'''MapServer Rendering Plugin Status'''

This page documents the rendering plugin implementation status for MapServer version 6.0.

What Works:

  * create image function (into an imageObj)
    * notes...
  * basic vector API is in place (e.g. draw line, fill polygon, etc...)
    * Cairo Graphics is implemented in trunk
    * AGG is minimally implemented in a sandbox
    * KML SoC work uses this API
    * ...
  * basic text API is in place
    * performance concerns regarding font handling
    * per glyph or per string?
  * symbols support works for the most part
    * exception in PIXMAP symbols

Remaining Tasks:

  * implement lazy PIXMAP loading
  * write our own image loaders (into an imageObj), this is part of the rendering API
    * using libpng, libjpeg and something for GIF
    * drivers could choose to implement their own (e.g. GD)
  * write our own image writers (from an imageObj), again, this is part of the rendering API
    * using libpng, libjpeg and something for GIF
    * drivers could choose to implement their own (e.g. GD)
    * Thomas has implemented PNG and JPEG writers already, minus color pre-preocessing and some other output optionss
  * raster API implementation
    * how to deal with potentially different image buffers (e.g. GD vs. everything else)?
  * implement color pre-processing
    * quantization
    * is there still a need for a partial palette?
  * existing renderer re-writes
    * GD
    * vector drivers (PDF/SVG/Flash), may, in some cases, be replaced by Cairo
  * symbol API gaps
    * use an imageObj instead of a gdImagePtr
  * vector API gaps
    * polygon fills using a tile
    * hatching support
      * possibility exists to create a hatch generator (e.g. all the lines) and we'd pass those to the renderer
      * GD driver has code to compute the lines, but they aren't clipped
  * remove GD dependencies from certain functional areas, specifically scalebar, legend and reference map generation
    * embedding may be difficult, however, if the symbolObj changes to use imageObj's for PIXMAP symbols then the current process can probably be retained