July 24, 2010

Creating .NET objects for Mapguide Enterprise 2011

Filed under: Development, Mapguide, RADE — Tags: , — Darrin Maidlow @ 11:15 pm

Better late than never…  I’ve updated my Mapguide Enterprise .NET objects to work with 2011.  The steps in my   have been modernized and simplified significantly.   This post will show you how to create (or re-create) these objects for the 2011 release of Mapguide.  Sorry for skipping 2010 =)

First, download the actual non-aplha release of and extract it.  You will need to have .NET 3.5 installed to run LINQ to XSD.  The project itself is a Visual Studio 2010, .NET 4.0 project.  You should be able to change it to .NET 3.5 with no problems.  I’m not sure about using .NET 2.0.   I still assume these steps should work with Mapguide Open Source 2.2 given its pretty much the same thing as MGE 2011.  Please let me know if you try it and that is not the case.

Building the classes

Last time around we had to mess around with Visual Studio projects, building temporary code, finding and extracting that code from temporary files.  This time around, we’re given a nice little executable that can be run in a batch file.   I’ve posted a copy of my batch file below but it was simply made using a dir /b > CreateMapguideNetObjects.cmd in the Mapguide server schema folder (which by default is to c:\Program Files\Autodesk\MapGuideEnterprise2011\Server\Schema) .  I then edited that file with a text editor that support macros and removed the following schema files:

  • FdoProviderCapabilities-1.0.0.xsd
  • LoadProcedure-1.0.0.xsd
  • LoadProcedure-1.1.0.xsd
  • LayerDefinition-1.0.0.xsd
  • LayerDefinition-1.1.0.xsd
  • LayerDefinition-1.2.0.xsd
  • SiteInformation-1.0.0.xsd
  • SiteVersion-1.0.0.xsd
  • SymbolDefinition-1.0.0.xsd
  • WebLayout-1.0.0.xsd

These files are deprecated object definitions from previous Mapguide releases.  In the end each line in the batch file looks a little like this:

LinqToXsd ApplicationDefinition-1.0.0.xsd /filename:ApplicationDefinition.cs

Executing the batch file will create a number of C# files containing appropriately named classes.

Setting up your project

At this point you should be able to fire up Visual Studio and create a new C# project.   If you have an existing project from a previous version of Mapguide its good to start fresh.  Also, don’t try this in an existing solution that is dependant on the project that contains the Mapguide objects.  This will just result in a bunch of extra screwing around to avoid compiler errors from missing code during the process.    This time around its a lot easier.  Create a new DLL project.  Add a reference to the Xml.Schema.Linq.dll file that was included with LinqToXsd.exe.   Add a reference to the following Mapguide dlls:

  • OSGeo.Mapguide.Foundation
  • OSGeo.Mapguide.Geometry
  • OSGeo.Mapguide.MapguideCommon
  • OSGeo.Mapguide.PlatformBase
  • OSGeo.Mapguide.Web

You’ll also need to ensure that the appropriate unmanaged assemblies are available in the calling applications bin folder when you go to run this stuff. 

Next place all of the generated C# files in the new project.  Once you build you’re going to see a ton of errors.  We’ll clean those up.

To resolve a lot of these errors I did a global search and replace on “global::” and replaced it with nothing.  Also, I wrapped each class in a unique wrapper classes to prevent duplicate type errors.  Finally, the case issue with DataType was still an issue – and I resolved it by changing the case on DataType to be Datatype:

   1: public string DataType {
   2: public string Datatype {

For a complete view of the changes I made do a file compare between the code in the attached zip file and your newly generated code.

<insert 3 week gap here, wherein I had so that I could actually test this newly created code, oh and I also went on vacation for a few days too =)/>

And back.  The best part about this is that it seems ALL my old code just worked with upgraded basic layouts after changing it to look for the object definitions within the new wrapper classes.   Now I just need to add support for flexible layouts and we’ll be laughing.

The Code

Please note – I didn’t rebase the code.  It’s all in the RADE.MGE namespace.  If you would like to use it, feel free to re-base it – or just leave it as is.  Also, if you create any unit tests or enhancements and would like to share them – please feel free!  

As I update the project myself, or receive updates I will update this file.

. 

