MapFish is a flexible and complete framework for building rich web-mapping applications. It emphasizes high productivity, and high-quality development.
This Quickstart describes how to (a) run the minimal MapFish application installed on this live DVD, (b) create MapFish applications, and (b) install MapFish.
To run the minimal application click on the MapFish link on the Desktop. This will start the server and open a FireFox tab pointing to the application (http://localhost:5000).
The minimal application includes a map with two OSM layers, a toolbar above the map, and a layer tree.
The MapFish framework is installed on the live DVD in the virtual Python environment located in the /usr/lib/mapfish/mapfish-venv directory. We will use this installation of the framework here.</p>
A MapFish application is created in three commands (from a terminal):
activate the virtual Python environment:
$ source /usr/lib/mapfish/mapfish-venv/bin/activate
create the application:
$ paster create -t mapfish MyMapFishApp sqlalchemy=true
install the JavaScript librairies in the application:
$ paster create -t mapfish_client MyMapFishApp
The above commands should have created the MapFish application in the MyMapFishApp directory.
Note
if the sample application (from the Run the minimal application section) is running then port 5000 is already used, and you’ll have to edit the MyMapFishApp/development.ini file and change the port number from 5000 to for example 5001.
At this point you should be able to run the application with:
$ cd MyMapFishApp
$ paster serve development.ini
Open http://localhost:5000 (or http://localhost:5001) in your browser. You should see the same minimal application as that presented in the previous section.
The MapFish framework offers more than that. In particular it allows easily creating RESTful web services for creating, reading, updating and deleting features. Please visit http://www.mapfish.org to learn more about MapFish.
As indicated in the previous section the MapFish framework is installed on the Live DVD in the the virtual Python environment located in the /usr/lib/mapfish/mapfish-venv directory. Yet, keep reading if you want to know how to install MapFish in a fresh, clean virtual environment.
Installing the MapFish framework is done with one command line:
$ go-mapfish-framework-all.py --python=python2.5 venv
The above command creates the virtual Python environment in the venv directory, fetches MapFish and its dependencies and install them all in the virtual environment.
Ok, the framework is installed, you can go back to Create a MapFish application section to create a MapFish application using this installation.