info is available in the Compiling on Unix document at
The –with-php configure option has been changed to point directly to the php-config script instead of to the directory where the PHP headers are located.
CGI Changes
Changing MIN/MAXSCALE or MIN/MAXSCALEDENOM via URL is no longer supported.
The syntax for changing a LABEL with CGI commands has changed along with the
ability to support multiple labels
The previous syntax ...&map.layer[0].class[0]=label+color+255+0+0+end&... is
replaced with ...&map.layer[0].class[0].label[0]=color+255+0+0&...
Note that cgi label modifications are/were broken in 6.2.0 and fixed in 6.2.1
Rendering changes
STYLE-&GAP interpretation
Starting in 6.2, STYLE-&GAP specifies the gap between the symbols
using the centre to centre distance.
In earlier versions of MapServer, GAP was used as the approximate
distance between the symbol boundaries.
See ticket #3867 for more information.
In order to get the same effect with 6.2 as with 6.0, STYLE-&GAP
must be increased with the size of the symbol.
Removal of one pixel gap between symbols
In earlier versions of MapServer, an extra gap of one pixel was
added between the symbols (in addition to the gap specified in
STYLE-&GAP).
This has been discontinued in 6.2.
See ticket #3868 for more information.
In order to get the same effect with 6.2 as with 6.0, STYLE-&GAP
must be increased with one pixel.
STYLE-&INITIALGAP introduced
Support for more powerful line styling has been provided with the
introduction of STYLE-&INITIALGAP.
See ticket #3879 and the
documentation for more information.
SYMBOL-&ANCHORPOINT introduced
A symbol anchorpoint has been introduced to facilitate precise
positioning of symbols.
See ticket #4066 and the documentation for
more information.
Change in vector symbol size calculation.
In 6.2, vector symbol coordinates are shifted to get rid of
negative x and y coordinate values.
See ticket #4116 for more information.
In order to get the shifting effect that could be obtained using
negative coordinate values, SYMBOL-&ANCHORPOINT should be used
This section documents the changes that must be made to MapServer
applications when migrating from version 5.6.x (or earlier versions)
to 6.0 (i.e. backwards incompatibilities), as well as information
on some of the new features.
Mapfile Changes - Expression Parsing
Version 6.0 features an extensive reworking of the expression parsing capabilities.
While this adds functionality it also introduces a couple of regressions:
Logical Expressions
a regex is now deliniated as a string (e.g. ‘^a’ rather than /^a/)
the regex operator is ~ for case sensitive comparisons and ~* for case insensitive
case insensitive string comparison operator is =*
Class text expressions are true expressions in 6.0. This allows for fancy formatting
of numeric data but also means string operators must be used to concatenate attribute
values and string literals.
Old/bad: TEXT ([area] acres)
New (option 1)/good: TEXT (‘[area]’ + ‘ acres’)
New (option 2)/good: TEXT ‘[area] acres’
On the plus side you can now control the number of decimal places, round and even commify
the area value for annotion.
for more information.
Mapfile Changes - Label Styles
As the need for more and more control of label drawing increased it became apparent that
we couldn’t extend labelObj’s endlessly. In 6.0 we introduce the idea of label styles, that
is, a styleObj inside a labelObj. The styles can be used to add accompanying markers or
bounding box elements to a label- kinda like annotation layers. The big benefit is that
it’s done in one pass. So you can draw complex roadwork and shields all at the same time.
Pretty neat huh? Plus you can do attribute binding for any of the styleObj attributes that
support it.
As a result the parameters BACKGROUNDCOLOR, BACKGROUNDSHADOWCOLOR, BACKGROUNDSHADOWSIZE
are no more. To draw a label “box” in 6.0 you’d do:
STYLE # a shadow
GEOMTRANSFORM 'labelpoly'
COLOR 222 222 222
OFFSET 2 2
STYLE # bbox
GEOMTRANSFORM 'labelpoly'
COLOR 255 255 255
OUTLINECOLOR 0 0 0
More verbose but much more flexible in the long run.
Mapfile Changes - Label MAXOVERLAPANGLE
introduced a new MAXOVERLAPANGLE keyword to filter out ANGLE
FOLLOW labels in which characters overlap. This new option is enabled by
default in 6.0 with a default value for MAXOVERLAPANGLE of 22.5 degrees.
