August 1999 - Zope - Zope lists

Re: [Zope] PHP-Syntax
by Anthony Baxter 17 Aug '99

17 Aug '99

>>> Ulrich Steinkopf wrote > > I dont like the SSI-like syntax of Zope. Is there any possibility to use > another Syntax, for instance PHP? As of Zope2, the SSI-like syntax is deprecated in favour of the newer <dtml- > syntax, e.g. (off the top of my head) <dtml-if foobar> <dtml-in listObject> something </dtml-in> </dtml-if> Anthony, who has way, way too much code that still uses the old style - hm, need to write a "update my DTML for me" thingy.

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Newbie question: Directory for publishing Python modules?
by Mike Fletcher 17 Aug '99

17 Aug '99

I'm an olden-days Bobo user who's looking at maybe using Zope for a research project. I downloaded the latest sources, read the faqs, the discussion list archives, the WebSite, the online documentation etc. I have been tracing through the modules call by call trying to figure out this simple question for about 5 hours now. It seems that there's an assumption I'm missing, and some piece of magic I have not yet found: What path is used to determine the list of callable modules under Zope + ZServer? It isn't the Pythonpath returned from the medusa monitor (thank-goodness, that has every python source tree on my computer). It doesn't _appear_ to be anything inside the Zope directory tree (I don't see anything that would make sense as a root publishing directory). When I debug-print the code, I find that publish_module doesn't seem to get called for the modules I'm passing as arguments (though "Zope" does get passed). More prosaically: Where do I put my python modules to get them published in the root namespace? With the old Bobo, I was just putting the modules in my web-server's cgi-bin directory (with a wrapper). Nothing in the documentation suggests where the equivalent directory would be for Zope. I've already figured out how to replace the XML RPC with a high-performance multiple-query binary connection (which I had thought was going to be most of the work this evening, but took only about 10 minutes), but this ridiculously simple task has stopped me cold. Well, hints appreciated, I would rather not have to write my own object database, access control managers etc. because of such a silly problem. Mike ______________________________________ M i k e C . F l e t c h e r mcfletch(a)vrtelecom.com Designer, Researcher

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PHP-Syntax
by Ulrich Steinkopf 17 Aug '99

17 Aug '99

I dont like the SSI-like syntax of Zope. Is there any possibility to use another Syntax, for instance PHP? tia Uli -- Ulrich Steinkopf ulrich.steinkopf(a)debis.com

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Zope FAQ
by Tony McDonald 17 Aug '99

17 Aug '99

Just a heads up to let people know that there *is* a FAQ available on Zope at http://zdp.zope.org/FAQ It's got lots of stuff that's useful to newbies and tech-heads alike...mainly Zope 1.10, but the principles apply to Zope2.0 as well hth tone out. ------ Dr Tony McDonald, FMCC, Networked Learning Environments Project http://nle.ncl.ac.uk/ The Medical School, Newcastle University Tel: +44 191 222 5888 Fingerprint: 3450 876D FA41 B926 D3DD F8C3 F2D0 C3B9 8B38 18A2

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Documentation
by Stephan Richter 17 Aug '99

17 Aug '99

Hey Zopsters, Here are some lines and an analysis of the Documentation problem as I observed it: The Problem: --------- I was talking to Brad Hull last week and he was very excited about Zope. It is now up to us to find out how he would write an E-Mail titled: Giving up in Frustration. The problem is not, that the information is out there (in the community), but the information is in the people's head and not on paper or in a file. That is the real problem. The Solution: --------- The solution is to transfer (download?) the knowledge from the Zopster's heads down into screen and print media. Together we can make it happen. One guy certainly cannot do the documentation himself. How do we bring the solution to reality? I wrote a rather lengthy letter to Paul Everitt this weekend.describing some of the tools which could help us to do this. For example I suggested to have a FAQ that is built by the community, by providing the Zopsters tools to add questions and answers directly to the FAQ. This way the editor only needs to check for grammar and spelling in the FAQs. Another way would be to build some kind of Reference Manual, which lists all DTML tags, Products, DB Adapters and other objects. The community can then add descriptions and attributes, methods and so on to make the Reference complete. When and how to Start: ---------------- We need to start now. I would be willing to take the task of developing a tool that will allow us to create FAQs and the Reference manual. I appreciate any help I can get by providing me with comments and suggestions of how the tool should look like and how it should perform. If anyone wants to share the effort with me PLEASE contact me. If Digital Creations already started a tool like that please contact me also. Regards, Stephan -- Stephan Richter iXL - Software Designer and Engineer

