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# Line 2  Line 2 
2  <!DOCTYPE book  <!DOCTYPE book
3          PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.2//EN"          PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.2//EN"
4          "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.2/docbookx.dtd"          "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.2/docbookx.dtd"
5      [<!ENTITY imgscale "70">]>      [<!ENTITY imgscale "60">]>
6  <!-- $Revision$ -->  <!-- $Revision$ -->
7  <book>  <book>
8    <bookinfo>    <bookinfo>
# Line 19  Line 19 
19        </author>        </author>
20          </authorgroup>          </authorgroup>
21      <copyright>      <copyright>
22        <year>2003</year>        <year>2003, 2004</year>
23        <holder>Intevation GmbH</holder>        <holder>Intevation GmbH</holder>
24      </copyright>      </copyright>
25     <revhistory>     <revhistory>
26    <!-- comment this first revision out when releasing a real version -->
27         <revision>
28            <revnumber>CVS version $Id$</revnumber>
29            <date></date>
30            <revremark>Under development.</revremark>
31         </revision>
32         <revision>
33            <revnumber>1.0.0</revnumber>
34            <date>22-Jan-2004</date>
35            <revremark>
36                            Corresponds to Thuban 1.0.0.
37                            New: Installation instructions for Win32.
38                    </revremark>
39         </revision>
40         <revision>
41            <revnumber>1.0pre3</revnumber>
42            <date>04-Dec-2003</date>
43            <revremark>
44                            Corresponds to Thuban 1.0rc1.
45                            New: I18n, right button legend menu, EPSG projectons,
46                PostGIS support.
47                    </revremark>
48         </revision>
49         <revision>
50            <revnumber>1.0pre2</revnumber>
51            <date>29-Aug-2003</date>
52            <revremark>
53                            Corresponds to Thuban development release 0.8.1.
54                            New: chapter on extensions.
55                    </revremark>
56         </revision>
57       <revision>       <revision>
58          <revnumber>1.0pre1</revnumber>          <revnumber>1.0pre1</revnumber>
59          <date>08-Aug-2003</date>          <date>08-Aug-2003</date>
60          <revremark>Corresponds to Thuban development release 0.8.1</revremark>          <revremark>Corresponds to Thuban development release 0.8.1.</revremark>
61       </revision>       </revision>
62    </revhistory>    </revhistory>
63    
# Line 35  Line 66 
66    <chapter><title>Introduction</title>    <chapter><title>Introduction</title>
67      <para>      <para>
68      Thuban is an interactive geographic data viewer.      Thuban is an interactive geographic data viewer.
69      It has been developed because there was no simple interactive      Its development had been started because there was no simple interactive
70      viewer for geographic information available as Free Software. Thuban is      viewer for geographic information available as Free Software. Thuban is
71      written in Python and C++ and uses the wxWindows library allowing it to      written mainly in Python and uses the wxWidgets (former wxWindows)
72        library allowing it to
73      run on many different platforms, including GNU/Linux and Windows.      run on many different platforms, including GNU/Linux and Windows.
74      </para>      </para>
75      <para>      <para>
# Line 51  Line 83 
83      </para>      </para>
84      <para>      <para>
85      Thuban arranges a session in a hierarchy. A session contains a map which      Thuban arranges a session in a hierarchy. A session contains a map which
86      consists of layers. Each layer represents one kind of data set. For      consists of layers. Each layer represents a data set. For
87      instance, there may be a layer for roads and another layer for buildings.      instance, there may be a layer for roads and another layer for buildings.
88      These layers can either be vector shapes or images.      These layers can either be vector shapes or images.
89      </para>      </para>
# Line 64  Line 96 
96          <ulink url="http://thuban.intevation.org/download.html">          <ulink url="http://thuban.intevation.org/download.html">
97          Thuban Download site          Thuban Download site
98          </ulink>.          </ulink>.
