[Zope] external OID references [was: external RID references: bad idea?]

[Toby Dickenson]

On Wed, 15 Aug 2001 21:27:17 -0400, "Gary Poster"
<garyposter@earthlink.net> wrote:

>I'll
>try to do my digging in the code tomorrow, but anybody see any problem =
with
>using them as references?  That loses the built in metadata (and =
metadata
>refreshing) of the catalog, but gives me...gives me...well, gives me a
>smaller-size reference than a full path.=20

Yes, there is a problem. OIDs are only unique within a single storage.

* If some objects are exported and reimported, their OIDs
  will change.

* You will get duplicate OIDs in the same Zope if you are
  using a mounted storage.


An alternative that has not been mentioned so far is storing a real
object reference. The Zope management interface, restricts
inter-object references to be a tree structure. However, there is no
such restriction in the underlying ZODB.

This may well be easier if you can live without managing your
relationships as if they were folders, and without using Zopes
security mechanisms to control accees to the referred-to objects.

(I suggest discussing this deeper on zope-dev)


Toby Dickenson
tdickenson@geminidataloggers.com