Thanks to all who replied. It turns out that the NT server will be the new host of the database (just for storing the master copy - not as a database server), and it turns out we need to build a scheduling/calendaring and messaging app around it. Before I found out this particular bit of info, I was playing around with converting the database to XML. If you have no need of write access to the database, either structurally, or just records, this isn't necessarily a bad option. But since we'll be hosting the database, and building this app around it, the obvious solution is to install Zope on the NT box, and query it from the Linux website as a client, and let Zope plus ODBC take care of all the mess. I'll post my newbie questions separately, so as to keep them in the newbie thread, and they are rather generic. But I have one or two intermediate level questions. 1> Does Zope on Win32 have the ability to automatically execute an event, such as send an automated email on a given date? I imagine the worst case scenario is to have an external method that calls a script that writes an NT Task Scheduler entry that sends out a form email with all the required blanks filled in. I'm hoping that there's either a product or that Zope has that functionality builtin, so I can manage it all from within Zope. 2> After reading the documentation for some of the Win32 based products, I went ahead and installed the latest version of Python for Windows, as it seems version 2.1.1 is better suited for interfacing with Windows objects than 1.5, and I want to keep options open, such as maybe serving up Visio diagrams or the like. Good idea or bad idea? Which will be used? I see that some batch files point to C:\Program Files\website\bin\python.exe while scripts executed on their own just call the registered Python interpreter, which is 2.1.1. Is this bad? Newbie questions to follow... Thanks Bruce
[Bruce Dykes]
2> After reading the documentation for some of the Win32 based products, I went ahead and installed the latest version of Python for Windows, as it seems version 2.1.1 is better suited for interfacing with Windows objects than 1.5, and I want to keep options open, such as maybe serving up Visio diagrams or the like. Good idea or bad idea? Which will be used? I see that some batch files point to C:\Program Files\website\bin\python.exe while scripts executed on their own just call the registered Python interpreter, which is 2.1.1. Is this bad?
It could be bad, depending. You've got several issues: 1) The 2.1.1 interpreter may have a different path stucture, so Zope's interpreter might not find some modules, etc., that you find when running on the other interpreter. You'd have to make sure the Zope's interpreter uses the same paths. Not hard, just something to take care of. You might have some problems finding occaisional binary libraries. 2) Some things might work on 2.1.1 that don't on ordinary Zope. Compiled libraries (.dll, .pyd) that work with one won't work with the other. Some people have made Zope run using a 2.1 interpreter (usually by changing the startup batch file to point elsewhere), but 2.4 will be out soon and it will do so "officially", why not wait for it? Cheers, Tom P
1> Does Zope on Win32 have the ability to automatically execute an event, such as send an automated email on a given date? I imagine the worst case scenario is to have an external method that calls a script that writes an NT Task Scheduler entry that sends out a form email with all the required blanks filled in. I'm hoping that there's either a product or that Zope has that functionality builtin, so I can manage it all from within Zope.
You don't have to go in that many circles. Make a Zope method that does whatever (send an email) and have your OS's scheduler call that method on whatever time interval you want. On a Unix this would be done with cron and wget. On WinWhatever there's apparently the "Task Scheduler" and the nasty little 'at' commands, but I don't know a lightweight way to call Zope methods. You might have to write a little Python script or something to poke the right URL. Or, take a look for the Xron product, which is probably the much easier (and XP) way to go. There's also rumblings of an event channel over at the CMF, but I don't think that's really helpful here. --jcc (cross platform)
The Zope product Xron is a platform-independent way of executing Zope methods on schedule. http://www.zope.org/Members/lstaffor/Xron -- Loren
1> Does Zope on Win32 have the ability to automatically execute an event, such as send an automated email on a given date? I imagine the worst case scenario is to have an external method that calls a script that writes an NT Task Scheduler entry that sends out a form email with all the required blanks filled in. I'm hoping that there's either a product or that Zope has that functionality builtin, so I can manage it all from within Zope.
participants (4)
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Bruce Dykes -
J. Cameron Cooper -
Loren Stafford -
Thomas B. Passin