99            </para>
100            <para>
101            Required:
102            <itemizedlist>
103                <listitem><para>Python 2.2.1
104                            (<literal>http://www.python.org</literal>)
105                            </para></listitem>
106                <listitem><para>wxWindows 2.4
107                            (<literal>http://www.wxwindows.org</literal>)
108                            </para></listitem>
109                <listitem><para>wxPython 2.4
110                            (<literal>http://www.wxpython.org</literal>)
111                            </para></listitem>
112                <listitem><para>proj 4.4.5 Projection Library
113                            (<literal>http://www.remotesensing.org/proj/</literal>)
114                            </para></listitem>
115                <listitem><para>SQLite 2.8.3
116                            <literal>http://www.hwaci.com/sw/sqlite/</literal>)
117                            </para></listitem>
118                <listitem><para>PySQLite 0.4.3
119                            (<literal>http://pysqlite.sourceforge.net</literal>)
120                            </para></listitem>
121            </itemizedlist>
122            </para>
123            <para>
124            Optional:
125          <itemizedlist>          <itemizedlist>
126              <listitem><para>Python 2.2.1 (<literal>http://www.python.org</literal>)</para></listitem>              <listitem><para>GDAL 1.1.8
127              <listitem><para>wxWindows 2.4 (<literal>http://www.wxwindows.org</literal>)</para></listitem>                          (<literal>http://www.remotesensing.org/gdal/</literal>)
128              <listitem><para>wxPython 2.4 (<literal>http://www.wxpython.org</literal>)</para></listitem>                          </para></listitem>
129              <listitem><para>proj 4.4.5 Projection Library (<literal>http://www.remotesensing.org/proj/</literal>)</para></listitem>              <listitem><para>psycopg 1.0.8
130              <listitem><para>GDAL 1.1.8 (<literal>http://www.remotesensing.org/gdal/</literal>)</para></listitem>                          (<literal>http://initd.org/software/psycopg</literal>)
131              <listitem><para>SQLite 2.8.3 (<literal>http://www.hwaci.com/sw/sqlite/</literal>)</para></listitem>                          </para></listitem>
             <listitem><para>PySQLite 0.4.3 (<literal>http://pysqlite.sourceforge.net</literal>)</para></listitem>  
132              </itemizedlist>              </itemizedlist>
133          </para>          </para>
134                  <para>                  <para>
135                  Along with the source codes, the download page also offers                  Along with the source codes, the download page also offers full
136                  full installation packages for Debian, Windows and RPM-based systems                  installation packages for Debian, Windows and RPM-based systems
137                  (Mandrake, RedHat, SuSE, etc).                  (Mandrake, RedHat, SuSE, etc).
138                  </para>                  </para>
139                    <section><title>RPM-based GNU/Linux Systems</title>
140                            <section><title>Installing Binary Packages</title>
141                                    <para>
142                                    The most wide-spread RPM-based GNU/Linux
143                                    Systems are RedHat, Mandrake and SuSE.
144                                    The documentation of these distributions
145                                    should contain information about how to
146                                    install third-party RPM packages.
147                                    Nonetheless, a short summary is provided here.
148                                    </para>
149                                    <para>
150                                    RPM packages can be installed applying several
151                                    tools. The most basic one is the command line
152                                    program "rpm".  The hardware architecture is
153                                    identified in the name of RPM packages, eg.
154                                    'i386' for most Intel/AMD architectures.  
155                                    If you have a different hardware architecture,
156                                    where no binary RPM packages are provided,
157                                    you must rebuild binary packages from the
158                                    RPM source packages first (see below).
159                                    Typical rpm commands look like:
160    
161                                    <programlisting>
162                                    rpm --install Thuban-0.9.0-1.i386.rpm
163                                    </programlisting>
164    
165                                    Depending on what you already have installed
166                                    on your system, you are informed that some
167                                    packages are required, but not installed.
168                                    You need to install them first. Either they
169                                    are provided by your GNU/Linux distributor
170                                    or available somewhere on the Internet.  
171                                    The more essential and special ones are
172                                    provided together with the Thuban package.
173                                    </para>
174    
175                                    <para>
176                                    For rpm exist some graphical user interfaces, notably
177                                    kpackage, GnoRPM and xrpm.
178                                    </para>
179    
180                                    <para>
181                                    Make yourself familiar with one of the tools and apply it
182                                    to install the packages.
183                                    Note, that you need to be administrator (root) for the system
184                                    to do that.
185                                    </para>
186                            </section>
187                            <section><title>Build Binaries from Source Packages</title>
188                                    <para>
189                                    This section describes howto build RPM install-packages
190                                    from RPM source-packages.
191                                    This adapts and optimizes an install-package specifically
192                                    to your system.
193                                    This is especially helpful to resolve version conflicts of
194                                    dependent packages. Furthermore, install-packages for other
195                                    platforms (e.g. PowerPC) can be created.
196                                    </para>
197    
198                                    <para>
199                                    Note: rpm must be at least version 4. Execute
200                                    <literal>rpm --version</literal> to find out about the version.
201                                    </para>
202    
203                                    <para>
204                                    You need to do the following preparations to be able to
205                                    build the packages as a regular user. You should now
206                                    perform the package buling as root since this
207                                    might cause damage to your system.
208                            <itemizedlist>
209                            <listitem>
210                                                    <para>
211                                                    Create RPM directory structure:
212                                                    Choose a directory (e.g. $HOME/myrpm) and create the
213                                                    subdirectories BUILD, RPM, SOURCES, SPECS and SRPMS.
214                                                    A possible command sequence for this is:
215                                                    <programlisting>
216                                                    mkdir $HOME/freegisrpm
217                                                    cd $HOME/freegisrpm
218                                                    mkdir BUILD RPMS SOURCES SPECS SRPMS
219                                                    </programlisting>
220                                                    </para>
221                                            </listitem>
222                                            <listitem>
223                                                    <para>
224                                                    Set environment variable RPM_DIR:
225                                                    <programlisting>
226                                                    export RPM_DIR=$HOME/freegisrpm
227                                                    </programlisting>
228                                                    </para>
229                                            </listitem>
230                                            <listitem>
231                                                    <para>
232                                                    Create $HOME/.rpmmacros:
233                                                    This file sets general preferences and some
234                                                    specific settings for signing packages.