Finally, the will still work with this new project.  Perhaps one day, I’ll post some fancy new code in C# =)

Hope this comes in handy, I welcome your comments.

July 20, 2010

Mapguide 2011 Javascript error ‘OpenLayers.Lang’ is null or not an object

Filed under: Mapguide — Tags: , — Darrin Maidlow @ 10:33 pm

We’ve finally moved Mapguide Enterprise support back up the list of priorities for =)  The ability to add Google, Yahoo, and Bing data into the map with OpenLayers is very compelling.  So I’ve spent a little time (actually kind of a lot of time)  in the past little bit trying to get my Mapguide development environment setup.   To avoid cross site scripting (xss) errors when developing on my workstation I needed to install the web tier locally.   After muchos problems with license servers and the likes I came across an annoying javascript error whenever I would load a using  the local web tier:

   1: Line: 2
   2: Char: 2498
   3: Error: 'OpenLayers.Lang' is null or not an object
   4: Code: 0

Loading the web tier on the Mapguide server worked fine.  Very odd.  I ended up doing a file comparison between the two web tiers and noticed the only significant difference was this in the web.config:

   1: <staticContent>
   2:     <mimeMap fileExtension=".json" mimeType="application/json" />
   3: </staticContent>

Adding this tag to IIS 7 on Vista resulted in an error, the tag must be something new in IIS 7.5.  However, after manually adding the mime type mapping to the server – my flexible layout now loads perfectly on the local Vista web tier.SNAGHTML15f08bbe

This mime type mapping can be added on either the virtual directory, or the server level.  I chos to add it to the server.  Either way, to add it select the appropriate level in IIS manager.  In the right hand window double click “Mime Types”.  Click Add and you can enter the .json extension and the mime type.  Once this is added, Vista/IIS7 was now properly serving out flexible layers

 

August 6, 2009

Configuring Mapguide Enterprise 2009 and 2010 on the same machine

Filed under: Mapguide — Tags: — Darrin Maidlow @ 1:57 pm

So I’m a little behind on the times.  Yes I’ve finally started making the switch from Mapguide Enterprise 2009 to MGE 2010.   However, I need to keep 2009 around a little bit longer.  This resulted in wanting to configure both 2009 and 2010 on the same server.  Configuring Mapguide enterprise 2009 and 2010 on the same machine is possible, and even beneficial in a development environment.  Less VMs or servers can be a good thing in these days of crazy .  Autodesk however, recommends against doing this in a production environment.   You should probably heed this advice if this Mapguide installation is important – even from a workgroup development point of view.   Note, these steps should be relevant for the Mapguide Open Source equivalents – though I have not tried it.

After installing Mapguide 2010 (both server and web tier) on a server running 2009 and updating the license manager appropriately, you’ll notice that the service is not running.  Attempts to start the service will result in an error message logged in the Windows Application Log that looks a little bit like this:

The description for Event ID ( 0 ) in Source ( MapGuide Enterprise 2010 Server ) cannot be found. The local computer may not have the necessary registry information or message DLL files to display messages from a remote computer. You may be able to use the /AUXSOURCE= flag to retrieve this description; see Help and Support for details. The following information is part of the event: Port 2801 is not available, please try using a different port.

So we need to setup one of the Mapguide installations to use a different set of ports.  I’ve chosen to modify the behavior of Mapguide 2010, though these changes could be made for Mapguide 2009 instead.   For this process we’ll need three free ports.  For simplicity its nice to keep these ports sequential.  You will need to ensure that the ports you choose are available on your system.

First we need to edit the serverconfig.ini in the C:\Program Files\Autodesk\MapGuideEnterprise2010\Server\Bin folder.   First lets change the Port in the AdministrativeConnectionProperties section from 2800 to lets say 3800.   Next in the ClientConnectionProperties section change the port to 3801.  Finally change the port in SiteConnectionProperties to 3802.

Next we need to edit the webconfig.ini in the C:\Program Files\Autodesk\MapGuideEnterprise2010\WebServerExtensions folder.  We need to update the port numbers in this config to match the numbers in the server config.  Remember the web config is the client that will usually be consuming the server service.  Finally, as the configuration settings for the web tier may be cached you should restart IIS using iisreset.exe.  This will clear the cached port configurations and Mapguide Studio / Mapguide Administration will now work properly.

