annotation of symbol without text

[imap@…]

Note there are several problem desribed here....

When defining a LAYER object of TYPE annotation, 
there is currently no way to render a SYMBOL *only*
without defining a TEXT and LABEL object in the
CLASS.

Currently we must work around the problem by
defining a TEXT " " and LABEL END in the CLASS 
object to make mapserver render a SYMBOL only.  
Otherwise the SYMBOL will not render. As a 
by-product of bug, the Text " " (space) 
area, however it is defined, then become part 
of the labelCache.

Also, COLOR 0 0 0 must be define within the
class.  This definition is also required, or the
SYMBOL wont render.  Not sure why that is required,
but probably has to do with some up front tests for
valid color, or possibly initialization values not 
being properly defaulted.

In mapserv3.5, if TRANSFORM FALSE, mapserv will *only*
use inline FEATURE points, and the LAYER DATA is
ignored (does not work with shapefile data)

Example:

LAYER
  NAME key
  TYPE annotation
  STATUS ON
  TRANSFORM FALSE
  # DATA "other/key"    # this doesnt work with TRANSFORM FALSE
  CLASS
    TEXT " "            # TEXT " " is required in CLASS
    SYMBOL "key"        # wont find SYMBOL gif with full or relative path
    COLOR 0 0 0         # is required to be there for whatever reason
    LABEL END           # is required because of the TEXT in CLASS
  END
  FEATURE
    POINTS 100 100 END
  END
END

[dmorissette]

There have been important changes in that area in version 4.0.  For instance,
see bug 259 about the marker that didn't show up without a label in 3.6 and
older versions.  This is fixed in 4.0.

So I'll mark as WONTFIX since some (all?) of the issues are fixed in 4.0 and we
won't release any more 3.6.x versions.  If some related problems still happen in
4.0 then I would suggest that you open a new bug with the details to reproduce.