[Zope] Some tough questions about zope... (long)

[Martijn Pieters]

Let me try to answer (some) of your questions:

>The questions:
>a) Is there a way for us to 'dump' the non-dynamic parts of a Zope 
>database into static HTML pages. This would act as a way to say to 
>the team "look, we have a parachute!".

I will be looking into this, as soon as I have the time. The answer for now is:
probably, because everyone wants to download a local copy of part of any
website at some point. There are tools out there to do this, I haven't looked
for them yet.

>b) Can I integrate with the Perl/PHP3 programs that we have (the Perl 
>programs are mainly .cgi, but the PHP3 programs are server-side 
>scripted, and as such are embedded into the HTML itself). This is so 
>that I can

Just run Zope via Apache (see below).

>c) Is there any way of using the XML documents that I'm creating into 
>the database and parsing them to produce either HTML or RTF output?

Python is very capable of parsing XML. You will have to write an External
Method to handle this, though. An example of XML parsing can be found at
http://www.zope.org/Download/Contrib/XMLConfig.tar.gz. This Zope Product parses
a static XML file for use in Zope.

>d) I know that this a terrible question to ask... but is Zope likely 
>to 'remain' open-source (we're worried about getting stuck with a 
>proprietary system)?.

I certainly do hope so. I intent to use it en expand on it heavily anyway, and
sodo others. These extensions will generally be Open Source themselves, making
it hard for Digital Creations to pull Zope out of the Open Source domain.

>e) Can I 'point' an Apache virtual server to run a Zope cgi (ie 
>dropping the :port requirment).

Yes. The doc/WEBSERVER.txt will start you on this. Be warned though, there are
some problems with Apache and Zope integration, for reasons that others are
better equiped to explain.

>f) I'd like to have the option to have user authentication 
>information coming from a database - is this possible?

Yes, you can find the UserDB Product at
http://www.zope.org/Download/Prereleases/UserDB/UserDb-1.2.0-nonbin.tar.gz.

>g) We have something like 200 main level directories holding the 
>study guides, each with up to 200 files in them - is that pushing the 
>Zope database too far?

Nah, Zope has handled much more than that allready. Ask Paul =).

>h) We also need resources such as QuickTime movies, images PowerPoint 
>slides etc. to be uploaded - would they sit in the database or can 
>they be held somewhere else (and what happens about file name 
>conflicts)?

Zope can store any filetype you want it to. Filename conflicts are handled the
same way a filesystem handles them: In the same Folder, you cannot have two
objects with the same name at once. But because it is a hierachical system, you
can use the same name in two different folders.

>i) Does Zope have the equivalent of 'server logs', which we use for research.

ZopeHTTPServer's output is it's serverlog. You can start it up with STDOUT
redirected into a file. When you use Apache as your webserver, all requests
will be logged through Apache itself.

>j) Is it possible to have a 'pointer' at a location in the Zope 
>database that will point to a 'real, honest to goodness' HTML file on 
>the server (ie something like a redirect..oops I think I may have 
>answered my own question)

You said it yourself =).

>and lastly
>k) What kind of loads have people put Zope under (10,000 +hits a day, 
>100k?). We have one application which has 170 Medical Students 
>sitting in front of screens and clicking a button at the same time 
>(they're selecting their final year options) which then starts 170 
>CGI-based Perl processes off interrogating and updating the database. 
>This really grinds the system down...

Zope will be much much faster. I can't give you any direct numbers, maybe
someone else on this list can. You basicly don't have the overhead of starting
a fullblown new process for every request, and Zope pools Database connectiosn
for you, so you don't have the initial connection overhead either. And, your
code isn't compiled everytime, like with Perl.


--
M.J. Pieters, Web Developer
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