19. Locate Plugin

19.1. Introduction

The locate plugin deals with autocompletion of input fields used to recenter on a feature on the map. It is based on AJAX requests.

When a few characters have been typed in the dedicated input field, an AJAX request is processed on the database defined by its DSN. The first results beginning with these characters are displayed in a drop down list.

When a result is clicked, the map is recentered on it.

The JavaScript part of this plugin is based on the script.aculo.us Autocompleter.

19.2. Activation

The plugin needs obviously to be activated using the client_conf/client.ini loadPlugins parameter. For instance:

loadPlugins = auth, exportPdf, views, locate

To enable the plugin, you also need to add required parts in the cartoclient.tpl template. In the <head> element:

{if $locate_active|default:''}<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="{r type=css plugin=locate}locate.css{/r}" />{/if}
      ...
{if $locate_active|default:''}<script type="text/javascript" src="{r type=js}prototype.js{/r}"></script>{/if}

And in the <body> of the document (for example in the navigation folder):

      {if $locate_active|default:''}
           {$locate_form}
      {/if}

Tip

Warning: make sure that the recentering in enabled (recenterActive = true in client_conf/location.ini)! The hidden inputs id_recenter_layer and id_recenter_ids are needed so the recentering functionnality works correctly.

19.3. Configuration

locate.#.id (# = 0, 1, 2, ...): id of the layer in layers.ini to recenter on.
locate.#.label (# = 0, 1, 2, ...): label of the locate input; Note that if you use the same label as in the layers.ini translations will operate.
locate.#.sql (# = 0, 1, 2, ...): SQL statement for the AJAX request to the database. It must return two fields:
- an identifier : the value of the id_attribute_string field of the layer, in order to be able to recenter on the feature,
- a label : a name for the feature to recenter on.