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

Jim Sanford jsanford@atinucleus.com
Fri, 3 Mar 2000 07:34:38 -0600


I currently am using Zope for our company contact management and sales ordering. Within 2 to 3 months the Visual Foxpro sytem we
have been using will be "retired" (Currently all orders are now being done on the new system.)

The way I update data from my VFP database to my browser window when I don't want to refresh the entire window is to fire off a
second small browser window and call a dtml document that has methods to get the data and then return an html page that is all
javascript. The javascript page uses  opener.document.form_name.field_name.value=returned_value  to update the desired field or
fields, then the "pop-up" window closes itself.

All html pages can use the javascript timeout to check back at specified intervals a check back cycle of  5 minutes along with
automatic message checking on each submit should give you the responsiveness you need (IMNSHO)

 __________________________________________________________________

              Jim Sanford
      .       Database/Web Engineer
     / \  /   Accelerated Technology, Inc.
    /   /     720 Oak Circle Drive East
   /  /  \    Mobile, AL 36609
  / /     \   Voice: 334-661-5770  fax: 334-661-5788
 /         \  E-Mail: jsanford@atinucleus.com
              Web: http://www.atinucleus.com

 Nucleus.  All You NEED in an RTOS.  Royalty Free.
 __________________________________________________________________

----- Original Message -----
From: Itai Tavor <itavor@bigpond.net.au>
To: <zope-dev@zope.org>
Sent: Thursday, March 02, 2000 8:35 PM
Subject: [Zope-dev] Using Zope in a client-server system


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         --


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