[Zope-dev] Re: straighting out the SQLAlchemy integration mess

[Brian Sutherland]

On Fri, Apr 11, 2008 at 01:21:45PM +0200, Andreas Jung wrote:
>> Unfortunately, it doesn't seem an option, right now, to avoid using ZCML
>> to setup database connections. So I'm not sure how you want to implement
>> your ideas?
>>
>
> I have no need for ideas to be implemented. We're using SA within in 
> several large projects based on z3c.sqlalchemy. And nothing beats the 
> simplicity
> of of an .ini file or an environment variable.

I see. I suppose you could also write a zcml declaration to pluck out
the database config from an environment variable and register a utility.

>> In general, I think if you want your configuration expressed in ZConfig
>> and available as a utility, you have a problem.
>>
>> I'm not sure of:
>>     * How do I register a utility in ZConfig?
>
> z3c.sqlalchemy provides a method for registering a SA connection as a named 
> utility. This code is usually called during the startup phase of Zope 
> within the related initialize() methds of our products. The DSN are 
> acquired from well-known environment variables...this just works - easy, 
> simple, reliable.
>
>>     * How will the above registration work properly in functional tests
>>       (especially with tearing down and setting up layers)?
>
> Functional tests in our company are tests done by humans. Why? Our 
> applications are very complex with lots of dependencies. Not speaking of 
> lots of involved databases, big storages..

I try do what I can... which is relatively minimal.

At least some components are thoroughly tested with the parts of the db
schema they depend on. 

-- 
Brian Sutherland