--- /dev/null	Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 1970 +0000
+++ b/discusssions/dispatcher.py	Sat Jan 02 13:36:23 2010 -0500
@@ -0,0 +1,64 @@
+"""
+request dispatcher:
+data persisting across requests should go here
+"""
+
+import os
+
+from handlers import Index
+
+from genshi.template import TemplateLoader
+from paste.fileapp import FileApp
+from pkg_resources import resource_filename
+from webob import Request, Response, exc
+
+class Dispatcher(object):
+
+    ### class level variables
+    defaults = { 'auto_reload': 'False',
+                 }               
+
+    def __init__(self, **kw):
+
+        # set instance parameters from kw and defaults
+        for key in self.defaults:
+            setattr(self, key, kw.get(key, self.defaults[key]))
+        self.auto_reload = self.auto_reload.lower() == 'true'
+
+        # request handlers
+        self.handlers = [ Index ]
+
+        # template loader
+        templates_dir = resource_filename(__name__, 'templates')
+        self.loader = TemplateLoader(templates_dir,
+                                     auto_reload=self.auto_reload)
+
+    def __call__(self, environ, start_response):
+
+        # get a request object
+        request = Request(environ)
+
+        # get the path 
+        path = request.path_info.strip('/').split('/')
+        if path == ['']:
+            path = []
+        request.environ['path'] = path
+
+        # match the request to a handler
+        for h in self.handlers:
+            handler = h.match(self, request)
+            if handler is not None:
+                break
+        else:
+            handler = exc.HTTPNotFound
+
+        # add navigation links to handler [example]
+        if hasattr(handler, 'data'):
+            handler.data.setdefault('links', [])
+            for h in self.handlers:
+                handler.data['links'].append((handler.link(h.handler_path), 
+                                              h.__name__))
+
+        # get response
+        res = handler()
+        return res(environ, start_response)