[GRASS-dev] [GRASS GIS] #2304: Problems with add category to all features workflow

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1

#2304: Problems with add category to all features workflow
--------------------------------+-------------------------------------------
Reporter: wenzeslaus | Owner: grass-dev@…
     Type: defect | Status: new
Priority: normal | Milestone: 7.1.0
Component: Default | Version: unspecified
Keywords: v.edit, v.category | Platform: Unspecified
      Cpu: Unspecified |
--------------------------------+-------------------------------------------
This ticket contains several issues but they relates on to another and I
encountered them doing one thing. My goal was to set a new category to all
features in a vector map. I wanted all features to have the same category.

Prepare test data:
{{{
v.in.ascii input=- output=test separator=comma <<EOF
913240.0,250614.0
913250.0,250628.0
EOF
}}}

Check categories in tests data:
{{{
v.what map=test coordinates=913240.0,250614.0
}}}
{{{
East: 913240
North: 250614
------------------------------------------------------------------
Map: test
Mapset: jr_contours
Type: Point
Id: 1
Layer: 1
Category: 1
}}}

Try to add category to all features (using example in G7:v.edit manual but
leaving out `polygon` parameter for selection because we want all
features):
{{{
v.edit map=test3 tool=catadd layer=2 cats=10
}}}

A warning is generated but it still builds the topology:
{{{
Selecting features...
0 of 2 features selected from vector map <test3@jr_sts_contours>
WARNING: No features selected, nothing to edit
Building topology for vector map <test3@jr_sts_contours>...
Registering primitives...
2 primitives registered
2 vertices registered
Building areas...
  100%
0 areas built
0 isles built
Attaching islands...
Attaching centroids...
  100%
Number of nodes: 0
Number of primitives: 2
Number of points: 2
Number of lines: 0
Number of boundaries: 0
Number of centroids: 0
Number of areas: 0
Number of isles: 0
v.edit complete.
}}}

For more complex map (a lot of lines) I got in this step:
{{{
Selecting features...
0 of 56 features selected from vector map <contours_level_12@jr_contours>
WARNING: No features selected, nothing to edit
Building topology for vector map <contours_level_120@jr_contours>...
Registering primitives...
v.edit: spindex_rw.c:1364: rtree_get_node: Assertion
`t->nb[level][which].n.level == level' failed.
}}}

However, something went wrong and spatial index is broken:
{{{
v.what map=test coordinates=913240.0,250614.0
}}}
{{{
ERROR: Unable to open spatial index file for vector map
        <test@jr_contours>
}}}

Building topology helps:
{{{
v.build map=test
}}}
{{{
Building topology for vector map <test@jr_contours>...
Registering primitives...
2 primitives registered
2 vertices registered
Building areas...
  100%
0 areas built
0 isles built
Attaching islands...
Attaching centroids...
  100%
Number of nodes: 0
Number of primitives: 2
Number of points: 2
Number of lines: 0
Number of boundaries: 0
Number of centroids: 0
Number of areas: 0
Number of isles: 0
}}}

Now we see that nothing changed in the map which was expected because no
features were selected:
{{{
v.what map=test coordinates=913240.0,250614.0
}}}
{{{
East: 913240
North: 250614
------------------------------------------------------------------
Map: test
Mapset: jr_contours
Type: Point
Id: 1
Layer: 1
Category: 1
}}}

Since no features were selected last time, let's try to reverse selection
using `-r` flag. Note also that parameters `layer` and `cats` are in
section `Selection` in GUI but we will use them as input here.
{{{
v.edit -r map=test tool=catadd layer=2 cats=10
}}}

This selects all features which is what we want:
{{{
Selecting features...
2 of 2 features selected from vector map <test@jr_contours>
2 features modified
Building topology for vector map <test@jr_contours>...
Registering primitives...
2 primitives registered
2 vertices registered
Building areas...
  100%
0 areas built
0 isles built
Attaching islands...
Attaching centroids...
  100%
Number of nodes: 0
Number of primitives: 2
Number of points: 2
Number of lines: 0
Number of boundaries: 0
Number of centroids: 0
Number of areas: 0
Number of isles: 0
v.edit complete.
}}}

