The Mapfile is the heart of MapServer. It defines the relationships between objects, points MapServer to where data are located and defines how things are to be drawn.

There are some important concepts that you must understand before you can reliably use mapfiles to configure MapServer. First is the concept of a layer. A layer is the combination of data plus styling. Data, in the form of attributes plus geometry, are given styling using CLASS and STYLE directives.

BACKGROUNDCOLOR [r] [g] [b]

Color to use for non-transparent symbols.

COLOR [r] [g] [b]

Color to use for drawing features.

DEBUG [on|off]

Enables debugging of the class object. Verbose output is generated and sent to the standard error output (STDERR) or the MapServe r logfile if one is set using the LOG parameter in the WEB object.

EXPRESSION [string]

Four types of expressions are now supported to define class membership. String comparisons, regular expressions, simple logical expressions, and string functions. If no expression is given, then all features are said to belong to this class.

• String comparisons are case sensitive and are the fastest to evaluate. No special delimiters are necessary although string must be quoted if they contain special characters. (As a matter of good habit, it is recommended you quote all strings).

• Regular expressions function just like previous versions of MapServer. However, you must now delimit a regular expression using /regex/. No quotes should be used.

• Logical expressions allow you to build fairly complex tests based on one or more attributes and therefore are only available with shapefiles. Logical expressions are delimited by parentheses "(expression)". Attribute names are delimited by square brackets "[ATTRIBUTE]". These names are case sensitive and must match the items in the shapefile. For example: EXPRESSION ([POPULATION] > 50000 AND '[LANGUAGE]' eq 'FRENCH') ... The following logical operators are supported: =,>,<,<=,>=,=,or,and,lt,gt,ge,le,eq,ne. As you might expect this level of complexity is slower to process.

• One string function exists: length(). This obviously computes the length of a string. An example follows:

  EXPRESSION (length('[NAME_E]') < 8)                      
  

  String comparisons and regular expressions work from the classitem defined at the layer level. You may mix expression types within the different classes of a layer.

GROUP [string]

Allows for grouping of classes. It is only used when a CLASSGROUP at the LAYER level is set. If the CLASSGROUP parameter is set, only classes that have the same group name would be considered at rendering time. An example of a layer with grouped classes might contain:

LAYER
  ...
  CLASSGROUP "group1"
  ...
  CLASS
    NAME "name1"
    GROUP "group1"
    ...
  END
  CLASS
    NAME "name2"
    GROUP "group2"
    ...
  END
  CLASS
    NAME "name3"
    GROUP "group1"
    ...
  END
  ...
END # layer

KEYIMAGE [filename]

Full filename of the legend image for the CLASS. This image is used when building a legend (or requesting a legend icon via MapScript or the CGI application).

LABEL

Signals the start of a LABEL object.

MAXSCALEDENOM [double]

Maximum scale at which this CLASS is drawn. Scale is given as the denominator of the actual scale fraction, for example for a map at a scale of 1:24,000 use 24000. Implemented in MapServer 5.0, to replace the deprecated MAXSCALE parameter.

MAXSCALE [double] - deprecated

Since MapServer 5.0 the proper parameter to use is MAXSCALEDENOM instead. The deprecated MAXSCALE is the maximum scale at which this CLASS is drawn. Scale is given as the denominator of the actual scale fraction, for example for a map at a scale of 1:24,000 use 24000.

MAXSIZE [integer]

Maximum size in pixels to draw a symbol. Default is 50.

MINSCALEDENOM [double]

Minimum scale at which this CLASS is drawn. Scale is given as the denominator of the actual scale fraction, for example for a map at a scale of 1:24,000 use 24000. Implemented in MapServer 5.0, to replace the deprecated MINSCALE parameter.

MINSCALE [double] - deprecated

Since MapServer 5.0 the proper parameter to use is MINSCALEDENOM instead. The deprecated MINSCALE is the minimum scale at which this CLASS is drawn. Scale is given as the denominator of the actual scale fraction, for example for a map at a scale of 1:24,000 use 24000.

MINSIZE [integer]

Minimum size in pixels to draw a symbol. Default is 0.

NAME [string]

Name to use in legends for this class. If not set class won't show up in legend.

OUTLINECOLOR [r] [g] [b]

Color to use for outlining polygons and certain marker symbols. Line symbols do not support outline colors.

SIZE [integer]

Height, in pixels, of the symbol/pattern to be used. Only useful with scalable symbols. For vector (and ellipse) symbol types the default size is based on the range of Y values in the POINTS defining the symbol. For pixmaps, the default is the vertical size of the image. Default size is 1 for TTF symbols.

STATUS [on|off]

Sets the current display status of the class. Default turns the class on.

STYLE

Signals the start of a STYLE object. A class can contain multiple styles.

SYMBOL [integer|string|filename]

The symbol name or number to use for all features if attribute tables are not used. The number is the index of the symbol in the symbol file, starting at 1, the 5th symbol in the file is therefore symbol number 5. You can also give your symbols names using the NAME keyword in the symbol definition file, and use those to refer to them. Default is 0, which results in a single pixel, single width line, or solid polygon fill, depending on layer type.

You can also specify a gif or png filename. The path is relative to the location of the mapfile.

TEMPLATE [filename]

Template file or URL to use in presenting query results to the user.

TEXT [string]

Static text to label features in this class with. This overrides values obtained from the LABELTIEM. The string may be given as an expression delimited using the ()'s. This allows you to concatenate multiple attributes into a single label. For example: ([FIRSTNAME],[LASTNAME]).

You can also "stack" 2 symbols to achieve interesting effects. You define the second symbol, which effectively sits "on top" of the symbol normally defined above.

The following parameters allow you to define the symbol, and they are equivalent to their non-overlay counterparts:

• OVERLAYBACKGROUNDCOLOR
• OVERLAYCOLOR
• OVERLAYOUTLINECOLOR
• OVERLAYSIZE
• OVERLAYMINSIZE
• OVERLAYMAXSIZE
• OVERLAYSYMBOL

POINTS

A set of xy pairs terminated with an END, for example:

POINTS 1 1 50 50 1 50 1 1 END

Note that with POLYGON/POLYLINE layers POINTS must start and end with the same point (i.e. close the feature).

TEXT [string]

String to use for labeling this feature.

WKT [string]

A geometry expressed in OpenGIS Well Known Text geometry format. This feature is only supported if MapServer is built with OGR or GEOS support.

WKT "POLYGON((500 500, 3500 500, 3500 2500, 500 2500, 500 500))"
WKT "POINT(2000 2500)"

LABELFORMAT [DD|DDMM|DDMMSS|C format string]

Format of the label. "DD" for degrees, "DDMM" for degrees minutes, and "DDMMSS" for degrees, minutes, seconds. A C-style formatting string is also allowed, such as "%g°" to show decimal degrees with a degree symbol. The default is decimal display of whatever SRS you're rendering the GRID with.

MINARCS [double]

The minimum number of arcs to draw. Increase this parameter to get more lines. Optional.

MAXARCS [double]

The maximum number of arcs to draw. Decrease this parameter to get fewer lines. Optional.

MININTERVAL [double]

The minimum number of intervals to try to use. The distance between the grid lines, in the units of the grid's coordinate system. Optional.

MAXINTERVAL [double]

The maximum number of intervals to try to use. The distance between the grid lines, in the units of the grid's coordinate system. Optional.

MINSUBDIVIDE [double]

The minimum number of segments to use when rendering an arc. If the lines should be very curved, use this to smooth the lines by adding more segments. Optional.

