MapGuide RFC 2 - Unmanaged Data APIs

Overview

Managed data is data contained inside the server's data repository. Unmanaged data is any data outside of the server's data repository.

Add server/web functionality and APIs which will allow Studio to create feature sources from unmanaged data. We want to specify certain directories on the server machine to be unmanaged data directories. We will then add APIs which will enumerate the available unmanaged data files.

Motivation

When you use Studio to create a feature source (e.g. using Load Procedure), the data files (e.g. sdf, shp, raster, dwf, odbc) are uploaded to the server's repository. This is not an issue when the data files are small. If Studio and Server are on the same machine, this uploading is an unnecessary duplication of the data file. If the data file is really large, this duplication is slow and consuming unnecessary hard-drive space.

Currently, you can create a feature source which references unmanaged data. But it must be done manually. You need to know where the data is on the server machine. Then you must edit your Feature Source XML and upload it to the server via the web tier. This is a cumbersome process.

We want to automate this workaround in Studio. To do this, we need to add additional APIs and functionality to the server/web. We want to specify certain directories on the server machine to be unmanaged data directories. We will then add APIs which will enumerate the available unmanaged data files.

Funding/Resources

Tony Fang will be the resource to implement the changes outlined in this RFC.

Proposed Changes

TBD

Technical

Server API Server Admin API

Implications

TBD

Test Plan

TBD