[Zope] ANNOUNCE: EXPERIMENTAL DTML Syntax change

[Jim Fulton]

Zope 2.0.0 alpha 2 (and public CVS) includes an experimental change to the 
DTML parser to allow HTML tags syntax and character entity reference as
an alternative to the server-side-include (SSI) syntax.  Basically, source
like:

  <!--#var standard_html_header-->
  <ul>
    <!--#in objectValues-->
      <li> <a href="<!--#var URL1-->/<!--#var id-->/manage_workspace">
           <!--#var title--></a>
    <!--#/in-->
  </ul>
  <!--#var standard_html_footer-->

to be written as:

  <dtml-var standard_html_header>
  <ul>
    <dtml-in objectValues>
      <li> <a href="&dtml-URL1;/&dtml-id;/manage_workspace">
           <dtml-var title></a>
    <dtml-/in>
  </ul>
  <dtml-var standard_html_footer>

This format is provided to overcome some of the problems
with the SSI syntax:

  - It looks more like and fits in with HTML,

  - It is easier to type,

  - It is easier to type and slightly less verbose,

  - It is, perhaps, easier to teach HTML editors how
    to deal with it.

I'm very interested to hear how helpful this is.  Do people
find this a significant improvement?

If people don't find it useful then it will not be included
in Zope 2.0 final, and perhaps not in the Zope 2.0 betas.

Note:

  - This format does *not*, in my mind, significantly reduce the desire
    for an XML variant of DTML.  I think there is room for *both* XML
    and non-XML variants of DTML, if only because sometimes people will
    need to have DTML documents that are not XML well formed, for
    example when generating non-XML text.

  - This does not address the desire for a nicer through-the-web scripting
    language for Zope.  We intend to provide the ability to build Python methods
    through the web that are as safe (from a security point of view) as existing 
    DTML methods.

Jim

--
Jim Fulton           mailto:jim@digicool.com   Python Powered!        
Technical Director   (888) 344-4332            http://www.python.org  
Digital Creations    http://www.digicool.com   http://www.zope.org    

Under US Code Title 47, Sec.227(b)(1)(C), Sec.227(a)(2)(B) This email
address may not be added to any commercial mail list with out my
permission.  Violation of my privacy with advertising or SPAM will
result in a suit for a MINIMUM of $500 damages/incident, $1500 for
repeats.