[Zope] Advice Needed.

Wilson, Derek dwilson at abrazohealth.com
Wed Nov 26 11:21:33 EST 2003


I'd suggest using ZSQL statements with a MSSQL DA product. You can set
the statements to require variables such as region, username, etc, which
then can get passed in the SQL. I've had great success converting
Seagate Crystal Reports pages to ZSQL and ZPT pages. You just copy the
SQL to a ZSQL method, and use the ZPT to handle presentation.

Thanks,
Derek Wilson


-----Original Message-----
From: Goldthwaite, Joe [mailto:joe at goldthwaites.com] 
Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2003 11:46 PM
To: zope at zope.org
Subject: [Zope] Advice Needed.


Hi,

Sorry to bother everyone again.  I try to keep my questions to a minimum
but there's just too much to Zope and Python and I'm feeling a bit
overwhelmed. I also apologize for not being more specific with my
questions but just I don't know enough to be more specific.

The thing I'm trying to do is conceptually very simple but I can't seem
to get all the pieces together.  I'm trying to create an Executive
Information System that puts my client's financial information online
with drill down capability.  I'd basically like to be able to have Zope
accept a URL something like this;
http:\\MyZopeServer\IncomeStatement?rgn=80 and have it generate an
Income Statement routine for region 80.  They have a hierarchical
structure with groups, divisions, regions, areas, sales reps, etc. so
the code "rgn" might be "grp" or "area".

That sounds pretty simple doesn't it?  I can't seem to put the pieces
together.  I was able to write a python module that takes the
organization type and number and writes an Income Statement to a file in
HTML.  I got the project from The Book of Zope working but all the forms
seem to be linked to DTML files.  It didn't give me any examples on
where to get the URL parameters from or how to just return my finished
HTML to Zope.  I also went through the Template Attribute Language
section of The Zope Book and have kind of an understanding on how TAL
templates work but I don't see where they get URL parameters from.

Having been a programmer for 20 years, I'm most comfortable with
programming languages like Python than with TAL or DTML.  Ideally, I'd
like the above URL to execute my Income Statement function and pass the
org type and number.  My module could then return the HTML page.  The
main problem I see with this approach (other than the fact that I can't
figure out how to do
it) is that I need to connect to the database every time.  Also, the
Income Statement module returns data appropriate to the SQL user name so
I need to have some way to associate a Zope user with an SQL database
user.

I work at a Microsoft shop and am getting a log of pressure to go with
IIS and .Net.  There are a number of people here that have already done
some similar work in the sales area.  I'm in kind of a race to get
something put together so I can demo it.  That makes it hard because I
tend to jump around a lot just trying to get things working without
knowing the best approach to take.  I guess that's why I've got so many
pieces but no pie.

So, what's the best approach to take?  Should I try to do it with Page
Templates and python scripts? Is that efficient? Is the product approach
better?  Whichever approach is best, I have a ton of questions.  Too
many to ask for free.  I can pay for a few hours of help if anyone is
available.

I guess what I'd really like is a product that would translate the above
URL into a call to a Python function passing in the user info, the
database connection, the organization type and number. It doesn't seem
like that would be too hard for someone who knows what they're doing.
So far, I haven't had much success.

Thanks
Joe Goldthwaite


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