robrohr.org : Community Server

Community Server with newMediaObject

robrohr — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 15:03:01 GMT

If there is an image, then all is good. If there is no image, then I am not sure what I am to do. Server permissions?

This warning was generated using the Warning Sign Generator web page given to us by the same folks who gave us the Warning Label Generator.

A fine piece of work in the long tradition of Acme style sites.

Will it work? Who knows? A boy can hope.

If this works, I can nuke my FTP to Foldershare to Community Server hackery that I currently use to "easily" get my pictures onto the web server.

- "The Management"

Testing newMediaObject

robrohr — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 17:35:00 GMT

It turns out there was a problem with the file version of the update of the Community Server MetaBlog implementation that was available on Robert McLaws's website, but I believe I have fixed the issues.

If you see my head, then the newMediaObject implementation worked and I can nuke my Live Writer -> FTP -> FolderShare -> Community Server image upload hack and replace it with Live Writer -> Community Server. I know Margot will definitely like that.

Update: hitting the MetaBlog.ashx file now shows that the newMediaObject method is now available, but Windows Live Writer continues to complain when I insert an image.

Am I 2.0ish yet?

robrohr — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 15:52:34 GMT

Testing graphic upload capabilities via newMediaObject handler for Community Server.

We shall see whether I need to revert to my FTP + Foldershare munge.

Update: Robert McLaws has updated the Community Server MetaBlog interface so that it supports use of the newMediaObject as a method for pushing images/video/etc. to your server. newMediaObject enables moblogging from cell phones, as well as smart client blog post generators, like Windows Live Writer, for instance.

OK. I've looked at Live Writer, and I like what I see. I like the extensibility, and I like that I can use a gui to muck about with the images that I insert into the blog post (drag-and-drop, baby).

Live Writer posts to the blog software using the MetaBlog API (including the newMediaObject for adding media files).

Community Server has yet to officially implement the newMediaObject method, so individuals like Robert McLaws, Ken Robertson (qgyen.net) and Laurent Kempé do the heavy lifting and figure out the implementation.

So I've installed the Ken Robertson fix to Community Server, but my blog server is not completely convinced that it can handle the newMediaObject implementation, so Live Writer shrugs its shoulders and says, "Shucks!"

So I've implemented my FTP -> Foldershare -> web server fix in order to appease my security concerns while enabling my pretty graphical post editing experience.

Uploading images in blog posts...

robrohr — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 20:34:26 GMT

This is a sample PNG of the interface of the Microsoft Live Writer interface, tested for image insertion and uploading through a ghastly hack.

What a pain!

When I first started blogging, I used Blogger at my brother's recommendation, for several reasons:

It was free.
It was somewhat easy (for me).
It was highly customizable.

The remnants of that blog are still visible at http://stampy.uvm.edu/robrohr, the original robrohr.org. I would create my ray HTML templates with custom tags inserted into the bitstream where all of the bloggy goodness was to appear. I had control of styles and layout; Blogger hosted the database of posts and would generate new pages from my templates whenever I added a new post, and those would be pushed back to my web server via FTP, at which point my bloggy goodness was available to nauseate global internet audiences.

Sometime around 2002, the University at which I worked decided (rightly) that unencrypted userid/pwd traffic across the campus boundary wouldn't be allowed, and the era of FTP came to a sudden close. At that point, I decided to look into installing blog hosting software on my server directly, avoiding the transfer of pages and account information outside the Uni. Thus begat .Text which begat Community Server 1.0, which begat Community Server 1.1, which begat Community Server 2.0, which begat Community Server 2.1 (framework 1.1 then 2.0). And the framework loaded and the service account had permissions and it was good.

Since then, I have tried various tools to create blog posts remotely, looking for anything that would make post creation easier than the builtin web editing pages. Many had promise until it came to handling inline images in the blog posts at which point they all gracefully/gracelessly choked.

Up until today, my process for mashing images into posts involved pushing images to the web server using Foldershare, then inserting raw HTML <img /> tags in my post source view. It worked but it's far from WYSIWYG, and not the most natural editing environment.

My current setup which I am testing with limited success is as follows:

Set up FTP server on client machine.
Block all FTP access to all but the loopback address (localhost :: 127.0.0.1)
Link FTP destination folder on client to web visible folder on the web server via Foldershare.

By this method, I can use FTP to publish images to the client machine, images which get synchronized to the appropriate folder on the web server. FTP auth traffic never goes over the wire (loopback - Whee!). Images get pushed to the web server via encrypted synchronization channel (Foldershare). No script kiddies will have any success pounding away at my FTP. Not pretty, but I can finally use a pretty good tool to generate posts with rich image handling.

Squee!

Just installed newest version of Community Server

robrohr — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 23:32:00 GMT

I'm still mucking about, trying to make the templates my very own. I will try not to break this puppy darned thing.

There appears to be the option to add ink items to this blog, but I can't yet figure out how to do it...

Hmmm.

Margot's having trouble posting...

robrohr — Sat, 10 Dec 2005 03:28:00 GMT

Community Server is giving Margot a nasty/useless error message as she tries to post to her blog.

Margot has informed me that "Community Server hates me. Tee-hee."

Just checking to see if I can post (same server.)

I apologize for the low pithiness-to-post ratio.

All my old content are belong to us.

robrohr — Wed, 18 May 2005 21:16:00 GMT

I've managed to import all my old content from both previous incarnations of the robrohr.org blog (.Text and Blogger driven.) Thank you, Google page cache and Newsgator RSS cache! There are a few internal links between posts that need to be updated, but until I can get Community Server and FreeTextBox to stop mutually mangling my HTML, I will only update internal links at my whimsical pace.

One of the benefits of the Community Server blog engine, is my ability to precisely define posting publication dates, past, present or future, so all my old content is shown with original publication dates. I was not able to do this on the .Text blog (robrohr.org version 2) so all content moved over from the previous blog had a publication date of May, 2004 when I installed .Text. Unsightly.

One of the things I miss about the .Text blog was my ability to auto-link terms. On the old blog, whenever I typed "Margot," her name would be automatically linked to her blog. You will notice that didn't happen here. Let's try a little e-tantrum. Margot Margot Margot Margot! Nope. Nothing.

I've lost all my comments, though, as well as a pile of my blog-cred. Links into my v2 blog point to this useless page that says, "Try the real blog, and use the search box to find what you were looking for." Lame. I know. You are not psychic. You don't know what I wrote, otherwise, you wouldn't be here. The Search function is cool though, and in addition, it works.

I'm conflicted.

There are a lot of things to like about Community Server...

robrohr — Wed, 11 May 2005 19:29:00 GMT

Don't you hate it when the title of a blog post implies the word, "but..."?

I managed to erase my old .Text blog database, and took that as a sign to install Community Server 1.0 and upload content to the new blog.

Community Server automatically scrubs all entries so only approved HTML tags and attributes are allowed. Community Server requires that all attribute values are quoted. The text editor on the posting page scrubs quotes off of many attributes. This is annoying!