Result is OK, there is a layer 2 and our feature has category 10.
{{{
v.what map=test coordinates=913240.0,250614.0
}}}
{{{
East: 913240
North: 250614
------------------------------------------------------------------
Map: test
Mapset: jr_contours
Type: Point
Id: 1
Layer: 1
Category: 1
Layer: 2
Category: 10
}}}

Check categories of all features using G7:r.category. Note that the
parameter which was called `tool` in G7:v.edit is called `option` in
G7:r.category:
{{{
v.category input=test option=report
}}}
{{{
Layer: 1
type count min max
point 2 1 2
...
all 2 1 2
Layer: 2
type count min max
point 2 10 10
...
all 2 10 10
v.category complete. 0 features modified.
}}}

Although G7:v.edit worked with categories, G7:v.category might be better.
For start, let's try example from manual (using the same testing data as
in previous case):
{{{
v.category input=test_5 output=test_5_step option=add step=5
}}}
{{{
Processing features...
Copying attribute table(s)...
Building topology for vector map <test_5_step@jr_contours>...
Registering primitives...
2 primitives registered
2 vertices registered
Building areas...
  100%
0 areas built
0 isles built
Attaching islands...
Attaching centroids...
  100%
Number of nodes: 0
Number of primitives: 2
Number of points: 2
Number of lines: 0
Number of boundaries: 0
Number of centroids: 0
Number of areas: 0
Number of isles: 0
v.category complete. 0 features modified.
}}}
0 features modified and report tells us that output contains categories
from 1 to 2:
{{{
v.category input=test_5_step option=report
}}}
{{{
Layer: 1
type count min max
point 2 1 2
line 0 0 0
boundary 0 0 0
centroid 0 0 0
area 0 0 0
face 0 0 0
kernel 0 0 0
all 2 1 2
v.category complete. 0 features modified.
}}}

What we actually want is to add a new category, same for all features:
{{{
v.category input=test_5 output=test_5_cat option=add cat=20
}}}
{{{
Processing features...
Copying attribute table(s)...
Building topology for vector map <test_5_cat@jr_contours>...
Registering primitives...
2 primitives registered
2 vertices registered
Building areas...
  100%
0 areas built
0 isles built
Attaching islands...
Attaching centroids...
  100%
Number of nodes: 0
Number of primitives: 2
Number of points: 2
Number of lines: 0
Number of boundaries: 0
Number of centroids: 0
Number of areas: 0
Number of isles: 0
v.category complete. 0 features modified.
}}}

0 features modified, and we still have category range 1-2:
{{{
v.category input=test_5_cat option=report
}}}
{{{
Layer: 1
type count min max
point 2 1 2
line 0 0 0
boundary 0 0 0
centroid 0 0 0
area 0 0 0
face 0 0 0
kernel 0 0 0
all 2 1 2
v.category complete. 0 features modified.
}}}

Since I'm actually patching multiple maps, I hoped that a note about
`v.category option=sum` in G7:v.patch manual will help me:
{{{
v.category input=test_5 output=test_5_sum option=sum cat=30
}}}
{{{
Processing features...
Copying attribute table(s)...
Building topology for vector map <test_5_sum@jr_sts_contours>...
Registering primitives...
2 primitives registered
2 vertices registered
Building areas...
  100%
0 areas built
0 isles built
Attaching islands...
Attaching centroids...
  100%
Number of nodes: 0
Number of primitives: 2
Number of points: 2
Number of lines: 0
Number of boundaries: 0
Number of centroids: 0
Number of areas: 0
Number of isles: 0
v.category complete. 2 features modified.
}}}

This is doing something, features were modified but it is of course
(according to G7:v.category manual) not what I want. It is `sum` is
''adding'' a value to a current category.
{{{
v.category input=test_5_sum option=report
}}}
{{{
Layer: 1
type count min max
point 2 31 32
line 0 0 0
boundary 0 0 0
centroid 0 0 0
area 0 0 0
face 0 0 0
kernel 0 0 0
all 2 31 32
v.category complete. 0 features modified.
}}}

