[Zope-CMF] Grouping objects into Projects for Review via CMF

[Jon Edwards]

> 1. Can a folder have a workflow?

Yup, take a look at PortalContentFolder -
http://www.zope.org/Members/efge/PortalContentFolder - it makes a folder
both workflow- and catalog-aware. Note: I'm not sure if this will need any
changes for CMF 1.2? Has anyone tried it with 1.2?

> 2. How would various authors create new objects in the Project folder
> instead of their work area. (There could be multiple Projects running
> concurrently)

Might be worth looking at the various ideas for "workgroups", see this FAQ -
http://cmf.zope.org/doc/FAQ/permissions/faq7

When you define your workflows for the different content-types in your
project, maybe you could create a little PythonScript that is fired whenever
one of the objects is reviewed and approved - it would check the state of
all the other objects in the folder, and if they were all approved, it would
set the state of the parent Project as "Ready for Submission"? That could
then show up in the Project-owner's workflow list (or even email him),
without having to check all his projects individually all the time.

If you're new to Workflow, the (Flash) demo at http://www.zope.com/Demos/
gives a good overview of the sort of things it can do. And Tres' earlier
post - http://lists.zope.org/pipermail/zope-cmf/2002-January/011245.html -
gives more detail

> 3. If this is possible, how much work is realistically required to get
this
> system up and running? Or, perhaps less subjective question: what steps
> would be required?

Depends on your level of "Zen". It would probably take Tres about 10
minutes, lesser mortals might need a day?! ;-)

I think everything you need is available, it's just a question of bolting
the bits together. IMHO, start with PortalContentFolder, add the "workgroup"
bits, define your workflows for the content-objects, then define the master
workflow for the Project folder.

Hope that helps! If you get it working, maybe you could release a product or
a How-To?

Cheers, Jon

Jon Edwards
Pricom Ltd
www.pricom.co.uk