Once that is done, the 2009 repository can be migrated to 2010 by following the steps included in the Help/MGE2010UpgradingWindows.htm file on your installation disc/folder.

PHP Problems

Once MGE 2010 has been installed I had a problem with PHP.  Multiple PHPs can be bad news.  I’ve found that running both MGE 2009 and 2010 using the PHP provided with 2010 seems to do the trick.  First you will need to edit the Windows system path.  Update the path variable there to point to the 2010 PHP installation.  If a 2010 path variable exists already – remove the 2009 path.  Next open the IIS manager and ensure that both the MGE 2009 and MGE 2010 virtual directory trees are pointing to the MGE 2010 php extension in the Application Extension Mappings.

Once these changes have been made, do a quick IISreset and you should now be able to login to both the Mapguide admins, as well as have Mapguide Studio connect to the appropriate servers.  Again – this setup could have issues – so consider your environment and needs before configuring a server with both releases of Mapguide.

Remote Web Tiers

If you need to run a shared Mapguide server with web tiers installed on individual development machines don’t forget to set the ports on each development machine.   The Mapguide installer will prompt for the Mapguide server IP address – but the webconfig.ini will need to be updated with the appropriate ports manually.  Not doing do will result in your web tier talking to the 2009 server – and much confusion =)

Finally one note on IP addressees and remote web tiers.  If you plan to use a remote web tier – make sure your Mapguide server is setup using the actual IP address of the server and not 127.0.0.1.  If your Mapguide server is configured with 127.0.0.1, you will get a “Cannot establish connection.” error on the remote web tiers when attempting to create and use a session.  Using real IP addresses (either internal or external) will prevent this error from occurring.

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October 22, 2008

Mapguide Enterprise 2009 Update 1 (For Windows)

Filed under: Mapguide — Tags: — Darrin Maidlow @ 12:09 pm

Yay.  Autodesk today released an update for both the Mapguide Enterprise Web Tier, Server and Studio.  This release should catch Enterprise up a little more closely to the Open Source edition.  A PDF with containing some of the changes can be found .    Some of these updates are pretty critical (ie. the FireFox 3 takes out your Mapguide server).  Looks like many performances updates have made it in also.

Thanks Autodesk! =)

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September 26, 2008

Developing with Mapguide Enterprise / Open Source in a shared server environment

Filed under: Mapguide — Tags: — Darrin Maidlow @ 7:41 pm

I have enough junk running on my development machine.  In an effort to try and keep my workstation speedy – I don’t install any unnecessary services (Oracle server, Mapguide Server etc) on this machine.  In a larger development environment, running multiple servers on local development machines has a few other less than desirable results.  For example licensing issues and costs could increase, data management can become more complex, and just managing the extra services on N machines could cause a lot more work for your already overworked IT guy.

So instead I have centralized my server resources into a nice VM setup running on my beefy Dell server.  Now, regardless of which machine I use to develop I can still access the same data sets.  This is especially nice when traveling.  Specifically Mapguide Server and web tier are installed on my development web server.  When coding, I will either use my local IIS or the built in Visual Studio web server.  This poses one problem when working with Mapguide.  Referencing the web tier on the shared server from another web server will result in (XSS) errors.  Basically, javascript on one web server cannot access javascript code on another web server, which under most circumstances is a good thing.  When trying to develop using the Mapguide Web API on a central Mapguide server this poses a problem as the web tier API is wholly contained within the virtual directory on another server.  Gotta love when ’security’ jumps up bites us in the behind.

The simple solution to this problem is to install the Mapguide web tier on every development machine.  This will require that each development machine have a web server installed, but chances are that is already the case.  When installing the web tier be sure to have the IP address of the Mapguide server handy as it will needed during the install.  Once the web tier is running locally, reference the local web tier in your URLs and the cross site scripting vulnerabilities go away!  If you’re running the 64 Bit version of Vista on your development machine, check out my post installing the

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August 30, 2008

Increase Mapguide Enterprise/Open Performance with Javascript Compression using the YUI Compressor

Filed under: Mapguide — Tags: , — Darrin Maidlow @ 7:18 am

Javascript compression is something I had on my list for the next major release of RADE.  RADE is not quite ready for this step yet, so I thought I would give it a shot on Mapguide Enterprise and see what kind of results it would yield.  For a small site or an internal site this will probably not yield significant benefits.  However if you run a large public site javascript compression could squeeze out some more performance as well as save you on bandwidth costs.  Yahoo has a good article on .

