[Zope-PTK] Search engine woes solved, sorta

[Nolan Darilek]

>>>>> "Mike" == Mike Pelletier <mike@digicool.com> writes:

    Mike>     I think that the best solution would be to set up a
    Mike> containment tree outside /Members, giving the appropreate
    Mike> people the appropreate permissions to add items.  Items
    Mike> could either be added directly, or added and composed in the
    Mike> Member's home area and them 'committed' to the perminant
    Mike> location.  The second method gives you an opportunity to
    Mike> reduce the contributor's rights to the object to prevent
    Mike> dead links, etc.

Ah, that sounds doable.

    Mike>     I'm not 100% sure what you mean by this, but I believe
    Mike> the answer is yes, you sould be able to instantiate
    Mike> PortalContent-derived objects in the same manner as any
    Mike> other object.

Hmm, I don't see how.

I'm using the management interface, and don't see any of the
PortalContent objects (Document, Link, NewsItem, etc.) in the list. I
see Portal, Portal Folder and Wizard, though. I suppose I could just
create them in my members area and move them out. How exactly does the
cut-n-paste mechanism work? Does it use cookies, or something else?
I'm using emacs/w3, which basically places each page in an emacs
buffer. So once I cut the item, I switch to the buffer containing the
destination page, reload it, and try to click on 'Paste'. This doesn't
work for me, though, and it may be due to bugs with w3's cookie
support. Or, should I instead follow links to the new pages? I guess
what I'm trying to ask is, is the cut-n-paste mechanism driven by
traversal, cookies, or something else entirely? Also, what is the
difference between Portal Folder and Folder? I've been creating
regular folders; should I convert these to Portal Folders?

What happens to an object when its owner's
user is erased but the object still remains? Is its owner changed to
the superuser or manager?

    Mike>     I've been sitting on an example which mixes Zope's File
    Mike> object and PortalContent.  It's a Python class.  I've just
    Mike> committed it.  I haven't finished tweaking it, so I haven't
    Mike> made it available yet.  It can be made available by
    Mike> importing it in the __init__ module, so it has a chance to
    Mike> register itself.  It does work, and can serve as a decent
    Mike> guide.  Later today, I'll have commentified it better.

Cool -- looking forward to seeing it! My next project is a Newsletter
Z Class; something which basically squeezes several documents and
images together into one single Z Class.

As another completely random question, I have several classes which
weren't distributed with Python source, but which I'd like to make
more portal-aware. I'm using ZRTChat, for example. I'd like to hack it
so that it only allows you to enter the room under your Zope username,
and not any arbitrary name. I'm also using an ad banner system (I
can't remember which one ATM) and I'd like to make it portal-aware so
that I can use the Ad wizard which I've partially created so that
folks can upload ad banners. I could derive a class if I had the
Python source, but what if the products are only distributed as
.zexp's? Is it possible to modify these products so that they work as
PortalContent? I know the LoginManager is meant to remedy this, but
since I'm only attempting to use PTK user names in a chat room,
LoginManager may be a bit much.

    Mike>     If some subtle (I'm being kind to myself) detail has yet
    Mike> escaped my understanding, let me know and I'll try again.
    Mike> ;-)

Nah, this has been helpful. I guess I'm still
trying to come to terms with the Zope/PTK-specific way to solve
problems. For example, I'm used to designing static websites, so
handling more community-driven sites is new to me. Thanks for the
help!