[Geotools-devel] Merging locally, possibly to branch, er, trunk

[Ian S. <Ian...@ar...>]

Hi,
Just finished the mind numbing task of merging the features-exp branch
onto the trunk. The existing code was tagged as pre-features-exp-merge. 

There are some build problems, but mostly in very good shape.

modules with problems:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
lite-rendering -> see Java2DRendering
wmsserver -> relies on lite-rendering + some core/defaultcore problems
gui -> problems, relies on lots old core/defaultcore API
OcacleTest has stange formatting (its fixed build wise- oh yeah, now I
remember, I saw a bunch of ^M thingees)?
pickle -> I'll get to it tomorrow, unless someone else really wants to
do it
svgsupport -> couple of minor EnvelopeExtent (old API) refs + 1 more
algorithms -> a bunch of old FeatureType api usage + more
gtopo30 -> a few minor old feature api usage

For examples as how to fix the various errors, consult similar code in
the modules that build. defaultcore is probably the best place to
look...

Some observations made whilst running over various code...

Notes:
-I realized the introduction of the NULL_ATTRIBUTE object causes
problems when the client code is casting.
 For instance:
   String s = (String) feature.getAttribute(...);
 WIll cause a problem...
 The objective was to remove the ambiguity when looking for an
attributes value in a given Feature,
 that is, is it null, or does it not exist? Before an exception was
thrown. I say, its up to the
 caller to interperet the return value. Is it null cause its not there
(maybe important, maybe not)
 or is it null cause its null (maybe important, maybe not). The actual
presence of the AttributeType can be determined if its neccessary. Any
thought? 
 
-move AbstractDataSource to core (otherwise all datasources depend on
defaultcore)

Good night,
Ian