On Apr 13, 5:14pm, Michel Pelletier wrote: } Subject: RE: [Zope] Feature requests and questions } } > From: andreww@netscape.com [mailto:andreww@netscape.com] } > Sent: Tuesday, April 13, 1999 4:45 PM } > To: Zope } > Subject: [Zope] Feature requests and questions } > } > 2) Could Zope use javascript sometime in the future? the JS reference } > implementation is open source as well, it could be incorporated... } } Hmm.. What do you mean by 'use javascript'? You can put javascript in } your DTML that will get sent to the browser, you can even use DTML to } dynamicly generate javascript. Do you mean use it internally to control } the server or to be like DTML? Here's something near and dear to my heart at the moment. I'm building a web site using stock HTML, DTML, Zope, Python, and JavaScript (dynamically generated via DTML). I would really love to reduce the number of languages I'm dealing with by doing the JavaScript script stuff directly in Zope/Python. I don't have the first clue as to how to do this, if it's even possible. The main thing I use the JavaScript for is updating existing images on screen by changing document.images[imagename].src after preloading a bunch of images. The other is opening up a status or message window when the user clicks on a button. These things can be done, of course, by using standard form techniques and loading new pages, but I really like the ability to quickly update an image on screen from another image stored in a JavaScript Image object saved in cache. I keep thinking there must be a better, more Zopeish, way to do this, but I haven't stumbled across it yet. Here's a far out thought: how about some way to access the browser DOM from DTML or Python? I understand that the DOM and JavaScript live in the client, rather than the host where Zope/Python is running. Perhaps there could be some kind of DTML extension that would "auto-generate" JavaScript (some equivalent) in the document? E.g. (ignore any syntax errors or issues): <!--#call "REQUEST.set('image1', zimage1)"--> <!--#call "REQUEST.set('image2', zimage2)"--> <!--#call "REQUEST.set('which_image', '1')"--> <img src=<!--#var path_to_zimage1--> name="myimage" onCLick="<!--#call "imageswap"-->>render image 1 </img> Then lets say that "imageswap" is a DTML method that does something like this: <!--#if "which_image == '1'"--> <!--#var "myimage = image2"--> <!--#call "REQUEST.set('which_image', '2')"--> <!--#else--> <!--#var "myimage = image1"--> <!--#call "REQUEST.set('which_image', '1')"--> <!--#/if> This could generate a little JavaScript code to download with the page, if necessary. E.g.: <script language="JavaScript"> <!-- // hide me var which_image = 1; function imageswap() { if (which_image == 1) { document.images['myimage'].src = image2.src; which_image = 2; } else { document.images['myimage'].src = image1.src; which_image = 1; } } //--> </script> Why would one want do this this, you ask? For one, if a person didn't know JS, they could still use some of the JS capabilities without having to learn JS. Anyway, just one wild idea for an integration/cooperation of Zope and JS. -Bill Randle Central Oregon Internet billr@coinet.com