Python web development that resembles PHP or classic ASP

[erik.oosterwaal]

Hi All,

I have been developing websites in classic asp using VB script for a
long while now. Due to the fact that I also took a detour to
developing ColdFusion, and the fact the companies I work(ed) for never
had time or money for courses, I am now in the awkward position that I
am -still- developing classic ASP.

In it, I have become quite resourceful, I wrote a framework using WSC
(windows scripting components) to separate logic from presentation,
and my display pages use almost no logic, except for the loops and
variables I need to build my pages. I have a three-tier setup and all
business logic is in separate WSC files. The framework even uses an
ORM for access to the tables of my database. This works like a charm.
It makes classic ASP code maintainable, it makes working in classic
ASP very pleasant actually and it makes our customers very happy.

The problem is that classic asp is now a dead language, I need to
modernize and fast! Although the arguments some people make against it
are not valid for me (spaghetti code, unmaintainable, slow), I still
see that there is little to no support for it anymore.

The most logical way to "update" my knowledge to something more
modern, would be to dive into ASP.NET. I considered that for a long
time, but there are some problems with this:

1. I love the control I have over my html using inline, template-based
vbscript. ASP.NET's web forms really sound like a very bad idea, also
the approach Microsoft takes in trying to make a stateless web-app
seem like a statefull application is IMHO a burden. I think webapps
are inherently different than desktop apps, and should be programmed
as such.

2. Who says Microsoft isn't going to pull the plug on VB.NET in a
while or make a drastic change like they did from asp to asp.net
again, some time in the future?

3. I like the rapid development I can do in a dynamic, loosely typed
language like vbscript. The performance-bottleneck of a site is mostly
in the database-access and the http-calls and I think writing all of
the declarations and types for a strong-typed language is overkill for
a webapp.

So that's when I started looking at other dynamic languages for
webdevelopment. I looked at Ruby on Rails and at the different web-
frameworks that are available for Python. The biggest problem there
for me is that the MVC type frameworks that are currently very popular
are also not what I'm looking for.

I like having my directory tree conform to the structure of my
website, so the "Controller" part of the MVC style of development is
something I wouldn't want. What I -would- like is a separation of code
and display logic (so being able to include libraries in a page) and
being able to intermix code directly into the HTML.

As Python would be the language I prefer over Ruby, I thought I'd ask
here to see if anyone in the Python community knows if such a
development-framework exists in Python. For example, does IronPython
also use the same web forms approach as asp.net using VB? The
frameworks I looked at (Django, Pylons) seem to be able to use
different templating engines, does that mean it's just a question of
finding the right one?

Also, for Python there is also the problem of meaningful indentation.
I'm not even sure if it's possible to use Python directly inside HTML,
because indentation would be at the very least tricky to maintain. I'm
kind of hoping here that there are some solutions to these problems
available in Python.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards,

Erik

 

[Max M]

(e-mail address removed) skrev:

Hi All,

So that's when I started looking at other dynamic languages for
webdevelopment. I looked at Ruby on Rails and at the different web-
frameworks that are available for Python. The biggest problem there
for me is that the MVC type frameworks that are currently very popular
are also not what I'm looking for.

Hi Erik,

I am an experienced Python developer working mostly in Plone. Before
that I came from asp like you.


If you want something that is most like what you are used to, you should
check out Django. I have not worked in it, but it get high praises from
developers I trust.

http://www.djangoproject.com/


If you want a more "modern" approach you should check out Grok. It has
been built on all the experiences made with Zope 2, CMF and Plone. It is
based on Zope 3.

http://grok.zope.org/

It is the one I would choose if starting from fresh today.


--

hilsen/regards Max M, Denmark

http://www.mxm.dk/
IT's Mad Science

 

[Sebastian 'lunar' Wiesner]

(e-mail address removed) skrev:

Hi All,

So that's when I started looking at other dynamic languages for
webdevelopment. I looked at Ruby on Rails and at the different web-
frameworks that are available for Python. The biggest problem there
for me is that the MVC type frameworks that are currently very popular
are also not what I'm looking for.

Hi Erik,

I am an experienced Python developer working mostly in Plone. Before
that I came from asp like you.


If you want something that is most like what you are used to, you should
check out Django. I have not worked in it, but it get high praises from
developers I trust.

http://www.djangoproject.com/

Django is one of these "MFC type frameworks" the OP was excatly _not_
looking for

If you want a more "modern" approach you should check out Grok. It has
been built on all the experiences made with Zope 2, CMF and Plone. It is
based on Zope 3.

http://grok.zope.org/

It is the one I would choose if starting from fresh today.