MAXSUBDIVIDE [double]

The maximum number of segments to use when rendering an arc. If the graticule should be very straight, use this to minimize the number of points for faster rendering. Optional, default 256.

The following is an example of a GRID object in use:

 LAYER
   NAME "grid"
   METADATA
     "DESCRIPTION" "Grid"
   END
   TYPE LINE
   STATUS ON
   CLASS
     NAME "Graticule"
     COLOR 0 0 0
     LABEL
       COLOR  255 0 0
       FONT fritqat
       TYPE truetype
       SIZE 8
       POSITION AUTO          
       PARTIALS FALSE
       BUFFER 5
       OUTLINECOLOR 255 255 255           
     END 
  END
  PROJECTION
      "init=epsg:4326"
  END
  GRID
    LABELFORMAT DDMM
  #  LABELFORMAT '%g°'  # dec degrees with symbol
    MAXARCS 10
    MAXINTERVAL 10
    MAXSUBDIVIDE 2
  #  LABELFORMAT '%7.0f m'  # nice if a projected SRS used
  #  MININTERVAL 20000
  #  MAXSUBDIVIDE 2
  END
END # Layer

When this directive is encountered parsing switches to the included file immediately. As a result the included file can be comprised of any valid mapfile syntax. For example:

INCLUDE 'myLayer.map'

Performance does not seem to be seriously impacted with limited use, however in high performance instances you may want to use includes in a pre-processing step to build a production mapfile. The C pre-processor can also be used (albeit with a differnt syntax) and is far more powerful.

MAP
 NAME 'include'
 EXTENT 0 0 500 500
 SIZE 250 250

 INCLUDE "test_include_symbols.map"
 INCLUDE "test_include_layer.map"
END

SYMBOL
   NAME 'square'
   TYPE VECTOR
   FILLED TRUE
   POINTS 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 0 END
END

LAYER
  TYPE POINT
  STATUS DEFAULT
  FEATURE
    POINTS 10 10 40 20 300 300 400 10 10 400 END
  END
  CLASS
    NAME 'Church'
    COLOR 0 0 0
    SYMBOL 'square'
    SIZE 7
    STYLE
      SYMBOL "square"
      SIZE 5
      COLOR 255 255 255
    END
    STYLE
      SYMBOL "square"
      SIZE 3
      COLOR 0 0 255
    END
  END
END

ANGLE [double|auto|follow|attribute]

• Angle, given in degrees, to draw the label.

• AUTO allows MapServer to compute the angle. Valid for LINE layers only.

• FOLLOW was introduced in version 4.10 and tells MapServer to compute a curved label for appropriate linear features (see RFC 11 for specifics).

• [Attribute] was introduced in version 5.0, to specify the item name in the attribute table to use for angle values. The hard brackets [] are required. For example, if your shapefile's DBF has a field named "MYANGLE" that holds angle values for each record, your LABEL object might contain:

  LABEL
    COLOR  150 150 150
    OUTLINECOLOR 255 255 255     
    FONT sans
    TYPE truetype
    SIZE 6
    ANGLE [MYANGLE]
    POSITION AUTO      
    PARTIALS FALSE
  END 
  

  The associated RFC document for this feature is RFC 19.

ANTIALIAS [true|false]

Should text be antialiased? Note that this requires more available colors, decreased drawing performance, and results in slightly larger output images.

BACKGROUNDCOLOR [r] [g] [b]

Color to draw a background rectangle (i.e. billboard). Off by default.

BACKGROUNDSHADOWCOLOR [r] [g] [b]

Color to draw a background rectangle (i.e. billboard) shadow. Off by default.

BACKGROUNDSHADOWSIZE [x][y]

How far should the background rectangle be offset? Default is 1.

BUFFER [integer]

Padding, in pixels, around labels. Useful for maintaining spacing around text to enhance readability. Available only for cached labels. Default is 0.

COLOR [r] [g] [b] | [attribute]

• Color to draw text with.

• [Attribute] was introduced in version 5.0, to specify the item name in the attribute table to use for color values. The hard brackets [] are required. For example, if your shapefile's DBF has a field named "MYCOLOR" that holds color values for each record, your LABEL object might contain:

  LABEL
    COLOR  [MYCOLOR]
    OUTLINECOLOR 255 255 255     
    FONT sans
    TYPE truetype
    SIZE 6
    POSITION AUTO      
    PARTIALS FALSE
  END 
  

  The associated RFC document for this feature is RFC 19.

ENCODING [string]

Supported encoding format to be used for labels. If the format is not supported, the label will not be drawn. Requires the iconv library (present on most systems). The library is always detected if present on the system, but if not the label will not be drawn.

Required for displaying international characters in MapServer. More information can be found at: http://www.foss4g.org/FOSS4G/MAPSERVER/mpsnf-i18n-en.html.

FONT [name]

Font alias (as defined in the FONTSET) to use for labeling.

FORCE [true|false]

Forces labels for a particular class on, regardless of collisions. Available only for cached labels. Default is false.

MAXSIZE [integer]

Maximum font size to use when scaling text (pixels). Default is 256.

MINDISTANCE [integer]

Minimum distance between duplicate labels. Given in pixels.

MINFEATURESIZE [integer|auto]

Minimum size a feature must be to be labeled. Given in pixels. For line data the overall length of the displayed line is used, for polygons features the smallest dimension of the bounding box is used. "Auto" keyword tells MapServer to only label features that are larger than their corresponding label. Available for cached labels only.

MINSIZE [integer]

Minimum font size to use when scaling text (pixels). Default is 4.

OFFSET [x][y]

Offset values for labels, relative to the lower left hand corner of the label and the label point. Given in pixels. In the case of rotated text specify the values as if all labels are horizontal and any rotation will be compensated for.

OUTLINECOLOR [r] [g] [b] | [attribute]

• Color to draw a one pixel outline around the text.

• [Attribute] was introduced in version 5.0, to specify the item name in the attribute table to use for color values. The hard brackets [] are required. For example, if your shapefile's DBF has a field named "MYOUTCOLOR" that holds color values for each record, your LABEL object might contain:

  LABEL
    COLOR  150 150 150
    OUTLINECOLOR [MYOUTCOLOR]     
    FONT sans
    TYPE truetype
    SIZE 6
    POSITION AUTO      
    PARTIALS FALSE
  END 
  

  The associated RFC document for this feature is RFC 19.

PARTIALS [true|false]

Can text run off the edge of the map? Default is true.

POSITION [ul|uc|ur|cl|cc|cr|ll|lc|lr|auto]

Position of the label relative to the labeling point (layers only). First letter is "Y" position, second letter is "X" position. "Auto" tells MapServer to calculate a label position that will not interfere with other labels. With points and polygons, MapServer selects from the 8 outer positions (i.e. excluding cc). With lines, it only uses lc or uc, until it finds a position that doesn't collide with labels that have already been drawn. If all positions cause a conflict, then the label is not drawn (Unless the label's FORCE a parameter is set to "true"). "Auto" placement is only available with cached labels.

PRIORITY [integer]|[item_name]

The priority parameter (added in v5.0) takes an integer value between 1 (lowest) and 10 (highest). The default value is 1. It is also possible to bind the priority to an attribute (item_name) using square brackets around the [item_name]. e.g. "PRIORITY [someattribute]"

Labels are stored in the label cache and rendered in order of priority, with the highest priority levels rendered first. Specifying an out of range PRIORITY value inside a map file will result in a parsing error. An out of range value set via MapScript or coming from a shape attribute will be clamped to the min/max values at rendering time. There is no expected impact on performance for using label priorities.

