[Zope-CMF] Re: modifying TypeInformation's properties

[Tres Seaver]

Julien Anguenot wrote:

> The problem for us is that we need to monkey patch all the time just to
> add a new property.
> 
> Something like that :
> 
> from Products.CMFCore.TypesTool import TypeInformation as FTI
> 
> if 'cps_is_portlet' not in [prop['id'] for prop in FTI._properties]:
>     FTI._properties = FTI._properties + (
>         {'id':'cps_is_portlet', 'type': 'boolean', 'mode':'w',
>          'label':'CPS Portlet'},
>         )
>     FTI.cps_is_portlet = 0
> 
> It wouldn't cost anything being able to extend the properties through a
> dedicated API. It doesn't add complexity at all, does it ?

At the moment, TypeInformation objects try *not* to allow extra 
properties to be added.  I think we could safely relax the constraint, 
given a real use case (which CPS obviously has).

> We don't wanna create one TypeInformation just for that neither.
> 
> I don't know much yet about CMFSetup and the possible issue though.

The configurator which dumps / loads type information objects could 
probably be extended to handle extra properties, with elements like:

   <properties>
    <property name="a_property" type="string">Value here</property>
   </properties>

Could one of the CPS guys look at adding that?  If so, I would be glad 
to entertain dropping the SimpleItemWithProperties bit (the only other 
value it provides is being able to set a lable for the property).

>> Hi!
>>
>>
>> Florent Guillaume wrote:
>>
>>>> Maybe special kinds of types should have their own Type Information 
>>>> class?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Why ? The TypeInformation classes are implementation details about the
>>> type. The should not constrain how the TI is used, and should be
>>> interchangeable.
>>>
>>>> Factory-based Type Information and Scriptable Type Information are 
>>>> made for ordinary content types.
>>>
>>> I don't know what you mean by that. They are made to construct CMF 
>>> types.
>>
>>
>>
>> CMF *content* types. If I understand the concept of portlets right, 
>> they are *presentation* objects. Sometimes its useful to use different 
>> classes for different kinds of objects. Don't know if that's the best 
>> solution in this case.

Portlets are "content" objects (like Topics), which have views that 
enable easy inclusion in a bigger template.

Tres.
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Tres Seaver                                tseaver at zope.com
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