Grok too is very different from classic asp programming, it even abstracts
much more from HTTP than Django does.

 

[Sebastian 'lunar' Wiesner]

1. I love the control I have over my html using inline, template-based
vbscript. ASP.NET's web forms really sound like a very bad idea, also
the approach Microsoft takes in trying to make a stateless web-app
seem like a statefull application is IMHO a burden. I think webapps
are inherently different than desktop apps, and should be programmed
as such.
[...]
3. I like the rapid development I can do in a dynamic, loosely typed
language like vbscript. The performance-bottleneck of a site is mostly
in the database-access and the http-calls and I think writing all of
the declarations and types for a strong-typed language is overkill for
a webapp.

So that's when I started looking at other dynamic languages for
webdevelopment. I looked at Ruby on Rails and at the different web-
frameworks that are available for Python. The biggest problem there
for me is that the MVC type frameworks that are currently very popular
are also not what I'm looking for.

I like having my directory tree conform to the structure of my
website, so the "Controller" part of the MVC style of development is
something I wouldn't want. What I -would- like is a separation of code
and display logic (so being able to include libraries in a page) and
being able to intermix code directly into the HTML.

Summarising, you are searching for a framework, which allows you to embed
much code in templates, follows the directory structure of a classic
conventional website and has ORM features, but does not resemble desktop
programming or use the MVC pattern.

In this case I feel like have to disappoint you, I don't know any such thing
for python. You will have to put this together from different components.

I guess, using a simple WSGI wrapper as Werkzeug or Paste, and combining it
with a powerful ORM like SQLAlchemy and a templating engine, which allows
you to embed full python code in the templates (e.g. Mako), will best suite
your needs, as it gives you the freedom to design the application following
your ideas.

Modern frameworks like Django or Grok require a somewhat great adaption,
since they strongly restrict the programmer's freedom. I doubt, that you
would get Django or Grok working like your asp framework.

 

[Bruno Desthuilliers]

Sebastian 'lunar' Wiesner a écrit :
(snip)

Django is one of these "MFC type frameworks"

Actually it's "MVC", not "MFC" !-)

 

[Bruno Desthuilliers]

(e-mail address removed) a écrit :

Hi All,

(snip history and reasons to switch from old-style ASP).

So that's when I started looking at other dynamic languages for
webdevelopment. I looked at Ruby on Rails and at the different web-
frameworks that are available for Python. The biggest problem there
for me is that the MVC type frameworks that are currently very popular
are also not what I'm looking for.

I like having my directory tree conform to the structure of my
website, so the "Controller" part of the MVC style of development is
something I wouldn't want. What I -would- like is a separation of code
and display logic (so being able to include libraries in a page) and
being able to intermix code directly into the HTML.

There are a couple points I don't get here. Mostly: how is your
application logic separated from the presentation logic if you "intermix
code directly into the HTML" ? Or are you pages including the libs,
getting the appropriate data out of the DB, and then including another
file acting as a template ? If so, then how are you're "pages" different
from MVC frameworks controllers ?

As Python would be the language I prefer over Ruby, I thought I'd ask
here to see if anyone in the Python community knows if such a
development-framework exists in Python.

mod_python + PSP would come to mind - it's probably the closer thing to
ASP/PHP you'll get in Python - but I don't know if PSP is still
maintained, and I would by no mean consider such a "framework" for new
projects (and FWIW, PSP is a bit ugly IMHO).

Mako is a templating engine that let you have quite a lot of Python code
inside your templates, but you'll still need a separate controller for
most things.

Writing a wsgi-compatible framework that uses Mako as template engine
and dispatch to controllers based on the filesystem might not be a very
difficult task, but even then, I don't see the point of such an
arrangement - specially when we already have more web frameworks than
keywords...

For example, does IronPython
also use the same web forms approach as asp.net using VB? The
frameworks I looked at (Django, Pylons) seem to be able to use
different templating engines, does that mean it's just a question of
finding the right one?

Django and Pylons both impose a distinct controller.

Also, for Python there is also the problem of meaningful indentation.
I'm not even sure if it's possible to use Python directly inside HTML,
because indentation would be at the very least tricky to maintain.

It's indeed one of the ugly parts of PSP.