SHADOWCOLOR [r] [g] [b]

Color of drop shadow.

SHADOWSIZE [x][y]

Shadow offset in pixels.

SIZE [integer]|[tiny|small|medium|large|giant]|[attribute]

• Text size. Use "integer" to give the size in pixels of your TrueType font based label, or any of the other 5 listed keywords to bitmap fonts.

• [Attribute] was introduced in version 5.0, to specify the item name in the attribute table to use for size values. The hard brackets [] are required. For example, if your shapefile's DBF has a field named "MYSIZE" that holds size values for each record, your LABEL object might contain:

  LABEL
    COLOR  150 150 150
    OUTLINECOLOR 255 255 255     
    FONT sans
    TYPE truetype
    SIZE [MYSIZE]
    POSITION AUTO      
    PARTIALS FALSE
  END 
  

  The associated RFC document for this feature is RFC 19.

TYPE [bitmap|truetype]

Type of font to use. Generally bitmap fonts are faster to draw then TrueType fonts. However, TrueType fonts are scalable and available in a variety of faces. Be sure to set the FONT parameter if you select TrueType.

WRAP [character]

Character that represents an end-of-line condition in label text, thus resulting in a multi-line label.

CLASS

Signals the start of a CLASS object.

CLASSITEM [attribute]

Item name in attribute table to use for class lookups.

CLASSGROUP [string]

Specify the class's group that would be considered at rendering time. The CLASS object's GROUP parameter must be used in combination with CLASSGROUP.

CONNECTION [string]

Database connection string to retrieve remote data.

An SDE connection string consists of a hostname, instance name, database name, username and password separated by commas.

A PostGIS connection string is basically a regular PostgreSQL connection string, it takes the form of "user=nobody password=****** dbname=dbname host=localhost port=5432"

An Oracle connection string: user/pass[@db]

CONNECTIONTYPE [local|sde|ogr|postgis|oraclespatial|wms]

Type of connection. Default is local. See additional documentation for any other type.

DATA [filename]|[sde parameters][postgis table/column][oracle table/column]

Full filename of the spatial data to process. No file extension is necessary for shapefiles. Can be specified relative to the SHAPEPATH option from the Map Object.

If this is an SDE layer, the parameter should include the name of the layer as well as the geometry column, i.e. "mylayer,shape,myversion".

If this is a PostGIS layer, the parameter should be in the form of "<columnname> from <tablename>", where "columnname" is the name of the column containing the geometry objects and "tablename" is the name of the table from which the geometry data will be read.

For Oracle, use "shape FROM table" or "shape FROM (SELECT statement)" or even more complex Oracle compliant queries! Note that there are important performance impacts when using spatial subqueries however. Try using MapServer's FILTER whenever possible instead. You can also see the SQL submitted by forcing an error, for instance by submitting a DATA parameter you know won't work, using for example a bad column name.

DEBUG [off|on|0|1|2|3|4|5]

Enables debugging of a layer in the current map.

Debugging with MapServer versions >= 5.0:

Verbose output is generated and sent to the standard error output (STDERR) or the MapServer errorfile if one is set using the "MS_ERRORFILE" environment variable. You can set the environment variable by using the CONFIG parameter at the MAP level of the mapfile, such as:

CONFIG "MS_ERRORFILE" "/ms4w/tmp/ms_error.txt"

You can also set the environment variable in Apache by adding the following to your httpd.conf:

SetEnv MS_ERRORFILE "/ms4w/tmp/ms_error.txt"

Once the environment variable is set, the DEBUG mapfile parameter can be used to control the level of debugging output. Here is a description of the possible DEBUG values:

DEBUG O or OFF - only msSetError() calls are logged to MS_ERRORFILE. No
                 msDebug() output at all. This is the default and
                 corresponds to the original behavior of MS_ERRORFILE in
                 MapServer 4.x

DEBUG 1 or ON  - includes all output from DEBUG 0 plus msDebug() warnings
                 about common pitfalls, failed assertions or non-fatal
                 error situations (e.g. missing or invalid values for some
                 parameters, missing shapefiles in tileindex, timeout
                 error from remote WMS/WFS servers, etc.)

DEBUG 2        - includes all output from DEBUG 1 plus notices and timing
                 information useful for tuning mapfiles and applications

DEBUG 3        - all of DEBUG 2 plus some debug output useful in
                 troubleshooting problems such as WMS connection URLs
                 being called, database connection calls, etc.  This is 
                 the recommended level for debugging mapfiles.

DEBUG 4        - DEBUG 3 plus even more details...

DEBUG 5        - DEBUG 4 plus any msDebug() output that might be more
                 useful to the developers than to the users.

You can also set the debug level by using the "MS_DEBUGLEVEL" environment variable.

The DEBUG setting can also be specified for the entire map, by setting the DEBUG parameter in the MAP object.

For more details on this debugging mechanism, please see RFC 28.

Debugging with MapServer versions < 5:

Verbose output is generated and sent to the standard error output (STDERR) or the MapServer logfile if one is set using the LOG parameter in the WEB object. Apache users will see timing details for drawing in Apache's error_log file. Requires MapServer to be built with the DEBUG=MSDEBUG option (--with-debug configure option).

DUMP [true|false]

Switch to allow mapserver to return data in GML format. Usefull when used with WMS GetFeatureInfo operations. "false" by default.

FEATURE

Signals the start of a FEATURE object.

FILTER [string]

This parameter allows for data specific attribute filtering that is done at the same time spatial filtering is done, but before any CLASS expressions are evaluated. For OGR and shapefiles the string is simply a mapserver regular expression. For spatial databases the string is a SQL WHERE clause that is valid with respect to the underlying database.

For example: FILTER "type='road' and size <2"

FILTERITEM [attribute]

Item to use with simple FILTER expressions. OGR and shapefiles only.

FOOTER [filename]

Template to use after a layer's set of results have been sent. Multiresult query modes only.

GRID

Signals the start of a GRID object.

GROUP [name]

Name of a group that this layer belongs to. The group name can then be reference as a regular layer name in the template files, allowing to do things like turning on and off a group of layers at once.

HEADER [filename]

Template to use before a layer's set of results have been sent. Multiresult query modes only.

JOIN

Signals the start of a JOIN object.

LABELANGLEITEM [attribute]

Item name in attribute table to use for class annotation angles. Values should be in degrees.

LABELCACHE [on|off]

Specifies whether labels should be drawn as the features for this layer are drawn, or whether they should be cached and drawn after all layers have been drawn. Default is on. Label overlap removal, auto placement etc... are only available when the label cache is active.

LABELITEM [attribute]

Item name in attribute table to use for class annotation (i.e. labeling).

LABELMAXSCALEDENOM [double]

Maximum scale at which this LAYER is labeled. Scale is given as the denominator of the actual scale fraction, for example for a map at a scale of 1:24,000 use 24000. Implemented in MapServer 5.0, to replace the deprecated LABELMAXSCALE parameter.

LABELMAXSCALE [double] - deprecated

Since MapServer 5.0 the proper parameter to use is LABELMAXSCALEDENOM instead. The deprecated LABELMAXSCALE is the maximum scale at which this LAYER is labeled. Scale is given as the denominator of the actual scale fraction, for example for a map at a scale of 1:24,000 use 24000.

LABELMINSCALEDENOM [double]

Minimum scale at which this LAYER is labeled. Scale is given as the denominator of the actual scale fraction, for example for a map at a scale of 1:24,000 use 24000. Implemented in MapServer 5.0, to replace the deprecated LABELMINSCALE parameter.

