Blogtari Beta 0.9.1

November 23, 2006

<Tools/Blogging> Seems to work with Bloggar

I am, however, puzzled that Bloggar will make Blogger API calls for certain requests even though I've told it to use the metaWeblog API. For example, Bloggar issues the request blogger.getUsersBlogs. To make this work I had to implement a Blogger class and a few methods. Seems dopey, but there you go.

I've seen another blogg client tool do the same thing. The "spec" for the metaWeblog API is barely helpful. It describes the metaWeblog as an extension to the Blogger API, but doesn't say anything about having to respond to requests in the Blogger namespace. It only bothers to give a few details on the new entry points.

<Tools> Blogtari XML-RPC and IE Context Menu

I've been following the hubbub around RSS, Echo (or Pie or Necho), while working on supporting multiple blogging APIs. Prompted by the release of a new Google Bar and a related tool form Blogger, I wrote a tool for Internet Explorer that adds a "Blog This" right-click context menu item.

Like so many things it is pretty alpha, but it manages to do enough. It's designed to allow the easy addition of multiple blog posting APIs; I have basic support of the MetaWeblog and Blogger 1.0 XML-RPC calls, plus a simple RESTful Blogtari posting format.

You can download the code here[].

To install, unzip the archive into your $WINDIR/Web folder, edit the reg file so that it contains the proper directory path, then double-click the reg file to ad the keys to your registry. The usual disclaimers apply: Messing with the registry is potentially dangerous; backup your registry before messing with it; the code comes with no warranty, guarantees, stated useful purpose, etc. Use at your own risk. Don't ask me for any support.

OK, that said, I am looking into using the Nullsoft SuperPiMP installer to make a nice package, but, given that the SuperPiMP help describes the installer scripting language as a cross between PHP and assembly, I'm less than enthused.

I've been following the hubbub around RSS, Echo (or Pie or Necho), while woring on supporting multiple blogging APIs. Prompted by the release of a new Google Bar and a related tool form Blogger, I wrote a tool for Internet Exploer that adds a "Blog This" right-click contenxt menu item.

Like so many things it is pretty alpha, but it manges to do enough. It's designd to allow the easy additon of multiple blog posting APIs; I have basic support of the MetWeblog and Blogger 1.0 XML-RPC calls, plus a simple RESTful Blogtari posting format.

You can download the code here[].

TO isntall, unzip the archive into your $WINDIR/Web folder, edit the reg file so that it contains the proper direcory path, then douboeclick the reg file to ad the keys to your registry. The usual disclaimers apply: Messing witht he registry is potential dangerous; backup your registry before messing with it; the code comes with no warranty, guateness, stated useful purpose, etc. Use at your own risk.

This is the main download site for Blogtari! web logging software. You can download the latest version here.

Blogtari! is written in Ruby, an interpreted object-oriented language. Ruby clean syntax and dynamic nature help make it easy to customize Blogtari. Even if you're not inclined to hack, Blogtari offers a number of features:

Features

Though Blogtari! has been going through an extensive beta phase (we're up to version 0.9.1, though, with a formal release looking more and more likely) it still offers a number of great features.

Rendering of different file types.
Content categorization
Plugable output formats, including XHTML, RSS, and XFML
Selective entry rendering, based on date, category, and content
Extensible architecture for rapid development of your own plug-ins
Customizable templates

Requirements

Blogtari! has been written and tested against Ruby 1.8. As the code stabilizes some effort may be made to have Blogtari! work with earlier Ruby versions.

Getting Started

First, Download Blogtari! Then call all your friends and tell them to download it, too.

The download file is a Ruby script package installer, with a .ruby file extension.

Copy the blogtari installer script to the web server directory on your web server from which it will run. Typically this is something like /home/yourname/httpdocs or /home/yourname/public_html

If you have an existing installation of Blogtari, back it up someplace, somehow. Installing Blogtari isn't supposed to clobber any of your configuration, data files, or personal templates, but precaution is wise.

The current installer is named blogtari_package_0.9.1.ruby. If you execute this file without any arguments you will get some basic help on how to install.

The package is self-extracting; if you want to simply extract the files to a local subdirectory, but not install Blogtari, run

ruby blogtari_package_0.9.1.ruby --justextract

To install Blogtari, run

ruby blogtari_package_0.9.1.ruby --install

and follow the sequence of prompts.

The installer works better for new installations than for upgrades, as a few things have moved around. Most notable is the relocation of the templates directory. There is a README file included that should help you with any upgrade issues.

Once Installed

Blogtari! ships with some example template files, in the ro/templates directory. You will likely want to customize the templates for your own site. It is highly recommended that you rename the templates you are using, and set the configuration file to use your templates. (Templates are used to render particular output formats. If Blogtari! is emitting XHTML, then it uses the templates that end in .xhtml. When emitting RSS, it uses the .rss templates. Each template is a set; there is a body and an entry template for the set. In config.rb, when you set the value of TEMPLATE_STYLE, Blogtari! looks for templates that feature that style name. This site uses TEMPLATE_STYLE = "instruct" which means Blogtari! will load entry.instruct.xhtml to format each entry, and body.instruct.xhtml to render the final body.

Renaming the original template files will help avoid accidentally losing your changes on a future upgrade, should the installer misbehave.

You may also want to take the same precautions with your CSS files.

Selective Presentation

By default, Blogtari will look in your entry directory, build a set of blog entries, then render the most recent entries in reverse chronological order. The number of entries shown is controlled by the MAX_DISPLAYED value in config.rb.

The default installation of Blogtari uses the directory structure for categories. To see only those entries in a particular category, you may use a blogpath URL, like this:

http://www.example.com/index.rb/SomeCategory

To see an RSS feed of that category, prefix the category part with rss, like this:

http://www.example.com/index.rb/rss/SomeCategory

You may also filter on dates, too:

http://www.example.com/index.rb/2003/SomeCategory

http://www.example.com/index.rb/2003/12

And you can find entries containing selected text

http://www.example.com/index.rb/2003[Ruby]

Here's an RSS feed showing only Travel entries that mention Santa Fe:

http://www.example.com/index.rb/rss/Travel[Santa Fe]

More information is available in Blogtari 08 Release Notes.pdf

Note: This document is somewhat out-of-date. It is fundamentally correct, but there have been a few architectural changes in 0.9.1. A new version of the release notes will be completed when the processing model has stabilized.

Problems?

If you have any problems getting Blogtari to work, please drop a line to blogtari@neurogami.com. Please include the version of Blogtari and the version of Ruby, plus the name and versions of the operating system and web server. Blogtari has been developed under Apache as a CGI application on Windows 2000 and Red Hat Linux 9. It has also been tested with Apache + mod_ruby on Red Hat Linux 9.