As per , it is possible to set MAXOVERLAPANGLE to 0 to fall back
on pre-6.0 behavior which was to use hardcoded maxoverlapangle = 0.4*MS_PI
(40% of 180 degrees = 72 degrees).
Core Changes - Rendering Overhaul
The rendering backends for MapServer have been refactored for version 6 to
allow us to support all features across all rendering drivers (GD,AGG,PDF,SVG, etc...).
PDF support is output through the cairo library. The dependency on the non-free
pdflib library has been removed.
SVG support is output through the cairo library. The native mapserver SVG driver
has been removed.
AGG support is compiled in by default (no external dependency) and is the
default renderer for png and jpeg outputs.
GD support is limited to PC256 imagemodes, i.e. png or gif. It is the default
renderer for gif output.
SWF (flash) support has been dropped.
Header files for libpng, libjpeg and giflib are now required for building MapServer.
Install the -devel packages of these libraries.
All symbols now rotated anticlockwise following the ANGLE parameter. Previous versions
rotated vector symbols clockwise.
Polygon fills with vector symbols will not cleanly join at tile boundaries. For hatching
type symbology, use the HATCH symbol instead of a diagonal vector symbol.
Some inconsistencies between renderers have been ironed out. People relying on precise
symbol placement should check those, as there may have been some subtle changes in symbol
sizes and widths, or spacing between symbols on lines.
Style blocks with no associated symbol on point layers will produce no output, as opposed
to a single pixel in previous versions. Use an ellipse symbol instead.
Mapfile Changes - line styling
All line styling must now be specified in class STYLEs in the layer definition.
The following parameters/keywords have been moved from SYMBOL
PATTERN POSITION GAP LINECAP LINEJOIN LINEJOINMAXSIZE
The SYMBOL STYLE parameter/keyword was renamed to PATTERN in
version 5.
The SYMBOL TYPE cartoline has been removed.
LINECAP triangle is not supported by AGG or Cairo, and is no longer
available.
The triangle line end effect can be achieved using
GEOMTRANSFORM start and end with a (filled) vector triangle symbol and
ANGLE AUTO.
This will only work for the line ends, and not for
CGI Changes
Runtime subsitution now requires a validation pattern be present before the
substitution will take place (this had been optional). This can be done via
a layer metadata tag as before or within layer or web VALIDATION blocks. See
ticket #3522 for more information.
All of the query map related modes (e.g. NQUERYMAP, ITEMQUERYMAP, etc...) have
been removed in favor of using the “qformat” parameter. That parameter takes
an output format name or mime/type as a value and uses that to process a set
of query results. For example:
...&mode=nquerymap&... would become ...&mode=nquery&qformat=png24&...
OGC Web Services
All OGC Web Services are now disabled by default. If you want to enable them as
they were in MapServer 5.6 and older releases, add the following metadata in the
MAP::WEB section:
&ows_enable_request&
Mapfile Changes - WCS Metadata
To avoid confusion only “wcs_*” and “ows_*” prefixed metadata entries
are evaluated in OGC WCS services. Previous versions used “wms_*”
prefixed entries as fallback which is dropped in version 6.0 in favor of
forcing explicit decisions.
Mapfile Changes - OGC requests - DUMP parameter removed
The DUMP LAYER parameter has been removed.
To enable output of
geometries in WMS getfeatureinfo requests - GML
(INFO_FORMAT=application/vnd.ogc.gml), LAYER METADATA is used
gml_geometries &geom&
gml_geom_type &polygon&
Mapfile Changes - Ability to escape single/double quotes
We can now escape single and double quotes in strings and logical
expressions. Examples:
NAME &RO\&AD& # double quote inside a a double quote delimited string
NAME 'RO\'AD' # single quote inside a a single quote delimited string
FILTER ('[CTY_NAME]' = 'Ita\'sca') # logical expression that contains a single quote
NOTE: The escape character (backslash) will only work if the
following character is ”, ‘ or .
For Windows users: if you have a path string delimited by single/double
quotes that ends with , you will have to escape the last backslash.
SHAPEPATH &C:\ms4w\shapefiles\&
# should be modified to...
SHAPEPATH &C:\ms4w\shapefiles\\&
PHP MapScript Changes
PHP 5.2.0 or more recent is required.
