[ZODB-Dev] Re: Ape and retrieval of other zodb items

[Shane Hathaway]

Rocky Burt wrote:
> I did think about doing the independent connection to the database
> containing the zclass definitions, but I've never done anything similar
> so was just assuming it wasn't really plausible.

Actually, when I first created AdaptableStorage I wired things up so 
that the mapper came straight out of ZODB.  Configuring a mapper 
required visiting the Zope management interface and adding serializers 
and gateways (though they had different names at the time.)  The storage 
had an independent connection to the database holding the mapper.  I 
hope to do this again with Zope 3, but this time I won't have to mix web 
presentation into otherwise simple classes.

Back then I also had to face the problem of keeping the mapper up to 
date, so I created the "resource access" notion.  Right now only static 
resource access is implemented in Ape, but we can bring back the ZODB 
resource access code.

> As an alternative to this I was looking into producing my own simple
> mapping system (like your xml idea) so that the gateways could consult
> with the predefined mapping.  But it bothered me somewhat that the
> attribute information on a class had to be defined in two places (once
> for the zclass definition itself in the control panel, and another in
> this external mapping file).

Right.  The duplication would bother me a lot.

Shane