Forum OpenACS Development: Using ad_conn in and outside HTTP connections

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1: Using ad_conn in and outside HTTP connections
Posted by Peter Marklund on 01/23/03 12:19 PM
Currently ad_conn will error out when called outside an HTTP connection (for example from a Tcl proc during startup). I was thinking that we should be more forgiving by returning the empty string if we are outside a connection. Or should we demand that developers check [ad_conn isconnected] before invoking say [ad_conn user_id]?
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2: Re: Using ad_conn in and outside HTTP connections (response to 1)
Posted by Don Baccus on 01/23/03 06:15 PM
I strongly dislike silent failures so I'd vote for making them check for a connection ... that would be more readable than today's solution (using catch around an ad_conn call)
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3: Re: Using ad_conn in and outside HTTP connections (response to 1)
Posted by Tom Jackson on 01/24/03 12:18 AM

Library code should not use ad_conn unless it deals with something requiring a conn. Just because the data is in ad_conn doesn't mean that is the place to get it in every circumstance. Maybe we should identify things that shouldn't be in ad_conn and remove them if that is the problem, or provide built in workarounds inside ad_conn so it can find some data not related to a conn. But I have seem some library code using ad_conn for no good reason. The Calendar package has that problem, or had it.

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4: Re: Using ad_conn in and outside HTTP connections (response to 1)
Posted by Lars Pind on 01/24/03 02:19 PM
Tom,

What's the calendar package using ad_conn for?

I think that for user_id, it's okay to return 0 as in "no user logged in" when there's no connection. For other things, like package_key, package_id, etc., I'd bomb.

/Lars

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5: Re: Using ad_conn in and outside HTTP connections (response to 1)
Posted by Tom Jackson on 01/24/03 05:51 PM

Lars,

Of all places: calendar_create hard codes:

  • package_id using [ad_conn "package_id"]
  • creation_ip using [ad_conn "peeraddr"]
  • creation_user using [ad_conn "user_id"]

    Also, adjust_calendar_list gets user_id and package_id, but you can pass in those parameters, so it works.