[Zope3-dev] FTP/PUT/file-system-reprentation progress

[Jim Fulton]

Hi,

This is to provide an update on some work I've been doing getting FTP,
PUT, and, eventually, WebDAV working.

As far as I know, FTP is now working. I think that there are some cases
where error handling isn't quite right. If you see anything, please let
me know.

I also have HTTP PUT working. This required adding the foundation for any
non-browser HTTP method. (Browser methods are GET, HEAD, and POST.
BTW, I also implemented HEAD.) This foundation will also support WebDAV,
which uses many additional HTTP methods.

I've ripped out the old VFS framework, which was way too Unix file-system
specific and replaces with a simpler, I think adapter framework that is
based on mimimal file-system representatin ideas.
See zope.app.interfaces.file. This framework supports FTP and PUT and will
play a part in object-system <-> file-system synchronization. (Those of you
who lobbied for more commonality accross these should be happy. :)

I also changed the site-management objects to provide simple browsing
interfaces to facilitate combined browsing and editing with tools like
Mozilla Composer, Amaya, and WebDAV tools.

I'd like to describe a scenario (using old terminoligy, I'm afraid)
that illustrates a part of what I'm trying to achiev.

As a site developer, I can create a view sub-package in a site's
default package. A view sub-package is a folder that can only contain
templates. When you add a template to the view sub-package, it
automatically registered as a view using configuration parameters
defined in the subpackage as a whole.  Suppose my subpackage
is named "folder" and is configured so that it's templates are
configured to be views for IFolder. The path to the view package is:

   /++etc++Services/Packages/default/folder

I can visit that path with an FTP client and save a zpt source
file, named v1.html.  Someone can then visit a url like:

   /somefolder/someotherfolder/v1.html

and see the view.

I could also browser to:

   /++etc++Services/Packages/default/folder/v1.html

with Mozilla, or Amaya to view the template source as an
html document.  I can choose to edit the document with
Mozilla Composer. When I save my changes, they are written
back and reflected in the views.

Note that no source port was needed (nothing up my sleeve ;).

The reason that a GET of
/++etc++Services/Packages/default/folder/v1.html
will always return the source of the template, while a GET of:

   /somefolder/someotherfolder/v1.html

will return the template rendered for someotherfolder.

We still need file-represntation adapters for a few more content types,
like dtml pages and sql scripts.  These would make good small projects
for someone. :)

Jim

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