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Q: KM|News, Squishdot or roll your own Zclasses (and future compatibility)
by Samu Mielonen 17 Aug '99

17 Aug '99

Hello, I've been reading this list for about month and a half now (plus backlogs) and I can say that if it wasn't for this list, I would have abandoned all hope long ago (don't get me started on documentation :) Anyway, I have a following design problem that I'm unable to solve by myself: I'm trying to build a distributed content editing and publishing site, to which content writers can log in, write in their stories and have editors edit/approve them for publication. Now, I'm thinking that my data is basically mostly flat-file or object-based (i.e. non-relational), thus I have chosen to abandon SQL-databases as my storage. This means using the Zope object storage to store everything. NOw, there are a couple of promising alpha products out there (Squishdot and KM|News) that both do some of the things I want to. I'm afraid I'm not so adept at Python as to start combining them myself, so I have to choose either or for my task. The third possibility would do it all by DTML and roll my own Zclasses to represent different article classes (this *looks* straightforward enough). My question is: if I choose either of the products, how do they store their articles, how do they keep references to those articles and if I (at a later date) decide to change the product I use, can I still keep accessing those old articles with my new product? Let me give you an example (totally hypothetical): 1. I install Squishdot on Zope2.0 and build/run my site on that 2. Squishdot stores articles in it's own way and in X amount of time I will have, say 600 articles 3. I grow out of Squishdot, learn the magic of Zope and roll my own mega-publication product. 4. I now have a new implementation that stores slightly modified article objects in a new storage using Zope (i.e. still not using relational DB). ?. How do I access the Squishdot articles? Do I still have to run use and hook into the Squishot product or can I somehow access them from my own code with even having Squishdot installed? ?. What about if I originally chose KM|News, how do I access them? I know the above questions probably already contain some fundamental misunderstandings of Zope, but I'm afraid this is as far as I've been able to get by myself. To be quite honest, the whole idea of how Zope stores, references, deletes, fetches and searches objects is extremely vague to me. So, if you have any opinions, facts or even speculations about above, please let me know. I'm starting to think my brain is swelling from too much speculation of my own :) Best regards, Samu Mielonen PS If you need help with the documentation effort and can find work for a Zope newbie, I'm all for it. -- "Zone of proximal development - ...the conceptual space or zone between what a [human] is capable of doing on his or her own and what [he/she] can achieve with assistance from ... a more capable peer." - The Penguin Dictionary of Psychology

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RE: [Zope] Giving up in frustration
by Paul Everitt 17 Aug '99

17 Aug '99

Joe wrote: > I believe the zope community is astoundingly good at > answering questions > intelligently, just bunches of questions can go unanswered and there > doesn't seem to be a faq good enough to eliminate the need for basic > questions. Perhaps if we can translate some of the expounded list > knowledge into faq material, zope startup will be all that > much easier. This is one of the greatest tragedies of all. Fantastic amounts of wisdom float by on the list every day and get lost. I suggest that this discussion is better served on the ZDP list (zdp(a)zope.org) --Paul Paul Everitt Digital Creations paul(a)digicool.com 540.371.6909 ----------------------------------------- The Open Source Zope application server http://www.zope.org/

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Newbie Question: Create Table Interface
by Roché Compaan 17 Aug '99

17 Aug '99

I'm new to Zope and I have the following problem: I want to create a interface for creating tables (if there isn't one already). The layout of the form would be similar to the form where you add properties for objects in Zope. Instead of properties there would be a list of columns and there types and below that you can type in a new column name and it's type and add it to the list. After you have defined the table structure you submit the form and the table is created. The columnlist is not a persistant list however. Question1: How do you then define a list variable in the dtml document that is only used while busy with the form? Question2: If I add a column to the list, how do I tell Zope to render the same dtml document and update the list? Thanks for your help. Roché

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RE: [Zope] Documentation vs. Code
by Jim Salmons 17 Aug '99

