Joomla! Discussion Forums

Hi, I claimed this cool task

From the google page:
[quote="GHOP page"]
Implement MetaWeblog API to interact with Joomla! v 1.5 xml-rpc plugin

MetaWeblog

1. Basic entry-points

metaWeblog.newPost
metaWeblog.editPost
metaWeblog.getPost

2. with MT extensions

metaWeblog.getCategories
metaWeblog.getRecentPosts
metaWeblog.newMediaObject

3. MetaWeblog API aliases for Blogger API

metaWeblog.deletePost
metaWeblog.getTemplate
metaWeblog.setTemplate
metaWeblog.getUsersBlogs

Test ability for each to interact with Joomla! v 1.5 using the following tools:

1. Using Flock web browser ( http://www.flock.com/ )
2. Windows Live Writer (proprietary - free - http://writer.live.com)
3. ScribeFire (Firefox plugin -
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1730)

Resources:
- API http://www.xmlrpc.com/metaWeblogApi
- http://www.xmlrpc.com/stories/storyReader$2460
- WordPress implementation (strongly recommend downloading Source and
looking at xmlrpc.php; GPL'ed code could be adapted for Joomla!'s
structures provided WordPress copyright is properly note.)

  * To install Joomla! on an XAMPP localhost:

  # XAMPP - http://www.apachefriends.org
  # Download Joomla! - http://help.joomla.org/content/view/1942/302/
  # Install Joomla! on a localhost -
http://help.joomla.org/content/view/1947/306/

    * Coding resources:

  # The core code! :-)
  # Plugins - http://forum.joomla.org/index.php?topic=233628
  # Model View Controller -
http://dev.joomla.org/component/option, ... orld_mvc1/
  # Modules and Components - http://www.jlleblanc.com/blogcategory/0/
  # Internationalization -
http://forum.joomla.org/index.php/topic ... msg1102267

    * IRC #joomlaGHOP on freenode

Skills needed

    * Knowledge of PHP
    * Knowledge of Joomla! v 1.5 Extension Development
    * Creativity and problem solving skills.

Difficulty

Basic
Work Product

    * Installable Joomla! v 1.5 extension(s) with internationalization
support.

Licensing

All code must be created using the GNU General Public License version 2.
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-license ... .html#SEC4

Documentation written for this task must be made available under the
Joomla! Electronic Documentation License.
Extra Credit (Optional)

1. Register your project at Joomlacode
2. When you are ready to release, submit your extension to the Joomla!
Extensions Directory.

Time Limit

End of Google Program.

If a Joomla! GHOP recognizes you as the task claimant, read
http://forum.joomla.org/index.php/topic,239201.0.html and respond ASAP This
requires CLOSE interaction with the community. Please try to check in at
least once every other day until the contest close. Share code and
testing,e tc.
[/quote]

OK - I thought I was happy YESTERDAY! I am down right ecstatic today. This is a good one - sooo important and I am certain you can do this and guess what - we need it in a big way.

Not to get ahead of ourselves, here, but it can also be a pattern for other APIs.

OK. Way to go. Rock on! Plenty to sink your teeth into here. Thanks! Please stay in close contact and let us know how it's going - ask questions and we'll all learn together!

Carry on, my friend!
Amy

Hey!

I'm here for support, so justo, if there is anything I can do to help support you in this task, let me know.

Feel free to post here if you have any questions and I will try and keep tabs on this thread as well.

Ian

Hi,

Interesting task this one, just like Ian I wanna offer you my help and support too. I have a bit of code laying around that I wrote a while ago and that could be used as a starting point. If you are interested in this let me know.

Cheers,

Johan

Hi, I already figured out how this works and coded the metaWeblog.newPost entry point, and it works fine (tested with windows live writer and the ScribeFire firefox add-on). I addapted the code from the blogger API plugin.
I'm working on the other entry points now, this is very exciting

Justo -

Last night, I tried testing this from Flock, but was not able to logon.

I copied your files to the plugins\xmlrpc folder. Then, I inserted a new record into the plugins table, making certain it was enabled and also that the web services are enabled in the Global configuration.

I hard coded the category number to match a category that the user I was using had Publisher access to.

Is there anything else I should do to try to test your work?

+++

Also, want to make you aware that aini is apparently going to make changes in the xmlrpc area. I will PM her so that she might also keep an eye on this thread.

As you can see, there's a tiny bit of interest in this.

Amy

Amy: I tested it with Flock and it worked. Did you set the Access Point to: http://YourJoomlaSite/xmlrpc/index.php in the account creation?

I have coded a few more entry points (getRecentPosts, getPost) and they worked in scribefire and live writer, cheers . I'll post the code soon when I add a few more things.

Justo

Justo -

I did not. That could easily be the problem. I pointed it to YourJoomlaSite/xmlrpc.

Will retest - thanks for your help!

Amy

I am here 

Did anybody call me ? 

Aini -
I certainly did! 

I know you are watching over another community member who is working with the Blogger API, and I saw that you made changes to that API to help him out.  I also wanted to make you aware of Justo's work with the MetaWeblog API - in case there are issues or recommendations you might have for him in his work given what you are seeing with the Blogger API.

Here is the Blog Calendar Sidebar Component and Module he created with his last task. As you will see, Justo is exceptionally bright and quite capable - worth our time.

Thank you so very much,
Amy

Justo - hope to retest tonight. Thanks!