LABELMINSCALE [double] - deprecated

Since MapServer 5.0 the proper parameter to use is LABELMINSCALEDENOM instead. The deprecated LABELMINSCALE is the minimum scale at which this LAYER is labeled. Scale is given as the denominator of the actual scale fraction, for example for a map at a scale of 1:24,000 use 24000.

LABELREQUIRES [expression]

Sets context for labeling this layer, for example:

LABELREQUIRES "![orthoquads]"

means that this layer would NOT be labeled if a layer named "orthoquads" is on. The expression consists of a boolean expression based on the status of other layers, each [layer name] substring is replaced by a 0 or a 1 depending on that layer's STATUS and then evaluated as normal. Logical operators AND and OR can be used.

LABELSIZEITEM [attribute]

Item name in attribute table to use for class annotation sizes. Values should be in pixels.

MAXFEATURES [integer]

Specifies the number of features that should be drawn for this layer in the CURRENT window. Has some interesting uses with annotation and with sorted data (i.e. lakes by area).

MAXSCALEDENOM [double]

Maximum scale at which this LAYER is drawn. Scale is given as the denominator of the actual scale fraction, for example for a map at a scale of 1:24,000 use 24000. Implemented in MapServer 5.0, to replace the deprecated MAXSCALE parameter.

MAXSCALE [double] - deprecated

Since MapServer 5.0 the proper parameter to use is MAXSCALEDENOM instead. The deprecated MAXSCALE is the maximum scale at which this LAYER is drawn. Scale is given as the denominator of the actual scale fraction, for example for a map at a scale of 1:24,000 use 24000.

METADATA

This keyword allows for arbitrary data to be stored as name value pairs. This is used with OGC WMS to define things such as layer title. It can also allow more flexibility in creating templates, as anything you put in here will be accessible via template tags.

Example:

METADATA
    title "My layer title"
    author "Me!"
END

MINSCALEDENOM [double]

Minimum scale at which this LAYER is drawn. Scale is given as the denominator of the actual scale fraction, for example for a map at a scale of 1:24,000 use 24000. Implemented in MapServer 5.0, to replace the deprecated MINSCALE parameter.

MINSCALE [double] - deprecated

Since MapServer 5.0 the proper parameter to use is MINSCALEDENOM instead. The deprecated MINSCALE is the minimum scale at which this LAYER is drawn. Scale is given as the denominator of the actual scale fraction, for example for a map at a scale of 1:24,000 use 24000.

NAME [string]

Short name for this layer. Limit is 20 characters. This name is the link between the mapfile and web interfaces that refer to this name. They must be identical. The name should be unique, unless one layer replaces another at different scales. Use the GROUP option to associate layers with each other.

OFFSITE [r] [g] [b]

Sets the color index to treat as transparent for raster layers.

OPACITY [integer|alpha]

Sets the opacity level (or the inability to see through the layer) of all classed pixels for a given layer. The value can either be an integer in the range (0-100) or the named symbol "ALPHA". A value of 100 is opaque and 0 is fully transparent. Implemented in MapServer 5.0, to replace the deprecated TRANSPARENCY parameter.

The "ALPHA" symbol directs the MapServer rendering code to honor the indexed or alpha transparency of pixmap symbols used to style a layer. This is only needed in the case of RGB output formats, and should be used only when necessary as it is expensive to render transparent pixmap symbols onto an RGB map image.

POSTLABELCACHE [true|false]

Tells MapServer to render this layer after all labels in the cache have been drawn. Useful for adding neatlines and similar elements. Default is false.

PROCESSING [string]

Passes a processing directive to be used with this layer. The supported processing directives vary by layer type, and the underlying driver that processes them. Here we see the SCALE and BANDs directives used to autoscale raster data and alter the band mapping. All raster processing options are described in the Raster Data Access HOWTO.

PROCESSING "SCALE=AUTO"
PROCESSING "BANDS=3,2,1"

This is also where you can enable connection pooling for certain layer layer types. Connection pooling will allow MapServer to share the handle to an open database or layer connection throughout a single map draw process. Additionally, if you have FastCGI enabled, the connection handle will stay open indefinitely, or according to the options specified in the FastCGI configuration. Oracle, ArcSDE, OGR and PostGIS currently support this approach.

PROCESSING "CLOSE_CONNECTION=DEFER" 

PROJECTION

Signals the start of a PROJECTION object.

REQUIRES [expression]

Sets context for displaying this layer (see LABELREQUIRES).

SIZEUNITS [pixels|feet|inches|kilometers|meters|miles|

Sets the unit of CLASS object SIZE values (default is pixels). Useful for simulating buffering.

STATUS [on|off|default]

Sets the current status of the layer. Often modified by MapServer itself. Default turns the layer on permanently.

Some notes regarding the STATUS values:

• In CGI mode, layers with STATUS DEFAULT cannot be turned off using normal mechanisms. It is recommended to set layers to STATUS DEFAULT while debugging a problem, but set them back to ON/OFF in normal use.
• For WMS, layers in the server mapfile with STATUS DEFAULT are always sent to the client.

STYLEITEM [attribute]

Item to use for feature specific styling. This is very experimental and OGR only at the moment.

SYMBOLSCALEDENOM [double]

The scale at which symbols and/or text appear full size. This allows for dynamic scaling of objects based on the scale of the map. If not set then this layer will always appear at the same size. Scaling only takes place within the limits of MINSIZE and MAXSIZE as described above. Scale is given as the denominator of the actual scale fraction, for example for a map at a scale of 1:24,000 use 24000. Implemented in MapServer 5.0, to replace the deprecated SYMBOLSCALE parameter.

SYMBOLSCALE [double] - deprecated

Since MapServer 5.0 the proper parameter to use is SYMBOLSCALEDENOM instead. The deprecated SYMBOLSCALE is the scale at which symbols and/or text appear full size. This allows for dynamic scaling of objects based on the scale of the map. If not set then this layer will always appear at the same size. Scaling only takes place within the limits of MINSIZE and MAXSIZE as described above. Scale is given as the denominator of the actual scale fraction, for example for a map at a scale of 1:24,000 use 24000.

TEMPLATE [file|url]

Used as a global alternative to CLASS TEMPLATE.

TILEINDEX [filename|layername]

Name of the tileindex file or layer. A tileindex is similar to an ArcInfo library index. The tileindex contains polygon features for each tile. The item that contains the location of the tiled data is given using the TILEITEM parameter. When a file is used as the tileindex for shapefile or raster layers, the tileindex should be a shapefile. For CONNECTIONTYPE OGR layers, any OGR supported datasource can be a tileindex. Normally the location should contain the path to the tile file relative to the shapepath, not relative to the tileindex itself. If the DATA parameter contains a value then it is added to the end of the location. When a tileindex layer is used, it works similarly to directly referring to a file, but any supported feature source can be used (ie. postgres, oracle).

NOTE: All files in the tileindex should have the same coordinate system, and for vector files the same set of attributes in the same order.

TILEITEM [attribute]

Item that contains the location of an individual tile, default is "location".

TOLERANCE [double]

Sensitivity for point based queries (i.e. via mouse and/or map coordinates). Given in TOLERANCEUNITS. If the layer is a POINT or a LINE, the default is 3. For all other layer types, the default is 0. To restrict polygon searches so that the point must occur in the polygon set the tolerance to zero.

TOLERANCEUNITS [pixels|feet|inches|kilometers|meters|miles|dd]

Units of the TOLERANCE value. Default is pixels.