I'm
kind of hoping here that there are some solutions to these problems
available in Python.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I sincerely think you'd be better trying to get up and running with one
of the existing MVC solutions like Django or Pylons. Now there are quite
a couple other web frameworks in Python, you know - so perhaps you
should have a closer look at them ?

My 2 cents...

 

[Ivan Illarionov]

On Mon, 26 May 2008 17:49:01 +0200, Sebastian 'lunar' Wiesner wrote:

[...]

Modern frameworks like Django or Grok require a somewhat great adaption,
since they strongly restrict the programmer's freedom. I doubt, that
you would get Django or Grok working like your asp framework.

Actually, mordern frameworks (at least Djagno) does not "restrict the
programmer's freedom", they only encourage clean design.

It's perfectly possible to write Django app with only one view and url
pattern that redirects everything to different template engine like
Cheetah or Mako and all the logic could be put inside those templates.

But, IMHO, writing PHP-style Python webapp is silly.

Ivan

 

[Sebastian 'lunar' Wiesner]

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Hash: SHA1

On Mon, 26 May 2008 17:49:01 +0200, Sebastian 'lunar' Wiesner wrote:

[...]

Modern frameworks like Django or Grok require a somewhat great adaption,
since they strongly restrict the programmer's freedom. I doubt, that
you would get Django or Grok working like your asp framework.

Actually, mordern frameworks (at least Djagno) does not "restrict the
programmer's freedom", they only encourage clean design.

Can we agree on the fact, that Django _encourages clean design_ by
_restricting the programmers freedom to some degree_? This comprise would
avoid an endless war about framework philosophy (and isn't so far from
the truth, btw)

It's perfectly possible to write Django app with only one view and url
pattern that redirects everything to different template engine like
Cheetah or Mako and all the logic could be put inside those templates.

Absolutely, but that's not what Django is about. If you don't follow
Django's conventions and don't make use of Djangos facilities like its ORM
or its admin interface, Django just doesn't make sense anymore.

An application such as you outlined would depend on a big, heavy framework
to do a task, that could easily be done with plain WSGI or a WSGI wrapper
like Werkzeug.

But, IMHO, writing PHP-style Python webapp is silly.

I completely agree here, but that's not, what the OP asked for

- --
Freedom is always the freedom of dissenters.
(Rosa Luxemburg)
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[Ivan Illarionov]

Can we agree on the fact, that Django _encourages clean design_ by
_restricting the programmers freedom to some degree_? This comprise
would avoid an endless war about framework philosophy (and isn't so
far from the truth, btw)

Yes, it makes very little sense to not follow conventions in Django. I
have no problem with some people call it "some degree of restriction"

If the OP wants PHP-style programming he will get better results with PHP
because PHP was designed this way. Any Pythonic solution will be an
overkill.

Ivan

 

[Sebastian 'lunar' Wiesner]

If the OP wants PHP-style programming he will get better results with PHP
because PHP was designed this way. Any Pythonic solution will be an
overkill.

Better shoot yourself in the foot with a PHP-like Python-thing, than
committing suicide by shooting yourself into the head with PHP ...

 

[Ivan Illarionov]

If the OP wants PHP-style programming he will get better results with
PHP because PHP was designed this way. Any Pythonic solution will be an
overkill.

Better shoot yourself in the foot with a PHP-like Python-thing, than
committing suicide by shooting yourself into the head with PHP ...

I can't imagine anything uglier than Python with its significant
whitespace wrapped inside HTML. I guess it could be more damaging than
PHP which was written exactly for this purpose.

 

[erik.oosterwaal]

There are a couple points I don't get here. Mostly: how is your

application logic separated from the presentation logic if you "intermix
code directly into the HTML" ? Or are you pages including the libs,
getting the appropriate data out of the DB, and then including another
file acting as a template ? If so, then how are you're "pages" different
from MVC frameworks controllers ?

I have the WSC files as "libraries" I can open in a standard ASP page,
So for example, to get a recordset in one of my ASP pages, I would use
something like

Dim objUsers, Recordset_of_users
Set objUsers= GetObject("script:" & Server.MapPath("/~components/
users.wsc"))
objUsers.open()
Set Recordset_of_users =
objUsers.getUsersByGroup(request.queryString("group_id"))
objUsers.close()
Set objUsers= Nothing

I put code like this at the top of my ASP pages, and inside the HTML
code I can use "Recordset_of_users" and loop through it (for example).
All code in the asp pages is getting and setting information, or
looping through it. All real (business) logic is inside the WSC files.

