[udig-devel] Re: shape files

[Adrian Custer]

On Mon, 2006-10-23 at 17:07 -0700, Paul Ramsey wrote:
> Yes, a "shape file" is actually a collection of files, and the  
> application may open all of them...
> 
> The classic three files
> 
> .shp - shapes
> .shx - shapes -> attributes index
> .dbf - attributes
> 
.
.
.
> 
> Generally applications will *require* the classic three, and do  
> better or worse jobs depending on how many extras are available to  
> lend a helping hand
> 
> Paul

Hey all,

I'm puzzled because I vaguely remember that it used to be possible to
generate the .shx file, that is that we could rebuild the index from
a .shp file. As I understood it, the .shp format was not necessarily
well behaved---one could construct files that would cause infinite loops
or topological inconsistencies---however, in most cases, an index could
be built using only the geometries.

1) Is my memory correct, and it is conceptually possible to regenerate
an index file?

2) Is the gt/udig requirement for this file simply due to a limitation
in our current capabilities?

Thanks,
adrian