Hi Bob, First, please note I never created any complex product with Zope so I'm no expert. Here is my personal feeling about it: - ZClasses are great to easily create simple products. - When dealing with complex products, use Zope Products, especially if you are a Python developper. Pros of ZClasses - They are fairly easy to create and modify. No need to grok Zope innards. - You can develop and update them through the Web. You don't need file access and you don't need to reboot the server. - They are fairly safe. You're less likely to crash your server with ZClasses. - They are better documented. All in all I feel they are great to create custom versions of build-in object types and simple products (eg. up to 20 Classes). Cons of ZClasses - They still are a fairly young technology. You might run into strange issues. - They make it more difficult to create complex class hierarchies. You cannot easily change base classes, move code and properties around, etc. - Many users feel that DTML is less intuitive than Python. For over a 100 classes you'll probably be much better off with Products. Also, have you considered using Python to create base classes and subclass these classes in ZClasses? I heard it's possible. HTH. Alexandre At 12:00 13/04/2000 -0700, you wrote:

From: "Bob Erb" <Bob@InstantAppointment.Com> To: "Zope Main List" <zope@zope.org> Subject: [Zope] ZClases or Zope Products? Date: Thu, 13 Apr 2000 14:55:44 -0400

My application design lists more than 100 classes. Is it better to construct the classes as ZClasses or as Zope Products wrapping Python classes? What should I consider when choosing between the two approaches?

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