PROGRAMMATIC INTERFACES

XML-RPC API

Movable Type features a full implementation of the Blogger XML-RPC API (where applicable). The only two methods that are not supported by Movable Type are getTemplate and setTemplate, due to the differences between Blogger's template system and Movable Type's template system.

Movable Type also supports the metaWeblog XML-RPC API (also where applicable).

Finally, Movable Type also adds a couple of other methods of its own for manipulating the categories assigned to your entries.

Usage of any of these XML-RPC APIs requires that your webserver have both LWP::UserAgent and SOAP::Lite installed; if yours does not, the Installation Instructions can tell you how to install them.

Following are the XML-RPC methods supported by Movable Type:

blogger.newPost
Description: Creates a new post, and optionally publishes it.
Parameters: String appkey, String blogid, String username, String password, String content, boolean publish

Return value: on success, String postid of new post; on failure, fault
blogger.editPost
Description: Updates the information about an existing post.
Parameters: String appkey, String postid, String username, String password, String content, boolean publish

Return value: on success, boolean true value; on failure, fault
blogger.deletePost
Description: Deletes a post.
Parameters: String appkey, String postid, String username, String password, boolean publish

Return value: on success, boolean true value; on failure, fault
blogger.getRecentPosts
Description: Returns a list of the most recent posts in the system.
Parameters: String appkey, String blogid, String username, String password, int numberOfPosts

Return value: on success, array of structs containing ISO.8601 dateCreated, String userid, String postid, String content; on failure, fault

Notes: dateCreated is in the timezone of the blog blogid
blogger.getUsersBlogs
Description: Returns a list of blogs to which an author has posting privileges.
Parameters: String appkey, String username, String password

Return value: on success, array of structs containing String url, String blogid, String blogName; on failure, fault
blogger.getUserInfo
Description: Returns information about an author in the system.
Parameters: String appkey, String username, String password

Return value: on success, struct containing String userid, String firstname, String lastname, String nickname, String email, String url; on failure, fault

Notes: firstname is the Movable Type username up to the first space character, and lastname is the username after the first space character.
metaWeblog.newPost
Description: Creates a new post, and optionally publishes it.
Parameters: String blogid, String username, String password, struct content, boolean publish

Return value: on success, String postid of new post; on failure, fault

Notes: the struct content can contain the following two keys: title, for the title of the entry; and description, for the body of the entry. Any other keys will be ignored.
metaWeblog.editPost
Description: Updates information about an existing post.
Parameters: String postid, String username, String password, struct content, boolean publish

Return value: on success, boolean true value; on failure, fault

Notes: the struct content can contain the following two keys: title, for the title of the post; and description, for the body of the post. Any other keys will be ignored.
metaWeblog.getPost
Description: Returns information about a specific post.
Parameters: String postid, String username, String password

Return value: on success, struct containing String userid, ISO.8601 dateCreated, String postid, String description, String title, String link, String permaLink; on failure, fault

Notes: link and permaLink are both the URL pointing to the archived post
metaWeblog.getRecentPosts
Description: Returns a list of the most recent posts in the system.
Parameters: String blogid, String username, String password, int numberOfPosts

Return value: on success, array of structs containing ISO.8601 dateCreated, String userid, String postid, String description, String title, String link, String permaLink; on failure, fault

Notes: dateCreated is in the timezone of the blog blogid; link and permaLink are the URL pointing to the archived post
mt.getCategoryList
Description: Returns a list of all categories defined in the blog.
Parameters: String blogid, String username, String password

Return value: on success, an array of structs containing String categoryId and String categoryName; on failure, fault.
mt.getPostCategories
Description: Returns a list of all categories to which the post is assigned.
Parameters: String postid, String username, String password

Return value: on success, an array of structs containing String categoryName, String categoryId, and boolean isPrimary; on failure, fault.

