Hi. I was wondering, has anybody ever been asked to automatically return search result data to a calling web page based on a mouse click alone (i.e. without the user first selecting anything from any results pop ups that may appear following the search)?
I have an identify task that queries multiple layers, including line, point and polygon features. I know how to return result data to a calling page, it is working out if it is possible to select the correct data to return automatically that is making me think. E.g.
A user clicks a point on the map.
A search (I'm using an identify search currently) queries layers A, B, C, D E.
Without any further user interaction , the map automatically returns layer A feature x, layer B feature y, layer C feature z … etc. which correspond to the point click.
One or two of the underlying layers are relatable by common attributes, but generally speaking they are not.
The feature layers are displayed on the map, so this gives the illusion to a user that they are clicking 'on a feature'.
But due to identify searches being based on a map point click (that is, for an identify search, a user clicks a point on the map, not 'on a feature'), and identify search tolerances etc. it seems to me that it is a standard for users to select the features they are interested in following a search, rather than for things to happen automatically (I should add that I would know which feature to return if there were only 1 search result for a particular layer etc.).
Also, the way features appear on a map may change depending on the scale the map is viewed at. E.g. a point click on the outer edge of, say, a circular point symbol may appear to be in a different underlying polygon layer feature, depending on the scale the map is viewed at and how close the point feature is to the polygon boundary. Another way of putting it - a point feature's x,y value will always be in the same polygon feature, regardless of scale, but the x,y value of a point click on the outer edge of a point feature's symbol (still a 'click on the feature', from the user's point of view) Is not the same as the x,y value of the feature, so may actually fall within a different polygon feature.
There may be other issues. All of the samples I have seen are based on users selecting search result features that they are interested in, and this makes sense to me. I was just wondering if anybody else had ever come across a request to select things automatically?
Thanks and regards
