Implement Individual Map Widgets for Geometry Fields

[Paul Smith]

The form provided by GeoDjango for geometry fields (django.contrib.gis.forms.fields.GeometryField) is just a simple text box that accepts textual representations of geometries. The way admin currently generates its map forms is functional, but not really suited for general-purpose use. In particular, the map widget is generated dynamically by GeoModelAdmin.get_map_widget(). For better API consistency with the rest of Django, there should be reusable map editing widgets.

Because the geographic admin already uses ​OpenLayers, the default widgets should be written using it. It should be general enough to make supporting alternative geometry frameworks possible, however, OpenLayers support is the priority.

Doing this will hopefully make fixing related tickets, like #9806 and #11002, easier.

[Paul Smith]

I think a design decision should be made about the inclusion of OpenLayers support, and for that matter Google Maps or Y! Maps support. It seems like these libraries should be treated the same way as Ajax support has been for Django, that is, out-of-band of the framework. It's arguable that for mapping application, a special case could be made in order to get a simple map up quickly with the KML from the models, which both GMaps and OpenLayers support. In that case, it seems a template tag may be more appropriate.

[jbronn]

Replying to p:

It seems like these libraries should be treated the same way as Ajax support has been for Django, that is, out-of-band of the framework. It's arguable that for mapping application, a special case could be made in order to get a simple map up quickly with the KML from the models, which both !GMaps and OpenLayers support.

But we want widgets for the admin and databrowse -- how can these be supported without support for any mapping framework built-in? I agree the feature-set should be minimal but still should be present -- users may then customize and/or extend the JavaScript templates at their discretion, and widgets may be created in the admin and databrowse.

We would not be playing to Django's strength's by excluding any sort of mapping framework.

In that case, it seems a template tag may be more appropriate.

I think it will be very difficult to shoehorn all map creation options into a template tag -- it seems more appropriate to have an object with that type of detail instantiated in the views, and passed into the template.

[springmeyer]

OpenLayers support was added as a built in feature of the admin in r7980.

Should this be closed and re-opened as a ticket for discussion how to integration the OL js into the framework outside the admin?

[christian@…]

I'm working on a project called "​OpenWebGIS" (demo:demo) and using OpenLayers to display and manage Features.
There is also a project called "​olwidget".

[Charlie DeTar]

Initial patch replacing geodjango admin with olwidget

[Charlie DeTar]

Just added an initial patch which replaces the Geodjango admin implementation with olwidget (from ​http://github.com/yourcelf/olwidget ), as discussed in this thread: ​http://groups.google.com/group/geodjango/browse_thread/thread/5cb91dd1a5867c24/62341910f188bae9

Still missing: tests, documentation, examples.

[Charlie DeTar]

Binary media files for olwidget (they don't show up in svn diff). Place in django/contrib/admin/media/img/

[Charlie DeTar]

This patch has grown stale, a lot of bugfixing has happened on the github repository for olwidget (​http://github.com/yourcelf/olwidget ). I'll make a new patch here soon.

[James Bennett]

1.2 is feature-frozen, moving this feature request off the milestone.

[Bruno Renié]

I have a github branch that implements rich map widgets for geometry fields. It's based on the current admin implementation and the admin has been modified to use widgets from django.contrib.gis.forms.

The github branch is here: ​https://github.com/brutasse/django/compare/5472-map-widgets

There is also a discussion on the geodjango mailing list: ​http://groups.google.com/group/geodjango/browse_thread/thread/1f318cbd38411488

The implementation is complete, there is some documentation but the wording can probably be improved by a native english speaker.

I'm not sure how to test the widget functionality. Testing the rendering is easy but not very useful since it's mostly javascript code.

[James Bennett]

1.3 is feature-frozen now.

[Aymeric Augustin]

Change UI/UX from NULL to False.

[Aymeric Augustin]

Change Easy pickings from NULL to False.

[Claude Paroz]

I'm currently working on this issue based on floppyforms implementation. I will publish a branch as soon as something usable is ready.

[Claude Paroz]

Branch here: ​https://github.com/claudep/django/tree/5472

Tests are still missing, and there are still some rough edges, but it's a start.

[Claude Paroz]

I've just rebased the branch and created a pull request:
​https://github.com/django/django/pull/944

Now is the time to review it!

[Claude Paroz <claude@…>]

In b16b72d415808073da0418de93bf32f71ead959d:

Fixed #5472 --Added OpenLayers-based widgets in contrib.gis

Largely inspired from django-floppyforms. Designed to not depend
on OpenLayers at code level.

[Claude Paroz]

I eventually pushed the patch. This week-end sprint might be an opportunity to fix rough edges if needed.