[Zope] Storing Data inside Zope

[Dennis Allison]

Sorry if this has already been suggested in this thread..  

It seems to me that you are really in need of a hybrid system which uses
both Zope and a relational data base.  Zope and some specialized
products to manage the front-end and query interfaces, and a
relational database to handle complex queries.  

MySQL, at least the recent versions, supports full text indexing as well
as the usual SQL relational queries.  I suspect that would be invaluable 
for your application.

You might consider (if your budget allows) incorporating a google-style
search engine.

> 
> I'm using the Client/Cases/Detail/etc granularity and making each record a
> single object (using File objects for testing) in an appropriate data folder
> (e.g. Case/Data, Client/Data or maybe Data/Client, Data/Case).  I create
> properties with field names and assign them the field values.  That way I
> can use the ZMI to create/clone/edit/delete 'data records' easily in
> addition to my programs.  I'm using Formulator so I can tap the field
> definitions programmatically to get the info needed to define the File data
> object properties appropriately for each field.  I thought about making a
> template File data object and cloning it as needed but I haven't figured out
> how to do that yet.  Besides the dynamic Formulator approach lets me change
> form AND 'table' definitions in one spot which is nice for development.
> 
> Being shiny new to Zope I'm still grasping the building blocks but thought
> ZClasses sounded like what might be useful for this.  Thanks for letting me
> know that might not be a good idea.  I'll continue to fumble through
> alternate approaches.  It's painfully slow but at least it's interesting.
> 
> Thanks to all who have contributed help,
> Tom P. Allred, MCSE, RHCE, CCNA
> Allred Data Consulting, Inc.
> 704-633-0311 x826
> www.AllredData.com
> Tom@AllredData.com
>