[Zope-PTK] Wizards

[Bill Anderson]

"Andrew M. Kuchling" wrote:

> I'd like to re-raise the issue, outside of the PTK, because the idea
> of wizards is useful outside of the PTK; consider a site with a
> multi-stage registration process where you have to fill out several
> screens of info.  Right now the Wizard ZClass is hiding inside the
> DemoPortal export file, but it might be worth promoting it into a
> standard component of Zope.

I agree entirely. I would love to see Wizards be a product in their own
right.

> Currently Wizards are really simple; they're Folderish objects that
> can contain a bunch of DTML methods.  The methods are sorted by ID to
> produce the order in which they're traversed; for example, if you have
> methods named 'a', 'b', 'd', they'll be shown in that order.  Each
> method can contain <INPUT> tags, and the wizard will collect all the
> form inputs, hiding them in hidden variables in subsequent pages.
> 
> Some requirements I can think of:
> 
>      * You want to be able to sanity-check the fields after each step,
> staying at the same step until the fields have reasonable values.

Agreed. This is one requirement I get frequently from clients regarding
forms. It is extremely annoying to have to go back and fill out the form
in toto again.

 
>      * Putting values inside hidden fields won't work well if one of
> the fields is large -- say, a 200K uploaded file.  Better to keep a
> server-side session that holds the field values.  (I think some sort
> of standard session tracking, or a standard hook for sessions, should
> be part of Zope, but that's a separate issue.)

Agreed on all counts.
 
> What other requirements would there be?  Does anyone have other
> potential applications for Wizards?

I have many potential applications! :)

Setting up a KnowledgeKit, a squishdot site, various eCommerce apps,
come to mind.


trying-to-say-other-than'me too'-ly y'rs Bill

-- 
In flying I have learned that carelessness and overconfidence are 
usually far more dangerous than deliberately accepted risks. 
          -- Wilbur Wright in a letter to his father, September 1900