[ZDP] Zope Documentation Portal

Tom Deprez tom.deprez@uz.kuleuven.ac.be
Fri, 28 Apr 2000 12:31:08 +0200


Nice idea, it looks something to the small knowledge base I've made.

This MiniKnowledgebase has a TKBCategory. In this category a TKBItem can be
placed. This KBItem contains a property linked to the 'nickname' of the
category to which it belongs. This property is filled by an external method
(thus when you move a topic to another Category, the contents of this
property changes!).
Generally I think it is a good idea to create the ZDPortal. However, I hope
the way to generate the hierarchy wouldn't be too difficult or to slumbercome.

Tom.


At 10:49 28/04/2000 +0200, you wrote:
>Hi everyone !
>
>
>I suggest changing the Zope Documentation Project to a 
>Zope Documentation Portal. This Portal would integrate a view
>on the existing ZDP content and Zope.org content by creating 
>links to Zope.org documents and  enrich these links with
>meta-information. So even though not all documentation is
>stored in one place, there can be one place from where all
>documentation can be reached conveniently.
>
>To make Zope documentation available under certain subjects and topics
>for different users, a new Portal ZClass is needed that provides
>different views on the Information Space. The following is a
>suggestion for implementation of the new Subject/Topic Hierarchy.
>David Kankiewicz has already worked on this problem, and also
>implemented part of it on the ZDP site. Nevertheless, I want
>to throw in my thoughts on this, which came up as I tried to
>understand Davids code ;-) The PTK project also works on this
>problem, so I have CC'd this mail also to this list to exchange
>some ideas. In the long term the ZDP-project needs to adopt
>the PTK, and so discussing this early on could be beneficial.
>
>Create three new ZClasses:
>
>* TopicFolder (derived from DocumentFolder)
>  nickname: Subject
>
>  In the root folder, there should be multiple TopicFolders for
>  each Subject. Subjects can be for example "DTML" and "Web Server".
>  Anyone can create TopicFolders, but unless they are approved, it
>  is not going to be publicly visible.
>
>* Topic (derived from Search)
>  nickname: Topic
>
>  Under the TopicFolders, which define the Subjects, there should
>  be multiple Topics. Topics will find their contents through 
>  a ZCatalog Search and so it makes sense to derive it from the
>  Search ZClass which already exists in the ZDP-Tools. As with
>  TopicFolders, they can be created by anyone, but must be 
>  approved to get visible.
>
>* Portal (derived from DocumentFolder)
>  nickname: Recipient
>
>  Portals filter the TopicFolders and Topics for interest groups,
>  defined by the Recipient nickname. A Portal can show the TopicFolders
>  with their abstract or show the TopicFolders with their Topics
>  as links in a Yahoo style. Portals are only added by Managers with
>  one exception. Portals may also be used to create a Personalized
>  view on the information space for members. Members may want to
>  put their own Portal(s) into their MemberClass. The Recipient variable
>  would in this case just be user defined, and default to the member
>  login name.
>
>When the Subject/Topic hierarchy is built, then it can be displayed
>very fast inside a Portal without using ZCatalog. The ZCatalog search
>starts inside the Topics for the first time. When a Topic is displayed,
>a Search is performed with the following parameters:
>
>   * Subject   = TopicFolder.nickname
>   * Topic     = Topic.nickname
>   * Recipient = Portal.nickname
>
>This should keep the number of results rather small. We are already 
>deep in a context and filter on the Recipient. This could be further
>reduced by introducing new filters like for example "zen_level".
>
>So, as a consequence we have to give every ZClass the following
>properties so we can search on them in the document hierarchy
>using ZCatalog:
>
>   DocumentFolder
>      Subject
>      Topic
>      Recipient
>
>Now, let's see how document creation would look like. When we create
>a document, we are always somewhere in the document hierarchy, and
>can always assume that we are in the context of a subject and a topic.
>This can be solved by making the following subject and topic default:
>
>  Root (/ of zdp.zope.org):
>    subject: Zope
>    topic: ZDP
>
>Let's look at an example of how the subject/topic hierarchy is
>interwoven in the document hierarchy:
>
>  * Root (nickname: ZDP: Zope Documentation Project)
>    subject: Zope
>    topic: ZDP
>
>    * Project Folder (nickname: Projects)
>      subject: ZDP
>      topic: ZDP projects
>
>      * Project (nickname: ZDP-Tools)
>        subject: ZDP projects
>        topic: ZDP-Tools project
>
>        * ProductDocumentation (nickname: Documentation)
>        subject: ZDP-Tools project
>        topic: ZDP-Tools Documentation
>
>Please notice that the subjects are always the topics of 
>the parent folder. 
>
>To see where we take the subjects and topics from when 
>adding a new document to the document hierarchy, we have
>a look at an example:
>
>Let's suppose we want to add a new Project called ZBook to the
>document hierarchy under the Project Folder:
>
>   * ProjectFolder (nickname Projects)
>     subject: ZDP
>     topic: ZDP projects
>
>     * Project (nickname: ZBook)
>     subject: ZDP projects
>     topic: ZBook project
>
>When the Project is created, the subject is already predefined.
>The subject is defined as the topic "ZDP Projects" of the
>parent (ProjectFolder).
>
>In the Subject/Topic hierarchy the Subject "ZDP projects" already
>exists if there have been other projects defined earlier. In this
>case we only have to care for a new TopicFolder with the nickname
>"ZBook project". Someone who is allowed to add a Project should
>also have the right to add TopicFolders.
>
>If the Subject "ZDP projects" does not exist as a Subject, but only
>as a Topic of the ZDP TopicFolder, then the Subject "ZDP projects"
>would have to be created in a TopicFolder, and inside of it, a
>Topic of "ZBook project".
>
>The Subject/Topic hierarchy should break once we get too specialized.
>For example it may not make sense to give new Topics and Subjects to
>Comments that are also reflected in the Subject/Topic Hierarchy.
>The subjects and topics can perhaps still be there in the Documents,
>but they won't mess up the Subject/Topic hierarchy which needs to
>be kept small and clean, but could even so be kept small by filtering.
>
>Generally, we never choose Subject and Topic together because
>in the Document Hierarchy we build on the principle of containment,
>and we have no content flying around in mid-air. When you create
>a document in the document hierarchy you always get the subject
>for free from the topic of the partent folder. The Topics
>can be naturally fed from the Topics in a TopicFolder with the
>name of the subject when they exist. The Topics would be selectable
>in a selection list at the time we create a new document in the
>document hierarchy.
>
>
>Greetings,
>
>Maik Röder
>
>-- 
>Open Source is "about being able to work together with people you've
>never  met, on projects that  are in  a constant state  of flux,  on 
>a time schedule  that would  cause a  hummingbird's  head to  spin."
>Paul Ferris, http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/opinions/1593/1/
>
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