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API for creating sub-ZODBs
by Andrew M. Kuchling 20 Oct '99

20 Oct '99

Recently people were commenting on the recent session tracking HOWTO, which stores sessions in files inside a directory. This would be made much easier if there was some API for creating a single connection to a new ZODB; your code would have to retrieve the relevant root object, but you could at least count on it being cleaned up nicely when the server is shut down. Another application for this is my ODP code, which is an amount of data so large that you probably don't want to mix it in with the rest of your database. If we have a powerful object persistency system in the form of the ZODB, why not use it? In the ODP code release, I have an external method which looks like this: from ZODB import FileStorage, DB # Cache of ZODB objects ZODBs = {} def get_odp(filename): if ZODBs.has_key( filename ): db = ZODBs[filename] else: # Open ZODB fs = FileStorage.FileStorage(filename, read_only = 1) db = DB( fs ) ZODBs[ filename ] = db conn = db.open() root = conn.root() return root['ODP'] This may well be leaking connections; I'm not sure. Why not add some function to the Zope API which does this job? You would provide it with a Storage class (so you can use a non-versioning storage for transient sessions) and an argument tuple for the Storage class; if the Storage had been previously opened, it's returned from a cache. Invocation would be something like: conn = Zope.App.openExtraZODB( FileStorage, ('/tmp/mystorage.fs',) ) root = conn.root() ... whatever ... Thoughts? I'm happy to write such a function, if someone will tell me where it should go. -- A.M. Kuchling http://starship.python.net/crew/amk/ It was a wasted life, but God forbid that one should be hard upon it, or upon anything in this world that is not deliberately and coldly wrong . . . -- Charles Dickens, in a letter to his friend John Forster.

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UML information
by Alexander Staubo 20 Oct '99

20 Oct '99

You guys at Digital Creations have done UML modeling in the process of building Zope. Can you recommend any good books or resources on the topic? Currently we use Adobe Illustrator for simple component relation modeling -- really relations between clients and server and internal components. We have been by Visio, but we feel it's even more of a hassle, plus it makes truly godawful-looking diagrams (many of our diagrams ends up on a marketdroid's desk). The best tool I could ever imagine would be one that allowed both micro- and macroscopic views of a system. The macroscopic view would show the system laid out as components, servers and consumers, layers and relations. The microscopic world would go down to the programming level to show classes, methods, variables. This wish of mine may seem simplistic -- I'm not sure exactly how UML is targeted, and what it offes -- however I think anyone will agree that it would be useful. Do you have anything enlightening to say about UML, such as: - Has it helped you design more effectively? - Or do you use UML more as a documentation tool to _illustrate_ a design? - Do you use a UML code generator to buy Python or C skeletons? Do you think a two-way UML tool [one that let you take the source code seamlessly back into the UML editor for re-editing] would be useful, or even viable? - Does your tool of choice automagically produce HTML? Anybody else care to chip in? -- Alexander Staubo http://www.mop.no/~alex/ "Give me an underground laboratory, half a dozen atom smashers and a beautiful girl in a diaphanous veil waiting to be turned into a chimpanzee, and I care not who writes the nation's laws." --S. J. Perelman

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XMLrpc to Zope
by Ng Pheng Siong 20 Oct '99

20 Oct '99

Hi, I've been mucking around with Zope's XML-RPC, drawing inspiration from Amos's HOWTO. Here's what I tried: >>> from M2Crypto.xmlrpclib2 import Server, SSL_Transport >>> s=Server('https://test:test@127.0.0.1:8443/junk', SSL_Transport()) >>> s.manage_addDocument('uploaded', 'from_vim', '0.dtml') Traceback (innermost last): File "<stdin>", line 1, in ? File "c:\pkg\python\lib\xmlrpclib.py", line 547, in __call__ return self.__send(self.__name, args) File "c:\pkg\python\lib\xmlrpclib.py", line 630, in __request request File "c:\ngps\prog\m2\M2Crypto\xmlrpclib2.py", line 57, in request headers xmlrpclib.ProtocolError: <ProtocolError for test:test@127.0.0.1:8443/junk: 302 Moved Temporarily> >>> A DTML document object was indeed created in /junk, ProtocolError notwithstanding. Can anyone who knows the innards of Zope shed some light on why its response is 302? I also tried manage_addImage(), but was not able to force the correct content type. PS. I'm not subscribed to the list (yet). Please cc replies. TIA. Cheers. -- Ng Pheng Siong <ngps(a)post1.com> * http://www.post1.com/home/ngps

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RE: [Zope-dev] API for creating sub-ZODBs
by Toby Dickenson 20 Oct '99

20 Oct '99

Aha! that's the right answer for several other design problems I have been pondering recently. I can see it being another how-did-we-ever-cope-without-it tool. -----Original Message----- Through the web products already zip up database objects, including ZClasses, and code for you when you create an object distribution. Currently, the data gets imported into the destination Zope. We are considering having products contain read-only databases that get used directly, rather than getting imported. This would allow some interesting optimizations and would almost certainly be easier to integrate.

