[Mediawiki-l] Maps and Semantic Maps 0.5 released

Hey, I'd like to announce the latest release of Maps [0] and Semantic Maps [1]. These new versions include a bunch of new features, as well as a lot improvements to the code itself. Some highlights: * Strict parameter validation which allows you to get specific errors or warnings when entering invalid values or parameters. This functionality is obtained by relying on the Validator [2] extension, which saw it’s first release today. This makes Maps dependent on Validator. Every distribution of Maps does include Validator, and Maps will automatically load Validator when it’s not loaded yet, so no extra installation work is required (unless you get the code from SVN). * Static map support makes you able to display maps as plain images instead of via a JavaScript (or other non-html language, for example flash) mapping API. This is very important since it makes viewing the maps possible for people who are browsing the web with a browser that does not support JavaScript (or this other language), or simply have it disabled for some reason. * Added support for GUI parameter selection of Yaron’s new version of SMW’s Special:Ask page to the query printers. * Moved the geographical coordinate data type handling from Semantic MediaWiki to Semantic Maps. For a complete list of changes, see the relevant change logs [3], or my blog post about this release [4]. I created some new documentation, in the form of 2 screencasts; one demonstrating the use of display_map [5], and one covering display_point(s) [6]. The developer documentation on how to extend Maps has also been completely rewritten. To ensure maximum stability, I encourage everyone using Maps or Semantic Maps to update as soon as possible. If you have any suggestions, or find any bugs, let me know! [0] http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Maps [1] http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Semantic_Maps [2] http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Validator [3] http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Maps/Version_history#Maps_0.5, http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Extension:Semantic_Maps/Version_history#Seman… [4] http://blog.bn2vs.com/2009/12/17/maps-and-semantic-maps-0-5-released/ [5]http://smw.referata.com/wiki/Maps_screencast:_display_map [6]http://smw.referata.com/wiki/Maps_screencast:_display_point Cheers -- Jeroen De Dauw * Forum: code.bn2vs.com * Blog: blog.bn2vs.com * Skype: rts.bn.vs -- Don't panic. Don't be evil.70 72 6F 67 72 61 6D 6D 69 6E 67 20 34 20 6C 69 66 65!