TRANSPARENCY [integer|alpha] - deprecated

Since MapServer 5.0 the proper parameter to use is OPACITY instead. The deprecated TRANSPARENCY parameter sets the transparency level of all classed pixels for a given layer. The value can either be an integer in the range (0-100) or the named symbol "ALPHA". Although this parameter is named "transparency", the integer values actually parameterize layer opacity. A value of 100 is opaque and 0 is fully transparent.

The "ALPHA" symbol directs the mapserver rendering code to honor the indexed or alpha transparency of pixmap symbols used to style a layer. This is only needed in the case of RGB output formats, and should be used only when necessary as it is expensive to render transparent pixmap symbols onto an RGB map image.

TRANSFORM [true|false ul|uc|ur|lc|cc|lr|ll|lc|lr]

Tells MapServer whether or not a particular layer needs to be transformed from some coordinate system to image coordinates. Default is true. This allows you to create shapefiles in image/graphics coordinates and therefore have features that will always be displayed in the same location on every map. Ideal for placing logos or text in maps. Remember that the graphics coordinate system has an origin in the upper left hand corner of the image, contrary to most map coordinate systems.

Version 4.10 introduces the ability to define features with coordinates given in pixels (or percentatges, see UNITS), most often inline features, relative to something other than the UL corner of an image. That is what 'TRANSFORM FALSE' means. By setting an alternative origin it allows you to anchor something like a copyright statement to another portion of the image in a way that is independent of image size.

TYPE [point|line|polygon|circle|annotation|raster|query|chart]

Specifies how the data should be drawn. Need not be the same as the shapefile type. For example, a polygon shapefile may be drawn as a point layer, but a point shapefile may not be drawn as a polygon layer. Common sense rules. Annotation means that a label point will be calculated for the features, but the feature itself will not be drawn although a marker symbol can be optionally drawn. this allows for advanced labeling like numbered highway shields. Points are labeled at that point. Polygons are labeled first using a centroid, and if that doesn't fall in the polygon a scanline approach is used to guarantee the label falls within the feature. Lines are labeled at the middle of the longest arc in the visible portion of the line. Query only means the layer can be queried but not drawn.

In order to differentiate between POLYGONs and POLYLINEs (which do not exist as a type), simply respectively use or ommit the COLOR keyword when classifying. If you use it, it's a polygon with a fill color, otherwise it's a polyline with only an OUTLINECOLOR.

For CHART layers, see the Dynamic Charting howto.

A circle must be defined by a a minimum bounding rectangle. That is, 2 points that define the smallest square that can contain it. These 2 points are the two opposite corners of said box.

The following is an example using inline points to draw a circle:

LAYER
  NAME 'inline_circles'
  TYPE CIRCLE
  STATUS ON
  FEATURE
    POINTS
      74.01 -53.8
      110.7 -22.16
    END
  END  
  CLASS
    STYLE
      COLOR 0 0 255
    END
  END
END                 

UNITS [feet|inches|kilometers|meters|miles|dd|pixels|percentages]

Units of the layer. Percentages was added in MapServer 4.10 and is mostly geared for inline features.

The size of the legend image is NOT known prior to creation so be careful not to hard-code width and height in the <IMG> tag in the template file.

IMAGECOLOR [r] [g] [b]

Color to initialize the legend with (i.e. the background).

INTERLACE [on|off]

Deprecated Default is [on]. This keyword is now depcrecated in favour of using the FORMATOPTION "INTERLACE=ON" line in the OUTPUTFORMAT declaration.

LABEL

Signals the start of a LABEL object

OUTLINECOLOR [r] [g] [b]

Color to use for outlining symbol key boxes.

POSITION [ul|uc|ur|ll|lc|lr]

Where to place an embedded legend in the map. Default is lr.

KEYSIZE [x][y]

Size of symbol key boxes in pixels. Default is 20 by 10.

KEYSPACING [x][y]

Spacing between symbol key boxes ([y]) and labels ([x]) in pixels. Default is 5 by 5.

POSTLABELCACHE [true|false]

Tells MapServer to render this legend after all labels in the cache have been drawn. Useful for adding neatlines and similar elements. Default is false.

STATUS [on|off|embed]

Is the legend image to be created.

TEMPLATE [filename]

HTML legend template file. Refer to the HTML Legend howto.

TRANSPARENT [on|off]

Deprecated Should the background color for the legend be transparent. This flag is now deprecated in favour of declaring transparency within OUTPUTFORMAT declarations. Default is off.

ANGLE [double]

Angle, given in degrees, to rotate the map. Default is 0. The rendered map will rotate in a clockwise direction. The following are important notes:

• Requires a PROJECTION object specified at the MAP level and for each LAYER object (even if all layers are in the same projection).
• Requires MapScript (SWIG, PHPMapscript). Does not work with CGI mode.
• If using the LABEL object's ANGLE or the LAYER object's LABELANGLEITEM parameters as well, these parameters are relative to the map's orientation (i.e. they are computed after the MAP object's ANGLE). For example, if you have specified an ANGLE for the map of 45, and then have a layer LABELANGLEITEM value of 45, the resulting label will not appear rotated (because the resulting map is rotated clockwise 45 degrees and the label is rotated counter-clockwise 45 degrees).
• More information can be found on the MapRotation Wiki Page.

CONFIG [key] [value]

This can be used to define the location of your EPSG files for the PROJ.4 library. Setting the [key] to PROJ_LIB and the [value] to the location of your EPSG files will force PROJ.4 to use this value. Using CONFIG allows you to avoid setting environment variables to point to your PROJ_LIB directory. Here are some examples:

1. Unix

   CONFIG "PROJ_LIB" "/usr/local/share/proj/"
   

2. Windows

   CONFIG "PROJ_LIB" "C:/somedir/proj/nad/"
   

Any other value will be passed on to CPLSetConfigOption(). This provides customized control of some GDAL and OGR driver behaviours. Details on such options would be found in specific GDAL driver documentation.

DATAPATTERN [regular expression]

This defines a regular expression to be applied to requests to change DATA parameters via URL requests (i.e. map_layername_data=...). If a pattern doesn't exist then web users can't monkey with support files via URLs. This allows you to isolate one application from another if you desire, with the default operation being very conservative. See also TEMPLATEPATTERN.

DEBUG [off|on|0|1|2|3|4|5]

Enables debugging of all of the layers in the current map.

Debugging with MapServer versions >= 5.0:

Verbose output is generated and sent to the standard error output (STDERR) or the MapServer errorfile if one is set using the "MS_ERRORFILE" environment variable. You can set the environment variable by using the CONFIG parameter at the MAP level of the mapfile, such as:

CONFIG "MS_ERRORFILE" "/ms4w/tmp/ms_error.txt"

You can also set the environment variable in Apache by adding the following to your httpd.conf:

SetEnv MS_ERRORFILE "/ms4w/tmp/ms_error.txt"

Once the environment variable is set, the DEBUG mapfile parameter can be used to control the level of debugging output. Here is a description of the possible DEBUG values:

DEBUG O or OFF - only msSetError() calls are logged to MS_ERRORFILE. No
                 msDebug() output at all. This is the default and
                 corresponds to the original behavior of MS_ERRORFILE in
                 MapServer 4.x

DEBUG 1 or ON  - includes all output from DEBUG 0 plus msDebug() warnings
                 about common pitfalls, failed assertions or non-fatal
                 error situations (e.g. missing or invalid values for some
                 parameters, missing shapefiles in tileindex, timeout
                 error from remote WMS/WFS servers, etc.)

DEBUG 2        - includes all output from DEBUG 1 plus notices and timing
                 information useful for tuning mapfiles and applications

DEBUG 3        - all of DEBUG 2 plus some debug output useful in
                 troubleshooting problems such as WMS connection URLs
                 being called, database connection calls, etc.  This is 
                 the recommended level for debugging mapfiles.