PHP/MapScript now uses exceptions for error report. All errors are catchable.
Object properties can be set like all other php object. ie. myObj-&myProperty = 10;
NOTE: The set/setProperty methods are still available.
All object constructors throw an exception on failure
Objects can be created with the php “new” operator. ie.
$myShape = ms_newShapeObj(MS_SHAPE_LINE); // or
$myShape = new shapeObj(MS_SHAPE_LINE);
NOTE: “ms_newSymbolObj()” and “new symbolObj” are different:
ms_newSymbolObj() returns the id of the new/existing symbol.
new symbolObj() returns the symbolObj. You don’t need to
get it with getSymbolObjectById().
Cloneable objects should be cloned with the PHP clone keyword. There is no more clone methods.
Class properties that have been removed
mapObj: imagetype, imagequality, interlace, scale, transparent
classObj: maxscale, minscale
layerObj: labelsizeitem, labelangleitem, labelmaxscale, labelminscale,
maxscale, minscale, symbolscale, transparency
legendObj: interlace, transparent
scalebarObj: interlace, transparent
symbolObj: gap, stylelength
webObj: minscale, maxscale
Class methods that have been removed
projectionObj: free
lineObj: free
pointObj: free
rectObj: free
shapeObj: free, union_geos
symbolObj: free, getstylearray
imageObj: free
outputFormatObj: getformatoption, setformatoption
shapefileObj: free
layerObj: getFilter, getShape
referenceMapObj has new properties: marker, markername, markersize, maxboxsize, minboxsize
shapeFileObj is automatically closed/writed on destroy. (At the end of the script or with an explicit unset())
layerObj-&clearProcessing() method now returns void.
mapObj-&queryByIndex(): default behavior for the addToQuery parameter was not ok, now it is.
Methods that now return MS_SUCCESS/MS_FAILURE:
symbolObj: setPoints, setPattern
scalebarObj: setImageColor
outputFormatObj: validate
layerObj: setProcessing, addFeature, draw
mapObj: moveLayerUp, moveLayerDown, zoomRectangle, zoomScale, setProjection,
setWKTProjection, setLayersDrawingOrder
Methods that now return NULL on failure:
classObj: clone
styleObj: clone
layerObj: nextShape, getExtent
mapObj: clone, draw, drawQuery getLayerByName, getProjection,
Methods that now return an empty array
symbolObj: getPatternArray
layerObj: getItems, getProcessing, getGridIntersectionCoordinates
mapObj: getLayersIndexByGroup, getAllGroupNames, getLayersDrawingOrder, getAllLayerNames
MapScript (All Flavors)
The layer query result handing has been re-worked (again) to address some issues introduced in
the 5.4/5.6 versions. Gone are resultsGetShape and getFeature methods. You should now use a
refactored getShape method to access layer shapes. That method takes a resultObj and returns
a shapeObj. Typical use would be (in Perl):
$layer-&queryByRect($map, $map-&{extent}); # layer is still open
for($i=0; $i&$layer-&getNumResults(); $i++) {
$shape = $layer-&getShape($layer-&getResult($i));
print &$i: &. $shape-&getValue(1) .&\n&;
$layer-&close();
A resultObj encapsulates the data used to manage a result set.
To access shapes independently of a query use the new resultObj class:
$layer-&open();
$shape = $layer-&getShape(new mapscript::resultObj(1));
$layer-&close();
for more information.
OUTPUTFORMAT
The OUTPUTFORMAT parameter validation when reading from the mapfile
will now trigger an error on some problems that in the past were
silently fixed up.
For instance using RGBA IMAGEMODE with JPEG format
now triggers an error instead of switching to IMAGEMODE RGB silently.
The default outputformats names, drivers and mimetypes have been significantly
reorganized:
png : AGG/PNG (image/png)
jpeg : AGG/JPEG (image/jpeg)
gif : GD/GIF (image/gif)
png8 : AGG/PNG8 (same as AGG/PNG, but with 256 color quantization applied)
(image/ mode=8bit)
png24 : AGG/PNG (for backwards compatibility) (image/ mode=24bit)
pdf : CAIRO/PDF (application/x-pdf)
svg : CAIRO/SVG (image/svg+xml)
GTiff : GDAL/GTiff (image/tiff)
kml : KML (application/vnd.google-earth.kml++xml)
kmz : KMZ (application/vnd.google-earth.kmz)
The support for rendering rasters without GDAL has been removed.
