[mod_python] ANN: Vampire 1.5 is now available.

Vampire 1.5 is now available.

    http://www.dscpl.com.au/projects/vampire

    http://www.dscpl.com.au/downloads/vampire-1.5-20050325.tar.gz

Vampire is an extension module for mod_python, which provides a more 
flexible
dispatch mechanism for basic content handlers, as well as an alternative
implementation of the mod_python.publisher module. A range of other 
useful
features are also provided which make using mod_python a much more 
pleasant
experience.

For a quick overview of the features that Vampire provides check out:

   http://www.dscpl.com.au/projects/vampire/articles/vampire-001.html

The most important new feature in this release is "vampire::publisher", 
an
attempt at a drop in replacement for mod_python.publisher which avoids 
many
of the problems present in the original in respect of module loading. 
This
version also addresses all the currently known bugs and some limitations
listed for mod_python.publisher on the mod_python bugs list.

Other features worthy of mentioning are a handler object which can be 
used
selectively in place of a basic content handler to introduce publisher 
style
URL mapping for a single resource. Two handler objects which allow a 
function
exported as a publisher to accept additional path information and have 
that
supplied as a single parameter or for each part of the additional path 
to
be supplied in distinct parameters. Finally, a handler object is 
provided
which allows publisher style URL mapping for XML-RPC service requests.

Note that I have also completely overhauled the mechanisms to construct 
my
own web site. I am no longer using PHP but have changed to using a 
combination
of mod_python, Vampire, HTMLTemplate and docutils, with style sheets 
borrowed
from Ruthsarian Layouts. The implementation of the web site itself may 
be of
interest and the code used to do it is included with the Vampire source 
code.

I will now be shifting my main focus back to my other open source 
package
called OSE, which contains a distributed messaging system including a 
service
agent framework incorporating presence and ability to communicate with 
both
request/reply and publish/subscribe styles of interaction. Although 
written
in C++, this package provides Python wrappers and can be used from 
Apache
using mod_python. This allows a mod_python web application to be used 
as a
front end to quite complicated distributed systems. It was in part to 
achieve
this that I started writing Vampire, although Vampire isn't strictly 
required
to make this work.

Although my main focus will now be elsewhere, now that my web site has 
been
updated to make it easier to put up new stuff, I will continue to 
create new
documentation for Vampire as time allows.

--
Graham Dumpleton (grahamd at dscpl.com.au)