[ZODB-Dev] GSoC proposal: Graphical browser for ZODB

[Rafael Oliveira]

Hello,

I've submitted a proposal for GSoC with the title "Graphical browser
for ZODB (zodbbrowser enhancements)" after discussing with some folks
on the gsoc at zope.org mailing list. I'm posting here the proposal for
discussion, as suggested by Martjin Faasen. Here it is:

Abstract
--------

The goal of this project is to provide an easy way for an user of ZODB to look
inside a ZODB instance and browse through the objects. The goal will be
accomplished by extending zodbbrowser, a desktop program that has the same
goals but is on an early stage of development.

Specification
-------------

Currently zodbbrowser [1]_ presents only a tree view of the objects on a ZODB
instance and a text panel where the attribute values are displayed. The
following enhancements and new features are proposed:

1. Make the UI more user-friendly.

    1.1 Make it look more like a file system browser (e.g Windows Explorer),
        where the composite objects (list, dict, tuple, etc) behave like
        directories and the simple objects (str, int, etc) behave like files.

    1.2 Many minor UI enhancements can be done, e.g use an image icon for each
        object type.

2. Display object sizes.

3. Transaction history viewer, with ability to undo a transaction. This will be
   much like Zope's undo functionality.

4. Search. The user will be able to search for objects IDs and/or values.

5. Open console. The user will be able to right-click on an object and open a
   Python console in order to execute arbitrary commands to manipulate the
   objects on the DB.

Some project decisions
----------------------

1. zodbbrowser will remain as independent from Zope as possible. The
main reason
   is ZODB is a great DBMS and can be used standalone on any kind of
   application.

2. A Web UI is not on the scope of the project. I think it's easier to implement
   the proposed features on a desktop app. Also, the same reason for project
   decision holds here too.

3. As is known a Web UI would be a plus, effort should be done in order to keep
   the code as UI independent as possible.

Benefits
--------

A tool like zodbbrowser is something that users coming from the RDBMS world
really miss. All the popular RDBMS have a tool to browse through the data.
Also, with the proposed enhancements and new features it will be a great
debugging tool. Perhaps it would help ZODB become more popular even on
non-Zope related projects.

.. References
   ----------

.. [1] svn://svn.zope.org/repos/main/z3c.zodbbrowser/sandbox/src/z3c/zodbbrowser

PS.: I stripped out the sections Roadmap, About Me and Thanks
sections. The full proposal text can be found at
http://rafaelb.objectis.net/google-summer-of-code-2008/graphical-browser-for-zodb-zodbbrowser-enhancements/

-- 
Rafael Bruno Cavalhero de Oliveira <rafaelbco at gmail.com>
Analista de Sistemas - Paradigma <http://www.paradigma.com.br>
Mestrando em Ciência da Informação - UFMG
http://rafaelb.objectis.net