RASTER layers (or WMS layers) require that MapServer be built against
the GDAL library.
The above change also means there is no longer support for EPPL raster layers.
Deprecated features
Support for Flash/SWF output has been removed as part of the rendering overhaul
because it was no longer compatible with the new architecture.
Support for Flash/SWF could be reintroduced but would require a non trivial
amount of work (i.e. would require funding).
Support for “CONNECTIONTYPE MyGIS” has been dropped since it was no longer
being maintained and there are better ways to use MySQL data sources theses
days, going through OGR for instance.
This section documents the changes that must be made to MapServer
applications when migrating from version 5.4.x (or earlier versions)
to 5.6 (i.e. backwards incompatibilities), as well as information
on some of the new features.
MapScript changes related to single pass queries
In RFC-52, MapServer was modified to perform queries using a single pass
on the data instead of two passes. This is transparent for CGI applications,
but MapScript scripts must be modified to use the layer.resultsGetShape()
method instead of layer.getShape().
(Note: the new resultsGetShape() method is not yet available for PHP MapScript
in 5.6.0-beta1)
WFS 1.1 axis orientation
The axis order in previous versions of the WFS specifications was to always use
easting (x or lon ) and northing (y or lat).
WFS 1.1 specifies that, depending
on the particular SRS, the x axis may or may not be oriented West-to-East, and
the y axis may or may not be oriented South-to-North. The WFS portrayal operation
shall account for axis order. This affects some of the EPSG codes that were commonly
used such as ESPG:4326.
The current implementation makes sure that coordinates
returned to the server for the GetFeature request reflect the inverse axis orders
for EPSG codes between 4000 and 5000.
Change of mime-type for the imagemap outputformat
RFC 36 added support for templated outptformats, but this new feature
was not available for WMS GetFeatureInfo ouptut (see ticket #3024).
In MapServer 5.6 this has been resolved by implementing lookup of output
formats for query templates by mime-type. However this caused a conflict
for the text/html mime-type between the actual text/html query
templates and the preconfigured imagemap outputformat which also used the
text/html mime-type.
In order to resolve this conflict, the mime-type of the imagemap outputformat
has been changed to “text/ driver=imagemap”. This is unlikely to cause
much side-effects to existing applications, but the change is documented here
just in case.
This section documents the changes that must be made to MapServer
applications when migrating from version 5.2. (or earlier versions)
to 5.4 (i.e. backwards incompatibilities), as well as information
on some of the new features.
New requirements for mapfiles, symbolsets and templates
Due to some potential security vulnerabilities that were uncovered in previous
versions of MapServer, RFC-56 introduced a number of changes to tighten
access control on mapfiles and templates and limit the risk of leaking
arbitrary file contents. These changes were introduced in version 5.4.0,
and were also backported to v5.2.2 and 4.10.4.
The new requirements are as follows:
The MAP and SYMBOLSET keywords must be added to any mapfile and symbolset
that did not contain them already.
All MapServer templates must be updated to contain the “MapServer Template”
magic string on the first line. This string can be embedded
in a comment depending on the template formet and the whole line will
be skipped in the output generation. e.g.
In HTML: &!– MapServer Template –&
In JavaScript: // MapServer Template
This section documents the changes that must be made to MapServer
applications when migrating from version 4.10.x (or earlier versions)
to 5.x (i.e. backwards incompatibilities), as well as information
on some of the new features.
Mapfile changes
Attribute Bindings: In an effort to stem the tide of keyword overload
and add functionality MapServer 5.0 supports a new method of binding
feature attributes to STYLE and LABEL properties. In the past keywords
like ANGLEITEM or LABELSIZEITEM were used, now you denote the attribute
in the context of the property being bound. For example, to bind an
attribute to a label size you’d do:
SIZE [mySizeItem]
The []’s denote a binding (as with logical expressions). The following
keywords are no longer supported and their presence will throw an error:
Layer: LABELANGLEITEM, LABELSIZEITEM
Style: ANGLEITEM, SIZEITEM
The following properties can accept bindings:
Style: angle, color, outlinecolor, size, symbol
Label: angle, color, outlinecolor, size, font, priority
Colors may be given as a hex value (e.g. #FFFFFF) or an RGB triplet
(e.g. 255 255 255).