Summary:
  * it is not clear how to select all features in `v.edit`
  * some parameters/options in `v.edit` have `guisection` Selection but
they can be used also as an input
  * `v.edit` builds topology when there is nothing to edit
  * `v.edit` breaks the topology/spatial index when the selection of
features was empty, ends with assert sometimes
  * there is a space after map name in `v.what` output
  * `v.category` has a parameter/option `option` while `v.edit` has a
parameter `tool`
  * `v.category` builds topology when there was no change
  * `v.category` does nothing for `option=step` and `option=add` using
`option=sum` under the same conditions gives a result if there is
something else to add, it is not in the example in manual
  * `v.category` says `0 features modified.` when it finished `report` or
`print` but it seems redundant I wouldn't expect something else when using
`report` or `print` and not providing `output`
  * if you will try to explore it using GUI query tool, you will see that
it shows only one layer and one category (it seems that underlying
`vector_what(map="...", coord=...)` and `v.what` works)

''We might create separate tickets from these but now I'm not sure what
are my mistakes, what is wrong documentation and how critical the bugs are
are or if they are just feature request.''

--
Ticket URL: <http://trac.osgeo.org/grass/ticket/2304&gt;
GRASS GIS <http://grass.osgeo.org>

2

#2304: Problems with add category to all features workflow
--------------------------------+-------------------------------------------
Reporter: wenzeslaus | Owner: grass-dev@…
     Type: defect | Status: new
Priority: normal | Milestone: 7.1.0
Component: Default | Version: unspecified
Keywords: v.edit, v.category | Platform: Unspecified
      Cpu: Unspecified |
--------------------------------+-------------------------------------------

Comment(by wenzeslaus):

I would say that the underlying issue is still present but since topology
is not build `v.edit` anymore thanks to r60392, the issue with broken
spatial index when no features were selected is gone. My GRASS was not
fresh enough when filling the ticket.

{{{
v.in.ascii input=- output=test separator=comma <<EOF
913240.0,250614.0
913250.0,250628.0
EOF
}}}
{{{
v.edit map=test tool=catadd layer=2 cats=10
}}}
{{{
Selecting features...
0 of 2 features selected from vector map <test_6@jr_sts_contours>
WARNING: No features selected, nothing to edit
v.edit complete.
}}}

{{{
v.what map=test coordinates=913240.0,250614.0
}}}
This was `Unable to open spatial index file for vector map` before r60392.
{{{
East: 913240
North: 250614
------------------------------------------------------------------
Map: test
Mapset: jr_contours
Type: Point
Id: 1
Layer: 1
Category: 1
}}}

{{{
v.category input=test option=report
}}}
{{{
Layer: 1
type count min max
point 2 1 2
...
all 2 1 2
v.category complete. 0 features modified.
}}}

The trick with `-r` flag still works.

--
Ticket URL: <http://trac.osgeo.org/grass/ticket/2304#comment:1&gt;
GRASS GIS <http://grass.osgeo.org>

3

#2304: Problems with add category to all features workflow
--------------------------------+-------------------------------------------
Reporter: wenzeslaus | Owner: grass-dev@…
     Type: defect | Status: new
Priority: normal | Milestone: 7.1.0
Component: Default | Version: unspecified
Keywords: v.edit, v.category | Platform: Unspecified
      Cpu: Unspecified |
--------------------------------+-------------------------------------------

Comment(by mlennert):

This sound more like a usage (and partly documentation) problem to me.

The v.edit man page clearly says:

catadd: Set new categories to selected vector features for defined layer

i.e. you have to select the features you want to add cats to using any of
the selection options v.edit offers (id, bbox, coords, polygon, ...). If
you don't select anything, no feature will be touched. For example, you
can just use v.info -g to get the bbox. Obviously, your -r trick does
work, but v.edit works as expected.

v.category option=add only adds category values to features which do not
have category values in the chosen layer. The man page does not seem to
mention this, so this should probably be added using something like this:

{{{
Index: main.c

--- main.c (révision 60228)
+++ main.c (copie de travail)
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@
                "report;%s;"
                "print;%s;"
                "layers;%s",
- _("add a new category"),
+ _("add a new category to features without category"),
                _("delete category (cat=-1 to delete all categories of
given layer)"),
                _("change layer number (e.g. layer=3,1 changes layer 3 to
layer 1)"),
                _("add the value specified by cat option to the current
category value"),
}}}

Except for this small documentation issue, I would suggest closing this
bug as invalid.

