[Zope] Your thoughts about Zope-based database apps

[Eric Walstad]

Hi Alonso,

FYI, some of the list members have great difficulty in reading HTML
formatted messages.  It's best if you set your format to "Plain Text" before
submitting to the list.

I haven't yet implemented what you are considering, but I am interested in
doing so soon.  So, I am very interested in what you discover.  If you don't
mind, if/when you receive any emails that don't get CC'd to the Zope mailing
list, please forward them on to me, too.

I am an Access programmer and have a bit of experience with MySQL.  I've
given a lot of thought about how one would handle an Access-like interface
with Zope and MySQL over the web.  I'm anticipating a lot more development
time building the interface, but saving a bunch of time by not having to
keep multiple copies of the same DB up to date.  If you feel like
brainstorming on the "whats" and "hows" of such an application, I'ld love to
join in.

Thanks,
Eric.

2. In particular, what would be the best way to implement the inserting and
updating of records along with input data validation? (Retrieving data from
a database to show on a web page using Zope is straightforward as you know.)

I have a set of java script functions that I use for form field validation.
I like this approach because it puts the burden on the client.  However,
there are Zope products available that handle it on the server side.  Search
Zope.org for "Smarter Forms"


3. In several cases I'd like to implement a main form/subform, where the
subform allows the user to enter several items related to only one record in
the main form. Since every item might have many fields (say 20) I'd like to
present just the most important fields on a table, and allow the user to
view/enter/update all the fields for each item in a different web page.
Those of you familiar with Microsoft Access know that in Access it is
straightforward to implement this main form/subform interface. I wonder what
would be the best way of implementing this using Zope?

Using Zope to mimic a form / subform combination means that Zope will have
to generate a the input form and subform elements together before they get
sent to the user.  The user will then update the data sent by Zope.  When
the form is submitted, Zope will have to update the main form data, then
iterate thru the subform elements, modifying the subform data with each
iteration.  If records are to be added, it will require a client server
transaction for each record added (unless something is done with javascript,
where the form is generated dynamically.  Then, the user could add many
records and when the dynamically built form is submitted, Zope will have to
figure out how many records the user added).


4. Do you know of any existing Zope-based app similar to this?. Obviously,
the back-end doesn't have to be MySQL.

I haven't seen any yet, but I'm sure they're out there!