BlogApi: post from blog tools
The Blog API module enables a post to be posted to a site via external GUI applications. Many users prefer to use external tools to improve their ability to read and post responses in a customized way. The Blog API provides users the freedom to use the blogging tools they want but still have the blogging server of choice.
When this module is enabled and configured you can use a variety of programs to create and publish posts from your desktop. Blog API module supports several XML-RPC based blogging APIs such as the Blogger API, MetaWeblog API, and most of the Movable Type API.
For more information on using software with the Blog API, see the Creating new content section of the End user Guide.
This module also allows site administrators to configure which content types can be posted via the external applications. So, for instance, users can post forum topics as well as blog posts. Where supported, the external applications will display each content type as a separate "blog".
To configure your blogging client for use with your Drupal site enter http://your_site/xmlrpc.php as the API URL for your blog.
You can:
- view the XML-RPC page.
- administer >> settings >> blogapi.
Posting Flickr photos to your Drupal site
1. Enable and configure Blog API (choose content types allowed)
2. On Flickr on Your account->Blogs->Add a blog choose MetaWeblogAPI Enabled Blog from blog type drop down box
3. On the next screen enter http://your_site/xmlrpc.php as the API URL, make sure to add username and password for the user you'd like to post as, click on Next
4. On the next screen you're asked to confirm details, if everything is correct click on All done
To test that everything has been set up correctly you can use "test post" feature on Your account->Blogs page. This will post a sample to your site if everything is configured properly.
Windows Live Writer incompatibilities
Those wishing to set up the Blog API for use with Windows Live Writer may experience some weird compatibility issues. At any rate, I did. Your mileage may vary.
First, WLW only imported the first 23 categories that are available to bloggers on my site, and it truncated some of their names, resulting in categories like "Batter" and "Interne", and it didn't keep them grouped in their vocabularies. The upshot being that I have to tell my bloggers not to use categories when posting with WLW, but instead to edit the posts in Drupal and add the categories that way.
Second, WLW's "split post" feature, which is available when using the Movable Type API but not with the Metaweblog API, does not produce the <!--break--> tags that Drupal expects. Instead it produces <!--pagebreak--> sometimes and <!--extended--> other times, despite the fact that before posting, the HTML source within WLW shows <!--more-->. Supporting all of these possible page-breaking tags in Drupal would require hacking the core.
Suggestions welcome!
Very simple module to solve this
Here is a very simple module that will solve this problem:
1) Create a directory under modules called "blogapi_break_converter".
2) Create a file in this directory named "blogapi_break_converter.info" that contains:
; $Id: $name = Blog API Break Converter
description = Converts <!--extended--> tag to <!--break-->
version = 6.x-1.0-dev
core = 6.x
dependencies[] = blogapi
3) Create another file called "blogapi_break_converter.module" that contains the following code:
<?php
// $Id: $
/**
* @file
* Converts <!--extended--> to <!--break-->
*/
/**
* Implements hook_nodeapi()
*/
function blogapi_break_converter_nodeapi(&$node, $op) {
if ($op == "blogapi new" || $op == "blogapi edit") {
$node->body=str_replace('<!--extended-->','<!--break-->',$node->body);
}
}
?>
Now just enable the module in the modules administration page and you should be good to go. I use the MoveableType APIs in WLW and I don't get the "<!--pagebreak-->" variant, but the code above could easily be modified to handle that as well.