Moritz

--
Ticket URL: <https://trac.osgeo.org/grass/ticket/2304#comment:2&gt;
GRASS GIS <http://grass.osgeo.org>

4

#2304: Problems with add category to all features workflow
--------------------------------+-------------------------------------------
Reporter: wenzeslaus | Owner: grass-dev@…
     Type: defect | Status: new
Priority: normal | Milestone: 7.1.0
Component: Default | Version: unspecified
Keywords: v.edit, v.category | Platform: Unspecified
      Cpu: Unspecified |
--------------------------------+-------------------------------------------

Comment(by wenzeslaus):

Yes, from a big part it is a documentation issue because it not clear how
to do it and I would say that it is quite basic functionality if you
consider patching several maps together.

I would say that `v.category`'s `option=add` should say

{{{
add a category to features without category
}}}

because the ''new'' is strange when there is no ''old''. Maybe `missing
category` would be good too. If this is what it is doing, I can commit it
later.

Where do you get data with layer but no category anyway?

Summary update:

  * it is not clear how to select all features in v.edit
   * there is the `-r` trick but it is not clear if it it supported
   * it is possible to get bbox and pass it (comment:2), this seems
inconvenient to me
   * perhaps `-a` (Select all) flag to explicitly select all would be good
  * some parameters/options in v.edit have guisection Selection but they
can be used also as an input
  * v.edit builds topology when there is nothing to edit
   * seems to be fixed by recent r60392
  * v.edit breaks the topology/spatial index when the selection of features
was empty, ends with assert sometimes
   * whatever it was, it is hidden/disabled by r60392
  * there is a space after map name in v.what output
  * v.category has a parameter/option option while v.edit has a parameter
tool
  * v.category builds topology when there was no change
  * v.category does nothing for `option=step` and `option=add`; using
option=sum under the same conditions gives a result if there is something
else to add, it is not in the example in manual
   * the issue with `option=add` is just unclear documentation
  * v.category says 0 features modified. when it finished report or print
but it seems redundant I wouldn't expect something else when using report
or print and not providing output
  * if you will try to explore it using GUI query tool, you will see that
it shows only one layer and one category (it seems that underlying
vector_what(map="...", coord=...) and v.what works)
   * this needs separate ticket

--
Ticket URL: <https://trac.osgeo.org/grass/ticket/2304#comment:3&gt;
GRASS GIS <http://grass.osgeo.org>

5

#2304: Problems with add category to all features workflow
--------------------------------+-------------------------------------------
Reporter: wenzeslaus | Owner: grass-dev@…
     Type: defect | Status: new
Priority: normal | Milestone: 7.1.0
Component: Default | Version: unspecified
Keywords: v.edit, v.category | Platform: Unspecified
      Cpu: Unspecified |
--------------------------------+-------------------------------------------

Comment(by mlennert):

I find this a much too long list of items which are a mix of many
different things (unclear documentation for the most part), that I think
this bug should be closed and you should open separate tickets for those
items you really feel are bugs/enhancement requests.

I've patched the v.category doc according to your suggestion (r60432/3 and
r60435/7).

I agree that a "select all" option in v.edit might be helpful.

Moritz

--
Ticket URL: <https://trac.osgeo.org/grass/ticket/2304#comment:4&gt;
GRASS GIS <http://grass.osgeo.org>

6

#2304: Problems with add category to all features workflow
--------------------------------+-------------------------------------------
Reporter: wenzeslaus | Owner: grass-dev@…
     Type: defect | Status: new
Priority: normal | Milestone: 7.1.0
Component: Default | Version: unspecified
Keywords: v.edit, v.category | Platform: Unspecified
      Cpu: Unspecified |
--------------------------------+-------------------------------------------

Comment(by wenzeslaus):

Since it was unclear to me what are the actual problems and how
complicated they are, I was not able to fill separate tickets. I'm for
closing this ticket as soon as every issue listed here is individually
addressed, e.g. by reporting new ticket or by declaring it as not an
issue.

Summary update follows.

