Using external capabilities files with WCS services

Each WCS service exposes service-level metadata through its capabilities file. The capabilities file is the XML response that clients receive when they make a GetCapabilities request on the service. Configuring external capabilities files gives you the flexibility to do the following:

• Add metadata about the service.
• Add metadata about each layer.
• Customize the legend information for each layer.

To use external capabilities files for your WCS service, you must have at least one WCS capabilities file ready. You can create the file from scratch, but it's often easier to first publish your service with a system-generated capabilities file, then use that file as a template for creating the external capabilities file.

If you want your WCS service to support different versions of WCS protocol—for example, 1.0.0, 1.1.0, and 1.1.1—you must have one capabilities file for each version of WCS you want to support.

Once you've created all the necessary capabilities files, name them with a common prefix (for example, capabilities) and the unique three-digit version number (for example, capabilities100, capabilities110, or capabilities111).

Place all your capabilities files under a common folder accessible from a URL. Then, follow the steps below to configure your service to use the files:

Steps:

1. Click the Services tab in Manager.
2. Find your service and click the Edit icon.
3. Click the Capabilities tab.
4. Find WCS in the list of capabilities. Make sure the check box is checked, then click the letters WCS (be careful not to uncheck the box). You'll see some properties appear.
5. Click Use external capabilities files.
6. In the Specify the location prefix box, type the URL of the folder where you placed your capabilities files and the common prefix you used for them (for example, if you used capabilities as your common prefix and placed your files under C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\<instance name>\wcs, and you are using IIS with ArcGIS Server for .NET, you can just type http://<server name>/<instance name>/wcs/capabilities).
7. Click Save.

Note:

By using external capabilities files for your WCS service, you must be responsible for validating your capabilities files against the DTD or XML schema from OGC. You also assume responsibility for all the synchronization between your capabilities files and the source data from which your WCS service is published.