On Mon, 13 Mar 2000, jessica lee tishmack wrote:

managament system for zope documents. I have two questions concerning this. One, where might I find some more info concerning this. And two,

I don't know where the docs are, but I just started using versions so I can answer this. In your top level folder, go to the 'add' box and select 'version' from the items to add. This will create an object in that folder. click on the object, and you'll get some management tabs. You can 'join the version', and you can save or discard changes. Once you have joined the version any changes you make will not be visible to anyone who has not also joined the version. (Making changes to an object will lock out any other updates to that object from anyone not in the version). When you are satisified that your changes are working, you 'save' the version, which makes them visible to the rest of the world. Each change you make to an object is committed to the zodb in a transaction, by the way, so even without versions you can go back and "undo" a change you have made using the undo management tab. I'm not quite sure about the rules that determine when a transaction is burried deeply enough in the undo stack that you have to undo things above it to get to it, but it is still a very handy feature.

what if I want to use my fav editor - say vi or pico...but that's another war I don't want to start ;)...instead of the window that zope provides.

Someone is developing a ZopeEdit program that helps with this. I haven't looked at it yet.

IF the file already exists in zope, and then I go and make changes in a separate editor, and upload the file, since I am uploading the file, will zope keep track of this as just another version of the same file? Thanks.

Yes, the upload should appear in the undo stack. --RDM

jessica lee tishmack wrote:

I know that Zope has the capabality to keep up some sort of version managament system for zope documents. I have two questions concerning this. One, where might I find some more info concerning this. And two, what if I want to use my fav editor - say vi or pico...but that's another war I don't want to start ;)...instead of the window that zope provides. IF the file already exists in zope, and then I go and make changes in a separate editor, and upload the file, since I am uploading the file, will zope keep track of this as just another version of the same file? Thanks.

A lot of this is actually a question of terminology. It is true that Zope keeps previous revisions of objects around. This is how you can 'undo' them. However, this is somewhat unrelated to a Zope 'Version'. In the case of multiple revisions of an object, we call them revisions, not versions. A 'Version' is an object that you can join or leave. When you join it, you are given a 'private view' of your entire managment session. Any changes you make will not be shown on the 'public view'. You can leave a version and rejoin it. You can commit a version or discard it. That pretty much sums it up. You do not need to use Versions to get the benefit of previous revisions and undo, Zope does this for you out of the box. Your question about editors is related to all this. You can edit/add/delete object through HTTP using the managment interface, you can also use HTTP POST and GET methods directly, WebDAV, or XML-RPC. All of these methods are based on HTTP (some editors work directly with HTTP, or use a protocol transported over HTTP like WebDAV). You can also use FTP. Any changes you make with any of these protocols will cause a new revision of an object to be written, meaning that they can all be 'undone'. FTP however does not work with Zope 'Versions'. You cannot use FTP to upload information in a Version that you have joined because FTP has no join/leave/commit/discard semantics. -Michel