October 1999 - Zope - Zope lists

Re: [Zope-dev] Multiformatted Interface (was Re: [Zope] Can't add "date" property to new ZClass) "date" property to new ZClass)
by Rik Hoekstra 13 Oct '99

13 Oct '99

Date sent: Wed, 13 Oct 1999 14:59:42 -0400 From: Michel Pelletier <michel(a)digicool.com> Organization: Digital Creations, Inc. To: Toby Dickenson <htrd90(a)zepler.org> Copies to: Loren Stafford <lstafford(a)icompression.com>, zope-dev(a)zope.org Subject: [Zope-dev] Re: [Zope] Can't add "date" property to new ZClass > (I moved this thread to zope-dev) > > Toby Dickenson wrote: > > > > On Mon, 11 Oct 1999 15:06:50 -0700, you wrote: > > > > >I'm creating a brand new ZClass (called "PDFClass"). It's my first ZClass. > > >I've just added the Common Instance Property Sheet (called "PDFProperties"). > > >Now I'm trying to add properties to that property sheet. I added one > > >"string" property OK, but now when I add the "date" property "pub_date", I > > >get this error: > > > > > > Invalid Date-Time String > > > > Are you planning to extract properties from PDF files? That's a task > > on my to-do list too. > > Let's start a discussion on this before any code gets written, I've been > thinking alot about document formats lately. > > I'm working on a model and elaboration of what I call MFI, Multi-Format > Interface, which will be a component of the Portal Toolkit and possible > a future core feature of Zope. Basicly, this consolidates all of the > document types, DTML, XML, PDF, what-have you, into a subclassable > interface that allows you to define pluggable format types. That is a very good idea. Should it be able to guess what the document format is or will you have to indicate that by hand? > This way, > indestead of making a whole new type of object (PDFDocument, whatever) > you make a new plug-in format for MFI that all Documents can then select > as their format type. This is much more flexible, extendable, and > 'philosophically' correct than the current method. As an example, an > HTML formatter could be made (that extracts meta-information from a > document and perhaps builds a DOM tree if it's parsable well enough), a > PDF formatter (can DOM be put on PDF?) I doubt it. The structured documents and the page oriented markup seem to be rather different philosophies of representing a text document. Turning PDF documents into html is no easy business either. But then, some sectioning of even a pdf document (and even of Word documents - sometimes :-) _is_ possible. Calling that a DOM is stretching the DOM concept a bit too much I think. > a structured text (stx) > formatter (we are elaborating a DOM interface for Stx). The > possiblities are endless, and it means that all of these document types > in the add list can be reduced to one selection. > > This is a pretty light description, but there are many other benefits > I'm formalizing into a document right now. What are you thoughts? > What all documents do/could/should have (natively or added) are document properties (preferably conforming to the Dublin Core, for standardization). These should be extracted using DOM or COM (for Word documents) or via a PDF parser for PDF documents or whatever and added to the propertysheet. Or/and propertysheets could be filled by hand through the Zope Management interface. I take it that your proposal also leads to inclusion of documents in catalogs for fielded and fulltext searches? Yes, please? However, won't this be conceptually difficult beyond full text searches? The level of access of the documents are so diverse. Compare the structured DOM access to XML documents to the (basically) mere word level access to pdf (and even html) documents. Oh well, just my own preoccupations I guess. An very good idea Michel. Rik

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How do I access an item in a list from dtml?
by Gustin Kiffney 13 Oct '99

13 Oct '99

I've read everything three times, searched the egroups index, and can't find the answer to this simple question. Unfortunately it seems to be a namespace question and it's hard to phrase the question in a searchable way. If I have passed a variable of type list to a method - in this case, it's a mailhost method - how do I access an item of that list? Example: I'm passing the following: parms=['item1','item2','item3'] and the Pythonic way to access an item of this list would be simply parms[0] or parms[1] etc. But when I try <dtml-var parms[0]> I get a KeyError for parms[0]. Doing <dtml-var parms> shows the list all right. I can interate over the list with <dtml-in parms> all right also. But I need to get particular items of the list and cannot figure out how to do that. I tried <dtml-var "_getitem(parms[0],0)"> as hinted at by a howto, but that just gives me a 'slice error; I can't find the magic '_.'?!" set of punctuation marks that will let me simply access list items by index number!