I did some brief looking around and word on the internets is that the is one of the better compressors out there.  The YUI compressor is an open source java applet.   This *should* work with Mapguide Open, heck this might even be done already in MGOS – but I am only using Enterprise so I cannot confirm, deny, or test this.  

Some of the key things the compressor will do:

  1. remove all comments
  2. remove all white space and line breaks
  3. rename all local variables and parameters to single characters

The YUI compressor should not alter variable values or your logic in any way.

To use the YUI compressor you will need to .  Note that if you have the Oracle client installed, you probably have Java already  Once you have Java, you can download a copy of the (I’m going to start referring to it as the YC now…).  If you don’t feel like downloading Java and the YC – I’ve attached the processed files at the bottom of this post.

Lets first look at the javascript shipped with Mapguide Enterprise.  If you browse to your web server extension viewer files (the default location is C:\Program Files\Autodesk\MapGuideEnterprise2009\WebServerExtensions\www\viewerfiles I believe) you will see ten javascript files.  If you choose to process these files on your own please back them up first.  Don’t blame me if you don’t backup your files and something goes wrong =).

Before YC:

Mapgude Enterprise Javascript before YUI Compression

Using the YC is simple:

   1: c:\oracle\product\10.2.0\client_1\jdk\bin\java.exe -jar f:\utils\YUICompress\yuicompressor-2.3.6\build\yuicompressor-2.3.6.jar -o comp\browserdetect.js browserdetect.js

 

Update the paths to Java and the YC as per your environment.  Using the handy dir /B *.js > go.bat I created a batch file of all the javascript files in the viewerfiles folder.  Be sure to run this from a dos window in the viewerfiles folder, or update the paths.  You will also need to create the comp folder in viewerfiles.   Quick cut and pasting created the following batch file:

   1: c:\oracle\product\10.2.0\client_1\jdk\bin\java.exe -jar f:\utils\YUICompress\yuicompressor-2.3.6\build\yuicompressor-2.3.6.jar -o comp\browserdetect.js browserdetect.js
   2: c:\oracle\product\10.2.0\client_1\jdk\bin\java.exe -jar f:\utils\YUICompress\yuicompressor-2.3.6\build\yuicompressor-2.3.6.jar -o comp\contextmenu.js contextmenu.js
   3: c:\oracle\product\10.2.0\client_1\jdk\bin\java.exe -jar f:\utils\YUICompress\yuicompressor-2.3.6\build\yuicompressor-2.3.6.jar -o comp\digitize.js digitize.js
   4: c:\oracle\product\10.2.0\client_1\jdk\bin\java.exe -jar f:\utils\YUICompress\yuicompressor-2.3.6\build\yuicompressor-2.3.6.jar -o comp\hashtable.js hashtable.js
   5: c:\oracle\product\10.2.0\client_1\jdk\bin\java.exe -jar f:\utils\YUICompress\yuicompressor-2.3.6\build\yuicompressor-2.3.6.jar -o comp\initdwfctrl.js initdwfctrl.js
   6: c:\oracle\product\10.2.0\client_1\jdk\bin\java.exe -jar f:\utils\YUICompress\yuicompressor-2.3.6\build\yuicompressor-2.3.6.jar -o comp\legend.js legend.js
   7: c:\oracle\product\10.2.0\client_1\jdk\bin\java.exe -jar f:\utils\YUICompress\yuicompressor-2.3.6\build\yuicompressor-2.3.6.jar -o comp\numfmt.js numfmt.js
   8: c:\oracle\product\10.2.0\client_1\jdk\bin\java.exe -jar f:\utils\YUICompress\yuicompressor-2.3.6\build\yuicompressor-2.3.6.jar -o comp\pngfix_map.js pngfix_map.js
   9: c:\oracle\product\10.2.0\client_1\jdk\bin\java.exe -jar f:\utils\YUICompress\yuicompressor-2.3.6\build\yuicompressor-2.3.6.jar -o comp\sarissa.js sarissa.js
  10: c:\oracle\product\10.2.0\client_1\jdk\bin\java.exe -jar f:\utils\YUICompress\yuicompressor-2.3.6\build\yuicompressor-2.3.6.jar -o comp\wz_jsgraphics.js wz_jsgraphics.js

 

(*Sorry about the overlap.  I’m working on a new layout and am addressing that in there)

Running that output all of the compressed of the files down somewhat, to pretty significantly.