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RE: (slightly offtopic): [Zope-dev] UML information
by Alexander Staubo 20 Oct '99

20 Oct '99

> From: Anthony Pfrunder [mailto:s341625@student.uq.edu.au] > Sent: 20. oktober 1999 05:39 > To: Alexander Staubo > Cc: Zope-dev (E-mail) > Subject: (slightly offtopic): [Zope-dev] UML information "Slightly offtopic"? Hah! Please kindly step outside, Sir... I'll show you off-topic! <wham!> :) > You may wish to look at StarOffice (that really cool piece of free > software from Sun). I've just completed modelling a robotics > navigation > system in it and it rocks! It has the connector things from Visio and > gives you lots of options to make them look pretty. You can > also assign > objects to pictures so that when you click on it you can zoom in. It > supports OpenGL pictures of objects (rotating etc) to keep your pet > marketdroid happy. Actually, you don't need to sell me on StarOffice at all -- I started using it last week, and so far I'm very, very impressed with it. It's the end to Microsoft's office-suite hegemony as we know it, no kidding. I own Office97 and I have thrown it out, all except for Outlook 2000, whose email features StarOffice simply cannot replace right now -- but someday it might, at least if I get the time to study the source code when it's released. ;) (While StarOffice's email client is also impressive from a certain technical viewpoint, it's like a nightmare edition of Netscape Messenger -- buggy as hell, no mail folder support, and its mail database is dirt slow -- every time you switch to the Inbox it populates it with messages, one by one. With tens of thousands of messages, it takes 5-10 seconds. Constrast that to Outlook, which populates any of my Exchange-resident folders faster than I can say "Zope".) How's that for off-topic? > If you place the diagrams in either StarWriter or StarPresent > then you can > export directly to HTML+GIF files (with frames for navigation). When I said HTML export, I meant exporting the model as multiple, browsable HTML files, just like Jim has done with his UML files (see the tech documentation on the Zope site). It's not about graphics, it's about information. That's why, while I like StarOffice's Visio-like drawing capabilities a lot, I don't find it any better than, say, Illustrator. > It doesn't have the official UML symbols but it is child's > play to make > them (and when you bind 'em together you can still edit the text). Again, the point with UML is not the graphical representation, but the logical one. > For an "official" UML tool check out dia at your favorate GNOME > application portel. Dia gives you all the UML symbols and explicit > support for what appears to be UML standard (disclaimer: I've > never used > full UML myself). It is alpha so it may not suit your needs. > However, > since it supports XML as its file format a little Zope magic > will provide > you with web output. Sounds good. Let me guess... Runs under X? Java? Doesn't run on Windows? If the answer to any of those questions was "yes", please rule me out. > PS: Let me know if you find a good introduction to UML > modelling. Lets > hope its not Z-like (Z is a horrid specification language I > have to use) If it's anything like ASN.1, you have my deepest sympathies. > > Cheers, > > Anthony Pfrunder > -- Alexander Staubo http://www.mop.no/~alex/ "Give me an underground laboratory, half a dozen atom smashers and a beautiful girl in a diaphanous veil waiting to be turned into a chimpanzee, and I care not who writes the nation's laws." --S. J. Perelman

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FW: [Zope-dev] pam authentication support with PyPam
by Alexander Staubo 19 Oct '99