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Re: [Zope] Zope Portal Toolkit revisited
by Chris Cooke-Johnson 13 Oct '99

13 Oct '99

Darcy, I'd like to think so, but it would be nice to know what's up with it. I've been holding off on some stuff waiting for it and now I'm wondering if I should just go ahead and try and do it without it. More importantly, they'd said they'd release it in stages.....is this still the case? If so it could still be a long wait until everything is finished. If anyone from DC is out there, please let us know what up thanx Chris Darcy Clark wrote: > > Well I guess from the lack of response from my last email that the Zope > Portal Toolkit is either a long way from being released and/or the guys > from Digital Creations are busy working on it ;) > > keeping my fingers crossed !!! > > Darcy > > _______________________________________________ > Zope maillist - Zope(a)zope.org > http://www.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope > > (Related lists - please, no cross posts or HTML encoding! > > To receive general Zope announcements, see: > http://www.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-announce > > For developer-specific issues, zope-dev(a)zope.org - > http://www.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-dev ){

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Can't add "date" property to new ZClass
by Loren Stafford 13 Oct '99

13 Oct '99

I'm creating a brand new ZClass (called "PDFClass"). It's my first ZClass. I've just added the Common Instance Property Sheet (called "PDFProperties"). Now I'm trying to add properties to that property sheet. I added one "string" property OK, but now when I add the "date" property "pub_date", I get this error: Zope Error Zope has encountered an error while publishing this resource. Invalid Date-Time String Sorry, a Zope error occurred. Traceback (innermost last): File /opt/Zope-2.0.0/lib/python/ZPublisher/Publish.py, line 214, in publish_module File /opt/Zope-2.0.0/lib/python/ZPublisher/Publish.py, line 179, in publish File /opt/Zope-2.0.0/lib/python/Zope/__init__.py, line 201, in zpublisher_exception_hook (Object: PDFProperties) File /opt/Zope-2.0.0/lib/python/ZPublisher/Publish.py, line 165, in publish File /opt/Zope-2.0.0/lib/python/ZPublisher/mapply.py, line 160, in mapply (Object: manage_addProperty) File /opt/Zope-2.0.0/lib/python/ZPublisher/Publish.py, line 102, in call_object (Object: manage_addProperty) File /opt/Zope-2.0.0/lib/python/OFS/PropertySheets.py, line 403, in manage_addProperty (Object: PDFProperties) File /opt/Zope-2.0.0/lib/python/ZPublisher/Converters.py, line 157, in field2date File /opt/Zope-2.0.0/lib/python/DateTime/DateTime.py, line 499, in __init__ Invalid Date-Time String: Sorry, an error occurred Of course, the value is invalid -- I didn't put any value in the "Value" box, because this is a class property, and values only make sense when the class is instantiated, right? Is this Zope's problem or mine? -- Thanks -- Loren

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RE: [Zope] zope vs. siteserver from ms.siteserver newsgroup
by Chris McDonough 13 Oct '99

13 Oct '99

I agree. Its sort of a pissing contest. But it gives you an idea of the types of arguments against Zope to expect... A *real* programmer can make a 1MHz VIC-20 handle 1,000,000 hits/day anyway. :-) >The "youre dead" bit makes me wonder whether it's really worth much time bothering with this guy - you can't really answer someone who obviously already knows all the answers :^) Brian Lloyd brian(a)digicool.com Software Engineer 540.371.6909 Digital Creations http://www.digicool.com _______________________________________________ Zope maillist - Zope(a)zope.org http://www.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope (Related lists - please, no cross posts or HTML encoding! To receive general Zope announcements, see: http://www.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-announce For developer-specific issues, zope-dev(a)zope.org - http://www.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope-dev )

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Stripping HTML tags or not [WAS: (something like) making static pages dynamic] dynamic]
by Albert Kinderman 13 Oct '99

13 Oct '99

A recent discussion on the list concerned how to strip the usual tags from the beginning and end of a static html document produced by a wysiwyg editor and replace the tags with the standard_html_header and standard_html_footer. On my site, my standard_html_headers and standard_html_footers are customized to the type of document, so that I have created a ZClass for each type. Each ZClass is a folder and has an index_html <dtml-var standard_html_header> <dtml-var content> <dtml-var standard_html_footer> so that the content managers only have to upload the content and not worry about the headers and footers. Within this context, if a manager uses Netscape Publisher and publishes, for example, to http://mysite/Zope/../(ZClassInstance)/content, content will contain the set of tags produced by Publisher. At this point, the source of a rendering of the document will contain two sets of <head>, <body>, etc. tags. However, in Netscape Navigator, the extra tags seem to be ignored and the page appears the same as if the extra tags have been stripped out. This raises several questions: 1) Does the HTML standard say that browsers should ignore the extra tags? 2) If not, do all or most other browsers ignore the extra tags anyway? If the answer to either question is yes, then as a practical matter it is not necessary to strip out the extra tags as long as the standard_html_header and standard_html_footer enclose them. I should note that in my case the standard_html_header sets up a table with a side bar in the first column so that content is inside a table element. I don't know if the extra tags would be ignored under other conditions. Al -- Albert Kinderman California State University, Northridge Department of Management Science albert.kinderman(a)csun.edu

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RE: [Zope] Referencing object in other folders
by Alex.Thomas＠dresdnerkb.com 13 Oct '99

