what is your opinion of zope?

[Terry Hancock]

On Tuesday 28 June 2005 08:35 pm, Avery Warren wrote:
> On Sun, 26 Jun 2005 23:14:48 -0500, Terry Hancock wrote:
> 
> > However, I'm not sure why you want this information. If you are
> > trying to import data into Zope, you are more likely going to be
> > using Zope, not accessing ZODB directly.
>
> The real problem is that the version of wiki we currently use 
> doesn't support any concept of workflow. That is fine for the 
> company now but as it matures in its processes, a more mature 
> solution will become more and more compelling. 

I don't think you quite understood my response: I wasn't asking
why you were interested in Zope, but rather why you think you
need to access ZODB directly to do what you want. It's very
unlikely that you do.  Usually with Zope, you never really have
to think about the ZODB, you just know it's there, and that's
about it.

More probably, you can import what you need by scripting on top
of Zope.  Then Zope takes care of talking to the ZODB for you.

While it may be technically feasible to write a script to translate files
from another source and put them directly into the ZODB database,
it probably means reinventing the wheel quite a bit.

I think you probably should be looking at how to do what you need
with Zope scripts.

ZWiki, for example, uses a pretty simple "file format" (this is technically
a bit of a fiction since "files" in Zope are really just objects in the ZODB),
which I think is defined by the Wiki standard (it resembles "structured
text" in any case --- I'm uncertain whether they are actually the same
or not).

Assuming that the format is the same as in other Wiki packages (and
I think it is), this *could* be as simple as FTPing the files into Zope's
FTP interface.

Or, at a slightly more complex level, manually adding each wiki page
object.

Or, creating a script using Zope's through-the-web interface to recursively
copy your old site using ZWiki page objects.  There could be some gotchas
in there, but this is almost certainly going to be better than trying to access
the ZODB directly.

I can understand that this would not be your expectation if you were
used to SQL-backed systems.  With those, the SQL back end is often
going to be a better interface point.  But it's different with ZODB and Zope.

Perhaps more importantly, I think this task will be easier than you
are expecting it to be --- I'd hate for you to waste a lot of time on a
complicated solution when a "quick and dirty" one will do.

> > Without more specifics about what you are looking for, it would be
> > hard to reply further than this.

And of course, by this, I meant to go beyond what I already said. I don't
mind telling you I like Zope and/or what I use it for, but it's a big
subject! ;-)

--
Terry Hancock ( hancock at anansispaceworks.com )
Anansi Spaceworks  http://www.anansispaceworks.com