The only real difference is that I don't use the "C" of MVC. I dislike
a controller that calls and routes functionality based on the URL. The
M (model) functionality is covered by the WSC files. The V (view) are
the asp pages themselves. The controller part is handled by the asp
pages aswell, just using regular links, GETs and POSTs in forms.

But, IMHO, writing PHP-style Python webapp is silly.

Maybe I need to pick up a new style of programming as well, on top
of just a new language...

Better shoot yourself in the foot with a PHP-like Python-thing, than
committing suicide by shooting yourself into the head with PHP ...

LOL, point taken.

So to summarize: it should be possible to get exactly what I want, but
it's not advisable, because the frameworks aren't designed to work
like this. That makes sense.
I want to thank you guys for all the advice, I have a lot of
frameworks and template-engines to look into now, I'll have a look at
all that you mentioned to see which one suits me best. Judging from
the quick and thorough support from the Python community, I think I
will stick with a proven framework and/or style, so I can ask a
question once in a while.
There is probably less sense in trying to pick up a new language while
at the same time trying to stick to the methods I used in an old
language. But hey, I thought, maybe a thing like this already exists
exactly like I want it... Ah well.

Thanks again all, take care!

Erik

 

[Bruno Desthuilliers]

Ivan Illarionov a écrit :

If the OP wants PHP-style programming he will get better results with
PHP because PHP was designed this way. Any Pythonic solution will be an
overkill.

Better shoot yourself in the foot with a PHP-like Python-thing, than
committing suicide by shooting yourself into the head with PHP ...

I can't imagine anything uglier than Python with its significant
whitespace wrapped inside HTML. I guess it could be more damaging than
PHP which was written exactly for this purpose.

Mako template's syntax looks not so ugly to me:

<%inherit file="base.html"/>
<% rows = [[v for v in range(0,10)] for row in range(0,10)] %>
<table>
% for row in rows:
${makerow(row)}
% endfor
</table>

<%def name="makerow(row)">
<tr>
% for name in row:
<td>${name}</td>\
% endfor
</tr>
</%def>

 

[Ivan Illarionov]

Ivan Illarionov a écrit :

[ Ivan Illarionov <[email protected]> ]

If the OP wants PHP-style programming he will get better results with
PHP because PHP was designed this way. Any Pythonic solution will be
an overkill.
Better shoot yourself in the foot with a PHP-like Python-thing, than
committing suicide by shooting yourself into the head with PHP ...

I can't imagine anything uglier than Python with its significant
whitespace wrapped inside HTML. I guess it could be more damaging than
PHP which was written exactly for this purpose.

Mako template's syntax looks not so ugly to me:

<%inherit file="base.html"/>
<% rows = [[v for v in range(0,10)] for row in range(0,10)] %> <table>
% for row in rows:
${makerow(row)}
% endfor
</table>

<%def name="makerow(row)">
<tr>
% for name in row:
<td>${name}</td>\
% endfor
</tr>
</%def>

Mako templates are alright. I like them more than Django templates.

 

[Bruno Desthuilliers]

(e-mail address removed) a écrit :

I have the WSC files as "libraries" I can open in a standard ASP page,
So for example, to get a recordset in one of my ASP pages, I would use
something like

Dim objUsers, Recordset_of_users
Set objUsers= GetObject("script:" & Server.MapPath("/~components/
users.wsc"))
objUsers.open()
Set Recordset_of_users =
objUsers.getUsersByGroup(request.queryString("group_id"))
objUsers.close()
Set objUsers= Nothing

I put code like this at the top of my ASP pages, and inside the HTML
code I can use "Recordset_of_users" and loop through it (for example).
All code in the asp pages is getting and setting information, or
looping through it. All real (business) logic is inside the WSC files.

The only real difference is that I don't use the "C" of MVC.

Yes you do. It's exactly what your code snippet above is : a controller.
Or at least the same part of the controller that we identify as such
in web MVC frameworks (the web server and request to handlers mechanism
being the other, less visible but still present part). Having the
controller's code mixed up with the view is pretty common in GUI
toolkits, and not so uncommon in "server pages" frameworks.

I dislike
a controller that calls and routes functionality based on the URL.

Oh yes ? And how is it so different from having the web server routing
to requests to .asp files calls based on a url-filesystem mapping ?-)
Except, of course, that getting rid of the filesystem mapping decouples
the app's urls scheme from the source code inner organisation ?

