[ZWeb] Organization of Zope API Reference

Don Hopkins dhopkins at DonHopkins.com
Fri Aug 27 23:24:04 EDT 2004


I've gone through the Zope API reference and made an index of all the
modules and classes, to stimulate discussion about how to improve the
API reference. This is just a first cut to figure out what's there and
how to approach indexing and categorizing it. 

Most modules in the API reference only contain one class of the same
name, but a few modules have no classes or one or more differently named
classes. So maybe it would be better to have a class name index, but
indexing modules without classes as if they were classes.

I've categorized modules and classes, based on how they're used, and how
important I think they are to the Zope programmer. Classes or modules
can be in more than one category: just one exclusive category, and any
number of modifier categories. 

Here are the proposed categories so far:

Exclusive categories (used to classify categories based on how they're
used):

    Core - A core class that many other classes inherit from.
    Content - A content class that occurs in the Zope database.
    Utility - A utility class called by other code, but not instantiated
as content in the Zope database. 

Modifier categories (used to modify classes based on how important they
are):

    Common - Commonly used, should be easy to find. (modifier category)
    Obsolete - Rarely used, should not be emphasized. (modifier
category)

I've marked all the Core categories as Common since they're important to
know, as well as the Utility classes Request and Response, but the other
utilities are not common. 
I've marked the PropertySheet and PropertySheets classes as Obsolete,
because I believe they have to do with ZClasses, which everyone in their
right mind knows well enough to avoid. 

This list doesn't look complete to me. I think there are probably a
bunch more classes that should be documented in the API reference, but
here are the ones that are currently documented. 

This list is just a straw man to stimulate discussion of how to
reorganize the API reference, so please feel free to suggest changes. 

	-Don


    module AccessControl                        Utility
        class SecurityManager                   Utility
    module AuthenticatedUser                    Utility
        class AuthenticatedUser                 Utility
    module DTMLDocument                         Content
        class DTMLDocument                      Content
    module DTMLMethod                           Content
        class DTMLMethod                        Content
    module DateTime                             Utility
        class DateTime                          Utility
    module ExternalMethod                       Content
        class ExternalMethod                    Content
    module File                                 Content
        class File                              Content
    module Folder                               Content
        class Folder                            Content
    module Image                                Content
        class Image                             Content
    module MailHost                             Content
        class MailHost                          Content
    module ObjectManager                        Core Common
        class ObjectManager                     Core Common
    module ObjectManagerItem                    Core Common
        class ObjectManagerItem                 Core Common
    module PropertyManager                      Core Common
        class PropertyManager                   Core Common
    module PropertySheet                        Utility Obsolete
        class PropertySheet                     Utility Obsolete
    module PropertySheets                       Utility Obsolete
        class PropertySheets                    Utility Obsolete
    module PythonScript                         Content
        class PythonScript                      Content
    module Request                              Utility Common
        class Request                           Utility Common
    module Response                             Utility Common
        class Response                          Utility Common
    module Script                               Content
        class Script                            Content
    module SessionInterfaces                    Utility
        class SessionDataManagerErr             Utility
        class BrowserIdManagerInterface         Utility
        class BrowserIdManagerErr               Utility
        class SessionDataManagerInterface       Utility
    module TransienceInterfaces                 Utility
        class TransientObject                   Utility
        class MaxTransientObjectsExceeded       Utility
        class TransientObjectContainer          Utility
    module UserFolder                           Content
        class UserFolder                        Content
    module Vocabulary                           Utility
        class Vocabulary                        Utility
    module ZCatalog                             Content
        class ZCatalog                          Content
    module ZSQLMethod                           Content
        class ZSQLMethod                        Content
    module ZTUtils                              Utility
        class Batch                             Utility
    module math                                 Utility
    module random                               Utility
    module sequence                             Utility
    module standard                             Utility
        class DTML                              Utility
    module string                               Utility





More information about the Zope-web mailing list