[Zope] advice needed

[Dylan Reinhardt]

On Thu, 2003-10-23 at 02:40, Andre Meyer wrote:
> I am looking for advice by someone with
> practical  Zope/Python experience(*).

Ah... well, I'll try to help anyway. :-)

> 
> At the moment I am starting to learn Python and Zope.

Excellent.

> After reading quite some material about Zope I am still
> hesitating how to approach the problem.

Reading about Zope is good, but *doing* something in Zope is the only
real way it makes sense.  Initial confusion is normal.

> 
> Should I use ZODB or MySQL? 

Depends.  If you have heavy experience with LAMP-style web apps or RDBMS
administration, you might find using MySQL more intuitive.  If not, ZODB
is a probably perfectly reasonable choice.

> DTML or ZPT? 

Also depends.  They're both well-supported, though ZPT is more fervently
advocated.  If you have any experience with ASP, you'll probably find
DTML more intuitive.  But ZPT is the better tool.  The main thing is you
should only use templating languages for templating... plan on using
Python scripts for any significant logic.


> I want to make sure that the
> database is safe and can be backed up. 

Good idea.   Both ZODB and an RDBMS can meet this criteria if managed
well.


> Can I access the ZODB using Python
> programs?

Well... Zope is a Python program.  But if you mean, can the data be used
by a non-zope program, the answer is sort of.  Yes, you can... but if
sharing data with another system is a key priority, I'd let that tip me
toward using an RDBMS.


>  How does this work?

First, set aside two or three weeks. :-)

>  Should I first learn Python or Zope?

People with several years of programming experience can learn 80% of
Python in a day or so.  I'd start here:

http://diveintopython.org/

It's going to be tough to do much in Zope without understanding how to
construct basic Python expressions.  Fortunately, Python expressions are
really quite intuitive... for the most part.

>  Can I
> convert an Excel sheet to read into Zope (using Python)?

Yes.  Install Python's csv module, export the spreadsheet to csv, import
csv into an external method and follow the docs for how to parse a csv
and how to communicate with an external method.

>  What would you
> suggest for a good solution and how do I learn the required skills in the
> shortest amount of time? 

Start working on a real-world problem.  And have the Zope Book at your
side:  http://www.zope.org/Documentation/Books/ZopeBook/current


> Are there good comprehensive examples to look at?
> It seems that I learn best from looking at other people's code.

Zope comes with examples... I'd start by looking at those.

HTH,

Dylan