adding non spatial attributes using geoserver

Question

I am using Openlayers + geoext to perform transaction operations in postgis database using geoserver . i can insert spatial data into postgis but cannot insert other data like road name, road type in my road database.

the openlayers generates this code during transaction

<wfs:Transaction xmlns:wfs="http://www.opengis.net/wfs" 
service="WFS" 
version="1.1.0" 
xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.opengis.net/wfs 
http://schemas.opengis.net/wfs/1.1.0/wfs.xsd" 
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
  <wfs:Insert>
<feature:Complaint xmlns:feature="http://geoserver/postgis">
  <feature:geom>
    <gml:MultiCurve 
    xmlns:gml="http://www.opengis.net/gml" 
    srsName="EPSG:4326">
      <gml:curveMember>
        <gml:LineString>
          <gml:posList>85.292019896027 27.722567213659 85.303131631935 27.72224973549 85.303290371019 27.72478956084
          </gml:posList>
        </gml:LineString>
      </gml:curveMember>
    </gml:MultiCurve>
   </feature:geom>
  </feature:Complaint>
 </wfs:Insert>
</wfs:Transaction>

in geoserver demo i add fid and id so that it looks as

<wfs:Transaction xmlns:wfs="http://www.opengis.net/wfs" 
service="WFS" 
version="1.1.0" 
xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.opengis.net/wfs 
http://schemas.opengis.net/wfs/1.1.0/wfs.xsd" 
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
  <wfs:Insert>
<feature:Complaint xmlns:feature="http://geoserver/postgis">
  <feature:geom>
    <gml:MultiCurve 
    xmlns:gml="http://www.opengis.net/gml" 
    srsName="EPSG:4326">
      <gml:curveMember>
        <gml:LineString>
          <gml:posList>85.292019896027 27.722567213659 85.303131631935 27.72224973549 85.303290371019 27.72478956084
          </gml:posList>
        </gml:LineString>
      </gml:curveMember>
    </gml:MultiCurve>
   </feature:geom>
 **<id>650</id>
      <fid>400</fid>**
  </feature:Complaint>
 </wfs:Insert>
</wfs:Transaction>

and i get what i want. my question is how can i post the 2nd request (with id and fid) instead of first using openlayers and/or geoext?

Answer 1

If I understood your problem correctly - just set attributes for your feature in OpenLayers, and that's all.

For example, presuming your table has roadname and roadtype fields:

feature.attributes.roadname = 'Foo';
feature.attributes.roadtype = 10;

Answer 2

When i want to edit features i do this.

How to edit feature attributes with openlayers?

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

i don't know the answer to this question, but if someone is stuck in same situation. i suggest that you extract the geometry of feature and assign it to an html element. then access the value of same element and use php to insert it to database along with other attributes. it works for simple geometries but is a tedious task, still it is a solution.

My code is like this

var draw = new OpenLayers.Control.DrawFeature(
        vector,     //layer
        OpenLayers.Handler.Path, //Handler
        {   multi:true,
            type: OpenLayers.Control.TYPE_TOGGLE,
            //handlerOptions : {maxVertices: 5}
        }//options
    );
    draw.events.register("featureadded",'' , FeatureAdded);
    function FeatureAdded(object){ 
        //alert('feature added');
        var oFeature = object.feature; 
        oFeature.state = OpenLayers.State.INSERT;  
      **document.getElementById('geometry').value = oFeature.geometry;
        //alert(oFeature.geometry); 
    } 

    map.addControl(draw);

the sql statement is like this in postgis

INSERT INTO table_name VALUES (ST_GeographyFromText('value of the element(geometry)',SRID))