I want to edit corresponding postgresql data of a vector from openlayers- how to do it?

Question

I want to edit the corresponding text/numeric data type columns of a vector through OpenLayers when a user clicks/mouse over a vector. like,

http://dev4.mapgears.com/bdga/bdgaWFS-T.html#

any tutorial page for how to do it? I have gone through it, it was difficult for me to understand its js codes.

-- asked in StackOverflow, but no answers. based on a comment, I posted the same question here.

Answer 1

The "How" is actually quite easy - all you need is a WFS-T server and a WFS-T capable client. You have already picked OpenLayers as your client which is a good choice as it has no problems with talking WFS-T (see http://openlayers.org/dev/examples/wfs-protocol-transactions.html).

For the server you have a choice to make - since your data is in PostGIS you are looking at GeoServer http://geoserver.org or TinyOWS http://www.tinyows.org/trac for a WFS-T server. There are plenty of docs on either site to help you get started.

Answer 2

"How" you do it is likely strongly linked to your toolset. But, I suspect in any toolset your flow will be something like this:

1. Select the feature you want to edit (by map click, by search, etc...) and store the unique identifier.
2. Retrieve the row from the database using the unique identifier as the filter.
3. Parse the database row and create an "editor" (combobox, textbox, datepicker, etc...) for each column.
4. Present the user with an interface based on the current values in the row and the editors.
5. As the user enters / modifies data validate the input.
6. On save, fashion an update query based on the user provided values and using the unique identifier as the filter.
7. If you are using attribute information the user can edit to render the map (e.g. road symbol is based on roadtype attribute which is editable) then update the map.