Mapgude Enterprise Javascript After YUI Compression

A quick comparison of one of the function calls:

   1: function MenuData(menuName, arrowHeight, scrollInc, scrollDelay, minSize, iconScrollUp, iconScrollUpDisabled, iconScrollDown, iconScrollDownDisabled, owner, withIFrame, bkColor)
   2: function MenuData(F,H,I,K,E,G,D,J,A,C,B,L)

 

As you can see – the savings can be significant.

I’m not using the yet so I did not process those files, but I did check some of the JS in there and each script file had a huge header comment.  It looks like Fusion could also benefit from some compression action.  Please note, I’ve been running my web tier using this script for a day or two.  I’ve not run any serious testing on this code – so try this at your own risk.  You did make that backup I suggested, right?  That said, I have not personally experienced any problems yet.  Also, should you compress your viewerfiles and have problems be sure to try your backups.  Especially before calling your dealer or Autodesk for help. (sorry product support and ADN guys.  Please don’t hate me =] ).

if you would rather not run the YC yourself.

Enjoy!

July 30, 2008

Passing a Large Mapguide Selection XML to a New Window Using Dynamic Forms and Javascript

Filed under: Mapguide — Tags: , — Darrin Maidlow @ 11:22 pm

Everyone knows there is a , right?  Well ok, maybe you didn’t – but there is.  What that limit is depends on the browser.  There is a lot of conflicting information out there on the magical .  An RFC defines it, but no one really seems to pay attention to those anyhow.  (Are you listening Microsoft, of course you are! =]).  Anyhow, for IE, the query string length is usually around 2000 characters.

However, in most cases you’re better off using a form and posting your data up to the server side that way, as the limitations on data are so large you will likely not need to worry about them.  Sometimes, query strings can also show your users just a little too much information – though I’m by no means a proponent of "security through obscurity" hiding a little bit more from your users will keep the curious ones a little more in check =).

When working with / we need to grab some potentially massive XML strings from the MgMap object and pass these along to the server side for processing.  Take the selection XML from the MgMap object, even a single entity selection can use a significant portion of the characters available in the query string.  On top of that, passing this data via query string requires that the data be URL encoded, using even more of our precious query string characters.

Depending on the design of your application it may not always be feasible to define a hard coded form, or even a form defined server side using ASP.NET.  In some cases (you guessed it – my case) you may want to use javascript and do all the work on the client side to define a form and pass the data long that way.

Well you’re in luck, I found a pretty nice solution (WELL, at least I’m liking it  =]).   I’m kicking myself for not realizing this long ago, but oh well.  So the following javascript function demonstrates how to build, add, populate, and submit a form on the fly using some information from the MgMap object. 

   1: function postData()   
   2: {   3: //get the map   
   3: mapObj = GetMap();   
   4:  
   5: //define the new form   
   6: var newForm = document.createElement("form");   
   7: //set the method to POST - the opposite of query strings..   
   8: newForm.method="POST";  
   9:  //add the new form to the current document  
  10:  document.body.appendChild(newForm);  
  11:  
  12:  //lets get some data and add it to the form  
  13:  AddFormElement(newForm, "MapName", oMap.GetMapName());  
  14:  AddFormElement(newForm, "SID", oMap.GetSessionId());  
  15:  //be sure you escape the selection XML - or you will get an error on post about a   
  16:  //"potentially dangerous form value".  Remember on the server side to Server.UrlDecode() it  
  17:  AddFormElement(newForm, "sel", escape(oMap.GetSelectionXML()));  
  18:  
  19:  //lets create our new window  
  20:  var szTarget = "targetWin"  
  21:  newForm.target = szTarget;  
  22:  //set the name/path of the ASPX file you want to process your form with  
  23:  newForm.action = "/url_to_open/file.aspx"  
  24:  
  25:  //open a new window to submit the form to.  Its a good idea to have a blank.htm so you don't get a file not found error  
  26:  var oWin = window.open("blank.htm",szTarget,'menubar=yes, resizable=yes,scrollbars=yes, status=no,toolbar=no,width=300, height=300');  
  27:  
  28:  //give the window focus.  Users like this  
  29:  oWin.focus();  
  30:  
  31:  //submit the form - it will now open in the new window  
  32:  newForm.submit();  
  33:  //remove the form from the document, we're done with it  
  34:  document.body.removeChild(newForm);  
  35:  }  
  36:  
  37:  function AddFormElement(form, elementName, elementVal)  
  38:  {  
  39:      var newElement = document.createElement("<input name='" + elementName + "' type='hidden'/>");  
  40:      newElement.value = elementVal;  
  41:      form.appendChild(newElement);  
  42:      return form;  
  43:  }

