What's new in CubicWeb 3.19?

============================

Behaviour Changes

-----------------

* The anonymous property of Session and Connection are now computed from the

  related user login. If it matches the ``anonymous-user`` in the config the

  connection is anonymous. Beware that the ``anonymous-user`` config is web

  specific. Therefore, no session may be anonymous in a repository only setup.

New Repository Access API

-------------------------

Connection replaces Session

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A new explicit Connection object replaces Session as the main repository entry

point. Connection holds all the necessary methods to be used server-side

(``execute``, ``commit``, ``rollback``, ``call_service``, ``entity_from_eid``,

etc...). One obtains a new Connection object using ``session.new_cnx()``.

Connection objects need to have an explicit begin and end. Use them as a context

manager to never miss an end::

    with session.new_cnx() as cnx:

        self.execute('INSERT Elephant E, E name "Cabar"')

        self.commit()

        self.execute('INSERT Elephant E, E name "Celeste"')

        self.commit()

    # Once you get out of the "with" clause, the connection is closed.

Using the same Connection object in multiple threads will give you access to the

same Transaction. However, Connection objects are not thread safe (hence at your

own risks).

``repository.internal_session`` is deprecated in favor of

``repository.internal_cnx``. Note that internal connections are now `safe` by default,

i.e. the integrity hooks are enabled.

Backward compatibility is preserved on Session.

dbapi vs repoapi

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A new API has been introduced to replace the dbapi. It is called `repoapi`.

There are three relevant functions for now:

* ``repoapi.connect(repo, login, **credentials)`` returns a ClientConnection

  associated with the user identified by the credentials. The

  ClientConnection is associated with its own Session that is closed

  when the ClientConnection is closed. A ClientConnection is a

  Connection-like object to be used client side.

* ``repoapi.anonymous_cnx(repo)`` returns a ClientConnection associated

  with the anonymous user if described in the config.

repoapi.ClientConnection replace dbapi.Connection and company

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On the client/web side, the Request is now using a ``repoapi.ClientConnection``

instead of a ``dbapi.connection``. The ``ClientConnection`` has multiple backward

compatible methods to make it look like a ``dbapi.Cursor`` and ``dbapi.Connection``.

Session used on the Web side are now the same than the one used Server side.

Some backward compatibility methods have been installed on the server side Session

to ease the transition.

The authentication stack has been altered to use the ``repoapi`` instead of

the ``dbapi``. Cubes adding new element to this stack are likely to break.

New API in tests

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All current methods and attributes used to access the repo on ``CubicWebTC`` are

deprecated. You may now use a ``RepoAccess`` object. A ``RepoAccess`` object is

linked to a new ``Session`` for a specified user. It is able to create

``Connection``, ``ClientConnection`` and web side requests linked to this

session::

    access = self.new_access('babar') # create a new RepoAccess for user babar

    with access.repo_cnx() as cnx:

        # some work with server side cnx

        cnx.execute(...)

        cnx.commit()

        cnx.execute(...)

        cnx.commit()

    with access.client_cnx() as cnx:

        # some work with client side cnx

        cnx.execute(...)

        cnx.commit()

    with access.web_request(elephant='babar') as req:

        # some work with client side cnx

        elephant_name = req.form['elephant']

        req.execute(...)

        req.cnx.commit()

By default ``testcase.admin_access`` contains a ``RepoAccess`` object for the

default admin session.

API changes

-----------

* ``RepositorySessionManager.postlogin`` is now called with two arguments,

  request and session. And this now happens before the session is linked to the

  request.

* ``SessionManager`` and ``AuthenticationManager`` now take a repo object at

  initialization time instead of a vreg.

* The ``async`` argument of ``_cw.call_service`` has been dropped. All calls are

  now  synchronous. The zmq notification bus looks like a good replacement for

  most async use cases.

* ``repo.stats()`` is now deprecated. The same information is available through

  a service (``_cw.call_service('repo_stats')``).

* ``repo.gc_stats()`` is now deprecated. The same information is available through

  a service (``_cw.call_service('repo_gc_stats')``).

* ``request.set_session`` no longer takes an optional ``user`` argument.

* CubicwebTC does not have repo and cnx as class attributes anymore. They are

  standard instance attributes. ``set_cnx`` and ``_init_repo`` class methods

  become instance methods.

* ``set_cnxset`` and ``free_cnxset`` are deprecated. cnxset are now

  automatically managed.

Deprecated Code Drops

----------------------

* session.hijack_user mechanism has been dropped.