Thanks everyone for the interest
I have coded a few more entrypoints:
metaWeblog.getCategories
metaWeblog.getRecentPosts (this is not working well with flock :-/)
metaWeblog.editPost
metaWeblog.getPost

Also, now you can select the category of the post in the blog editor (only in live writer and flock, scribefire doesn't have this option). And now you can put a read more bar by simply writing

---

in the html code (or in flock: Insert-> Horizontal Line), the script splits the content into introtext and fulltext using that bar.

Hi Justo,

When I tick the "add bloged with flock", the content would be missed
And you should filter categories in your  "metaWeblog.getCategories"

Not all categories are content categories, some of them are banner, links categories

Only select category has  section parent
join #__categories with #__section

take a look your code in line 255


Anyway, great Job !! 

Flock is a cool browser. It certainly ought to work hand in glove with Joomla! v 1.5.



I am very happy with this. 

Keep up the good work!
Amy

@Amy ...
I am glad as well 

@Justo,

Please take a look line 83-84
You should handle if people do not want to make read more options
Those line would not let people to avoid to use read more options

Keep coding 

Anybody know of a reason why this doesn't seem to be working in flock for me?

I did manage to get the phpxmlrpc library and use their debugger to add a new post to the site, but Flock doesn't seem to like it.

Hmmm....

Ian

I used it in Flock.

What all did you do?

Amy

I started flock...

Under blogging, I selected 'Self-Hosted blog'
First screen, I entered...  http://127.0.0.1/j15release/xmlrpc/index.php
It returned saying Flock could not find an API for your blog...
I hit next to manually configure...
Under API, I selected MetaWebLog
For access point, I entered the same address as above
I entered my admin username and password...

and of course it works now...  I spent a couple of hours last night messing with it...

I don't get it...  at that point, before, it would say there was a problem, and I couldn't add the account...

So, now I can post to the site.  BUT...  when I post, I get the following error message:


Although the post still gets posted.  The only problem that seems to remain is that no section value is pushed into the article.  Is anybody else seeing this?  Of course, there is no section coming from flock, because the API doesn't support it, but you can look it up...

So here are my comments...  Instead of just listing the category names, I would list the section names and category names...
So...  in the category list you might have:
About Joomla!/The CMS
About Joomla!/The Project
About Joomla!/THe Community
FAQs/Current Users
...

But great work!  pretty spiffy!

thanks,
Ian

@Ian

I got your error 2 days ago
Please don't tick 2 options after you push publish button
It works for me

I do think there is something a bit unpredictable - unknown at least - I had trouble initially configuring, too. The second time I tried it, I got the same errors, but after continuing to try, it worked. I chalked it up to "Amy error, again." We'll have to do a lot of testing on a lot of different server types (even after the contest) to make certain it's sturdy.

The article I posted did not have section or category selected, even though I selected these in Flock. I assumed that there are still things under development. When Justo says he is done, then we can throughly test the data mapping.

T.G noticed this thread and made an announcement to others of this project. I asked that others please avoid posting in this thread as it is a contest and the judges and developers are working with the contestant. When something is available for broader testing, we will share.

I must be very strict on that. We cannot disrupt the contest. Thank you for understanding!
Amy

aini - I will see if I can reproduce the errors given your advice. If we know what causes the problem, we can document these steps. Good work!

I didn't have time to code anything yesterday.
The code I posted was very incomplete, I'm now fixing most of the errors.
But this error

I think this is happening because the blog editor expects that the xmlrpc is in the same folder than the frontpage (for example: http://JoomlaSite/xmlrpc.php), and takes http://JoomlaSite/ as the frontpage.
In Joomla the xmlrpc file is in http://JoomlaSite/xmlrpc/index.php so the blog editor thinks that the frontpage is http://JoomlaSite/xmlrpc/ . When you tick "Visit your blog after publishing" it takes you to http://JoomlaSite/xmlrpc/ and that page gives an error (since you are not sending any xml data).
A quick fix for this could be adding to xmlrpc/index.php a redirect to the frontpage if no xml data is received.

I will be back with a more stable code

I have good news! I looked into the code of the wordpress xmlrpc.php file to see how it does to get everything configured automatically when creating an account on the editor, it's something called Real Simply Discovery (RSD). So I tried to get this working for Joomla! and... it works great :D.
Here are the steps:
1.Copy this in components/com_content/views/frontpage/view.html.php after line 77:

That is the code to add the that the will be read by the blog editor to get the configuration file (rsd.php)

2.Copy xmlrpc.php into the root folder of Joomla

3.Copy rsd.php into the xmlrpc folder

4.Create an account in your favourite blog editor, type the root url of your site (http://YourJoomlaSite/), type your username and password and that's it! you are ready for posting articles

I also added/fixed a few things to the plugin:
-The categories are displayed like Category (Section)
-The articles are saved in the parent section of the category
-Using

---

as read more is optional (it's set in the plugin configuration)

Great Job ... Justo 

I like the concept of simply configuration. But, I am concerned to update core files (I realize that is a norm with WP.)

Is there anyway to add that code to the template's index.php file?

Thanks!
Amy

Will do some more thorough testing on this tomorrow, Justo. Really good work!

Thanks!
Amy

Yes, I think that it's possible, I'll look into it this evening.

I finally got the getRecentPosts working on flock . Also, I added an option to publish all the articles in the frontpage, or to use a special category ('Frontpage'): if you select this category in the editor, the post will be added to the frontpage.

I'm a bit confused about the read more text:
None of the editors (Flock, scribeFire, live writer) has any option to insert a read more separator (or I couldn't find it ).
I believe that the standard tag for the read more separator is , but couldn't find any documentation about it.

Other problem (minor problem): Flock uses the to display the category name instead of the