Layer Transparency: The values for the TRANSPARENCY parameter have always
been backwards and in an effort to resolve that the parameter has been
renamed OPACITY. TRANSPARENCY is still recognized by the mapfile parser
but is depricated and should be avoided.
Scale Parameters: MapServer’s handling of scale has long been a source
for confusion. The values use in a layer MINSCALE are really the denominators
from a representative fraction (e.g. 1:24000). To help clarify this all
scale parameters are now end with DENOM. So MINSCALE =& MINSCALEDENOM,
SYMBOLSCALE =& SYMBOLSCALEDENOM, and so on. The mapfile parser still
recognizes the older keywords but they are depricated and should be avoided.
Symbol file changes
Symbol Style: STYLEs are used within a symbol definition to store dash
patterns for line symbolization. However, there is potential confusion
with the style object that is used within class definitions. To resolve
that confusion the symbol STYLE parameter has been renamed PATTERN. The
symbol file parser will still recognize the STYLE keyword but it is
depricated and should be avoided.
Styling/Symbolgy changes
Prior to MapsServer 5.0, if a pixmap symbol was used in style on a Line
Layer, the symbol was used as a brush to draw the line. In MapServer 5.0,
it is possible to draw the pixmap symbol along the line (Note that this
was available using a true type symbol). To achieve
this, the user needs
to use the parameter GAP with it’s pixmap symbol definition in the symbol
file. The GAP represents the distance between the symbols. If the GAP is not
given, the pixmap symbol will be used as a brush.
AGG rendering changes
for the changes relating to the addition
rendering engine.
URL configuration changes
Previous versions of the MapServer CGI program allowed certain parameters
to be changed via a URL using a cumbersome syntax such as
map_layer_0_class_0_color=255+0+0 which changes the color in one classObj.
Not only was this cumbersome for users but also from a code maintenance
perspective since we had to maintain separate loaders for URL-based config
and file-based config. RFC-31 attempts to streamline both by migrating to
a single object loading function that can be used with strings (either in
MapScript or via URL) or with files.
So, in the past you have to change parameters one-at-a-time. Now you can
pass chunks of mapfiles (with security restrictions) to the CGI interface.
The map_object notation is still necessary to identify which object you
want to modify but you can change multiple properties at one time. Note
that you can use either a ‘_’ or a ‘.’ to separate identifiers.
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&...
The variable identifies an object uniquely (by name or index in the case of
layerObj’s and classObj’s). The value is a snippet of a mapfile. You
cannot create new objects other than inline features at this point.
Validation patterns for mapserv attribute queries
Attribute queries (qstring) done via the mapserv CGI could theoretically
be used for SQL injection.
No exploit has been reported, but in order to mitigate the risk, a new
validation pattern mechanism has been added in 5.0.
In the case of qstring attribute queries, the qstring_validation_pattern
layer-level metadata is required for qstring queries to work. The metadata
value is a regular expression that the qstring value must match otherwise
mapserv produces a fatal error. A fatal error is also produced if qstring
is used but qstring_validation_pattern is not provided.
Note that similar validation pattern mechanism has been available for
%variable% substitutions since version 4.10, but in this case it is optional.
pattern for %myvar% is provided via a metadata called
myvar_validation_pattern.
SWIG MapScript (Python, Perl, CSharp, Java) changes
Layer Transparency: The layerObj transparency parameter is now called
opacity. Scripts setting that value in code must be updated.
Symbol Style: the symbolObj style parameter is now called pattern. MapScript
does not allow direct modification of that parameter. In Swig-based languages
the symbolObj method setStyle is now called setPattern. In PHP/MapScript, the
methods setStyle and getStyle are now called setPattern and getPattern.
A new msGetVersionInt() function returning the current MapServer version in
integer format has been added to facilitate version checks in the future.
Given version x.y.z, it returns (x*0x10000 + y*0x100 + z). For instance, for
v5.0.0 it will return 0x050000 (note the hexadecimal notation).
