Zope and WebDav

Zope is a free and open-source, object-oriented web application server written in the Python programming language.

Web-based Distributed Authoring and Versioning, or WebDAV, is a set of extensions to the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) that allows users to edit and manage files collaboratively on remote World Wide Web servers.

Mac OS X has built-in support for WebDav, so no other software is required.

Editing a Zope template using Flux

We can use the Command-K shortcut in the Finder to mount a WebDav volume, and treat the folders within it like any other Flux project.

Note

Flux can only work with Zope Page Templates, not DTML files.

Step 1

First, mount the Zope WebDav server using the Finder (Command-K), the host and port may be different on your installation, check with the person who installed Zope if you are not sure.

Step 2

You can now navigate using the Finder to find your page templates.



Step 3

Open the folder containing your page templates using Flux in the normal way, the easiest way to do this is to simply drag the folder onto the Flux icon on the Dock.

Step 4

The folder will open like any normal Flux project, although you may find it to run a little slower than usual, this is due to the network overhead. This slowdown will be quite apparent if your Zope server is on a different machine to the one running Flux. Edit and save your pages as you normally would.

Done!

Now, when you visit your Zope based site, the changes should have taken effect.

Tip

See Custom Preview URLs to make editing Zope sites even easier!