CSV write method for OpenLayers.Format.Text

[fvanderbiest]

Here's a patch which adds the write method to OpenLayers.Format.Text

[edgemaster]

I don't see any handling for the position of the point, which should be included in write methods on our Formats.

[fvanderbiest]

Right.

I included two extra columns : _center_x and _center_y which represent the centroid of the geometry bbox.

For points, this should be equivalent to their coordinates.

This also provides an easy "kind of centroid" to other types of geometries.

[crschmidt]

Having a 'write' method on a format which then can't be usefully passed back into read is not something that I'm interested in. Rather than creating yet another incompatible format, this code should be changed to be as close as possible to the existing MVS format ( http://trac.openlayers.org/wiki/MapViewerService#DataFile).

This means:

• _center_x / y is out, 'lon' / 'lat' are in
• Format should read graphicOffset style properties if the exist
• Format should read externalGraphic property if it exists

I would add one other thing that it should do, which is to (optionally?) write out the WKT geometry, since this actually makes it somewhat useful for non-points, which I'd like to encourage.

Despite my tone here, I'm quite interested in seeing this go in, but it's simply too late for me to help make it happen. If someone can take this on as a task before April 1, I'll gladly help review it. But it iwll need some kind of tests and example usage before it's really ready.