[Zope-dev] Using Zope in a client-server system

[Itai Tavor]

Hi,

I need to design sales center system containing a server and 
salesperson workstations. I thought it would be a good idea to build 
the system around Zope, for several reasons:

- With Zope on the server and a standard web browser on the 
workstations, a lot of low level work is already done for me and I 
can focus on high level issues such as UI and application logic.
- Easy connectivity to an SQL database.
- DTML code chunks and Python Methods should be easier to manage than 
1000's of lines of Java or VB code.
- Easy to install and update the product and to manage and debug it 
through the web.
- It would be easy to create new ways to view the data - for example, 
a WAP version to send sales statistics to managers out of the office.


There are a couple of features that I am not sure how to implement though:

- I need to display constantly-updating information on the 
workstations. I could do this by reloading the window every second, 
but that seems ugly - I'd like to only update certain fields, which I 
can do using layers and JavaScript, but I need to get the updated 
data from the server. I guess that can be done with Java, but I'd 
like to keep the system simple - a browser with HTML and JavaScript 
only on the client side, DTML, Zope with Python Methods, and External 
Methods, and an SQL database on the server, no Java or any other 
complications.

- I also need to push data to the workstations - based on events 
detected at the server, I need to bring up a message on a 
workstation, and remove it in response to another event. I really 
don't want to refresh a frame every second for this, and I also would 
hate to have to write a Java applet to do it.


Any comments or suggestions regarding the above problems, the choice 
of Zope for this project, or the project in general would be 
appreciated.


Thanks,

Itai
--
Itai Tavor                      -- "Je sautille, donc je suis."    --
itavor@vic.bigpond.net.au       --               - Kermit the Frog --
-- "What he needs now is understanding... and a confederate victory" --
-- Dr. Jacobi, Twin Peaks         --