Notes: isPrimary denotes whether a category is the post's primary category.
mt.setPostCategories
Description: Sets the categories for a post.
Parameters: String postid, String username, String password, array categories

Return value: on success, boolean true value; on failure, fault

Notes: the array categories is an array of structs containing String categoryId and boolean isPrimary. Using isPrimary to set the primary category is optional--in the absence of this flag, the first struct in the array will be assigned the primary category for the post.
mt.supportedMethods
Description: Retrieve information about the XML-RPC methods supported by the server.
Parameters: none

Return value: an array of method names supported by the server.
mt.getTrackbackPings
Description: Retrieve the list of TrackBack pings posted to a particular entry. This could be used to programmatically retrieve the list of pings for a particular entry, then iterate through each of those pings doing the same, until one has built up a graph of the web of entries referencing one another on a particular topic.
Parameters: String postid

Return value: an array of structs containing String pingTitle (the title of the entry sent in the ping), String pingURL (the URL of the entry), and String pingIP (the IP address of the host that sent the ping).

NOTE: the value of appkey is ignored by Movable Type in all of the Blogger XML-RPC methods.

You can use Movable Type's XML-RPC implementation with existing tools like w.bloggar, BlogApp, BlogLet, BlogBuddy, Jericho, etc. For example, to set up BlogBuddy to post to your Movable Type blog, follow these instructions:

Download BlogBuddy from http://blogbuddy.sourceforge.net/. Unpack the archive, and install the application.
Open the BlogBuddy application.
Select General Settings from the Settings menu. On the General tab, enter your Movable Type username in UserName, and your password in Password.
In the Remote Host tab, enter the name of the host where your version of Movable Type is installed into Host name, and the path to mt-xmlrpc.cgi into Endpoint. For example, if mt-xmlrpc.cgi is located at http://www.foo.com/bar/mt-xmlrpc.cgi, you should enter www.foo.com into Host name, and /bar/mt-xmlrpc.cgi into Endpoint. If your webserver runs on a port other than 80, you should also change the port setting.
In the Blogs tab, click the Update blogs button; BlogBuddy will contact Movable Type on your webserver, and ask it for a list of blogs which you have access to (using getUsersBlogs, above).
You can now post to your Movable Type blog(s) using BlogBuddy's posting interface.

Perl API

The Movable Type code is written in an object-oriented style and contains a well-documented Perl API that you can use in your own Perl programs. The documentation itself is in POD format and is contained within the .pm files. You can read this documentation from the shell using the perldoc command. For example:

% cd <movable type directory>/lib
% perldoc MT

Plugins

Movable Type's plugin framework makes it easy to add new tags to the system. In the future, more callback functionality will be added.

Plugin files are Perl scripts placed in a special directory; when Movable Type is initalized, it loads all of the plugins, which can modify the Movable Type code and system at runtime.

Your plugins directory should be placed in the same directory as mt.cgi.

To create that directory, connect to your FTP server, and open the directory where you installed Movable Type. Create a new directory called plugins.

Here is a sample plugin that you can use to test whether your plugins directory is set up properly.

Save the following in a file called load.pl:

use MT::Template::Context;
MT::Template::Context->add_tag(ServerUptime => sub { `uptime` });
1;

Upload load.pl into your plugins directory.
In one of your Movable Type templates, add the following:
```
Uptime: <$MTServerUptime$>
```
Rebuild that template, then look at it on your browser. It should include the output from your system's uptime command.

This is just a very simple example of a new tag that you can add. The plugin framework is not limited to adding tags that call system commands.

Here's an example of a plugin that creates a container tag:

MT::Template::Context->add_container_tag(Loop => sub {
    my $ctx = shift;
    my $res = '';
    my $builder = $ctx->stash('builder');
    my $tokens = $ctx->stash('tokens');
    for my $i (1..5) {
        $ctx->stash('i_value', $i);
        defined(my $out = $builder->build($ctx, $tokens))
            or return $ctx->error($ctx->errstr);
        $res .= $out;
    }
    $res;
});
MT::Template::Context->add_tag(LoopIValue => sub {
    my $ctx = shift;
    $ctx->stash('i_value');
});

It can be used like this in a template:

<MTLoop>
The value of I is: <$MTLoopIValue$>
</MTLoop>

And it will display: