I agree that it would be nice -- I've been thinking of it earlier, then submitted to chron, because I'm lazy -- I'm just saying that we do have the tools, and running ZClient externally really isn't that different. Ok, I'm sold. I disagree slightly about your event object design though. Imho the event object should be similar to a DTML Method -- so the event "action" would in fact be DTML. The immediate benefit is that you can do anything -- you're not restricted to launching URLs, and you get the Zope context in the box. You could allow passing the calling event object to other parts of the site. If event objects descended from DTMLMethod, you could also use event objects just like DTML Methods and call them up -- manual execution if you will. The scheduler should support concurrency, not just queueing. In fact, all we need is a simple "max concurrent tasks" semaphore to regulate the thread count from the master thread. A scheduler also needs a logging/reporting system. A history API would be cool -- you could so <dtml-in "MyScheduler.pastEvents()"> and build your own schedule reports. Maybe all output from the event DTML should be attached to the history entry. And so on. Who writes this thing? This being an open source initiative(TM), I'm all for chipping in. Anyone want to join the Scheduler Task Force? -- Alexander Staubo http://www.mop.no/~alex/ "Give me an underground laboratory, half a dozen atom smashers and a beautiful girl in a diaphanous veil waiting to be turned into a chimpanzee, and I care not who writes the nation's laws." --S. J. Perelman

-----Original Message----- From: Martijn Pieters [mailto:mj@antraciet.nl] Sent: 27. august 1999 09:47 To: Alexander Staubo Subject: RE: [Zope] Idea: ZTest: Integrated Use-case based web site testin g.

At 08:53 27/08/99 , you wrote:

...

Aside: Do you really need this within Zope if you can run a ZClient script with chron? While a scheduler within Zope isn't a bad idea, the infrastructure -- at least on Unix and NT -- is already there.

I do see the use of a web-administrable scheduler for Zope. This way users without telnet to the server can schedule calls to Zope objects as well. It would also make cross-platform, easily transportable scheduled applications possible. Just imagine: You develop on an NT server, then just copy over Data.fs to a Sun server at the ISP, and all scheduled calls are set up as well.. No fuss, no hassle.

A scheduler object would need: * Permissions, so a site maintainer can determine who can schedule calls. * A separate thread to manage it's queue.

Scheduled events would need: * Interval settings (one time only, repeat, number of repeats, repeat interval) * URL to call * Security settings * Call parameters (including call type, GET or POST) * Maybe a file field to upload?

-- Martijn Pieters, Web Developer | Antraciet http://www.antraciet.nl | Tel: +31-35-7502100 Fax: +31-35-7502111 | mailto:mj@antraciet.nl http://www.antraciet.nl/~mj | PGP: http://wwwkeys.nl.pgp.net:11371/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0xA8A32149