Introduction

plone.resource publishes directories of static files via the ZPublisher. These directories may be located either in the ZODB (as OFS folders and files), or on the filesystem.

Each resource directory has a type and a name. When combined, these are used to traverse to the resource directory. For example:

/++theme++mytheme/<subpath>
/++sitelayout++mylayout/<subpath>
/++templatelayout++mylayout<subpath>

Where resources can be stored

Resource directory contents can be found by the traverser in several different places. The following locations are tried in order.

Files in the ZODB

Installing plone.resource creates a Zope-folder called portal_resources. It can be used to store resource directories persistently. By convention:

• the top-level folders under this folder correspond to resource types,
• the second-level folders correspond to the resource directory name.

So, the file traversable at /++theme++mytheme/myfile could be physically located at some_site/++etc++site/resources/theme/mytheme

Files in Python distributions

A folder in a Python distribution (e.g. egg) can be registered as a resource directory of a particular type and name using the plone:static ZCML directive. For example, this registers a directory named "theme" as a resource directory of type "theme" under the name "mytheme". It would be accessible at ++theme++mytheme:

  <plone:static
      directory="theme"
      type="theme"
      name="mytheme"
  />

.. note::
   You must do ``<include package="plone.resource" file="meta.zcml"/>``
   before you can use the plone:static directive.

The name of the resource directory defaults to the name of the package, so can be omitted. E.g. the following directive in a package named "mytheme" would result in the same registration as above:

<plone:static
    directory="resources"
    type="theme"
/>

Traversing upward in directory paths using .. is not supported for security reasons, as it could allow unwanted file access.

Minimum zcml config example

<configure xmlns:plone="http://namespaces.plone.org/plone">
  <include package="plone.resource" file="meta.zcml"/>
  <plone:static
      directory="resources"
      type="theme"
      name="myproject"
    />
</configure>

..

Files in a central resource directory

If the plone:static directive is used from site.zcml (i.e., with no active package in the ZCML import context), then it may specify the absolute path to a top-level resources directory.

This directory should have the same sub-directory structure as explained above (in-ZODB resources directory):

• the top-level folders under this folder correspond to resource types,
• the second-level folders correspond to the resource directory name.

In addition, in order for resources to be available, the top-level directories require a traverser to be registered!

For example, the following in site.zcml registers the given path within the buildout root:

<plone:static
    directory="/path/to/buildout/resources"
/>

In order to automate this at buildout time, plone.recipe.zope2instance recipe has the option resources. It injects the above zcml snippet with into site.zcml by specifying the option like this:

[instance]
...
resources = ${buildout:directory}/resources
...

Example: Using plone.app.theming - which provides the ++theme++ traverser - given an image file located in filesystem at:

${buildout:directory}/resources/theme/my.project/logo.png``

This would be traversable at a URL like so:

http://localhost:8080/Plone/++theme++my.project/logo.png

Additional traversers

Custom traversers can be registered via ZCML using an adapter like so:

<adapter
    name="demo"
    for="* zope.publisher.interfaces.IRequest"
    provides="zope.traversing.interfaces.ITraversable"
    factory="my.project.traversal.MyTraverser"
/>

with a corresponding simple factory definition of:

from plone.resource.traversal import ResourceTraverser
class MyTraverser(ResourceTraverser):
    name = 'demo'

This, when coupled with configuration like that in the Files in a central resource directory section above, would mean that resources located at:

${buildout:directory}/resources/demo/my.project/logo.png

would be traversable at a URL like so:

http://localhost:8080/Plone/++demo++my.project/logo.png