DEBUG 4        - DEBUG 3 plus even more details...

DEBUG 5        - DEBUG 4 plus any msDebug() output that might be more
                 useful to the developers than to the users.

You can also set the debug level by using the "MS_DEBUGLEVEL" environment variable.

The DEBUG setting can also be specified for a layer, by setting the DEBUG parameter in the LAYER object.

For more details on this debugging mechanism, please see RFC 28.

Debugging with MapServer versions < 5:

Verbose output is generated and sent to the standard error output (STDERR) or the MapServer logfile if one is set using the LOG parameter in the WEB object. Apache users will see timing details for drawing in Apache's error_log file. Requires MapServer to be built with the DEBUG=MSDEBUG option (--with-debug configure option).

EXTENT [minx] [miny] [maxx] [maxy]

The spatial extent of the map to be created. In most cases you will need to specify this, although mapserver can sometimes (expensively) calculate one if it is not specified.

FONTSET [filename]

Filename of fontset file to use. Can be a path relative to the mapfile, or a full path.

IMAGECOLOR [r] [g] [b]

Color to initialize the map with (i.e. background color). When transparency is enabled (TRANSPARENT ON) for the typical case of 8-bit pseudocolored map generation, this color will be marked as transparent in the output file palette. Any other map components drawn in this color will also be transparenct, so for map generation with transparency it is best to use an otherwise unused color as the background color.

IMAGEQUALITY [int]

Deprecated Use FORMATOPTION "QUALITY=n" in the OUTPUTFORMAT declaration to specify compression quality for JPEG output.

IMAGETYPE [gif|png|jpeg|wbmp|gtiff|swf|userdefined]

Output format to generate. See details in the OUTPUTFORMAT section for available formats. The name here must match the 'NAME' of a user defined or internally generated OUTPUTFORMAT section.

INTERLACE [on|off]

Deprecated Use FORMATOPTION "INTERLACE=ON" in the OUTPUTFORMAT declaration to specify if the output images should be interlaced.

LAYER

Signals the start of a LAYER object.

LEGEND

Signals the start of a LEGEND object.

MAXSIZE [integer]

Sets the maximum size of the map image. This will override the default value. For example, setting this to 2048 means that you can have up to 2048 pixels in both dimensions (i.e. max of 2048x2048).

NAME [name]

Prefix attached to map, scalebar and legend GIF filenames created using this MapFile. It should be kept short.

PROJECTION

Signals the start of a PROJECTION object.

QUERYMAP

Signals the start of a QUERYMAP object.

REFERENCE

Signals the start of a REFERENCE MAP object.

RESOLUTION [int]

Sets the pixels per inch for output, only affects scale computations and nothing else, default is 72.

SCALEDENOM [double]

Computed scale of the map. Set most often by the application. Scale is given as the denominator of the actual scale fraction, for example for a map at a scale of 1:24,000 use 24000. Implemented in MapServer 5.0, to replace the deprecated SCALE parameter.

SCALE [double] - deprecated

Since MapServer 5.0 the proper parameter to use is SCALEDENOM instead. The deprecated SCALE is the computed scale of the map. Set most often by the application. Scale is given as the denominator of the actual scale fraction, for example for a map at a scale of 1:24,000 use 24000.

SCALEBAR

Signals the start of a SCALEBAR object.

SHAPEPATH [filename]

Path to the directory holding the shapefiles or tiles. There can be further subdirectories under SHAPEPATH.

SIZE [x][y]

Size in pixels of the output image (i.e. the map).

STATUS [on|off]

Is the map active? Sometimes you may wish to turn this off to use only the reference map or scale bar.

SYMBOLSET [filename]

Filename of the symbolset to use. Can be a path relative to the mapfile, or a full path.

SYMBOL

Signals the start of a SYMBOL object.

TEMPLATEPATTERN [regular expression]

This defines a regular expression to be applied to requests to change TEMPLATE parameters via URL requests (i.e. map_layername_template=...). If a pattern doesn't exist then web users can't monkey with support files via URLs. This allows you to isolate one application from another if you desire, with the default operation being very conservative. See also DATAPATTERN.

TRANSPARENT [on|off]

Deprecated Use FORMATOPTION "TRANSPARENT=ON" in the OUTPUTFORMAT declaration to specify if the output images should be transparent.

UNITS [feet|inches|kilometers|meters|miles|dd]

Units of the map coordinates. Used for scalebar and scale computations.

WEB

Signals the start of a WEB object.

A map file may have zero, one or more OUTPUTFORMAT object declarations, defining available output formats supported including formats like PNG, GIF, JPEG, GeoTIFF and Flash (SWF).

If OUTPUTFORMAT sections declarations are not found in the map file, the following implicit declarations will be made. Only those for which support is compiled in will actually be available. The GeoTIFF depends on building with GDAL support, and the Flash (SWF) depends on compiling with support for the MING library.

OUTPUTFORMAT
  NAME gif
  DRIVER "GD/GIF"
  MIMETYPE "image/gif"
  IMAGEMODE PC256
  EXTENSION "gif"
END
OUTPUTFORMAT
  NAME png
  DRIVER "GD/PNG"
  MIMETYPE "image/png"
  IMAGEMODE PC256
  EXTENSION "png"
END
OUTPUTFORMAT
  NAME jpeg
  DRIVER "GD/JPEG"
  MIMETYPE "image/jpeg"
  IMAGEMODE RGB
  EXTENSION "jpg"
END
OUTPUTFORMAT
  NAME wbmp
  DRIVER "GD/WBMP"
  MIMETYPE "image/wbmp"
  IMAGEMODE PC256
  EXTENSION "wbmp"
END
OUTPUTFORMAT
  NAME swf
  DRIVER "SWF"
  MIMETYPE "application/x-shockwave-flash"
  EXTENSION "swf"
  IMAGEMODE PC256
  FORMATOPTION "OUTPUT_MOVIE=SINGLE"
END
OUTPUTFORMAT
  NAME GTiff
  DRIVER "GDAL/GTiff"
  MIMETYPE "image/tiff"
  IMAGEMODE RGB
  EXTENSION "tif"
END

NAME [name]

The name to use use in the IMAGETYPE keyword of the map file to select this output format.(optional)

DRIVER [name]

The name of the driver to use to generate this output format. Some driver names include the definition of the format if the driver supports multiple formats. For GD the possible driver names are "GD/Gif", "GD/PNG", "GD/WBMP" and "GD/JPEG". For flash the driver is just called "SWF". For output through GDAL the GDAL shortname for the format is appeneded, such as "GDAL/GTiff". Note that PNG, JPEG and GIF output can be generated with either GDAL or GD (GD is generally more efficient).(manditory)

IMAGEMODE [PC256/RGB/RGBA/INT16/FLOAT32]

Selects the imaging mode in which the output is generated. Does matter for non-raster formats like Flash. Not all formats support all combinations. For instance GD/GIF supports only PC256. (optional)

• PC256: Produced a pseudocolored result with up to 256 colors in the palette (traditional MapServer mode)
• RGB: Render in 24bit Red/Green/Blue mode. Supports all colors but does not support transparency.
• RGBA: Render in 32bit Red/Green/Blue/Alpha mode. Supports all colors, and alpha based transparency.
• BYTE: Render raw 8bit pixel values (no presentation). Only works for RASTER layers (through GDAL) and WMS layers currently.
• INT16: Render raw 16bit signed pixel values (no presentation). Only works for RASTER layers (through GDAL) and WMS layers currently.
• FLOAT32: Render raw 32bit floating point pixel values (no presentation). Only works for RASTER layers (through GDAL) and WMS layers currently.

