When issuing a GetFeature request with a Filter, and Mapserver cannot find the
data, an internal server exception occurs.
If you do a GetFeature request with a query but without a Filter, a correct
error message is reported, see:
D:\sources\python>mapserver_getfeature.py
<ServiceExceptionReport
xmlns="http://www.opengis.net/ogc" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-i
nstance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.opengis.net/ogc http://schemas.cubewerx.
com/schemas//wms/1.1.1/OGC-exception.xsd">
<ServiceException>
msSHPOpenFile(): Unable to access file. (/ms4w/apps/stragisweb/htdocs/sites/ijmo
nd/map/bis/geo/bis_loc)
msSHPOpenFile(): Unable to access file. (/ms4w/apps/stragisweb/htdocs/sites/ijmo
nd/map/../data/bis/geo/bis_loc)
</ServiceException>
</ServiceExceptionReport>
This type of exception should also be reported when the request is containing a
Filter, eg:
<GetFeature maxfeatures="100" service="WFS" version="1.0.0"
xmlns="http://www.opengis.net/wfs" xmlns:gml="http://www.opengis.net/gml"
xmlns:ogc="http://www.opengis.net/ogc"
xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"
xsi:schemaLocation="http://schemas.opengis.net/wfs/1.0.0 WFS-basic.xsd"><Query
xmlns=""
typename="bislocatie"><ogc:Filter><ogc:DWithin><ogc:PropertyName>Geometry</ogc:PropertyName><gml:Polygon
srsName="EPSG:28992"><gml:outerBoundaryIs><gml:LinearRing><gml:coordinates>104030.047950,498012.127900
104030.263050,498036.333900 104055.456000,498041.950000
104056.623000,498042.210050 104056.669950,498041.993050
104059.873950,498027.176150 104061.607050,498019.162900
104030.047950,498012.127900
</gml:coordinates></gml:LinearRing></gml:outerBoundaryIs></gml:Polygon><ogc:Distance
units="m">0.01</ogc:Distance></ogc:DWithin></ogc:Filter></Query></GetFeature>
So this results in an internal server error when the data cannot be found, ie
the geographical data file cannot be found on the filesystem.