Server side Configuration

The server side uses a YAML configuration file that defines the page layouts and allowed values. This file is usually called config.yaml.

Here is the general structure:

dpis:
  - 254
  - 190
  {...}

scales:
  - 25000
  - 50000
  {...}

hosts:
  - {HOST_WHITELIST_DEFINITION}
  {...}

?fonts:
? - {PATH}

?globalParallelFetches: 5
?perHostParallelFetches: 5
?tilecacheMerging: false
?connectionTimeout: 30000         MF_V1.2
?socketTimeout: 180000         MF_V1.2

layouts:
  {LAYOUT_NAME}:
?   metaData:
?     {METADATA_DEFINITION}
?   titlePage:
?     {PAGE_DEFINITION}
    mainPage:
?     rotation: false
      {PAGE_DEFINITION}
?   lastPage:
?     {PAGE_DEFINITION}
  {...}

Optional parts are shown with a question mark in the left margin. The question marks must not be put in the configuration file. Their default values is shown.

In general, PDF dimensions and positions are specified in points. 72 points == 1 inch == 25.4 mm.

The list of {HOST_WHITELIST_DEFINITION} defines the allowed URLs for getting maps. Its format will be defined in the next sub-section.

You can have as many layouts as you want. Their name must be unique and will be used on the client side. A layout can have a "titlePage" that will be added at the beginning of the generated document. It cannot contain any map. Same for the "lastPage", but for the end of the document. The "mainPage" section is mandatory and will be used once for each page requested. The details of a {PAGE_DEFINITION} section can be found in another sub-section of this document.

If you want to let the user rotate the map (for a given layout), you have to set the "rotate" field to "true" in the corresponding "mainPage" section.

"globalParallelFetches" and "perHostParallelFetches" are used to tune the parallel loading of the map tiles/images. If you want to disable the parallel loading, set "globalParallelFetches" to 1.

New versions of tilecache added the support for merging multiple layers in a single WMS request. If you want to use this functionality, set the "tilecacheMerging" attribute to true.

"connectionTimeout" and "socketTimeout" (only since MapFish v1.2) can be used to tune the timeouts for reading tiles from map servers.

Fonts definition

The "fonts" section is optional. It contains the path of the fonts you want to use. The entries can point to files (TTF, OTF, TTC, AFM, PFM) or directories. Don't point to directories containing too many files since it will slow down the start time. By default, PDF gives you access to the following fonts (Cp1252 encoding only):

• Courrier (-Bold, -Oblique, -BoldOblique)
• Helvetica (-Bold, -Oblique, -BoldOblique)
• Times (-Roman, -Bold, -Oblique, -BoldOblique)
• Symbol
• ZapfDingbats

Host whitelist definition

In this section, you can put as many entries as you want, even for the same type of filter. If at least one matches, the Map server can be used.

This section is not for defining which client can request maps. It is just here to avoid having the print module used as a proxy to access documents from computers behind firewalls.

There are 3 ways to whitelist a host.

Allowing every local services:

  - !localMatch
    dummy: true

The "dummy" parameter is ignored, but mandatory to avoid a limitation in the YAML format.

Allowing by DNS name:

  - !dnsMatch
    host: labs.metacarta.com

Allowing by IP address:

  - !ipMatch
    ip: www.camptocamp.org
?   mask: 255.255.255.255

The "ip" parameter can be a DNS name that will be resolved or directly an IP address.

All the methods accept the following optional parameters:

• port: to limit to a certain TCP port
• pathRegexp: a regexp that must match the path part of the URL (before the '?').

Metadata definition

Allow to add some metadata to the generated PDF. They are visible in acroread in the File->Properties menu.

The structure is like that:

    metaData:
?     title: ''
?     author: ''
?     subject: ''
?     keywords: ''
?     creator: ''
?     supportLegacyReader: false

All fields are optional and can use global variables, as defined in the Block definition chapter. Page specific variables are not accessible.

Page definition

The structure is like that:

      pageSize: A4
?     landscape: false
?     marginLeft: 40
?     marginRight: 40
?     marginTop: 20
?     marginBottom: 20
?     backgroundPdf: template.pdf
?     header:
        height: 50
        items:
          - {BLOCK_DEFINITION}
          {...}
      items:
        - {BLOCK_DEFINITION}
        {...}
?     footer:
        height: 50
        items:
          - {BLOCK_DEFINITION}
          {...}

If "backgroundPdf" is specified, the first page of the given PDF file will be added as background of every page.

The "header" and "footer" sections are optional. If the "items" that are in the main section are too big, more pages are generated. The header and footer will be drawn on those pages as well.

Here is a short list of supported pageSizes:

name	width	height
LETTER	612	792
LEGAL	612	1008
A4	595	842
A3	842	1191

The complete list can be found here. If you want to use a custom page size, you can set pageSize to the width and the height separated by a space.

Block definition

The next sub-sections document the possible types of blocks.