MIMETYPE [type]

Provide the mime type to be used when returning results over the web. (optional)

EXTENSION [type]

Provide the extension to use when creating files of this type. (optional)

TRANSPARENT [ON/OFF]

Indicates whether transparency should be enabled for this format. Note that transparency does not work for IMAGEMODE RGB output. Not all formats support transparency (optional). When transparency is enabled for the typical case of 8-bit pseudocolored map generation, the IMAGECOLOR color will be marked as transparent in the output file palette. Any other map components drawn in this color will also be transparent, so for map generation with transparency it is best to use an otherwise unused color as the background color.

FORMATOPTION [option]

Provides a driver or format specific option. Zero or more FORMATOPTION statement may be present within a OUTPUTFORMAT declaration. (optional)

• GD/JPEG: The "QUALITY=n" option may be used to set the quality of jpeg produced (value from 0-100).
• GD/PNG: The "INTERLACE=[ON/OFF]" option may be used to turn interlacing on or off.
• GD/GIF: The "INTERLACE=[ON/OFF]" option may be used to turn interlacing on or off.
• GDAL/GTiff: Supports the TILED=YES, BLOCKXSIZE=n, BLOCKYSIZE=n, INTERLEAVE=[PIXEL/BAND] and COMPRESS=[NONE,PACKBITS,JPEG,LZW,DEFLATE] format specific options.
• GDAL/*: All FORMATOPTIONs are passed onto the GDAL create function. Options supported by GDAL are described in the detailed documentation for each GDAL format

To set up projections you must define two projection objects: one for the output image (in the MAP object) and one for each layer (in the LAYER objects) to be projected. MapServer relies on the PROJ.4 library for projections. Projection objects therefore consist of a series of PROJ.4 keywords, which are either specified within the object directly or referred to in an epsg file. An epsg file is a lookup file containing projection parameters, and is part of the PROJ.4 library.

The following two examples both define the same projection (UTM zone 15, NAD83), but use 2 different methods:

Example1: Inline Projection Parameters

PROJECTION
  "proj=utm"
  "ellps=GRS80"
  "datum=NAD83"
  "zone=15"
  "units=m"
  "north"
  "no_defs"
END

Example2: epsg Projection Use

PROJECTION
   "init=epsg:26915"
END

(this refers to an epsg lookup file that contains a '26915' code with the full projection parameters)

The next two examples both display how to possibly define unprojected lat/longs ("geographic"):

Example3: Inline Projection Parameters

PROJECTION
  "proj=latlong"
  "ellps=WGS84"
  "datum=WGS84"
END

Example4: epsg Projection Use

PROJECTION
   "init=epsg:4326"
END

COLOR [r] [g] [b]

Color in which features are highlighted. Default is yellow.

SIZE [x][y]

Size of the map in pixels. Defaults to the size defined in the map object.

STATUS [on|off]

Is the query map to be drawn?

STYLE [normal|hilite|selected]

Sets how selected features are to be handled. Layers not queried are drawn as usual.

• Normal: Draws all features according to the settings for that layer.
• Hilite: Draws selected features using COLOR. Non-selected features are drawn normally.
• Selected: draws only the selected features normally.

Three types of reference maps are supported. The most common would be one showing the extent of a map in an interactive interface. It is also possible to request reference maps as part of a query. Point queries will generate an image with a marker (see below) placed at the query point. Region based queries will depict the extent of the area of interest. Finally, feature based queries will display the selection feature(s) used.

COLOR [r] [g] [b]

Color in which the reference box is drawn. Set any component to -1 for no fill. Default is red.

EXTENT [minx][miny][maxx][maxy]

The spatial extent of the base reference image.

IMAGE [filename]

Full filename of the base reference image. Must be a GIF image.

MARKER [integer|string]

Defines a symbol (from the symbol file) to use when the box becomes too small (see MINBOXSIZE and MAXBOXSIZE below). Uses a crosshair by default.

MARKERSIZE [integer]

Defines the size of the symbol to use instead of a box (see MARKER above).

MINBOXSIZE [integer]

If box is smaller than MINBOXSIZE (use box width or height) then use the symbol defined by MARKER and MARKERSIZE.

MAXBOXSIZE [integer]

If box is greater than MAXBOXSIZE (use box width or height) then draw nothing (Often the whole map gets covered when zoomed way out and it's perfectly obvious where you are).

OUTLINECOLOR [r] [g] [b]

Color to use for outlining the reference box. Set any component to -1 for no outline.

SIZE [x][y]

Size, in pixels, of the base reference image.

STATUS [on|off]

Is the reference map to be created? Default it off.

Scalebars currently do not make use of TrueType fonts. The size of the scalebar image is NOT known prior to rendering, so be careful not to hard-code width and height in the <IMG> tag in the template file. Future versions will make the image size available.

ALIGN [left|center|right]

Defines how the scalebar is aligned within the scalebar image. Default is center. Available in versions 5.2 and higher.

BACKGROUNDCOLOR [r] [g] [b]

Color to use for scalebar background, not the image background.

COLOR [r] [g] [b]

Color to use for drawing all features if attribute tables are not used.

IMAGECOLOR [r] [g] [b]

Color to initialize the scalebar with (i.e. background).

INTERLACE [true|false]

Should output images be interlaced? Default is [on]. This keyword is now depcrecated in favour of using the FORMATOPTION "INTERLACE=ON" line in the OUTPUTFORMAT declaration.

INTERVALS [integer]

Number of intervals to break the scalebar into. Default is 4.

LABEL

Signals the start of a LABEL object

OUTLINECOLOR [r] [g] [b]

Color to use for outlining individual intervals. Set any component to -1 for no outline which is the default.

POSITION [ul|uc|ur|ll|lc|lr]

Where to place an embedded scalebar in the image. Default is lr.

POSTLABELCACHE [true|false]

For use with embedded scalebars only. Tells the MapServer to embed the scalebar after all labels in the cache have been drawn. Default is false.

SIZE [x][y]

Size in pixels of the scalebar. Labeling is not taken into account.

STATUS [on|off|embed]

Is the scalebar image to be created, and if so should it be embedded into the image? Default is off. (Please note that embedding scalebars require that you define a markerset. In essence the scalebar becomes a custom marker that is handled just like any other annotation.)

STYLE [integer]

Chooses the scalebar style. Valid styles are 0 and 1.

TRANSPARENT [on|off]

Should the background color for the scalebar be transparent. This flag is now deprecated in favour of declaring transparency within OUTPUTFORMAT declarations. Default is off.

UNITS [feet|inches|kilometers|meters|miles]

Output scalebar units, default is miles. Used in conjunction with the map's units to develop the actual graphic. Note that decimal degrees are not valid scalebar units.

This object is new in 4.0 and is intended to seperate logic from looks. The final intent is to have named styles (Not yet supported) that will be re-usable through the mapfile. This is the new, preferred way of defining the appearance of an object, notably a class.

ANGLE [double|attribute]

• Angle, given in degrees, to draw the line work. Default is 0. For symbols of Type HATCH, this is the angle of the hatched lines. For its use with hatched lines, see Example#8 in the SYMBOL examples.

• [Attribute] was introduced in version 5.0, to specify the item name in the attribute table to use for angle values. The hard brackets [] are required. For example, if your shapefile's DBF has a field named "MYANGLE" that holds angle values for each record, your STYLE object for hatched lines might contain:

  STYLE
    SYMBOL 'hatch-test'    
    COLOR 255 0 0     
    ANGLE [MYANGLE]
    SIZE 4
    WIDTH 3      
  END 
  

  The associated RFC document for this feature is RFC 19.