13 Oct '99

Not here, I just caught myself out when demoing Zope to somebody. In my setup (2.0.1) the target doc comes back unrendered (with < brackets shown as < etc.). dtml-with does work though. cheers alex > -----Original Message----- > From: Tony McDonald [mailto:tony.mcdonald@ncl.ac.uk] > >I have the following folder structure > > > >/ (Root folder) > > --Images (folder) > > > >I simply reference images in the images folder by using: > ><dtml-with Images> > > <dtml-var myimage> > ></dtml-with> > > > >Isn't there a shorter way to address objects in other folders? > > > Untested: > Doesn't <dtml-var "Images.myImage"> work? > ########################################## This email, its content and any files transmitted with it are intended solely for the addressee(s) and may be legally privileged and/or confidential. Access by any other party is unauthorised without the express written permission of the sender. If you have received this email in error you may not copy or use the contents, attachments or information in any way. Please destroy it and contact the sender on the number printed above, via the Dresdner Kleinwort Benson switchboard on +44 171 623 8000 or via e-mail return. Internet communications are not secure unless protected using strong cryptography. This email has been prepared using information believed by the author to be reliable and accurate, but Dresdner Kleinwort Benson makes no warranty as to accuracy or completeness. In particular Dresdner Kleinwort Benson does not accept responsibility for changes made to this email after it was sent. Any opinions expressed in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Bank or its affiliates. They may be subject to change without notice. ##########################################

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From SQL query to dtml-tree, anyone?
by Steen Suder 13 Oct '99

13 Oct '99

In my growing IT intranet app, I'd like to generate a tree based on one or more SQL queries. Purpose: Creating a notepad tree (which ressembles the Windows programme Treepad, which is a sort of notepad organizer) to be used by IT staff for destroying the Post-IT plague. Question: How do I handle data from one or more queries into a dtml-tree? One of my preliminary ideas was two tables in the db, one with the note-nodes and parentID in it and another with ID and childrenID's in it. Then simply query from tree root and out, a bit like working in linked lists. I'd appreciate any input on this idea. I'd prefer to have the data outside Zope in a SQL db due to other (and important) purposes. -- Best regards / Mvh., Steen Suder Linux Systems Administrator sfs(a)sciatl.dk

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RE: [Zope] zope vs. siteserver from ms.siteserver newsgroup
by Brian Lloyd 13 Oct '99

13 Oct '99

> Here's an exchange I had with a guy in the MS Site Server > general Usenet > Newsgroup... can anyone find exception with his or my arguments? > Additionally, he doubts the ability of Zope to handle large > sites (near the > end of the message). Any clarifications are appreciated.... > > > On the opposite, ZOPE is interpreted, not only the > templates, even the > > server itself. No paradigm like COM is part of the game > (though it might > > be extended). So ZOPE will be less speedy. COM happens to work just fine with Zope :^) I've written a demo ExchangeFolder before that let you march into the Public Folders on your Exchange server as a little test too see if it would work. To me, the whole argument of "COM components are compiled, so they'll be faster" is sort of a lark anyway. If you wanted to, you could crank up your copy of VC++ and crank out a COM component for your business logic. The fact that people don't seem to be doing this (or even clamoring for info on how to do this) is telling. From the point of view of a web developer, the issue is not "gee, how many milliseconds faster can this COM component execute my query", its "how fast can we get this project done". Some people seem inexplicably not to have caught on to that yet :^) > > > > Also: I really doubt the scalability of the ZOPE Object database, > > compared to the SQL Server that is part of the site server > licensing. > > The ZOPE Object database - well - there are no benchmarks on it. There are no benchmarks, true. It might be worth noting, though, that the actual backing storage of the object db is pluggable, documented and extensible. This architecture is specifically designed to allow the use of alternate backing stores (oracle, other enterprise dbs, etc.) -- including SQL Server if you were so inclined. > > "When you do this, you're basically extending the Zope > environment by > > creating your own object types without having to know a high-level > > programming language (ala C++/Visual Basic COM object > development)." - > > well, just you do it in a slow interpredet language, where C++ COM > > Objects will be speedy! Yep, speedy as hell - and a year late ;^) See above. > > "The power of this model is formidable. For example, I developed a > > "news item" object in 22 minutes which allows my users to add "news > > items" to their department for perusal by other department > members." - > > nive. What about adding 100.000 news items. What is the performance > > then? This is unrealistic? OK, lets make an interface for a > news server. > > 1 million messages a day. Youre dead. This seems a simpleminded argument. If you are going to do something like a news server interface, you are also going to do the obvious design work beforehand that takes scale risks into account. I believe he entirely missed the most important points of your statement - "22 minutes", the implied department-level scope of your solution, and the fact that it worked for you. The "youre dead" bit makes me wonder whether it's really worth much time bothering with this guy - you can't really answer someone who obviously already knows all the answers :^) Brian Lloyd brian(a)digicool.com Software Engineer 540.371.6909 Digital Creations http://www.digicool.com

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Versions
by John Glossner 13 Oct '99

13 Oct '99

Is it possible to view a version which is not yet committed in an external browser? Also, using Homesite I can ftp edit the live website but is it possible to ftp edit the version? Thanks, John

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