In general, text values or URLs can contain values taken from the spec structure coming with the client's request. A syntax similar to shell is used: ${variableName}. If the current page is a titlePage, only the root values are taken. If it's a mainPage, the service will first look in the current page section then in the root values. Here is how to use this functionality:

            text: 'The value of mapTitle is: ${mapTitle}'

Some virtual variables can be used:

• ${pageNum}: The current page number.
• ${pageTot}: The total number of pages. Can be used only in text blocks.
• ${now}: The current date and time as defined by the machine's locale.
• ${now FORMAT}: The current date and time as defined by the FORMAT string. The syntax is documented here.
• ${configDir}: The absolute path to the directory of the configuration file.
• ${format PRINTF VAR}: Format the value of VAR using the provided PRINTF format (for example: %,d).

All the blocks can have a condition attribute that takes a spec attribute name. If the attribute name exists and is not equal to "false" or "0", the block is drawn. Otherwise, it is ignored. An exclamation mark may precede the condition to invert it.

Example: show text block only if in the spec the attribute name "showText" is given, is not equal to "false" and not equal to "0"

        - !text
          text: 'mytext'
          condition: showText    

Text block

        - !text
?         font: Helvetica
?         fontSize: 12
?         fontEncoding: Cp1252
?         fontColor: black
?         spacingAfter: 0
?         align: left
?         vertAlign: middle
?         backgroundColor: #FFFFFF
          text: 'Blahblah'

Typical "fontEncoding" values are:

• Cp1250
• Cp1252
• Cp1257
• Identity-H (horizontal UTF-8)
• Identity-V (vertical UTF-8)
• MacRoman

The "font" must refer to a standard PDF font or a declared font.

Image block

        - !image
          maxWidth: 200
          maxHeight: 100
?         spacingAfter: 0
?         align: left
?         vertAlign: middle
          url: http://trac.mapfish.org/trac/mapfish/chrome/site/img/mapfish.png

Supported formats are PNG, GIF, Jpeg, Jpeg2000, BMP, WMF (vector), SVG and TIFF.

The original aspect ratio will be respected. The url can contain "${}" variables.

Columns block

        - !columns
?         config: {TABLE_CONFIG}
?         widths: [25,25,25,25]
?         backgroundColor: #FFFFFF
?         absoluteX: null
?         absoluteY: null
?         width: {PAGE_WIDTH}
?         spacingAfter: 0
?         nbColumns: -1
          items:
            - {BLOCK_DEFINITION}
            {...}

Can be called !table as well.

By default, the width of the columns will be equal.

Each item will be in its own column.

If the absoluteX, absoluteY and width are given, the columns block will be floating on top of the page at the specified position.

The widths attribute can be used to change the width of the columns (by default, they have the same width). It must contain one integer for each column. The width of a given column is tableWidth*columnWeight/sum(columnWeight).

Every block type is allowed except for map if the column has an absolute position.

Look here for how to specify the config field.

Map block

Allowed only within a mainPage.

        - !map
          width: ?
          height: ?
?         name: map
?         spacingAfter: 0
?         align: left
?         vertAlign: middle
?         absoluteX: null
?         absoluteY: null
?         overviewMap: null

width and height are mandatory. You can use variable substitution in this part, but if you do so, the browser won't receive the map size when it calls info.json. You'll have to override mapfish.widgets.print.Base.configReceived and set the map width and height of your layouts.

If the absoluteX and absoluteY are given, the map block will be floating on top of the page at the specified position.

The name is what will be displayed in the Acrobat's reader layer panel. The map layers will be displayed bellow it.

If overviewMap is specified, the map will be an overview of the extent augmented by the given factor. There are few cases to consider with map overviews:

1. If there is no overview overrides and no OL.Control.MapOverview, then all the layers will figure in the PDF map overview.
2. If there are overview overrides, the OL map overview control is ignored.
3. If there are no overview overrides and there is an OL.Control.MapOverview (takes the first one), then the layers defined in the control are taken into account. By default it is the current base layer.

Scalebar block

Display a scalebar.

Allowed only within a mainPage.

        - !scalebar
          maxSize: 150
?         type: line
?         intervals: 3
?         subIntervals: false
?         units: m
?         barSize: 5
?         lineWidth: 1
?         barDirection: up
?         textDirection: up
?         labelDistance: 3
?         font: Helvetica
?         fontSize: 12
?         fontColor: black
?         color: #000000
?         barBgColor: null
?         spacingAfter: 0
?         align: left
?         vertAlign: middle
?         backgroundColor: #FFFFFF

The scalebar, will adapt its width up to maxSize (includes the labels) in order to have a multiple of 1, 2 or 5 values at each graduation. For example:

• 0, 1, 2, ...
• 0, 2, 4, ...
• 0, 5, 10, ...
• 0, 10, 20, ...

The barSize is the thickness of the bar or the height of the tick marks on the line. The lineWith is for the thickness of the lines (or bar border).

Units can be any of:

• m (mm, cm, m or km)
• ft (in, ft, yd, mi)
• degrees (min, sec, °)

If the value is too big or too small, the module will switch to one of the unit in parenthesis (the same unit is used for every intervals).

