[OpenLayers-Users] OpenLayers 2.0-rc1 Release

[Christopher Schmidt]

Announcing RC1 of OpenLayers 2.0!

OpenLayers has gone through numerous changes (as described in the draft
Release Notes below) over the past couple months, and because of changes
in the API, we are going to move directly to a 2.0 release rather than
to continue in the 1.0 major version branch.

There is lots of new functionality in the new release that was not in
our first 1.0 release -- many features which users have been using for
months are now out of SVN and into a release, as well as some features
that are new within the past week which should significantly improve
performance. 

We are looking for users to test the new release and let us know what we
might have changed that you can't find the new solution for, or features
that you were using that are broken with the new release.

To use the 2.0-RC1, you can include the following script URL in your
OpenLayers pages:

 <script src="http://openlayers.org/api/2.0-rc1/OpenLayers.js"></script>

We look forward to your feedback on the new functionality, improved
performance, and changes in the API.

If you find any bugs, please report them in trac, putting them into the
2.0 milestone when creating the ticket, and we will ensure that all bugs
appropriate for solving during a release candidate are solved.

Questions, comments, and feedback are, as always, welcome. 



OpenLayers 2.0 Release Notes

Deprecated Methods which were removed: (for details, see r1228)

 * OpenLayers.Map
   * removed:  getFullExtent()  -- use getMaxExtent()  instead
   * removed:  zoomToFullExtent()  -- use zoomToMaxExtent() instead
 * OpenLayers.Layer.Grid
   * removed: setTileSize() -- user should instead pass a 'tileSize' 
     property as one of the options when initializing the
     Grid Layer. ex: 
        var url = "http://octo.metacarta.com/cgi-bin/mapserv";
        var options = {tileSize: new OpenLayers.Size(500,50)};
        var map = new OpenLayers.Map('map', options);
        layer = new OpenLayers.Layer.WMS(name, url, params);
 * OpenLayers.Layer.HTTPRequest
   * removed: {{{ changeParams() }}} -- use {{{ mergeNewParams() }}}
     instead
 * OpenLayers.Pixel
   * removed: copyOf() -- use  clone() instead
 * OpenLayers.Size
   * removed: copyOf() -- use  clone() instead
 * OpenLayers.!LonLat
   * removed: copyOf() -- use  clone() instead
 * OpenLayers.Bounds
   * removed: copyOf() -- use  clone() instead
 * Array
   * removed: copyOf() -- use  clone() instead

 * MouseWheel
  * It is now possible to zoom in/out with the mouse wheel instead of
    clicks.
 
 * Spiral Gridding
  * Instead of loading from the top to bottom of the map, OpenLayers
    will now start loading tiles from the center of the map.

 * Tile Re-Use
  * In order to lower memory constraints and reduce element creation
    times, OpenLayers now creates a single set of images/tiles and
    reuses them as you scroll around the map.

 * New Layer Support
  * Google 
  * Virtual Earth
  * GeoRSS (RSS 1.0 and 2.0 in FF, IE, RSS 2.0 in Safari)
  * KaMap
  * Untiled WMS

 * Scale Based Methods 
  * It is now possible to set zooms based on the concept of scale. See
    documentation in the options for the Map constructor.

-- 
Christopher Schmidt
Web Developer