[Zope3-dev] Zope3 magic makes me cranky.

[Fred L. Drake, Jr.]

Anthony Baxter writes:
 > I put a line
 >     import pdb ; pdb.set_trace()
 > in zope/app/browser/form/widget.py:Widget.row() (line 205 in current-cvs).
 > I then run something that displays an add form, and look at the pdb window:
 > 
 > (Pdb) p self
 > <zope.app.publisher.browser.viewmeta.BytesWidget object at 0x40f4960c>
 > 
 > This class doesn't exist. According to SteveA on IRC, this is because 
 > 'self' here is actually a view being constructed with some sort of 
 > mixin fun. If this is the case, could we please get a decent __class__ 
 > that indicates this? I just spent far too long slamming my head against 
 > this trying to figure out what the heck I was actually dealing with.

For widgets in particular, a bunch of the magic can probably be
avoided simply by changing the ZCML.  The widgets could be configured
using <view> elements instead of <page> elements to avoid a lot of
extra cruftiness being invoked by the <page> directive, with a side
effect of (very slightly) improved startup time.

In the general case, you're right: the magically generated classes
need to be clearly marked, where they're necessary at all.


  -Fred

-- 
Fred L. Drake, Jr.  <fred at zope.com>
PythonLabs at Zope Corporation