On Thu, Oct 14, 2010 at 5:26 AM, Tara Athan <taraathan@anonymised.com> wrote:
Andrea- I assume when you mean "all the info inline in the xml file" you
mean the mapping file and schema (because the other xml files can already be
configured with the existing GUI).
I mean being able to refer a data store already known to the GeoServer
catalog either by name or by id.
Instead of setting up something like:
<sourceDataStores>
<DataStore>
<id>mypg</id>
<parameters>
<Parameter>
<name>dbtype</name>
<value>postgisng</value>
</Parameter>
<Parameter>
<name>host</name>
<value>localhost</value>
</Parameter>
<Parameter>
<name>port</name>
<value>5432</value>
</Parameter>
....
</parameters>
</DataStore>
</sourceDataStores>
Use something like:
<sourceDataStores>
<DataStore>
<id>mypg</id>
<repositoryStore>postgis-test</repositoryStore>
</DataStore>
</sourceDataStores>
where "postgis-test" is the name of a store I've already configured
via the GUI.
I haven't seen a way to do this so far, maybe I've missed it? 
I am planning for my master's dissertation to develop a specialized
app-schema extension that handles the configuration of the schema and
mappings file for one-to-one mappings from a single resource, and then
allows the user to add ClientProperties of observable and unit-of-measure or
code-space. My plan is to have the user set up a conventional datastore,
and then set up a derived data access - the GUI backend would extract a
basic schema and mappings file from the preconfigured datastore resource, as
you have suggested. Then the GUI would allow minor modifications for
individual fields.
Hum, nice! The GUI would be the current GeoServer wicket GUI or are
you referring to another program?
My motivation for developing this extension is to query across multiple
feature/coverage stores by observable, and return a "harmonized" result (as
wms, wfs or wcs), and draws on the thinklab opensource project. The GUI is
just a bonus to lower the barrier for users to set up data accesses with
semantic content.
Following a recent request, I am thinking that including attribute aliases
would be a minor addition, and useful from my perspective as well, allowing
attributes labels to be more readable.
Also based on Andrea's recent patches for mapping app-schema, I am working
on getting the Openlayers view in layer preview working for app-schema, but
I'm not quite there yet. The map preview should be possible for any
app-schema layer, once I track the last few bugs down- its another
qualified/unqualified name mismatch.
The preview was working for me with all the patches I issued last week
applied. But I did not try very hard, just had two very simple examples
(as simple as a complex feature can get 
)
I was going to keep quiet about this until I had made a little more
progress, but if Andrea keeps fixing bugs and suggesting improvements, it
will all get done and I will have to change my dissertation topic 
Don't worry, what I did last week was a weekend project, I'm not going
to push very much on this in the next few weeks (unless I get paid work
lining up in this direction, if that happens I won't have much of a choice).
Cheers
Andrea
-----------------------------------------------------
Ing. Andrea Aime
Senior Software Engineer
GeoSolutions S.A.S.
Via Poggio alle Viti 1187
55054 Massarosa (LU)
Italy
phone: +39 0584962313
fax: +39 0584962313
http://www.geo-solutions.it
http://geo-solutions.blogspot.com/
http://www.linkedin.com/in/andreaaime
http://twitter.com/geowolf
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