CSharp related changes
The MapScript C# classes are now placed into the OSGeo.MapServer namespace
The scripts should use the fully qualified names of the classes or apply
using OSGeo.MapServer;
or the corresponding language equivalent.
PHP/MapScript changes
Layer Transparency: The layerObj transparency parameter is now called
opacity. The old “transparency” name is deprecated and will be removed in
a future release. Scripts getting/setting that value in code must be updated.
All occurrences of scale, minscale, maxscale, etc... parameters have been
deprecated and renamed with a “denom” suffix (e.g. minscale becomes
minscaledenom, etc.). The deprecated parameters will be removed in a
future release. Scripts getting/setting them must be updated.
SymbolObj style has been renamed pattern. The old “stylelength” parameter
and setStyle() and getStyleArray() methods have been deprecated and
“patternlength”, setPattern() and getPatternArray() should be used
instead. They will be removed in a future release.
layer.getShape(int tileindex, int shapeindex)) has been deprecated and
renamed to layer.getFeature(int shapeindex [, int tileindex = -1]) to
match the SWIG MapScript equivalent. Note that the order of the arguments
is reversed since tileindex is optional in getFeature().
class.getExpression() and layer.getFilter() have been deprecated and
renamed to class.getExpressionString() and layer.getFilterString() to
match what we have in SWIG MapScript. The String suffix in the function
name also more clearly indicates that the return value is not an object
but a string representation of it.
A new ms_GetVersionInt() function returning the current MapServer version in
integer format has been added to facilitate version checks in the future.
Given version x.y.z, it returns (x*0x10000 + y*0x100 + z). For instance, for
v5.0.0 it will return 0x050000 (note the hexadecimal notation).
OGC Web Map Service (WMS)
Required Parameters for GetMap and GetFeatureInfo: previously, MapServer
did not check for the following parameters when responding to an OGC:WMS
GetMap or GetFeatureInfo request:
STYLES or SLD / SLD_BODY
That is, a GetMap request would process without error if these were not
passed by the WMS client.
A compliant OGC:WMS 1.1.0 and 1.1.1 REQUIRES these parameters.
affect OGC:WMS client requests who were not passing these values. Ticket
1088 fully documents this issue.
In addition to WMS compliance, this was also
decided that by adding this constraint, if an OGC client request (as described
earlier) breaks something, people should fix their client anyway since
if they change WMS vendor, they will have problems as well.
OGC Web Feature Service (WFS)
OGC Sensor Observation Service (SOS)
The format of MAP/LAYER/METADATA/sos_describesensor_url
has been changed such that users now must format the value
“sos_describesensor_url” ““
This change has been made to clarify and unify the meaning of procedure
within SOS Server’s context of a DescribeSensor request.
Metadata associated with an observedProperty element’s
swe:component value have been changed to support a URN
scheme, instead of the previous “sos_componenturl” metadata.
“sos_componenturl” metadata is no longer supported.
“sos_observedproperty_authority” and “sos_observedproperty_version”
should be used to format the swe:component value.
Build Changes
MapServer’s main include file has been renamed from “map.h” to “mapserver.h”.
A new mapserver-config script has been created with the following options:
Usage: mapserver-config [OPTIONS]
[--dep-libs]
[--cflags]
[--defines]
[--includes]
[--version]
The shared and static link libraries for MapSserver have been renamed
libmapserver.x.y.so and libmapserver.a respectively.
The –enable-coverage configure option has been renamed to –enable-gcov
since the former name led users to think it might be related to enabling
support for WCS or Arc/Info coverages:
--enable-gcov
Enable source code coverage testing using gcov
Users of these features should be prepared for these upcoming changes
and start adapting their mapfiles in consequence. If you have strong
and motivated objections as to the removal of one or more of these
features please open a discussion in the usual MapServer communication
Cartoline symbols: these were a hack to overcome GD weaknesses, and their
functionality is now supported by the AGG renderer. They have become poorly
supported in current MapServer versions. Keywords allowing for setting the
style of line joins and caps will be moved to the STYLE block.
RGB/RGBA output with GD: support for RGB and RGBA image types will likely not
be maintained anymore. PC256 will continue to be supported with GD, while RGB
and RGBA will liekly only be supported with AGG