235                                                    If you don't have a GnuPG-key, you can skip
236                                                    the signature settings i.e. drop the last 4 lines.
237                                                    A signature becomes important when you want to
238                                                    give away packages to third parties.
239                                                    <programlisting>
240    <![CDATA[
241    %packager Name Lastname <[email protected]>
242    
243    %_topdir /home/mylogin/myrpm
244    
245    %_signature gpg
246    %_gpg_name Name Lastname
247    %_pgp_path ~/.gnupg
248    %_pgpbin /usr/bin/gpg
249    ]]>
250                                                    </programlisting>
251                                                    </para>
252                                            </listitem>
253                            </itemizedlist>
254    
255                                    Now you can install any RPM source-package.
256                                    It's components are installed into the corresponding
257                                    subdirectories of your rpm-directory.
258                                    Essentially these are the sources (into directory SOURCES)
259                                    and the so-called spec-file which contains all build
260                                    instructions. The spec-file will go into the SPEC directory.
261                                    Example:
262                                    <literal>rpm --install Thuban-0.9.0-1.src.rpm</literal>
263                                    </para>
264    
265                                    <para>
266                                    Create install-package:
267                                    Go to the directory with the spec-files and rebuild the
268                                    package:
269                                    <programlisting>
270    cd $HOME/mypm/SPECS
271    rpm -bb thuban.spec
272                                    </programlisting>
273                                    Next, you will find the newly created package in
274                                    $HOME/myrpm/RPMS/i386.
275                                    If you build the package for another architecture than
276                                    i386, then the name of the directory has a corresponding name.
277                                    </para>
278                                    <para>
279                                    For documentation of RPM, either type
280                                    <literal>man rpm</literal> or <literal>rpm --help</literal>.
281                                    This will provide you with information on the various command
282                                    line options of RPM.
283                                    For more information see the
284                            <ulink url="http://www.rpm.org/">homepage of RPM</ulink>.
285                                    </para>
286                            </section>
287                    </section> <!-- Intro - Installation - RPM-->
288    
289                    <section><title>Win32 Systems</title>
290                    <para>
291                            A common installation package of Thuban for Win32
292                            systems is available from the Thuban website download
293                            section. This installation package is configured for
294                            displaying file based vector data (Shapefiles). For the
295                            display of raster data or the connection to spatial
296                            databases additional steps are needed.  
297                    </para>
298                    <para>
299                            The required Python packages are listed and linked on
300                            the download page as well.  If you don't have Python
301                            installed already, download the packages for Python,
302                            wxPython for Python and the SQLite Python Libraries as
303                            well as the Thuban package. Install all four packages
304                            in the order: Python, wxPython, SQLite, Thuban. Follow
305                            the installation instructions provided by the seperate
306                            setups. The Thuban installation package will add an
307                            entry in the menu folder you configured.
308                    </para>
309                    <section><title>Raster Data: Installation of GDAL</title>
310                    <para>
311                            Enabling the raster data features of Thuban is
312                            straight forward. For the examples we assume that
313                            Thuban has been installed under
314                            <literal>C:\Thuban</literal>:
315                            <itemizedlist>
316                            <listitem>
317                            <para>
318                            Download the zip-archive <ulink
319                            url="ftp://intevation.de/thuban/win2k/gdal-win2k.zip"
320                            >gdal-win2k</ulink>.
321                            </para></listitem>
322                            <listitem><para>Extract the archive (e.g. with
323                            <ulink
324                            url="http://www.info-zip.org/pub/infozip/WiZ.html"
325                            >WiZ (InfoZip)</ulink>) into the
326                            <literal>C:\Thuban\Lib</literal>
327                            directory of your Thuban installation.
328                            </para>
329                            </listitem>
330                            <listitem>
331                            <para>
332                            Extent the <varname>PYTHONPATH</varname>
333                            environment variable (in your Windows Control Panel)
334                            to make the new libraries available for Thuban.
335                            <programlisting>
336    %PYTHONPATH%;C:\Thuban\Lib\gdal;C:\Thuban\Lib\gdal\pymod
337                            </programlisting>
338                            </para>
339                            </listitem>
340                            <listitem>
341                            <para>
342                            Extent also the <varname>PATH</varname>
343                            environment variable accordingly:
344                            <programlisting>
345    %PATH%;C:\Thuban\Lib\gdal
346                            </programlisting>
347                            </para>
348                            </listitem>
349                            </itemizedlist>
350                            After this installation steps Thuban is ready to
351                            display raster data (e.g. the
352                            <literal>island.tif</literal> from the Iceland Demo
353                            data set.
