[Zope3-dev] ZCML alternative

[Barry A. Warsaw]

>>>>> "PvW" == Philipp von Weitershausen <philikon@gmx.net> writes:

    PvW> Python, on the other hand, does a lot more than just data
    PvW> description. As a programming language, it relies on syntax,
    PvW> code blocks etc. etc. This would make it more likely for
    PvW> people to make mistakes when they don't know Python.

Maybe postmasters are different than Zope site admin <wink>, but I
think most can handle simple variable assignment configuration files.
They almost don't have to know it's Python save for some simple rules
(string quoting, None, list brackets).  Beyond that, if they actually
have to write Python classes and such, you probably lose 90% of them.

Maybe xml is easier if they know html, but only tangentially, because
they're probably familar with where their < and > keys are.  You still
need good documentation about the xml dialect (zcml), just as you need
good documentation for html if you're web slinging.

>>>>> "JF" == Jim Fulton <jim@zope.com> writes:

    JF> There will be TTW configuration at some point. This
    JF> configuration will be stored in the ZODB. It's unclear what
    JF> interface site managers will use to create this configuration,
    JF> although I'm 99% sure it won't be Python.
 
Again, one of the advantages of zcml IMO, is the hope it offers for
good tools to read, edit and write configuration files.  Maybe TTW
editing will be good enough, but if not, non-web gui-based (possibly
platform-specific) xml-aware editors should provide a nice mechanism
for configuring Zope.  We wouldn't even have to write such a tool,
which would be a nice benefit. :)

buzzword-ly y'rs,
-Barry