Zope facts for kids
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| Original author(s) | Zope Corporation |
|---|---|
| Developer(s) | Zope Corporation |
| Initial release | July 1999 |
| Stable release |
5.8.6 / 4 October 2023
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| Available in | Python |
| Type | web framework |
| License | Zope Public License |
Zope is a family of free, open-source tools used to build and run websites and web applications. It is written in the Python programming language.
The name Zope stands for "Z Object Publishing Environment." It was one of the first systems to use a method called "object publishing" for the web. Think of it like building a website with digital building blocks, where each block (or "object") has its own job. Zope was a very important application for Python, helping the language become more popular.
Over the years, the Zope community has created other tools for building websites. The most well-known is Zope 2, which is the power behind the popular Plone content management system.
Contents
The Story of Zope
The company that created Zope started in 1995 as Digital Creations. At first, they built an online system for classified ads. In 1998, the company released its main software product for free and named it Zope. This made Zope one of the first "object publishing" tools for the web.
In 2004, a new version called Zope 3 was released. It was a complete rewrite of the original software. The goal was to create a more modern and powerful tool for building large web applications. However, Zope 3 was not compatible with Zope 2, which meant that websites built with Zope 2 could not run on Zope 3.
This caused some confusion because there were two different tools with the same name. To solve this, the Zope community renamed Zope 3 to "BlueBream" in 2010. The names "Zope" and "Blue Bream" both come from a type of fish.
The Zope Foundation
| Founded | March 2006 |
|---|---|
| Type | nonprofit |
| Focus | Open-source software |
| Method | Zope Public License |
The Zope Foundation is a nonprofit organization created in 2006. Its main job is to support the Zope community. This community includes the programmers who build Zope, as well as the people and companies who use it. The foundation helps manage the development of Zope and makes sure it remains a free and open-source project for everyone to use.
Different Versions of Zope
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Screenshot
The Zope management interface, where developers can manage a website.
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| Developer(s) | Zope Corporation |
|---|---|
| Initial release | 1998 |
| Stable release |
Lua error in Module:Wd at line 1575: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). / Lua error in Module:Wd at line 1571: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
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| Written in | Python |
| Operating system | Cross-platform |
| Type | Web application server |
| License | Zope Public License |
Zope 2
A website built with Zope 2 is made up of "objects" stored in a special database called the ZODB. This is different from many websites, which are built from simple files. Using objects allows developers to build complex sites in an organized way.
Zope 2 uses two main ways to create HTML pages:
- Document Template Markup Language (DTML): An older system that lets developers put simple code inside HTML templates.
- Zope Page Templates (ZPT): A newer and more popular system. ZPTs are valid HTML or XML files, which means they can be edited in normal web design programs. This makes it easier for designers and programmers to work together.
Zope 2 is the foundation for the Plone content management system, a powerful tool for building and managing large websites.
BlueBream (formerly Zope 3)
| Developer(s) | Zope Corporation |
|---|---|
| Initial release | 2004 |
| Stable release |
1.0 / January 18, 2011
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| Written in | Python |
| Operating system | Cross-platform |
| Type | Web application server |
| License | Zope Public License |
BlueBream was a complete rewrite of Zope. The goal was to fix some of the problems in Zope 2 and make it easier for developers to build powerful web applications. It is based on a "component architecture," which is like a set of building blocks that can be easily put together in different ways.
Although it was first meant to replace Zope 2, many of its new ideas were added back into Zope 2 instead. BlueBream is a very stable and powerful tool that is used to run large websites, including Launchpad, a site used for software development.
Zope 4 and Zope 5
Development on Zope 4 began in late 2017. It is an updated version of Zope 2 that includes many modern improvements. Zope 5 was released in 2020 and continues to build on the features of Zope 4.
How Zope Page Templates Work
Zope Page Templates (ZPT) are a clever way to design web pages. A ZPT file is a normal XHTML document, so it can be opened and edited in a regular HTML editor. This is a big advantage over other systems where the code and design are mixed together.
To make the templates dynamic, developers add special attributes to the HTML tags. These attributes tell Zope how to process the page.
For example, to make a part of a page show up only if a certain condition is true, a developer would use the `tal:condition` attribute:
<div tal:condition="...">
This text will only appear if the condition is met.
</div>To change the text inside a heading, a developer could use `tal:content`:
<h1 tal:content="...">This text will be replaced.</h1>These special attributes are part of a system called TAL (Template Attribute Language). This system keeps the programming logic separate from the visual design, making it easier to build and maintain websites.
Notable Software Using Zope
- SchoolTool: An open-source program for managing school information, such as student grades and attendance.
- Plone: A popular open-source content management system used by universities, companies, and governments to build and manage their websites.
See Also
- Django
- Web content management system
- Pylons project
it:Zope 3 pt:BlueBream