354                    </para>
355                    </section> <!-- Win32: GDAL-->
356    
357                    <section><title>Working with PostGIS: Installation of PsycoPG</title>
358                    <para>
359                            To access PostgreSQL/PostGIS spatial databases with
360                            Thuban you have to install the PsycoPG package for
361                            Windows:
362                            <itemizedlist>
363                            <listitem>
364                            <para>
365                            Download the zip-archive
366                            <ulink
367                                    url="http://stickpeople.com/projects/python/win-psycopg/win-psycopg22.zip"
368                            >win-psycopg22.zip</ulink>.
369                            </para>
370                            </listitem>
371                            <listitem>
372                            <para>
373                            Extract the zip-archive into a directory either already
374                            in your <varname>PYTHONPATH</varname> or extent your
375                            <varname>PYTHONPATH</varname> variable to the directory
376                            you have extracted the archive to.
377                            </para>
378                            </listitem>
379                            </itemizedlist>
380                            For installation and maintenance of spatial databases
381                            we refer to the  <ulink
382                            url="http://postgis.refractions.net"
383                            >PostGIS Homepage</ulink>.
384                    </para>
385                    </section> <!-- Win32: PsycoPG-->
386    
387                    </section> <!-- Intro - Installation - Win32 -->
388          </section>          </section>
389    
390            <section><title>Internationalization</title>
391            <para>
392            Thuban is implemented with internationalization support. So far Thuban
393            is translated by volunteers to the following languages (apart from its
394            main language: English):
395            <itemizedlist>
396                <listitem><para>French</para></listitem>
397                <listitem><para>German</para></listitem>
398                <listitem><para>Italian</para></listitem>
399                    <listitem><para>Portuguese (Brazilian)</para></listitem>
400                <listitem><para>Russian</para></listitem>
401                <listitem><para>Spanish</para></listitem>
402            </itemizedlist>
403            </para>
404    
405            <para>
406            To use internationalization under POSIX systems (like GNU/Linux)
407            you have to set the environment variable LC_ALL accordingly (e.g.
408            LC_ALL=fr_FR for the french language support). Please check your
409            systems documentation for details and supported settings.
410            Specifiying LC_ALL on the command line while launching thuban
411            allows appication specific language settings:
412            </para>
413            <programlisting>
414            LC_ALL=fr_FR thuban.py
415            </programlisting>
416    
417            <para>
418            MS Windows users have to specify the language to be used via the control
419            bar (which effects all applications).
420            </para>
421            </section>
422    
423          <section><title>The Main Window</title>          <section><title>The Main Window</title>
424          <para>          <para>
425          <figure>          <figure>
# Line 231  Line 570 
570    
571          <section><title>Adding and Removing Layers</title>          <section><title>Adding and Removing Layers</title>
572          <para>          <para>
573          There are two types of layers that can be added to a map: shape layers          There are three types of layers that can be added to a map:
574            Shape layers, database layers
575          and image layers. Shape layers are stored in Shapefile format, a          and image layers. Shape layers are stored in Shapefile format, a
576          standard file format for storing geographic objects. These          widely used file format for storing geographic objects. These
577          files have the extension ``.shp''. Associated with          files have the extension ``.shp''. Associated with
578          the shape file is a database file which stores attributes for          the shape file is a database file which stores attributes for
579          each shape in the shape file. This file, in dBase format,          each shape in the Shape file. This file, in dBase format,
580          has the extension ``.dbf''. Both files must have the same base name.          has the extension ``.dbf''. Both files must have the same base name.
581          For example, if there is a shape file named roads.shp there must          For example, if there is a shape file named roads.shp there must
582          also be a file roads.dbf.          also be a file roads.dbf.
583          </para>          </para>
584          <para>          <itemizedlist>
585            <listitem>
586            <para>
587          Shape layers can be added to the map with          Shape layers can be added to the map with
588          <menuchoice>          <menuchoice>
589          <guimenu>Map</guimenu>          <guimenu>Map</guimenu>
590          <guimenuitem>Add Layer</guimenuitem>          <guimenuitem>Add Layer</guimenuitem>
591          </menuchoice>.          </menuchoice>.
592          Thuban will load all files with the same base name, so it doesn't          Initially, only the ``.shp'' files are shown which is enough for the
593          matter if the shape file or database file is selected.                  selection. However, if you switch to display all files and select one
594                    of the associated files (e.g. ``.dbf''), Thuban will recognize the base
595                    name and load the corresponding Shape file.
596          </para>          </para>
597                    <para>
598                    The file dialog for Shape files allows to select multiple files.
599                    Use the shift-button together with the left mouse button to extend
600                    the selection.
601            </para>
602            </listitem>
603    
604            <listitem>
605            <para>Database layers can be added to the map with
606            <menuchoice>
607            <guimenu>Map</guimenu>
608            <guimenuitem>Add Database Layer</guimenuitem>
609            </menuchoice>.
610            A dialog with two is list is opened. The left list displays all
611            database connections currently open for the session. You can retrieve
612            a list of available layers from the selected database which is
613            displayed on the right hand. From this list one layer can be selected,
614            the dialog is closed afterwards.
