[Zope3-dev] Zope 3 web root

[Roger Ineichen]

Hi Shane 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: zope3-dev-bounces+dev=projekt01.ch at zope.org 
> [mailto:zope3-dev-bounces+dev=projekt01.ch at zope.org] On 
> Behalf Of Shane Hathaway
> Sent: Thursday, February 09, 2006 7:41 PM
> To: zope3-dev at zope.org
> Subject: [Zope3-dev] Zope 3 web root
> 
> An idea just occurred to me.  I think others have probably 
> had similar 
> ideas, but didn't express it in the right place or time.
> 
> Part 1: Let's put an Apache-like web root (similar to 
> /var/www/localhost/htdocs/) in Zope instance homes.  It might 
> be called 
> "browser" or "www".  Zope will serve pages out of that web 
> root rather 
> than an object database.
> 
> Part 1 rationale: When people create a Zope instance home, 
> they create 
> some config files and an object database.  The root of the site is 
> served out of the object database.  To change the default 
> page, newbies 
> are directed to create a default page in the object database. 
>  The user 
> didn't ask for an object database.  The use of an object 
> database should 
> be a choice, not a requirement.  Now the user has to learn some extra 
> tools (fssync, etc.) in order to put the files under version 
> control.  I 
> think the user experience for both newbies and experts would be much 
> better if the root of the site were served from a filesystem 
> directory.
> 
> Part 2: Let's add some ZCML directives that define how to interpret 
> filenames in the web root by their extension.  Let's also interpret 
> special per-directory files that map URI names to filenames, 
> similar to 
> Apache .htaccess files.
> 
> Part 3: One kind of file we can put in the web root serves as 
> a gateway 
> into an object database.  We might use the extension ".zodb" for this 
> purpose.  The .zodb file would specify what kind of storage to open, 
> where to find it, and what object to load from it.  In a 
> sense, the web 
> root would mount the object database.  Some configuration of the web 
> root would mount an object database right at the root, 
> enabling Zope 3 
> to act just like it does today.
> 
> Any thoughts or gut reactions?

That's a very interesting idea.

Do you mean something like this:

instance
  |
   -- var/poll.fs
  |
   -- wwwroot
        |
         -- index.html (file system)
        |
         -- pollApplication.zodb (zope)
        |   (file with info that point/maps to ../../var/poll.fs)
        |
         -- staticFolder (file system)
             |
              --  index.html (file system)

This means the pollApplication contains a index.html 
view/page and poll application driven by Zope.
Where the rest of the structure is served by static 
folders and HTML files. Did I got it right?

This could be very useful for smaller websites which only
need some small dynamic pages and do not need all the overhead
from zope. I think about some poll apps or just a view with
some database information etc.

Regards
Roger Ineichen

> Shane
> 
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