How import a shapefile on-the-fly and have GeoServer render it instantly?

Question

I am tasked with adding one feature to an existing app. It was built with OpenLayers and GeoServer. The task is to import a shapefile on-the-fly and have GeoServer render it instantly. However, I can't find any doc or tutorial.

Since a user can import any shapefile, the geometry type or the data structure can't be determined ahead of time.

Thanks, Fred

Answer 1

There is nothing already done, but using REST config you can do the upload, it should auto-configure itself (watch out for missing or invalid .prj files though) and then you can use it like a normal WMS layer, previewing it where you prefer.

http://docs.geoserver.org/latest/en/user/restconfig/rest-config-api.html