615            </para>
616            <para>
617            See appendix ``Working with PostGIS'' for details.
618            </para>
619            </listitem>
620    
621            <listitem>
622          <para>          <para>
623          Image layers can be added to the map with          Image layers can be added to the map with
624          <menuchoice>          <menuchoice>
# Line 262  Line 630 
630          or in another file. If geographic information cannot be found, Thuban          or in another file. If geographic information cannot be found, Thuban
631          will report an error.          will report an error.
632          </para>          </para>
633            </listitem>
634            </itemizedlist>
635          </section>          </section>
636    
637          <section><title>Navigation</title>          <section><title>Navigation</title>
# Line 553  Line 923 
923          </para>          </para>
924          </listitem>          </listitem>
925          </itemizedlist>          </itemizedlist>
926    
927            <para>
928            The most used layer related actions are also available from a
929            popup menu. It is raised when a layer is clicked with the right mouse
930            button.
931            </para>
932            
933            <para>
934            <figure>
935            <title>Layer Popup Menu</title>
936            <mediaobject>
937            <imageobject><imagedata fileref="../images/3_5_popup_menu.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
938            <imageobject><imagedata fileref="./images/3_5_popup_menu.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
939            </mediaobject>
940            </figure>
941            </para>
942    
943          <para>          <para>
944          Along the bottom of the legend is the scalebar. The scalebar          Along the bottom of the legend is the scalebar. The scalebar
945          will be available if there are any layers and the  map has a          will be available if there are any layers and the  map has a
# Line 597  Line 984 
984    
985          <section><title>Types of Layers</title>          <section><title>Types of Layers</title>
986          <para>          <para>
987          There are two types of layers supported by Thuban: shape layers and          There are three types of layers supported by Thuban: shape layers,
988            database layers and
989          image layers. Shape layers consist of vector based shapes with          image layers. Shape layers consist of vector based shapes with
990          geo-referenced coordinates. There are three types of supported          geo-referenced coordinates. There are three types of supported
991          shapes: polygons, lines (arc), and points. Image layers can be any image          shapes: polygons, lines (arc), and points. Database layers are similar
992            to shape layers but loaded from a database instead of the file system.
993            Image layers can be any image
994          file format supported by the Geo-spatial Data Abstraction Library          file format supported by the Geo-spatial Data Abstraction Library
995          (GDAL). The images must have geographic          (GDAL). The images must have geographic
996          coordinate data either embedded within the file or in a separate          coordinate data either embedded within the file or in a separate
# Line 932  Line 1322 
1322      </figure>      </figure>
1323      </para>      </para>
1324      <para>      <para>
1325      Thuban is distributed with a sample collection of projections. The      Thuban is distributed with a sample collection of projections and the
1326        set of coordinate systems as used by the EPSG
1327        (European Petroleum Survey Group). This quite large set is only displayed
1328        if activated by the according checkbox. The set falls into two parts:
1329        deprecated lists all projections which are no longer part of the
1330        EPSG data base.
1331        </para>
1332        <para>
1333             The
1334      user can create new projections and make them available to all      user can create new projections and make them available to all
1335      future Thuban sessions. They may also be exported and imported so      future Thuban sessions. They may also be exported and imported so
1336      that custom projections can be distributed.      that custom projections can be distributed.
# Line 1212  Line 1610 
1610      </section>      </section>
1611    </chapter>    </chapter>
1612    
1613      <chapter><title>Extensions</title>
1614            <para>
1615            Thuban is designed to be extensible. The term Extension is used as a
1616            general term for anything that extends Thuban.
1617            This chapter introduces into some oppportunities how to add and
1618            handle extra functionality developed by your own or third parties.
1619            </para>
1620    
1621            <section><title>Add personal extensions via thubanstart.py</title>
1622                    <para>
1623                    After Thuban has been started for the first time, a directory
1624                    .thuban is created within your home directory.
1625                    There you can add a file thubanstart.py  which will be imported
1626                    by Thuban at start-up. It is recommended to add only import-statements
1627                    to this file to keep the actual code of extensions separate.
1628                    </para>
1629                    <para>
1630                    The modules to import must either be found through the environment
1631                    variable PYTHONPATH or directly be placed into the .thuban-directory.
1632                    </para>
1633                    <para>
1634                    As an example, copy the file examples/simple_extensions/hello_world.py
1635                    of the Thuban source code into the .thuban-directory of your home
1636                    directory. Now add add the statement import hello_world to the
1637                    file thubanstart.py and run Thuban. You will notice an additional
1638                    menu <menuchoice><guimenu>Extensions</guimenu></menuchoice> where
1639                    the new item for the Hello-World extension is placed - select it
1640                    to see the Hello-World message.
1641                    </para>
1642            </section>
1643    
1644            <section><title>Extensions included in Thuban package</title>
1645                    <para>
1646                    The extensions described in this section are part of the
1647                    Thuban package, but not activated by default.
1648                    You will find them in the Thuban installation directory
1649                    under <literal>Extensions/</literal>. Activate them as personal
1650                    extensions via PYTHONPATH as described in the previous section.