ANGLEITEM [string]

• this parameter was removed in MapServer 5.0. You should use the ANGLE [attribute] parameter instead.
• For MapServer versions <5, this is the attribute/field that stores the angle to be used in rendering. Angle is given in degrees with 0 meaning no rotation.

ANTIALIAS [true|false]

Should TrueType fonts and Cartoline symbols be antialiased.

BACKGROUNDCOLOR [r] [g] [b]

Color to use for non-transparent symbols.

COLOR [r] [g] [b] | [attribute]

• Color to use for drawing features.

• [Attribute] was introduced in version 5.0, to specify the item name in the attribute table to use for color values. The hard brackets [] are required. For example, if your shapefile's DBF has a field named "MYCOLOR" that holds color values for each record, your STYLE object for might contain:

  STYLE    
    COLOR [MYCOLOR]    
    OUTLINECOLOR 150 150 150      
  END 
  

  The associated RFC document for this feature is RFC 19.

MAXSIZE [integer]

Maximum size in pixels to draw a symbol. Default is 50.

MINSIZE [integer]

Minimum size in pixels to draw a symbol. Default is 0.

MINWIDTH [integer]

Minimum width in pixels to draw the line work.

OFFSET [x][y]

Offset values for shadows, hollow symbols, etc ...

OUTLINECOLOR [r] [g] [b] | [attribute]

• Color to use for outlining polygons and certain marker symbols. Line symbols do not support outline colors.

• [Attribute] was introduced in version 5.0, to specify the item name in the attribute table to use for color values. The hard brackets [] are required. For example, if your shapefile's DBF has a field named "MYOUTCOLOR" that holds color values for each record, your STYLE object for might contain:

  STYLE    
    COLOR 255 0 0    
    OUTLINECOLOR [MYOUTCOLOR]      
  END 
  

  The associated RFC document for this feature is RFC 19.

SIZE [integer|attribute]

• Height, in pixels, of the symbol/pattern to be used. Only useful with scalable symbols. Default is 1. For symbols of Type HATCH, the SIZE is the distance between hatched lines. For its use with hatched lines, see Example#8 in the SYMBOL examples.

• [Attribute] was introduced in version 5.0, to specify the item name in the attribute table to use for size values. The hard brackets [] are required. For example, if your shapefile's DBF has a field named "MYSIZE" that holds size values for each record, your STYLE object for hatched lines might contain:

  STYLE
    SYMBOL 'hatch-test'    
    COLOR 255 0 0     
    ANGLE 45
    SIZE [MYSIZE]
    WIDTH 3      
  END 
  

  The associated RFC document for this feature is RFC 19.

SIZEITEM [string]

• this parameter was removed in MapServer 5.0. You should use the SIZE [attribute] parameter instead.
• For MapServer versions <5, this is the attribute/field that stores the size to be used in rendering. Value is given in pixels.

SYMBOL [integer|string|filename]

The symbol name or number to use for all features if attribute tables are not used. The number is the index of the symbol in the symbol file, starting at 1, the 5th symbol in the file is therefore symbol number 5. You can also give your symbols names using the NAME keyword in the symbol definition file, and use those to refer to them. Default is 0, which results in a single pixel, single width line, or solid polygon fill, depending on layer type.

You can also specify a gif or png filename. The path is relative to the location of the mapfile.

WIDTH [integer]

Width refers to the thickness of line work drawn, in pixels. Default is 1. For symbols of Type HATCH, the WIDTH is how thick the hatched lines are. For its use with hatched lines, see Example#8 in the SYMBOL examples.

Syntax: '%' + variable name + '%'

Example 1. Connecting securely to a Spatial Database

You want to map some senstitive data held in a PostGIS database. The username and password to be used for the database connection are held in 2 cookies previously set by a seperate authentication mechanism, "uid" and "passwd".

CONNECTION "user=%uid% password=%passwd% dbname=postgis"

Example 2. Handling temporary files

You have a user based discovery application that generates shapefiles and stores them in a user's home directory on the server. The "username" comes from a cookie, the "filename" comes from a request parameter.

DATA "/home/%username%/tempshp/%filename%"

This feature is only available in the CGI version of MapServer through a mapfile pre-processor. If you are using MapScript, you will have to code the substitution logic into your application yourself (By writing your own pre-processor).

EMPTY [url]

URL to forward users to if a query fails. If not defined the value for ERROR is used.

ERROR [url]

URL to forward users to if an error occurs. Ugly old MapServer error messages will appear if this is not defined

FOOTER [filename]

Template to use AFTER anything else is sent. Multiresult query modes only.

HEADER [filename]

Template to use BEFORE everything else has been sent. Multiresult query modes only.

IMAGEPATH [path]

Path to the temporary directory fro writing temporary files and images. Must be writable by the user the web server is running as. Must end with a / or depending on your platform.

IMAGEURL [path]

Base URL for IMAGEPATH. This is the URL that will take the web browser to IMAGEPATH to get the images.

LOG [filename]

File to log MapServer activity in. Must be writable by the user the web server is running as.

MAXSCALEDENOM [double]

Maximum scale at which this interface is valid. When a user requests a map at a bigger scale, MapServer automatically returns the map at this scale. This effectively prevents user from zooming too far out. Scale is given as the denominator of the actual scale fraction, for example for a map at a scale of 1:24,000 use 24000. Implemented in MapServer 5.0, to replace the deprecated MAXSCALE parameter.

MAXSCALE [double] - deprecated

Since MapServer 5.0 the proper parameter to use is MAXSCALEDENOM instead. The deprecated MAXSCALE is the maximum scale at which this interface is valid. When a user requests a map at a bigger scale, MapServer automatically returns the map at this scale. This effectively prevents user from zooming too far out. Scale is given as the denominator of the actual scale fraction, for example for a map at a scale of 1:24,000 use 24000.

MAXTEMPLATE [file|url]

Template to be used if above the maximum scale for the app, useful for nesting apps.

METADATA

This keyword allows for arbitrary data to be stored as name value pairs. This is used with OGC WMS to define things such as layer title. It can also allow more flexibility in creating templates, as anything you put in here will be accessible via template tags. Example:

METADATA
    title "My layer title"
    author "Me!"
END

MINSCALEDENOM [double]

Minimum scale at which this interface is valid. When a user reqests a map at a smaller scale, MapServer automatically returns the map at this scale. This effectively prevents the user from zooming in too far. Scale is given as the denominator of the actual scale fraction, for example for a map at a scale of 1:24,000 use 24000. Implemented in MapServer 5.0, to replace the deprecated MINSCALE parameter.

MINSCALE [double] - deprecated

Since MapServer 5.0 the proper parameter to use is MINSCALEDENOM instead. The deprecated MINSCALE is the minimum scale at which this interface is valid. When a user reqests a map at a smaller scale, MapServer automatically returns the map at this scale. This effectively prevents the user from zooming in too far. Scale is given as the denominator of the actual scale fraction, for example for a map at a scale of 1:24,000 use 24000.

MINTEMPLATE

Template to be used if above the minimum scale for the app, useful for nesting apps.

OUTPUTFORMAT [mime-type]

Format of the query output. Default is "text/html". This is experimental, the use of the OUTPUTFORMAT object is recommended instead.

TEMPLATE [filename|url]

Template file or URL to use in presenting the results to the user in an interactive mode (i.e. map generates map and so on ... )