GSIP 153

GSIP 153 - "Opaque container" layer group type

Overview

Add a new layer group mode that does not advertise its contained layer (like "single") while also hiding contained layers from the WMS capabilities document.

Proposed By

Andrea Aime

Assigned to Release

This proposal is for GeoServer 2.11-beta (with an intention to backport to 2.10.x in due time).

State

• Under Discussion
• In Progress
• Completed
• Rejected
• Deferred

Motivation

The current layer groups mode do not allow to setup a un-divisible basemap layer, that is, one that groups multiple layers in a way that cannot be taken apart by the client.

Here are the current layer group modes, with their behavior in public and secured mode (accounting for the work done in [GSIP-145]):

Mode	Public behavior	Restricted behavior
Single	Looks like a stand-alone layer, can be requested directly and acts as an alias for a layer list. Layers are also visible at root level	Does not control layer access at all
Named tree	Contained layers are visible as children in the capabilities document, the name can be used as a shortcut to request all layers.	Restricting access to the group restricts also the contained layers, unless another "tree" group allows access to the same layer
Container tree	Same as "named tree", but does not have a name published in the capabilities document and thus cannot be requested directly	Same as "named tree"
Earth Observation Tree	Same as "Named Tree", but has a special layer configured that will be returned if the group is called by name, instead of the layers contained in it.	Same as "Named tree"

Proposal

Add a new layer group mode, called "Opaque container", that is designed to hide the layers contained in it.

Mode	Public behavior	Restricted behavior
Opaque container	The group is published as a stand alone layer in the capabilities tree, the layers in it are not showing up in the capabilities document unless also contained in a "tree" group type. This makes the layers effectively "non advertised".	If the group access is restricted, the layers contained in it are also restricted, unless also contained in another group allowing access to them

Backwards Compatibility

This is a new layer group type, so there is no backwards compatibility issue.

Feedback

Voting

Project Steering Committee:

• Alessio Fabiani: +1
• Andrea Aime: +1
• Ben Caradoc-Davies:
• Brad Hards:
• Christian Mueller:
• Ian Turton:
• Jody Garnett:
• Jukka Rahkonen:
• Kevin Smith:
• Simone Giannecchini: +1

Links

• Email Discussion