The number of intervals can be set to anything >=2. Labels are drawn only at main intervals. If there is no space to display a label at a certain interval, this label won't be displayed. If subIntervals are enabled, their number will depend on the length of an interval.

The type can be:

• line: A simple line with graduations
• bar: A thick bar with a suite of color and barBgColor blocks.
• bar_sub: Like bar, but with little lines for labels.

The bar and/or text orientation can be set to "up", "down", "left" or "right".

The align attribute is for placing the whole scalebar withing the surrounding column or page. The vertAlign attribute is used only when placed in a column.

Labels are always centered on the graduation, at a distance specified by labelDistance.

Attributes block

Allows to display a table of the displayed feature's attributes.

Allowed only within a mainPage.

        - !attributes
          source: results
?         tableConfig: {TABLE_CONFIG}
          columnDefs:
            {COLUMN_NAME}:
?             columnWeight: 0        MF_V1.2
              header: {BLOCK_DEFINITION}
              cell: {BLOCK_DEFINITION}
            {...}

Look here for how to specify the tableConfig field.

The columnWeigth (MF_V1.2 only) allows to define a weight for the column width. If you specify it for one column, you have to specify it for all of them. The width of a given column is tableWidth*columnWeight/sum(columnWeight).

The source value defines the name of the entry in the root of the client's spec. For example, it would look like that:

{
  ...
  pages: [
    {
      ...
      results: {
        data: [
          {id:1, name: 'blah', icon: 'icon_pan'},
          ...
        ],
        columns: ['id', 'name', 'icon']
      }
    }
  ]
  ...
}

With this spec you would have to define 3 columnDefs with the names id, name and icon. Each cell definition blocks have access to all the values of the current row.

The spec part is filled automatically by the 2 MapFish widgets when their grids parameter is set.

Here is a crazy example of columnDef that will show the name of the icon and it's bitmap side-by-side inside a single column:

          columnDefs:
            icon:
              header: !text
                text: Symbol
                backgroundColor: #A0A0A0
              cell: !columns
                items:
                  - !text
                    text: '${icon}'
                  - !image
                    align: center
                    maxWidth: 15
                    maxHeight: 15
                    url: 'http://www.mapfish.org/svn/mapfish/trunk/MapFish/client/mfbase/mapfish/img/${icon}.png'

A more complex example can be found in SVN: config.yaml spec.json

The print widgets are able to fill the spec for you based on a dictionary of Ext.grid.GridPanel. Just pass them through the grids parameter.

Legends block

Display each layers along with its classes (icons and labels).

        - !legends
?         maxIconWidth: 8
?         maxIconHeight: 8
?         classIndentation: 20
?         layerSpace: 5
?         classSpace: 2
?         backgroundColor: #FFFFFF
?         layerFont: Helvetica
?         layerFontSize: 10
?         classFont: Helvetica
?         classFontSize: 8
?         fontEncoding: Cp1252

layerSpace and classSpace is to specify the line space to add before layers and classes.

For this to work, you need to set the layerTree config option on MF print widgets.

Table configuration

The columns block and the attributes block can take a table configuration object like that:

    config:
?     borderWidth: 0
?     borderWidthLeft: 0
?     borderWidthRight: 0
?     borderWidthTop: 0
?     borderWidthBottom: 0
?     borderColor: black
?     borderColorLeft: black
?     borderColorRight: black
?     borderColorTop: black
?     borderColorBottom: black
?     cells:
?       - {CELL_CONFIGURATION}

A cell configuration looks like that:

?     row: {...}
?     col: {...}
?     borderWidth: 0
?     borderWidthLeft: 0
?     borderWidthRight: 0
?     borderWidthTop: 0
?     borderWidthBottom: 0
?     borderColor: black
?     borderColorLeft: black
?     borderColorRight: black
?     borderColorTop: black
?     borderColorBottom: black
?     padding: 0
?     paddingLeft: 0
?     paddingRight: 0
?     paddingTop: 0
?     paddingBottom: 0
?     backgroundColor: white
?     align: LEFT
?     vertAlign: TOP

The stuff configured at table level is for the table border, not every cell.

The cells list defines overrides for some cells. The cells an override is applied to is defined by the row and col attribute. Those attributes can have several formats:

• 0: apply only to row or column 0 (the first)
• 0-10: applies only the row or columns from 0 to 10
• or you can use any regular expression

Every matching overrides is applied in order and will override the values defined in the previous ones.

For example, if you want to draw an attribute block like that:

You define that:

        - !attributes
          tableConfig:
            borderWidth: 1
            cells:
              # match every cell (default cell formatting)
              - borderWidthBottom: 0.5
                borderWidthLeft: 0.5
                padding: 4
                paddingTop: 0
              # match every even cell (yellowish background)
              - row: '\d*[02468]'
                backgroundColor: #FFFFCC
              # for the header
              - row: 0
                borderWidthBottom: 1
                backgroundColor: #FA0002
                align: center
          {...}