The
M (model) functionality is covered by the WSC files. The V (view) are
the asp pages themselves. The controller part is handled by the asp
pages aswell, just using regular links, GETs and POSTs in forms.


Maybe I need to pick up a new style of programming as well, on top
of just a new language...

Given your above explanations, I don't think going the "full" MVC route
would require that much changes to your current habits. That is mostly:
splitting the controller part from the view part, and learn to declare
your url mapping instead of physically structuring your source depending
on the url scheme.

LOL, point taken.

So to summarize: it should be possible to get exactly what I want, but
it's not advisable, because the frameworks aren't designed to work
like this. That makes sense.
I want to thank you guys for all the advice, I have a lot of
frameworks and template-engines to look into now, I'll have a look at
all that you mentioned to see which one suits me best. Judging from
the quick and thorough support from the Python community, I think I
will stick with a proven framework and/or style, so I can ask a
question once in a while.

May I suggest Pylons ? It's not yet the more stable and finished option,
but from what I know of 'classic' ASP and how you explained to usually
work, I think you might be confortable with it.

There is probably less sense in trying to pick up a new language while
at the same time trying to stick to the methods I used in an old
language.

Hear hear !-)

 

[Pierre Quentel]

Hi All,

I have been developing websites in classic asp using VB script for a
long while now. Due to the fact that I also took a detour to
developing ColdFusion, and the fact the companies I work(ed) for never
had time or money for courses, I am now in the awkward position that I
am -still- developing classic ASP.

In it, I have become quite resourceful, I wrote a framework using WSC
(windows scripting components) to separate logic from presentation,
and my display pages use almost no logic, except for the loops and
variables I need to build my pages. I have a three-tier setup and all
business logic is in separate WSC files. The framework even uses an
ORM for access to the tables of my database. This works like a charm.
It makes classic ASP code maintainable, it makes working in classic
ASP very pleasant actually and it makes our customers very happy.

The problem is that classic asp is now a dead language, I need to
modernize and fast! Although the arguments some people make against it
are not valid for me (spaghetti code, unmaintainable, slow), I still
see that there is little to no support for it anymore.

The most logical way to "update" my knowledge to something more
modern, would be to dive into ASP.NET. I considered that for a long
time, but there are some problems with this:

1. I love the control I have over my html using inline, template-based
vbscript. ASP.NET's web forms really sound like a very bad idea, also
the approach Microsoft takes in trying to make a stateless web-app
seem like a statefull application is IMHO a burden. I think webapps
are inherently different than desktop apps, and should be programmed
as such.

2. Who says Microsoft isn't going to pull the plug on VB.NET in a
while or make a drastic change like they did from asp to asp.net
again, some time in the future?

3. I like the rapid development I can do in a dynamic, loosely typed
language like vbscript. The performance-bottleneck of a site is mostly
in the database-access and the http-calls and I think writing all of
the declarations and types for a strong-typed language is overkill for
a webapp.

So that's when I started looking at other dynamic languages for
webdevelopment. I looked at Ruby on Rails and at the different web-
frameworks that are available for Python. The biggest problem there
for me is that the MVC type frameworks that are currently very popular
are also not what I'm looking for.

I like having my directory tree conform to the structure of my
website, so the "Controller" part of the MVC style of development is
something I wouldn't want. What I -would- like is a separation of code
and display logic (so being able to include libraries in a page) and
being able to intermix code directly into the HTML.

As Python would be the language I prefer over Ruby, I thought I'd ask
here to see if anyone in the Python community knows if such a
development-framework exists in Python. For example, does IronPython
also use the same web forms approach as asp.net using VB? The
frameworks I looked at (Django, Pylons) seem to be able to use
different templating engines, does that mean it's just a question of
finding the right one?

Also, for Python there is also the problem of meaningful indentation.
I'm not even sure if it's possible to use Python directly inside HTML,
because indentation would be at the very least tricky to maintain. I'm
kind of hoping here that there are some solutions to these problems
available in Python.

 Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Kind regards,

Erik

Hi,

You can take a look at Karrigell (http://karrigell.sourceforge.net).
It's very simple to install, stable (the first version was published
in 2002) and among the programming styles provided you will find
"Python Inside HTML" which is as close as you can get to PHP or ASP

===================
<h1>Squares</h1>
<%
for i in range(10):
print "%s :<b>%s</b>" %(i,i*i)
%>
===================

Regards,
Pierre