Is it required to use BBOX strategy with WFS protocol in OpenLayers 2?

Question

is it a must to use BBOX strategy with WFS protocol in Vector layers ?

I cannot display this layer without BBOX strategy:

vLayer = new OpenLayers.Layer.Vector("Test", { 

    styleMap: new OpenLayers.StyleMap({ 
        "default": style 
    }), 
      maxExtent: new OpenLayers.Bounds(-180, -90, 180, 90).transform(geographic,mercator), 
      sphericalMercator: true,   
      protocol:  new OpenLayers.Protocol.WFS({   
      url: 'http://myDomain/geoserver/wfs', 
      featureType: "Layer_1",   
      featureNS: "http://mapmap.org", 
      srsName: "EPSG:3857", 
      version: "1.1.0", 
      extractAttributes: true, 
      isBaseLayer: false, 

        }) 
      }); 

I am not getting any request in firebug. What am I missing here ?

---

EDIT:

URL request in firebug:

url=http://myDomain/geoserver/wfs

XML Post:

<wfs:GetFeature 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:Query typeName="myWorkSpace:Layer_1" srsName="EPSG:3857" xmlns:myWorkSpace="http://mapmap.org"></wfs:Query>
</wfs:GetFeature>

and sometimes the response came with error:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<ows:ExceptionReport version="1.0.0"
  xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.opengis.net/ows http://myDomain/geoserver/schemas/ows/1.0.0/owsExceptionReport.xsd"
  xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:ows="http://www.opengis.net/ows">
  <ows:Exception exceptionCode="NoApplicableCode">
    <ows:ExceptionText>java.lang.IllegalStateException: A transformation exception occurred while reprojecting data on the fly
A transformation exception occurred while reprojecting data on the fly
Latitude 91°00.0'N is too close to a pole.</ows:ExceptionText>
  </ows:Exception>
</ows:ExceptionReport>

Answer 1

When using the web mercator projection you should try to limit requests to +/- 85 degrees of latitude. Because of the way the maths works out things get tricky the nearer to the poles you get and in your case you are asking for a point (91N) beyond the pole which is definitely going to be a problem.

You can use a BBOX strategy and set it to be something like:

new OpenLayers.Bounds(-180, -85, 180, 85).transform(geographic,mercator);

which will fetch all reasonable data.

If you have data near the poles then you should probably be using a different projection.

Answer 2

You don't have to use the BBOX strategy but you have to choose a strategy. The strategy is responsible for controlling tasks such as when to load or refresh the data in the layer. The BBOX strategy that you used for example, is used to display data that is within the map's extent.

As for your error, it seems to be related to a bug in GeTools which Geoserver used. You might want to check the bounds of the projection you're using.