[Zope-CMF] Need help understanding portal_actions tool and interfaces thereto

[Phil Glaser]

Hi,

I need to do some fairly extensive customization of CMF/Plone and am trying
to understand what the portal_actions tool is and how it works. I've figured
a few things out on my own -- if I add a portal action of the "portal_tabs"
type, it shows up on the site navigation bar, and that the contentTabs menu
in the "my stuff" area of Plone is built from portal actions. But much
remains opaque to me. For example, the "local roles" action in the "my
stuff" contentTabs menu is not listed in the portal_actions tool. "Action
providers" make no sense to me.

I've been all over the CMF and Plone sites and cannot find any documentation
about it. (There are some juicy looking links on the CMF site, such as
http://cmf.zope.org/design/system_architecture/view and
http://cmf.zope.org/design/interfaces/tools/IF_portal_actions/view), but
these links don't lead to real content.) Is there such a document, or should
I just hammer away with some questions?

Thanks!

Philip Glaser
Principal and Software Architect
Sustainable Software Solutions, LLC
StillSmallVoice@DirectvInternet.com
www.sustainsoft.com
973-951-9522