Reported separately:

  * it is not clear how to select all features in `v.edit`
   * there is the `-r` trick but it is not clear if it it supported
   * it is possible to get bbox and pass it (comment:2), this seems
inconvenient to me
   * perhaps `-a` (Select all) flag to explicitly select all would be good
   * feature request #2309

Resolved:

  * `v.edit` builds topology when there is nothing to edit
   * seems to be fixed by recent r60392
  * `v.edit` breaks the topology/spatial index when the selection of
features was empty, ends with assert sometimes
   * whatever it was, it is hidden/disabled by r60392
  * `v.category` does nothing for `option=add`; using `option=sum under`
the same conditions gives a result if there is something else to add, it
is not in the example in manual
   * the issue with `option=add` is just unclear documentation
   * fixed by r60432 and others

Unresolved:

  * some parameters/options in `v.edit` have guisection Selection but they
can be used also as an input
  * there is a space after map name in `v.what` output
  * `v.category` has a parameter/option option while `v.edit` has a
parameter tool
  * `v.category` builds topology when there was no change
  * `v.category` does nothing for `option=step`; using `option=sum` under
the same conditions gives a result if there is something else to add, it
is not in the example in manual
  * v.category says 0 features modified. when it finished report or print
but it seems redundant I wouldn't expect something else when using report
or print and not providing output
  * in GUI query tool, you will see that it shows only one layer and one
category
   * now I see that layers are there but they are represented as separate
maps which is not what I would expect since (layers are "inside" the map);
I missed that before because I was querying more than one map and I
considered the other (folded) row as one of the other maps
   * this needs separate ticket
   * underlying `vector_what(map="...", coord=...)` and `v.what` works but
maybe the output is hard to work with (applies especially to `vector_what`
function)

--
Ticket URL: <https://trac.osgeo.org/grass/ticket/2304#comment:5&gt;
GRASS GIS <http://grass.osgeo.org>

7

#2304: Problems with add category to all features workflow
--------------------------+--------------------------------
  Reporter: wenzeslaus | Owner: grass-dev@…
      Type: defect | Status: new
  Priority: normal | Milestone: 7.1.0
Component: Default | Version: unspecified
Resolution: | Keywords: v.edit, v.category
       CPU: Unspecified | Platform: Unspecified
--------------------------+--------------------------------

Comment (by mlennert):

Replying to [comment:5 wenzeslaus]:
> Unresolved:
>

> * `v.category` has a parameter/option option while `v.edit` has a
parameter tool

The two modules do different things and I don't really see it as a problem
that the parameters have different names.

> * `v.category` builds topology when there was no change

v.category only does this when there is an output map and for any new map
topology has to be built, so again, I don't see this as a problem.

> * `v.category` does nothing for `option=step`; using `option=sum` under
the same conditions gives a result if there is something else to add, it
is not in the example in manual

There is no option=step. step is a separate parameter which allows to
change the default step of 1 when v.category creates new cat values.

> * v.category says 0 features modified. when it finished report or print
but it seems redundant I wouldn't expect something else when using report
or print and not providing output

I cannot reproduce this.

> * in GUI query tool, you will see that it shows only one layer and one
category
> * now I see that layers are there but they are represented as separate
maps which is not what I would expect since (layers are "inside" the map);
I missed that before because I was querying more than one map and I
considered the other (folded) row as one of the other maps
> * this needs separate ticket

IMHO this behavior is debatable, but definitely not a bug.

I again suggest closing this bug, as there is no actual bug report in
here.

--
Ticket URL: <http://trac.osgeo.org/grass/ticket/2304#comment:6&gt;
GRASS GIS <http://grass.osgeo.org>

8

#2304: Problems with add category to all features workflow
--------------------------+--------------------------------
  Reporter: wenzeslaus | Owner: grass-dev@…
      Type: defect | Status: closed
  Priority: normal | Milestone: 7.1.0
Component: Default | Version: unspecified
Resolution: fixed | Keywords: v.edit, v.category
       CPU: Unspecified | Platform: Unspecified
--------------------------+--------------------------------
Changes (by wenzeslaus):

* status: new => closed
* resolution: => fixed

Comment:

Replying to [comment:6 mlennert]:
> I again suggest closing this bug, as there is no actual bug report in
here.

OK, significant amount of reported things was either fixed or resolved
somehow. But some of the unresolved issues would be good to keep in mind,
for example module option called `option`, and I guess I may hit the
remaining ones once I will work with vector categories again if they are
still there. I've tried to run some of the commands from the original
report and the problems with `v.edit` are still fixed (comment:5), so
that's fine.

--
Ticket URL: <https://trac.osgeo.org/grass/ticket/2304#comment:7&gt;
GRASS GIS <http://grass.osgeo.org>