17 Aug '99

"Kevin Dangoor" <kid(a)kendermedia.com> wrote: >> IMHO, Digital Creations has gone the right route, thus far, by placing >> emphasis on getting the code out the door and not holding things up for the >> documentation. [snip] >> >> The main reason, however, that I think DC did the right thing is right >> around the corner: the Zope Portal Toolkit and the new zope.org site. I >> haven't seen the new site, yet. But I know the kinds of things that are >> possible with ZClasses and ZCatalog. [snip] >> >> All of the work that has been leading up to the ZPT has probably slowed >> the creation of documentation... but the ZPT itself is a tool that can help >> correct the problem. Kevin, I have seen it. You are ABSOLUTELY RIGHT. I can't wait to get all our sites on a ZOPE2/PTK platform. You weren't a Smalltalker before going Python were you, Kevin? Good insight and thanks for reminding us what we have to look forward to, --Jim-- ___________________________________________ JFS Consulting, a North Carolina nanocorp http://jfsconsulting.com/home/nanocorp_welcome.html Our web businesses http://sohodojo.com http://squirrelfeeders.com http://popculturestore.com http://sailabaco.com

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RE: [Zope] How can I examine an property of an object from the ot her object in the other tree?
by TFE MMS JARVIS JOHN 17 Aug '99

17 Aug '99

Hi. Your DTML method in isTred,  returns a string. You might want to try changing it to  This will use the string generated as the lookup key into the namespace. HTH --John Jarvis > -----Original Message----- > From: kslee(a)plaza1.snu.ac.kr [SMTP:kslee@plaza1.snu.ac.kr] > Sent: Tuesday, August 17, 1999 1:34 PM > To: michel(a)digicool.com; zope(a)zope.org > Subject: RE: [Zope] How can I examine an property of an object from > the other object in the other tree? > > Forgive this nagging newbie. > > But I am still at a loss and my question seems an eye-opening(at least > partially) one for a newbie. > > Michel Pelletier wrote: > > > You want  Quoting the var argument makes it be > > evaluated as an expression. Not quoting it makes Zope use it by name. > > If you quote a DTML Method or Document, you must *call* it to get it to > > render the document. In this case however, refering to the document by > > name will call the document for you:  > > To restate my question, > > The situation: >  just gives the *string* english.members.test.docTest.TR > when called in the > DTML Document /korean/members/test/docTest not the *value* of > english.members.test.docTest.TR (TR is a string property of docTest DTML > Document). > So, it does not work. > > > Q0. Is there a way to force an evaluation of the string content of an > variable? > > Q1.  gives me the source of isTRed method. Is this > what you mean by "evaluated as an expression"? > > Q2. If you mean using  tag by *call*, call tag gives nothing > to the browser, doesn't it? > > Q3.  gives the name error(Traceback is at the > bottom), and it seems as expected since the valus of isTRed is just > string. > > Sorry for any vagueness in my writing. Reading/writing about naming, > contents and behavior of OO system in English is far more difficult than I > expected. > > LEE Kwan Soo. > > > Traceback (innermost last): > File lib/python/ZPublisher/Publish.py, line 877, in publish_module > File lib/python/ZPublisher/Publish.py, line 590, in publish > (Info: /korean/members/test/docTest) > File lib/python/OFS/DTMLDocument.py, line 213, in __call__ > (Object: docTest) > File lib/python/OFS/DTMLDocument.py, line 209, in __call__ > (Object: docTest) > File lib/python/DocumentTemplate/DT_String.py, line 513, in __call__ > (Object: docTest) > File lib/python/DocumentTemplate/DT_Util.py, line 266, in eval > (Object: isTRed()) > File <string>, line 0, in ? > File lib/python/OFS/DTMLMethod.py, line 147, in __call__ > (Object: isTRed) > File lib/python/DocumentTemplate/DT_String.py, line 513, in __call__ > (Object: isTRed) > File lib/python/DocumentTemplate/DT_Util.py, line 266, in eval > (Object: 'english.'+ > _.string.join( > _.string.split(URL0, '/')[4:], > '.')+'.TR') > File <string>, line 0, in ? > NameError: (see above) > > > > _______________________________________________ > Zope maillist - Zope(a)zope.org > http://www.zope.org/mailman/listinfo/zope > > (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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