Preface

This course aims to give a good overview of Zope, the Z Object Publishing Environment. We approach Zope via the web-based Zope Management Interface, exploring how to create dynamic web pages using the two templating languages that come with Zope, namely DTML and Zope Page Templates.

In the course of creating a simple web directory the object filesystem presented by the ZODB, the Zope Object Database, is introduced, and we look at topics such as acquisition and Zope access control. We occasionally take a glance under the hood when there's some debugging to be done, or to find out where to go when told to "Use the Source, Luke".

After working with the ZODB and some of the objects provided by Zope (Folder, DTML Method, Script (Python), ...), we turn our attention to filesystem Python code, and how to develop a basic Zope Product. Rather than layering on the magic, we try to keep it simple and to be explicit about what goes on in a Zope Product. Once our product is ready, we surface it in the Zope Management Interface, and surface it via Page Templates.

The last part of the Zope course looks at interfacing with RDBMSs using ZSQL Methods.