I have a Map Server with over 10 layers inside and I'm looking for the layer with the latest value in the update-date field. So I was wondering do I need to query each layer to get the maximum date for each and then compare those (meaning over 10 get requests to the server) or is there a way using the find operation on the map server to find the layer (and ideally even the feature) with just one request to the server?
Pending on the schema, you could re-create the MapService with a extra layer of ALL. e.g. call it ALL_Layer.
Then you just need to query the one /x layer.