David wrote:

I'm looking for some detailed help, being new to both Zope adn Python, and I'm hoping someone here can take the time.

(Note: David, mail delivery attempts fail to you with a PMDF error message) In addition to getting general tips and guidance from the list, another option is to get consulting from us or others. Lately we have been offering some limited free consulting in exchange for case studies and testimonials from companies, if that is of interest to you. We hear repeatedly from people evaluating Zope that ask: "Who is using it?" Answering this question is a priority for us.

I would like to use Zope to help build a procedures database system for our company (about 8k employees). The starting project is a much scaled down goal of providing for a procedures database for the dozen or so IS people.

I have a mysql database, and a Zope page that will allow me to insert data into the page. What I need to figure out how to do is:

a) login the user to the system and GET that information for the DHTTP script.

DHTTP?

b) create a new UNIQUE folder for the created procedure username+DateTime.timeTime pehaps

This is the concept of "DTML scripting". For a related example: http://www.zope.org/Documentation/HowTo/SampleGadfly

c) provide a way to upload the procedure (an HTML page & associated images adn/or files) to the new directory FROM THE PAGE that gets the information about the procedure for the database.

1) Create a Document that has an ACTION pointing to another Document and the right MIME type (multipart). 2) Create an HTML form that has a INPUT field of type file, e.g.: <input name="procedures:file" type="file"> 3) In the second document, do something like: <!--#call "manage_addFile('new_procedure',procedures)"--> Don't forget the Object Reference: http://www.zope.org/HelpSys/ObjectRef/hs_main (also in Zope as the Help tab)

If I could figure out 'a' from the documentation (which I've yet to do correctly it seems), I could figure out b . . . since the O'Rielly python text has some very clear examples in it.

I am clueless as to how to do 'c.' I figured out how to use the netscape "Publish" feature to 'PUT' a page once you know the URL, but I would like it to be more 'automagical' than that. I would like the user to just be able to give the local path (on their machine) to the base page, and have it and all the associated files moved over.

Ahh, all the associated files. Yes, that's Netscape Publishing. There's a bug in the current support for it for which a change has been checked in for Zope 1.10. --Paul Paul Everitt Digital Creations paul@digicool.com 540.371.6909