1651                    Stable extensions will appear under the menu
1652                    <menuchoice><guimenu>Extensions</guimenu></menuchoice> and
1653                    extensions which are in experimental state and therefore
1654                    not fully functional under
1655                    <menuchoice><guimenu>Experimental</guimenu></menuchoice>.
1656                    </para>
1657    
1658                    <section><title>Stable extensions</title>
1659                            <para>
1660                            These extensions provide extra-functionality to Thuban
1661                            that has not (yet) been integrated in the main application.
1662                            They are considered to be free of bugs, but may be
1663                            further polished with helpful user interactions.
1664                            </para>
1665                            <section><title>gns2shp</title>
1666                                    <para>
1667                                    This tool converts data of the Geospatial Names Server
1668                                    (GNS, see <ulink url="http://www.nima.mil/gns"/>)
1669                                    into Shapefile format.
1670                                    The above web-site offer to download named places
1671                                    information grouped by countries for all of the world
1672                                    except USA for which other data are provided.
1673                                    </para>
1674                                    <para>
1675                                    If you download and unpack a package, you will have
1676                                    a text-file with suffix .txt.
1677                                    Selecting such a file via gns2shp will create the
1678                                    corresponding Shapefile with the same basename and
1679                                    place it in the same direcory. Afterwards it
1680                                    is automatically loaded into Thuban.
1681                                    The Shapefile will not automatically be delete afterwards.
1682                                    </para>
1683                                    <para>
1684                                    The gns2shp.py module can also be executed on the
1685                                    command line for batch processing purposes.
1686                                    </para>
1687                                    <para>
1688                                    A sample (<literal>ls.txt</literal> for Liechtenstein)
1689                                    is included in the directory
1690                                    <literal>Extensions/gns2shp/test</literal>.
1691                                    </para>
1692                            </section>
1693                    </section>
1694                    <section><title>Experimental extensions</title>
1695                            <para>
1696                            All all of these functions have to be handled with care,
1697                            since they are neither complete nor well tested.
1698                            They are to be seen as a proof-of-concept and may
1699                            additionally in some cases of practical help.
1700                            </para>
1701                            <para>
1702                            Any interest on further improvement of these extensions
1703                            should be communicated towards the developer and user
1704                            community.
1705                            </para>
1706    
1707                            <section><title>importAPR</title>
1708                                    <para>
1709                                    This command offer to load an ESRI� ArcView� project
1710                                    file (suffix .apr) and convert it for use within Thuban.
1711                                    After selecting a apr-file to load, a list
1712                                    will be presented that offers to select one of the views
1713                                    of the apr-file, provided there is more than one.
1714                                    Furthermore, the Session Info-Tree is extended with
1715                                    a complete representation of the parsed apr-file.
1716                                    </para>
1717                                    <para>
1718                                    The legend of Thuban does not yet cover all of the elements as
1719                                    supported by the legend of ArcView�. Therefore, the Thuban
1720                                    map will look different. Furthermore, the apr-format is
1721                                    a proprietary format, not openly documented.
1722                                    Therefore, the interpretation is
1723                                    partly based on reverse engeneering and good guessing.
1724                                    </para>
1725                                    <para>
1726                                    The file-paths within the apr-file may not fit and potentially
1727                                    are subject to fix in the apr-file. You can do this
1728                                    applying any text editor. The paths are either absolute
1729                                    or relative from where Thuban has been started.
1730                                    </para>
1731                                    <para>
1732                                    A sample for the Iceland data is included as
1733                                    <literal>Extensions/importAPR/samples/iceland.apr</literal>.
1734                                    The file-paths are relative from the Thuban main directory.
1735                                    </para>
1736                            </section>
1737                    </section>
1738            </section>
1739    
1740            <section><title>Writing simple extensions</title>
1741                    <para>
1742                    Writing an extension for Thuban basically means to
1743                    implement the extra functionality in Python with all of the
1744                    Thuban classes, methods and variables available.
1745                    </para>
1746                    <para>
1747                    All classes and their methods are documented in the source code
1748                    (see their doc-strings). Here is an example from
1749                    Thuban/Model/layer.py that describes some of the methods
1750                    of a Layer object:
1751                    </para>
1752                    <programlisting>
1753                    <![CDATA[
1754    class BaseLayer(TitledObject, Modifiable):
1755    
1756        """Base class for the layers."""
1757    
1758        def __init__(self, title, visible = True, projection = None):
1759            """Initialize the layer.
1760    
1761            title -- the title
1762            visible -- boolean. If true the layer is visible.
1763            """
1764            TitledObject.__init__(self, title)
1765            Modifiable.__init__(self)
1766            self.visible = visible
1767            self.projection = projection
1768    
1769        def Visible(self):
1770            """Return true if layer is visible"""
1771            return self.visible
1772    
1773        def SetVisible(self, visible):
1774            """Set the layer's visibility."""