 

On the server side, you can now access this data from ASP.NET using Request.Form, for example Request.Form("MapName") would give you the map name.  Don’t forget when retrieving the selection XML to run that through Server.UrlDecode, or HttpUtility.UrlDecode.

As usual, any comments, bugs, or rotten fruit – send em my way.  Enjoy!

Mapguide 2009 / OS 2.0 Get Selected Key Values VB.NET Example and the dreaded MgSelection.GenerateFilter Issue

Filed under: Mapguide — Tags: , — Darrin Maidlow @ 2:12 am

Tonight I came across the .  I had read about it, and made a mental note that one day it would be an issue.  That note wasn’t very good, and I completely forgot about it.   I was wrapping up the updates around the report this eve and fortunately I bothered to select the entire map and run through a report.

RADE Report - but what, only 20 records returned?

Report looked good.  The results were sorting, checkboxes working.   Wait a minute, I selected the entire map.  There should be more than twenty items returned.  So a quick search of my twelve thousand saved e-mails from the turned up what needed to be done.  Fortunately Autodesk added a GenerateFilters call to MgSelection.  This call returns an MgStringCollection of filters.

Basically the solution to this problem is to use GenerateFilters instead of GenerateFilter, and loop through the results.  Each time, appending the returned keys to the complete list.  For example:

   1: Public Shared Function GetSelectedKeysString(ByRef siteConn As MgSiteConnection, _
   2:     ByRef resSvc As MgResourceService, ByVal oMap As MgMap, ByVal SessionId As String, _
   3:     ByVal SelectionXML As String, ByVal layerResID As MgResourceIdentifier, _
   4:     ByVal keyFieldName As String) As String
   5:  
   6:     Dim szKeys As String = ""
   7:     Dim oSel As New MgSelection(oMap)
   8:     oSel.FromXml(SelectionXML)
   9:     Dim curLay As MgLayerBase
  10:     'isolate the layer
  11:     For Each layerItem As MgLayerBase In oSel.GetLayers
  12:         If layerItem.Name = layerResID.Name Then
  13:             curLay = layerItem
  14:         End If
  15:     Next
  16:  
  17:     Dim featSvc As MgFeatureService = siteConn.CreateService(MgServiceType.FeatureService)
  18:     Dim queryOptions As New MgFeatureQueryOptions
  19:     Dim featureClassName As String = curLay.GetFeatureClassName
  20:     'workaround using GenerateFilters and looping through the results as needed
  21:     Dim featureReader As MgFeatureReader
  22:     Dim filters As MgStringCollection = oSel.GenerateFilters(curLay, featureClassName, 20)
  23:     Dim filterCnt As Integer = 0
  24:     While filterCnt < filters.GetCount
  25:         queryOptions.SetFilter(filters.GetItem(filterCnt))
  26:         featureReader = featSvc.SelectFeatures(New MgResourceIdentifier(curLay.GetFeatureSourceId), featureClassName, queryOptions)
  27:         While featureReader.ReadNext
  28:             If szKeys = "" Then
  29:                 szKeys = ConvertPropertyToString(featureReader, keyFieldName)
  30:             Else
  31:                 szKeys &= "," & ConvertPropertyToString(featureReader, keyFieldName)
  32:             End If
  33:         End While
  34:         featureReader.Close()
  35:         featureReader.Dispose()
  36:         filterCnt += 1
  37:     End While
  38:     Return szKeys
  39: End Function

 

In this code, we get the selection from the MgMap object and then isolate the layer in question.  Then we generate the collection of filters and loop through them.  Each time, adding the appropriate value to the list of keys.  Note the use of ConverPropertyToString, this needs to be used to ensure that the various data types are converted over to string.

