7.0 Customizing Blogs 

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Blogging offline using an outside editor

 
The IBM Connections blogging application supports both the Atom and MetaWeblog APIs for offline blogging. You must configure the blog settings for each individual blog by enabling the "Enable Blogger and MetaWeblog APIs for your blog" option under the "Blog Client API" section. A blog can be posted offline using any number of application clients.
 
Security note: The MetaWeblog API required to use a third-party blog editor can pose a security risk because your user name and password is attached to every request of the MetaWeblog API as part of its protocol and could be intercepted. Using HTTPS instead of HTTP is somewhat more secure. Though the credentials are still attached as the request, but they are encrypted. The most secure way to author blog posts is by using the IBM Connections rich text editor or the ATOM API. 

By default, the ability to write, edit, and delete blog entries using web services is disabled in IBM Connections. To turn on this capability, the MetaWeblog API must be enabled. This setting must also be enabled for each individual blog that requires it.
Note: To use a third party blogging application, you must already have a blog with at least one entry.

Procedure
In this procedure, we enable the MetaWeblog API for an individual blog.

1. Click My Blogs to list and work with your blogs.
2. Click Settings for the relevant blog to edit its settings.
3. If required, make any other changes to your blog settings.
4. Activate the Blog Client API by selecting Enable Blogger and Metaweblog API for your blog setting.
5. Click Update Blog Settings.

 Note: You have to configure the blog settings for each individual blog.

Now that the MetaWeblog API has been enabled, you can now use blog clients to interface with the blog. The blog editor of choice can now be configured to use the API.
The following sections tell you how to configure various third party editors.

Configuring Scribefire as blog editor

Procedure

1. Launch Scribefire.
2. List http:///blogs/ (for example, http://connections.acme.com/blogs/myblog) as the blog server.
3. Copy the string in the API URL field before you change the blog system type from Wordpress.
4. Select MetaWeblog API as the blog system.
5. Paste the the string that you copied from the API URL field, which should be in the format http:///blogs/services/xmlrpc (for example, http://connections.acme.com/blogs/services/xmlrpc).
6. Enter your Connections user name and password.
7. Select your blog(s) from the "Blogs to be added" list.

 
You can now compose blog content in Scribefire and post to IBM Connections, which supports rich text as well as images.

Configuring w.bloggar as a blog editor

Procedure

1. Launch the account wizard.
2. Choose Yes, I want to add it as a new Account.
3. Select Custom as the blog tool.
4. Under Account Alias Enter your blog name.
5. In the Content Management Section, select the following options:
• Blog Tool: Custom
• Account Alias: The name you use to reference your blog account.
• Ping: Select this if you want to ‘ping’ blog services.
• User Proxy Server: Select this option if you will be blogging from behind a proxy server.
6. In the Custom Blog Tool Setting section, select the following options:
• Posts: metaWeblog API
• Categories: metaWeblog API – Single or metaWeblog API – Multi (This enables you to use multiple categories per single post)
7. Enter the URL for your Blogs server: in the Host field using the form connections.acme.com.
8. In the Path field, enter the following path: /blogs/services/xmlrpc.
9. Enter your IBM Connections user name and password. If the login is successful, the w.bloggar editor opens.
10. Select the blog or blogs you want to update with w.bloggar from the menu in the editor toolbar.

You can now use w.bloggar to create a blog entry and post it to your blog.

Configuring Live Writer as a blog editor

Procedure

1. Launch Microsoft Live Writer.
2. Select Other Services as the blog service.
3. For the web address of your blog, enter http:///blogs/services/xmlrpc (for example, http://connections.acme.com/blogs/services/xmlrpc)
4. Enter your IBM Connections user name and password.
5. Select Metaweblog API as the blog type.
6. Enter http:///blogs/services/xmlrpc (for example, http://connections.acme.com/blogs/services/xmlrpc) as the "Remote posting web address for your blog".
7. Select your blog(s) from the list of blogs.
8. Enter a name for the blog nickname.
9. Click Finish.

You can now compose and post content to your blog using Live Writer.

Configuring Marsedit as a blog editor

Procedure

1. Start Marsedit.
2. Launch the Quick start.
3. Enter name of the blog.
4. Enter the blog URL as http:///blogs/ (for example, http://connections.acme.com/blogs/myblog).
5. Click Finish.
6. Enter your IBM Connections user name and password when prompted at the next window.
7. Click OK .

 Marsedit has now been configured to compose and publish content to your IBM Connections blog.