1775            self.visible = visible
1776            self.issue(LAYER_VISIBILITY_CHANGED, self)
1777    
1778        def HasClassification(self):
1779            """Determine if this layer support classifications."""
1780    ...
1781                    ]]>
1782                    </programlisting>
1783                    <para>
1784                    This example intends to give you an impression of the
1785                    source-code-level documentation.
1786                    You have to make yourself familiar with
1787                    the Python programming language to understand some special
1788                    code elements.
1789                    </para>
1790                    <section><title>hello_world.py</title>
1791                      <para>
1792                      Traditionally, the first example should welcome the world.
1793                      Most of the code handles the frame for integrating a menu
1794                      item into Thuban while the actual raising of a message
1795                      is done in a single line.
1796                      </para>
1797                            <programlisting>
1798                            <![CDATA[
1799    # Copyright (C) 2003 by Intevation GmbH
1800    # Authors:
1801    # Jan-Oliver Wagner <[email protected]>
1802    #
1803    # This program is free software under the GPL (>=v2)
1804    # Read the file COPYING coming with Thuban for details.
1805    
1806    """
1807    Extend Thuban with a sample Hello World to demonstrate simple
1808    extensions.
1809    """
1810    
1811    __version__ = '$Revision$'
1812    
1813    # use _() already now for all strings that may later be translated
1814    from Thuban import _
1815    
1816    # Thuban has named commands which can be registered in the central
1817    # instance registry.
1818    from Thuban.UI.command import registry, Command
1819    
1820    # The instance of the main menu of the Thuban application
1821    # See Thuban/UI/menu.py for the API of the Menu class
1822    from Thuban.UI.mainwindow import main_menu
1823    
1824    def hello_world_dialog(context):
1825        """Just raise a simple dialog to greet the world.
1826    
1827        context -- The Thuban context.
1828        """
1829        context.mainwindow.RunMessageBox(_('Hello World'), _('Hello World!'))
1830    
1831    
1832    # create a new command and register it
1833    registry.Add(Command('hello_world', _('Hello World'), hello_world_dialog,
1834                         helptext = _('Welcome everyone on this planet')))
1835    
1836    # find the extensions menu (create it anew if not found)
1837    extensions_menu = main_menu.FindOrInsertMenu('extensions', _('E&xtensions'))
1838    
1839    # finally bind the new command with an entry in the extensions menu
1840    extensions_menu.InsertItem('hello_world')
1841                            ]]>
1842                            </programlisting>
1843                    </section>
1844                    <section><title>Registering a Command</title>
1845                      <para>
1846                      Mainly, our new function has to be registered to the Thuban
1847                      framework in order to connect it to the menu. A registered
1848                      command can also be connected to e.g. a toolbar button.
1849                      </para>
1850                      <para>
1851                      The instances and classes for this are imported at the beginning.
1852                      Any code not inside a method or class is directly executed when
1853                      the source-code module is imported. Therefore, the second
1854                      part of this example consist of the plain statements to create a new
1855                      Command and to add it to the menu.
1856                      </para>
1857                      <para>
1858                      By convention, it looks for a menu registered as ``extensions'' to
1859                      insert the new command. If it does not exist yet, it gets created.
1860                      It is advisable to copy this code for any of your extensions.
1861                      </para>
1862                    </section>
1863                    <section><title>The Thuban context</title>
1864                            <para>
1865                            A registered command that is called, always receives the
1866                            Thuban context. This instance provides our method with
1867                            hook references to all important components of the Thuban
1868                            application.
1869                            </para>
1870                            <para>
1871                    In the example hello_world.py, our function uses the
1872                            mainwindow component which offers a method to raise a
1873                            message dialog. In total there are three hooks:
1874                            <itemizedlist>
1875                            <listitem>
1876                            <para>application:
1877                            This object is the instance of the Thuban Application class.
1878                            Except maybe for loading or savinf sessions, you will not
1879                            need this object for a simple extension.
1880                            See Thuban/UI/application.py for the API.
1881                            </para>
1882                            </listitem>
1883                            <listitem>
1884                            <para>session:
1885                            The instance of the current session. It manages the sessions'
1886                            map and tables. You can set and remove the map or tables.
1887                            In may also get the map object. However, you should know that
1888                            internally it is already prepared to handle many maps.
1889                            Therfore, currently you would always receive a list with exactlty
1890                            one element. In the future, if there are more than one map,
1891                            you will not know which one is the currently display one and
1892                            therefore you should use the mainwindow as hook to find
1893                            the currently displayed map.
1894                            See Thuban/Model/session.py for the API.
1895                            </para>
1896                            </listitem>
1897                            <listitem>
1898                            <para>
1899                            mainwindow: The mainwindow object is central to manage various
1900                            GUI things such as the Legend sub-window. Most notably,
1901                            you get access to the canvas which is the window part where
1902                            the map is drawn. The canvas knows, which map it currently
1903                            draws and therefore you get the current map via
1904                            context.mainwindow.canvas.Map().