19 Oct '99

Hey, how did this end up on the Zope mailing list? (eeek!) > -----Original Message----- > From: Alexander Staubo > Sent: 18. oktober 1999 18:44 > To: Zope Mailing List (E-mail); 'Michel Pelletier' > Subject: RE: [Zope-dev] pam authentication support with PyPam > > > There are two aspedcts of the current security subsystem that bug me. > > The first is the fact that only user folders are accumulative > only at folder boundaries. You cannot create one UserFolder > and one NTUserFolder at the same level and have them co-opt > the user authentication responsibility. > > The second, more serious gripe is with the security > permission model. Look at NT 4.0 and the security UI that > comes with SP4/SP5's Security Configuration Manager for a > good example (installing it will upgrade NT's security > dialogs with a new UI). > > While Zope permits acquired, accumulative access definitions > specified across _all_ roles for each permission, this is too > coarse and leads to huge sysadmin headaches (I know -- I've > been there, and I'm still there). > > We need fine-grained, per-role permissions that let us > specify whether a role acquired the permissions of the > parent, or whether it allows or denies the permission. > Instead of the matrix we have today (below, "[X]" denotes a checkbox): > > Acquire Permission Anonymous Manager Owner > [X] Access contents information [X] [X] [X] > [X] View [X] [X] [X] > [X] View management screens [X] [X] [X] > > ...we ought to have something like this (here, "[...][]" > denotes a combo box): > > Permission Anonymous Manager Owner > Access contents information [Acquire][] [Deny ][] [Allow ][] > View [ ][] [ ][] [ ][] > View management screens [ ][] [ ][] [ ][] > > Each combo box would be set to either "Acquire", "Allow", or "Deny". > > "Acquire" has the role acquire the permission setting of the > acquisition parent. "Allow" specifically gives the permission > to that role. "Deny", of course, explicitly denies the > permission to the role. > > I shouldn't need to point this out as it should be paintfully > obvious to anyone who has used Zope's permission settings, > but the problem is that a role's permission setting is either > allow/deny, but the acquisition switch applies to all the > roles. One you un-check the "Acquire permissions..." > checkbox, you must explicitly define the permissions for each > role, independent of whether the role is relevant. In a > small, flat, and/or simple ZODB this system is usually > endurable, but in a real-world object hierarchy where roles > must be delegated carefully, it doesn't work. > > The problem is exacerbated by the fact that Zope has no > provision for summarizing the security permissions in effect > throughout the site, or batch-applying security settings. If > subfolder Foo's permission settings deviate from that of a > parent, I can't know unless I go to the folder and look at > the security tab. One folder is okay; if you have a hundred > of those, it's a tad more serious. > > -- > Alexander Staubo http://www.mop.no/~alex/ > "Give me an underground laboratory, half a dozen atom smashers and > a beautiful girl in a diaphanous veil waiting to be turned into a > chimpanzee, and I care not who writes the nation's laws." > --S. J. Perelman > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Michel Pelletier [mailto:michel@digicool.com] > > Sent: 18. oktober 1999 16:13 > > To: 'Will Fife'; Oleg Broytmann > > Cc: zope-dev(a)zope.org > > Subject: RE: [Zope-dev] pam authentication support with PyPam > > > > > > Regardless of whether or not Zope has a PAM folder (which I > think is a > > good idea) we need to discuss an upcomming problem with Zope user > > authentication: the proliferation of user folders. > > > > The problem is there are now quite a few user folders that all kinda > > look the same, smell the same, and share a good bit of > code. This is > > very brittle. The 'backends' should be abstracted away from the > > 'frontend' and we should return to the original state of > > grace, one type > > of user folder. > > > > At the moment if we were to change an aspect of Zope > > authentication that > > would break existing user folders, we would have to go and fix every > > single one, the orpaned ones without maintainers (like > > etcUserFolder, my > > personal orphan) would simply remain broken until someone got > > frustrated > > enough to fix them. This is a pretty bad state of affairs. > > > > So lets fire up a discussion on what kind of model we could > > impliment to > > have a generic user folder with pluggable backends (one of > which could > > be PAM). It might even be a good idea to look *at* PAM for > > some ideas, > > anyone here a PAM expert? > > > > Hmm.. it might also be nice to take Membership and the ZPT into > > consideration here, like support for extensable user objects (if the > > 'backend' supports it) etc. > > > > -Michel > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Zope-Dev maillist - Zope-Dev(a)zope.org > > http://www.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-dev > > > > (Related lists - please, no cross posts or HTML encoding! > > > > To receive general Zope announcements, see: > > http://www.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-announce > > > > For non-developer, user-level issues, > > zope(a)zope.org, http://www.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope ) > > >

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RE: Zope Portal Toolkit
by Michel Pelletier 19 Oct '99

