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| author | Chris McDonough <chrism@agendaless.com> | 2009-06-01 02:23:49 +0000 |
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| committer | Chris McDonough <chrism@agendaless.com> | 2009-06-01 02:23:49 +0000 |
| commit | 5b10a25c59ccb636dc58f797950952806f3ed1ef (patch) | |
| tree | 7fb1aeb1649d34aea840dc073500215d70690afd /docs/tutorials/bfgwiki2/definingviews.rst | |
| parent | 01223745750e9359f88446ce646e36563b5baabe (diff) | |
| download | pyramid-5b10a25c59ccb636dc58f797950952806f3ed1ef.tar.gz pyramid-5b10a25c59ccb636dc58f797950952806f3ed1ef.tar.bz2 pyramid-5b10a25c59ccb636dc58f797950952806f3ed1ef.zip | |
Add defining views chapter.
Diffstat (limited to 'docs/tutorials/bfgwiki2/definingviews.rst')
| -rw-r--r-- | docs/tutorials/bfgwiki2/definingviews.rst | 320 |
1 files changed, 320 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/docs/tutorials/bfgwiki2/definingviews.rst b/docs/tutorials/bfgwiki2/definingviews.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..0efd2ce21 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/tutorials/bfgwiki2/definingviews.rst @@ -0,0 +1,320 @@ +============== +Defining Views +============== + +Views in BFG are typically simple Python functions that accept two +parameters: :term:`context`, and :term:`request`. A view is assumed +to return a :term:`response` object. + +A invocation of a view that matches a URL via :term:`url dispatch` +passes as the context object an object which has attributes matching +the elements placed into the URL by the ``path`` of a ``route`` +statement. For instance, if a route statement in ``configure.zcml`` +had the path ``:one/:two``, and the URL at +``http://example.com/foo/bar`` was invoked, matching this path, the +context object passed to the view would have a ``one`` attribute withe +the value ``foo`` and a ``two`` attribute with the value ``bar``. + +Declaring Dependencies in Our ``setup.py`` File +=============================================== + +Our application will depend on packages which are not dependencies of +the original "tutorial" application as it was generated by the +``paster create`` command. We'll add these dependencies to our +``tutorial`` package's ``setup.py`` file by assigning these +dependencies to both the ``install_requires`` and the +``tests_require`` parameters to the ``setup`` function. In +particular, we require the ``docutils`` package. + +Our resulting ``setup.py`` should look like so: + +.. literalinclude:: src/views/setup.py + :linenos: + :language: python + +Adding View Functions +===================== + +We'll get rid of our ``my_view`` view in our ``views.py`` file. It's +only an example and isn't relevant to our application. + +Then we're going to add four :term:`view` functions to our +``views.py`` module. One view (named ``view_wiki``) will display the +wiki itself (it will answer on the root URL), another named +``view_page`` will display an individual page, another named +``add_page`` will allow a page to be added, and a final view named +``edit_page`` will allow a page to be edited. + +.. note:: + + There is nothing automagically special about the filename + ``views.py``. A project may have many views throughout its codebase + in arbitrarily-named files. Files implementing views often have + ``view`` in their filenames (or may live in a Python subpackage of + your application package named ``views``), but this is only by + convention. + +The ``view_wiki`` view function +------------------------------- + +The ``view_wiki`` function will respond as the default view of a +``Wiki`` model object. It always redirects to a URL which represents +the path to our "FrontPage". It returns an instance of the +``webob.exc.HTTPFound`` class (instances of which implement the WebOb +:term:`response` interface), It will use the the ``routes.url_for`` +API to construct a URL to the ``FrontPage`` page +(e.g. ``http://localhost:6543/FrontPage``), and will use it as the +"location" of the HTTPFound response, forming an HTTP redirect. + + +The ``view_page`` view function +------------------------------- + +The ``view_page`` function will respond as the default view of a +``Page`` object. The ``view_page`` function renders the +:term:`ReStructuredText` body of a page (stored as the ``data`` +attribute of a Page object) as HTML. Then it substitutes an HTML +anchor for each *WikiWord* reference in the rendered HTML using a +compiled regular expression. + +The curried function named ``check`` is used as the first argument to +``wikiwords.sub``, indicating that it should be called to provide a +value for each WikiWord match found in the content. If the wiki +already contains a page with the matched WikiWord name, the ``check`` +function generates a view link to be used as the substitution value +and returns it. If the wiki does not already contain a page with with +the matched WikiWord name, the function generates an "add" link as the +subsitution value and returns it. + +As a result, the ``content`` variable is now a fully formed bit of +HTML containing various view and add links for WikiWords based on the +content of our current page object. + +We then generate an edit URL (because it's easier to do here than in +the template), and we call the +``repoze.bfg.chameleon_zpt.render_template_to_response`` function with +a number of arguments. The first argument is the *relative* path to a +:term:`Chameleon` ZPT template. It is relative to the directory of +the file in which we're creating the ``view_page`` function. The +``render_template_to_response`` function also accepts ``request``, +``page``, ``content``, and ``edit_url`` as keyword arguments. As a +result, the template will be able to use these names to perform +various rendering tasks. + +The result of ``render_template_to_response`` is returned to +:mod:`repoze.bfg`. Unsurprisingly, it is a response object. + +The ``add_page`` view function +------------------------------ + +The ``add_page`` function will be invoked when a user clicks on a +*WikiWord* which isn't yet represented as a page in the system. The +``check`` function within the ``view_page`` view generates URLs to +this view. It also acts as a handler for the form that is generated +when we want to add a page object. The ``context`` of the +``add_page`` view is will always have the attributes we need to +construct URLs and find model objects. + +The context object will have a ``pagename`` attribute that matches the +name of the page we'd like to add. If our add view is invoked via, +e.g. ``http://localhost:6543/add_page/SomeName``, the :term:`pagename` +attribute of the context will be ``SomeName``. + +If the view rendering is *not* a result of a form submission (if the +expression ``'form.submitted' in request.params`` is False), the view +renders a template. To do so, it generates a "save url" which the +template use as the form post URL during rendering. We're lazy here, +so we're trying to use the same template (``templates/edit.pt``) for +the add view as well as the page edit view, so we create a dummy Page +object in order to satisfy the edit form's desire to have *some* page +object exposed as ``page``, and we'll render the template to a +response. + +If the view rendering *is* a result of a form submission (if the +expression ``'form.submitted' in request.params`` is True), we scrape +the page body from the form data, create a Page object using the name +in ``pagename`` context attribute and obtain the page body from the +request, and save it into the database using ``session.add``. We then +redirect back to the ``view_page`` view (the default view for a page) +for the newly created page. + +The ``edit_page`` view function +------------------------------- + +The ``edit_page`` function will be invoked when a user clicks the +"Edit this Page" button on the view form. It renders an edit form but +it also acts as the handler for the form it renders. The ``context`` +of the ``edit_page`` view will *always* have a ``pagename`` attribute +matching the name of the page the user wants to edit. + +If the view rendering is *not* a result of a form submission (if the +expression ``'form.submitted' in request.params`` is False), the view +simply renders the edit form, passing the request, the page object, +and a save_url which will be used as the action of the generated form. + +If the view rendering *is* a result of a form submission (if the +expression ``'form.submitted' in request.params`` is True), the view +grabs the ``body`` element of the request parameter and sets it as the +``data`` attribute of the page context. It then redirects to the +default view of the context (the page), which will always be the +``view_page`` view. + +Viewing the Result of Our Edits to ``views.py`` +=============================================== + +The result of all of our edits to ``views.py`` will leave it looking +like this: + +.. literalinclude:: src/views/tutorial/views.py + :linenos: + :language: python + +Adding Templates +================ + +The views we've added all reference a :term:`template`. Each template +is a :term:`Chameleon` template. The default templating system in +:mod:`repoze.bfg` is a variant of :term:`ZPT` provided by Chameleon. +These templates will live in the ``templates`` directory of our +tutorial package. + +The ``view.pt`` Template +------------------------ + +The ``view.pt`` template is used for viewing a single wiki page. It +is used by the ``view_page`` view function. It should have a div that +is "structure replaced" with the ``content`` value provided by the +view. It should also have a link on the rendered page that points at +the "edit" URL (the URL which invokes the ``edit_page`` view for the +page being viewed). + +Once we're done with the ``view.pt`` template, it will look a lot like +the below: + +.. literalinclude:: src/views/tutorial/templates/view.pt + :linenos: + :language: xml + + +The ``edit.pt`` Template +------------------------ + +The ``edit.pt`` template is used for adding and editing a wiki page. +It is used by the ``add_page`` and ``edit_page`` view functions. It +should display a page containing a form that POSTs back to the +"save_url" argument supplied by the view. The form should have a +"body" textarea field (the page data), and a submit button that has +the name "form.submitted". The textarea in the form should be filled +with any existing page data when it is rendered. + +Once we're done with the ``edit.pt`` template, it will look a lot like +the below: + +.. literalinclude:: src/views/tutorial/templates/edit.pt + :linenos: + :language: xml + +Static Resources +---------------- + +Our templates name a single static resource named ``style.css``. We +need to create this and place it in a file named ``style.css`` within +our package's ``templates/static`` directory: + +.. literalinclude:: src/views/tutorial/templates/static/style.css + :linenos: + :language: css + +This CSS file will be accessed via +e.g. ``http://localhost:6543/static/style.css`` by virtue of the +``static_view`` view we've defined in the ``views.py`` file. Any +number and type of static resources can be placed in this directory +(or subdirectories) and are just referred to by URL within templates. + +Mapping Views to URLs in ``configure.zcml`` +=========================================== + +The ``configure.zcml`` file contains ``route`` declarations which +serve to map URLs (via :term:`url dispatch`) to view functions. +You'll need to add five ``view`` declarations to ``configure.zcml``. + +#. Add a declaration which maps the empty path (signifying the root + URL) to the view named ``view_wiki`` in our ``views.py`` file with + the name ``view_wiki``. This is the default view for the wiki. + +#. Add a declaration which maps the path pattern ``:pagename`` to the + view named ``edit_page`` in our ``views.py`` file with the view + name ``view_page``. This is the edit view for a page. + +#. Add a declaration which maps the path pattern + ``:pagename/edit_page`` to the view named ``view_page`` in our + ``views.py`` file with the name ``edit_page``. This is the edit view + for a page. + +#. Add a declaration which maps the path pattern + ``add_page/:pagename`` to the view named ``add_page`` in our + ``views.py`` file with the name ``add_page``. This is the add view + for a new page. + +As a result of our edits, the ``configure.zcml`` file should look +something like so: + +.. literalinclude:: src/views/tutorial/configure.zcml + :linenos: + :language: xml + +The WSGI Pipeline +----------------- + +Within ``tutorial.ini``, note the existence of a ``[pipeline:main]`` +section which specifies our WSGI pipeline. This "pipeline" will be +served up as our WSGI application. As far as the WSGI server is +concerned the pipeline *is* our application. Simpler configurations +don't use a pipeline: instead they expose a single WSGI application as +"main". Our setup is more complicated, so we use a pipeline. + +"egg:repoze.tm2#tm" is at the "top" of the pipeline. This is a piece +of middleware which commits a transaction if no exception occurs; if +an exception occurs, the transaction will be aborted. This is the +piece of software that allows us to forget about needing to do manual +commits and aborts of our database connection in view code. + +Adding an Element to the Pipeline +--------------------------------- + +Let's add a piece of middleware to the WSGI pipeline. +"egg:Paste#evalerror" middleware which displays debuggable errors in +the browser while you're developing (not recommeded for deployment). +Let's insert evalerror into the pipeline right above +"egg:repoze.tm2#tm", making our resulting ``tutorial.ini`` file look +like so: + +.. literalinclude:: src/views/tutorial.ini + :linenos: + :language: ini + +Viewing the Application in a Browser +==================================== + +Once we've set up the WSGI pipeline properly, we can finally examine +our application in a browser. The views we'll try are as follows: + +- Visiting `http://localhost:6543/ <http://localhost:6543/>`_ in a + browser invokes the ``view_wiki`` view. This always redirects to + the ``view_page`` view of the FrontPage page object. + +- Visiting `http://localhost:6543/FrontPage/ + <http://localhost:6543/FrontPage/>`_ in a browser invokes the + ``view_page`` view of the front page page object. + +- Visiting `http://localhost:6543/FrontPage/edit_page + <http://localhost:6543/FrontPage/edit_page>`_ in a browser invokes + the edit view for the front page object. + +- Visiting `http://localhost:6543/add_page/SomePageName + <http://localhost:6543/add_page/SomePageName>`_ in a browser invokes + the add view for a page. + +Try generating an error in a view by typing some bad code. Then hit +the view. You should see an interactive exception handler in the +browser which allows you to examine values in a post-mortem mode. |