1905                            See Thuban/UI/mainwindow.py for the API.
1906                            </para>
1907                            </listitem>
1908                            </itemizedlist>
1909                </para>
1910                    </section>
1911            </section>
1912      </chapter>
1913    
1914    <chapter><title>Trouble Shooting</title>    <chapter><title>Trouble Shooting</title>
1915      <para>      <para>
1916      Here are a few problems that users have encountered when first using Thuban.      Here are a few problems that users have encountered when first using Thuban.
# Line 1307  Line 2006 
2006      </varlistentry>      </varlistentry>
2007    
2008      <varlistentry>      <varlistentry>
2009        <term>PostGIS</term>
2010        <listitem>
2011            <para>
2012            PostGIS adds support for geographic objects to the PostgreSQL
2013            object-relational database. Different layer types (as for Shapefiles)
2014            are supported. <ulink url="http://postgis.refractions.net">PostGIS
2015            Homepage</ulink>
2016            </para>
2017        </listitem>
2018        </varlistentry>
2019    
2020        <varlistentry>
2021      <term>Raster files</term>      <term>Raster files</term>
2022      <listitem>      <listitem>
2023          <para>          <para>
# Line 1325  Line 2036 
2036      </variablelist>      </variablelist>
2037    </appendix>    </appendix>
2038    
2039      <appendix><title>Working with PostGIS</title>
2040      <para>
2041      This section focusses on the use of PostGIS in the Thuban framework. For
2042      installation and maintenance of spatial databases we refer to the  
2043      <ulink url="http://postgis.refractions.net">PostGIS Homepage</ulink>.
2044      The Thuban PostGIS support requires the
2045      <ulink url="http://initd.org/software/psycopg">psycopg module</ulink>.
2046      </para>
2047    
2048      <para>
2049            Working with PostGIS Databases is seperated into two steps:
2050            <itemizedlist>
2051            <listitem><para>Opening a Database Connection</para></listitem>
2052            <listitem><para>Loading a Data Layer</para></listitem>
2053            </itemizedlist>
2054      </para>
2055            <section><title>Opening a Database Connection</title>
2056            <para>
2057                    Before a data layer can be loaded from a PostGIS database a
2058                    connection with the database has to be established.
2059                    <menuchoice>
2060                    <guimenu>Session</guimenu>
2061                    <guimenuitem>Database Connections ...</guimenuitem>
2062                    </menuchoice> opens a dialog for database connection
2063                    management. In the dialog new connections can be added
2064                    and existing ones can be removed. Removing a database
2065                    connection is not possible if the map still displays a
2066                    layer provided by this database connection.
2067            </para>
2068        <figure>
2069        <title>Database Management Dialog</title>
2070        <mediaobject>
2071        <imageobject><imagedata fileref="../images/app_postgis_db_management.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
2072        <imageobject><imagedata fileref="./images/app_postgis_db_management.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
2073        </mediaobject>
2074        </figure>
2075    
2076            <para>
2077                    To add a new database connection to the session a dialog is
2078                    opened to specify the relevant connection data. Enter all
2079                    data relevant for your connection. If the connection fails
2080                    the dialog remains open and provides some hints on the failure.
2081            </para>
2082            <figure>
2083            <title>Add Database Dialog</title>
2084            <mediaobject>
2085            <imageobject><imagedata fileref="../images/app_postgis_db_add.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
2086            <imageobject><imagedata fileref="./images/app_postgis_db_add.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
2087            </mediaobject>
2088            </figure>
2089            
2090            <para>
2091            It is important to note that information on database connections are
2092            also stored with the session. Passwords are NOT stored. If you load a
2093            session with database connections you are asked to enter these
2094            passwords again where required.
2095            </para>
2096    
2097            </section>
2098    
2099            <section><title>Loading a Data Layer</title>
2100            <para>
2101            Data layers as part of a map are loaded with the
2102            <menuchoice>
2103            <guimenu>Map</guimenu>
2104            <guimenuitem>Add Database Layer ...</guimenuitem>
2105            </menuchoice> menu item. A dialog is raised displaying two choice
2106            lists. In the left list all connected databases are shown.
2107            Highlighting
2108            one of these and issuing a retrieval results in a list of available
2109            layer tables from that database. After selection of a
2110            layer the dialog is closed.
2111            </para>
2112            <figure>
2113            <title>Add Database Dialog</title>
2114            <mediaobject>
2115            <imageobject><imagedata fileref="../images/app_postgis_add_layer.png" format="PNG" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
2116            <imageobject><imagedata fileref="./images/app_postgis_add_layer.eps" format="EPS" scale="&imgscale;"/></imageobject>
2117            </mediaobject>
2118            </figure>
2119            
2120            </section>
2121    
2122      </appendix>
2123    
2124    <appendix><title>Supported Projections</title>    <appendix><title>Supported Projections</title>
2125      <para>      <para>
2126      The following types of projections are directly support by      The following types of projections are directly support by

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