[Zope] Advice Needed.

[Goldthwaite, Joe]

Hi,

Sorry to bother everyone again.  I try to keep my questions to a minimum but
there's just too much to Zope and Python and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed.
I also apologize for not being more specific with my questions but just I
don't know enough to be more specific.

The thing I'm trying to do is conceptually very simple but I can't seem to
get all the pieces together.  I'm trying to create an Executive Information
System that puts my client's financial information online with drill down
capability.  I'd basically like to be able to have Zope accept a URL
something like this; http:\\MyZopeServer\IncomeStatement?rgn=80 and have it
generate an Income Statement routine for region 80.  They have a
hierarchical structure with groups, divisions, regions, areas, sales reps,
etc. so the code "rgn" might be "grp" or "area".

That sounds pretty simple doesn't it?  I can't seem to put the pieces
together.  I was able to write a python module that takes the organization
type and number and writes an Income Statement to a file in HTML.  I got the
project from The Book of Zope working but all the forms seem to be linked to
DTML files.  It didn't give me any examples on where to get the URL
parameters from or how to just return my finished HTML to Zope.  I also went
through the Template Attribute Language section of The Zope Book and have
kind of an understanding on how TAL templates work but I don't see where
they get URL parameters from.

Having been a programmer for 20 years, I'm most comfortable with programming
languages like Python than with TAL or DTML.  Ideally, I'd like the above
URL to execute my Income Statement function and pass the org type and
number.  My module could then return the HTML page.  The main problem I see
with this approach (other than the fact that I can't figure out how to do
it) is that I need to connect to the database every time.  Also, the Income
Statement module returns data appropriate to the SQL user name so I need to
have some way to associate a Zope user with an SQL database user.

I work at a Microsoft shop and am getting a log of pressure to go with IIS
and .Net.  There are a number of people here that have already done some
similar work in the sales area.  I'm in kind of a race to get something put
together so I can demo it.  That makes it hard because I tend to jump around
a lot just trying to get things working without knowing the best approach to
take.  I guess that's why I've got so many pieces but no pie.

So, what's the best approach to take?  Should I try to do it with Page
Templates and python scripts? Is that efficient? Is the product approach
better?  Whichever approach is best, I have a ton of questions.  Too many to
ask for free.  I can pay for a few hours of help if anyone is available.

I guess what I'd really like is a product that would translate the above URL
into a call to a Python function passing in the user info, the database
connection, the organization type and number. It doesn't seem like that
would be too hard for someone who knows what they're doing.  So far, I
haven't had much success.

Thanks
Joe Goldthwaite