Pima County GIS - Pima County MapGuide MWF Wrapper

Limitations

This list of limitations may look bothersome, but it's more informational than anything likely to cause you a problem. Maybe we should have called the list "Things to keep in mind" rather than limitations!

1. The Wrapper uses ColdFusion. You need ColdFusion installed on your web server.

2. The onMapLoaded MapGuide API function doesn't work with the Wrapper. It seems that web browsers don't process the code in the sequence the Wrapper generates it. The net effect is that the onMapLoaded API function does not work.

   Note: It looks like we fixed the onMapLoaded limitation. We need to test it again to know for sure. The change history on 03/08/2005 which says:

   "Move <script> tags for scriptpath, jspath, and vbspath parameters used by the map from generated section closer to the top of the code with other JavaScript definitions and references. Since it's no longer in the header and is defined with other functions, document.write is no longer needed. This placement ensures the functions are defined and available before the map loads, resolving the intermittent problem with detecting and processing the onMapLoaded event with the MapGuide API."

   Coding around this restriction is easy, consisting of explicitly waiting for the map to load before proceeding. See sample code files mgmapinitAPI-SOURCE.js and others for code that waits for map-not-busy prior to invoking further application API code that would have been invoked after the onMapLoaded event. Waiting for map-not-busy is also a more platform-independent approach and is simpler in a way because it does not require an event observer.

3. The Wrapper requires that the MapGuide map object be in its own dedicated frame as implemented by mgmapframe.cfm.

   As delivered with the Wrapper, the map frame is loaded by the frameset definition mgmap.cfm that is the usual link point for the Wrapper. If the supplied mgmap.cfm frameset layout ("title" frame on top) doesn't suit you, you can easily copy and modify it as needed. The real "meat" of the Wrapper is in the mgmapframe.cfm map frame definition which we strongly recommend using without changes. In other words, you are strongly encouraged to use mgmapframe.cfm as-is, but you may want to make one or more versions of mgmap.cfm. We have only one version of mgmap.cfm and suggest you try to do the same.

   If you have existing MapGuide API applications that have API code in the map object page or frame, you can use Wrapper URL parameters to embed your API code in the Wrapper's map frame at run time. See Wrapper mgmap.cfm URL Parameters documentation for the SCRIPTPATH, JSPATH and VBSPATH parameters.

4. The MapGuide MWF Wrapper is fully Java Viewer compatible, but Java Edition Viewer version checking and local installation support is not implemented. As the Java Viewer is generally downloaded on the fly from a location specified by the Wrapper settings, Java Viewer version checking is really a non-issue unless an astute user has managed to manually install the Java Viewer. (Do not confuse the Java Viewer used by Macs and Unix with the ActiveX control and plug-in versions of the MapGuide Viewer.) See Java Viewer Support.

5. The current Wrapper code supports all MapGuide Viewer Versions from 5.0 to 6.5. mgmapframe.cfm and mgmapsettings.inc must be updated with each newer version of the MapGuide viewer beyond version 6.5 to handle new values of the requiredviewer parameter. New versions of web browsers developed since this writing that Autodesk may choose to support with a newer version of MapGuide may also require changes to the Wrapper code itself.

6. The Wrapper strives to display the map using the Java Viewer on any platform that doesn't support Active X control or plug-in. That is, it tries regardless of the user's choice of web browser or operating system. You can decide if this is a "feature" or "limitation" of the Wrapper. For instance, a map will display with Firefox which is not supported by Autodesk. (See What About Firefox and Other New Browsers?) We even had a report of a working map from a Linux user. In these cases which the MapGuide Viewer itself does not support, the API does not function and there could be other problems.

   As the Java Viewer works (or mostly works) on some platforms (browsers) that aren't officially supported by Autodesk, we've added code to our local site MapGuide API code to warn the user if they aren't using a supported configuration. We didn't put that check in the Wrapper as the supported configurations vary with each release of the MapGuide Viewer and we didn't want to put logic for all MapGuide Versions in the Wrapper. Since our site requires MapGuide 6.5, we put the checks for platforms supported by version 6.5 in our local API code. Contact us if you want this code fragment. See Support.

Pima County MapGuide MWF Wrapper Main Page