19 Oct '99

> -----Original Message----- > From: Joshua Brauer [mailto:joshua@brauer.org] > Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 1999 10:36 AM > To: michel(a)digicool.com > Subject: Zope Portal Toolkit > > Michel, > > Is it possible to get any news on the toolkit? I'm in > the final stages of bidding a project that will be finished > this quarter and one of the main requirements is portal > related stuff. I can offer a much more solid quote if I know > whether it will be released anytime soon (or even betas of > it) or if I'll need to roll my own. The toolkit is currently in the elaboration phase. At the moment, I am busy modeling the architechture, capturing use cases, evaluating risks, and doing some prototyping. As soon as I cross the Ts and dot the Is on a customer project I am working on, I will put a few more hours into the Toolkit model and publish it to the zope-dev list. I can promise that the model will show up this week sometime. I'm hoping that this model will clarify many of the concepts people have about portals. I would like to point out one important thing however, the Toolkit is exactly what it sounds like: a collection of tools. While the toolkit *may* come with an *example* portal, the portal is not the end product, the tools and model are. Further (and this is addressed to everyone) while I want/need as many ideas from the community to go into this, I won't have the capacity to respond to blue-sky ideas unless those ideas are backed by solid use cases, risk assesments, and detailed explanations *based on the model*. This is not to say I want to stiffle anyone, and brainstorming can be very fruitful, but our resources on this project are so thin that I cannot afford to elaborate other peoples ideas if they do not immediatly strike me as good ones by either 1) being a damn good idea and obvious to a fool like me, or 2) you justify your idea in the context of the existing model. None of this is to say you shouldn't speak your mind, I'll be happy to you know if I don't think your idea is clear enough to include in the development without further elaboration on your part. And, of course, the discussion and elaboration of blue sky ideas is totally encouraged, I just won't have enough time to chime in on the elaboration. So I'll get back to work on my part, the model, so that we can all take a look at it and start cracking. -Michel

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XMLWidget ldemo undeletable.
by Robin Becker 19 Oct '99

19 Oct '99

I've installed the latest XMLWidget, but find I'm having problems with deleting an earlier instance. I can't seem to do anything to undo the changes as these fail. I'm also getting horrible messages of the form 1999-10-14T23:57:14 ERROR(200) ZODB Couldn't load state for '\000\000\000\000\00 0\000\005f' how can I fix up my database? -- Robin Becker

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RE: [Zope-dev] XMLWidget ldemo undeletable.
by Martijn Pieters 19 Oct '99

19 Oct '99

At 16:15 19/10/99 , Michel Pelletier wrote: >Data.fs.in is generated from the database, it does not come with the >distribution. It is safe to delete it, it is the index file into the >database that speeds up load time. If you delete it, Zope will just >take a few extra seconds at start time to rebuild it. I'm not sure if >the tranalyzer was meant to be pointed at it, it has a very different >format than Data.fs. I suspect you would get an error from tranalyzer >if you pointed it at a perfectly good index file. I love correcting DC ;) Data.fs.index is the index file. Data.fs.in is the 'default' database file that is copied to Data.fs when first installing Zope. It could be that the Tranalyzer doesn't open the file as a binairy. THis doesn't make any difference on most UNIX platforms, but it does on Win32. -- Martijn Pieters, Web Developer | Antraciet http://www.antraciet.nl | Tel: +31-35-7502100 Fax: +31-35-7502111 | mailto:mj@antraciet.nl http://www.antraciet.nl/~mj | PGP: http://wwwkeys.nl.pgp.net:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0xA8A32149 ------------------------------------------

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RE: [Zope-dev] XMLWidget ldemo undeletable.
by Michel Pelletier 19 Oct '99

19 Oct '99

> -----Original Message----- > From: Robin Becker [mailto:robin@jessikat.demon.co.uk] > Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 1999 7:01 AM > To: zope-dev(a)zope.org > Subject: Re: [Zope-dev] XMLWidget ldemo undeletable. > > ... > It's a bit worrying that Data.fs.in has a problem though. Makes me > wonder if my CVS isn't bringing the file down in binary mode. Data.fs.in is generated from the database, it does not come with the distribution. It is safe to delete it, it is the index file into the database that speeds up load time. If you delete it, Zope will just take a few extra seconds at start time to rebuild it. I'm not sure if the tranalyzer was meant to be pointed at it, it has a very different format than Data.fs. I suspect you would get an error from tranalyzer if you pointed it at a perfectly good index file. -Michel > -- > Robin Becker

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