Summary of the update

I am releasing today the first update for ScribeUI for Google Summer of Code 2015. I had three main objectives planned for this summer, which you can see in this previous blog post. This update contains the first part of the project, improved error detection. You can try it here!

To give you an example, here’s what happens when I try to use a comma instead of a dot for a decimal value:

When the map renders pink error tiles, an error message appears over it with a link to open the logs if they’re not already open. In the logs, there are two links: one to the location of the error in the result mapfile, and one to the location of the error in the editor. These links are available only when the error returned by mapserver contains the line number.

Sometimes the error can’t be located in the editor, often because of the differences between the Scribe syntax and the regular mapfile syntax. When that happens, you should still be able to find it in the result tab.

The Debug tab now contains the output of shp2img with debug level 5 using the generated mapfile as the input. The logs generated by shp2img are very useful for debugging. The Result tab was also upgraded to a read-only CodeMirror editor, allowing syntax highlighting, error widgets and line numbering.

Changelog

• Fix #65 - Update the Readme for the latest version of Apache
• Fix #87 - Make the map’s viewport change when resizing the logs tab
• Fix #92 - Add an error message when something goes wrong while creating a map
• Fix #94 - Fix the issue where the log tab disapears when resizing the window
• Fix #112 - Add an option for the cgi-bin url in the local.ini file
• Fix #113 - Fix the issue with Scribe.py where links would be interpreted as comments
• Fix #114 - Remove the extra options in the map type when creating a new map
• Fix #117 - Make the debug logs always available
• Fix #118 - Fix the issue where a map’s name stays visible after deleting it
• Fix #119 - Don’t let the user create two maps with the same name
• Fix #120 - Escape characters in the description to prevent cross-site scripting
• Fix #121 - Add a maximum height to the log window
• Fix #122 - Refresh the log window when resized
• Updated CodeMirror to version 5.3
• Add error widgets in the result tab
• Add error widgets in the editor
• Add a notification when the map fails to renders

Updating

As with the previous release, you can update ScribeUI by using these commands:

sudo chown -R youruser .
git pull
git checkout v1.4
sudo make perms

You will also need mapserver-bin to use the new debugging feature. If you’re updating, use this command:

sudo apt-get install mapserver-bin

Plan for the next weeks

The second feature planned is exporting and importing maps and workspaces. This would allow users to share their maps more easily, and it would make it possible to add backups.