I’ve included this function as well as a couple other handy related ones in the attached zip file

.  If you’re looking for a C# example of how to use GenerateFilters one is provided in the .

After making these changes my reports now look all proper! hurray.  Maybe I can hit the sack now?  nahh.

RADE report - but this time everything looks ok 

July 7, 2008

Mapguide Enterprise – Cannot Select Items in DWF and AJAX viewer – Again

Filed under: Mapguide — Tags: , , — Darrin Maidlow @ 10:41 pm

I had another problem with Mapguide Enterprise 2009 recently pertaining to objects not being selectable.  Unlike my previous post on errors caused by layers, no errors were logged to the Mapguide server logs.  This problem is very likely specific to the enterprise version, as I was using the Autodesk FDO Provider for Oracle.

So a data connection was created pointing to the Oracle 10g schema.  This database contained a number of tables containing Lat/Long point geometry entities.  I created a layer pointing to the table in question.  I created a layer pointing to that data connection.  At this point the entities showed up as expected in the both the DWF and the AJAX viewers.  Once again, I could not select any of the entities.  I checked the server logs, no errors were reported.

In troubleshoot mode, I tried just about everything I could think of but nothing would work.  I simplified the theme, created new layers, removed all other layers from them map.  Eventually I created a new layer from another table.  Luckily, the entities on this layer could be selected.  It must be a problem with the underlying data.  On a hunch, I checked the table definitions – specifically looking at primary keys.  The selectable layer had a primary key defined, the problem layer did not.  (Good thing I cannot take credit for creating this source data =))

So, I created a primary key on the problem table, did a touch on the layer definition (opening the definition in Studio and saving it without any changes) and then left for twenty minutes.  I’m thinking there is some sort of caching going within the server, and I’m not sure how it works.  Immediately reloading the map after adding the primary key did not work – the entities were still not selectable.  When I came back – the items in the viewers were now selectable.

So long story short, if again you cannot select map entities using the Autodesk FDO Provider for Oracle ensure that the source table has a primary key defined.  Hopefully this saves someone some grief =)

June 25, 2008

Easy color ranges for developers in Mapguide Studio 2009

Filed under: Mapguide — Tags: — Darrin Maidlow @ 6:30 pm

Typically developers are color stupid (myself included).  I’ve seen some really really ugly maps.  I’ve created some really really ugly maps.  With Mapguide 6.5 in particular – I gave up on trying to create visually appealing maps.  The 255 colors, in the ranges defined I just could not do it.

With Mapguide Enterprise – I may have found a solution.  Recently I created a themed layer for municipalities.  There were twenty five municipalities in a single spatial table.  Each municipality had a unique code.   In an effort to bang these off quickly I added the twenty five municipalities and the filter condition.   Next I entered the twenty five legend labels.

Here is the developer friendly method I came up with creating a somewhat visually appealing color range.  In the first condition I set first set the transparency to 50%.  The transparency affects the resulting color.  Select the color combo and choose "More Colors".  This should bring up the custom color dialog.  First, select one of the "Custom Color" boxes and set the Hue to 0. Next I created a color I wanted to use as my starting shade.

At this point, I saved the color using the "Add to Custom Colors" button.  Your form should look something like this:

Mapguide Color Dialog

Click OK a couple of times and your first condition should be set.  Next I selected my next condition, and clicked the color combo again choosing "More Colors" once again.  This time, select the saved custom color and it should reset the form with the previously saved shade.  At this point I incremented the Hue by 20 to 20.  Click ok a couple of times and repeat.  I was not re-saving my shade, though I suppose that might have made sense.  Each time you repeat this process increase the hue by 20 until you hit the max of 239.

If needed, and you do hit the max hue start the process over starting with another complimentary base shade with a hue of 0. Using a hue increment of 40 might have resulted in more distinct colorations and may be a good idea.

I think it turned out OK, but then again as I stated earlier – I’m color stupid. 

Resulting Color Range

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