Girlie's Tips and Tricks

add shortcut to reset activity log

In a previous mini-tip, I noted the URL to reset your Activity Log. With the introduction of magic tokens in Movable Type 3.16, that method isn't going to work now.

Being that I'm lazy about resetting my own Activity Log, and that I'm often too impatient to wait for the log page to load all the way so I can get to the normal reset option at the very bottom, I just hacked a shortcut into the Main Menu of my Movable Type installation.

]]> The file to modify is tmpl/cms/list_blog.tmpl. Look for the section of code that starts with this (at about line 45):

and then right after this line:

add the following:

»
=reset_log&magic_token=">»

(Line breaks added for display purposes are indicated by »; these breaks should be removed from the code!)

Save the file and upload it back to the server in ASCII mode.

Log into Movable Type and you should now see the link in the Shortcuts:

dynamic archives by author

The ability to provide archive listings by author has been a much requested option for Movable Type. While you can create a separate index template (using the author attribute on MTEntries) for each author, if you have a lot of them, this becomes a pain to manage (not to mention the negative impact on your rebuilds).

The new dynamic publishing feature, which harnesses the power of Smarty, takes us a few steps closer: you only need a single index template, and then you can just pass the appropriate author name as a variable to the page to limit the listing to that author's entries.

]]> Create a new index template named By Author (be sure to enable dynamic building), using the following code:

"><$MTEntryTitle$>

Set the output file path (I used authors/index.php) and save the template.

Then, link to the author-specific listing like this:

authors/index.php?author=girlie

(Replace girlie with your author name, of course.)

You can also generate a listing for all authors with the MTAuthors plugin, but since it's not yet been updated for dynamic publishing, you'll need to use a static page for this. Because commenter names are also stored in the mt_author table now, and some real authors may not have posted any entries yet, I also relied upon the Compare plugin, to make sure the author actually has some entries.

Here's the code for the listing:

Archives by Author

By Author">?author=">

Replace By Author with the name of the first template you created, to automatically generate the proper link for that template's output file.

If your Main Index Template is published dynamically (and you want to keep it that way), use a separate static index template for the author listing, and then just include the output file in your Main Index Template:

Props to Brad once again - although the questions I asked him weren't for this purpose, his patient explanations are always so informative that I can't help but be inspired!

paginated dynamic index page with smarty

Brad gave me this Smarty code for paginating an index page (i.e., where you can have previous/next links with a certain number of entries per page).

]]> Above the primary container in your page, use something like this:

{{if $smarty.request.start > 0}}
5}}">Previous
{{/if}}

5`">
{{if $smarty.request.start > 0}} | {{/if}}
5}}">Next

and then modify the primary tag to look like this:

5" offset="`$smarty.request.start`">

You can change 5 to the number of entries you want per page.

I really need to learn more about Smarty. Brad says there are a lot of neat things you can do with it, and Lord knows I haven't spent much time lately just doing "neat things". :p

(Which means don't bother asking me too many questions about this. I have no idea how the hell it works - I'm just documenting the code before I forget about it.)

per-category individual entry archive templates

Stepan Riha showed us how to have Per-Category Templates for Category Archives. You can do the same thing for Individual Entry Archives, you just need a different plugin.

]]> Install the Compare plugin.

Create a separate Template Module for each category which contains the appropriate content and template code you want for entries in that particular category.

Replace your existing Individual Entry Archive template with code similar to this (substituting your own category names, of course):

Save and rebuild Individual Archives.

notifications: single form for subscribe and unsubscribe

One new feature in Movable Type 3.0 which hasn't received much attention is the unsubscribe function for notifications. Visitors who've added themselves to your notification list can now unsubscribe themselves, if you provide a form for them to do so.

Rather than have two forms, one for subscribing and one for unsubscribing, you can combine these functions into a single form.

]]>

Notify List

Currently, new subscriptions must be confirmed via email; however, this is not required for a visitor to unsubscribe.

categories with most entries

This is a total copycat of the Scriptygoddess Most Commented On Entries, but I thought someone might find a use for it anyway. ;-)

Here, we'll use PHP to produce a list of the categories with the most entries.

]]> Create a new Index Template with an output file of categories.inc with the following code in it:

$catentries[] =
;

$catinfo[] =
"||";

?>

Make sure the box is checked to Rebuild this template automatically. Save the template and then rebuild it.

Where you want the listing to display, use this code:

# This is the path to the categories.inc:
include("/full/path/to/categories.inc");

echo "

$catentries[$i] entries: $cat_name (updated $cat_updated)

";

?>

Be sure to change /full/path/to/categories.inc to point to the location of the new Index Template you created, and 10 to the number of categories you want in the listing.

View a demo of the results.

2004 bloggies

I just wanted to say what an honor it is to be nominated for two categories in this year's Bloggies.

For a blog that started merely as a place for me to keep a personal list of "things to do to my site", Tips & Tricks has blossomed into something I never quite expected it to become. To know that other Movable Type users have found the information here helpful has been very gratifying, and has also challenged me to expand my own knowledge for the simple pleasure of sharing it with others.

I would like to encourage everyone to take some time to visit as many of the nominees as you can this year, and register your votes, whether for me or for "the competition". I think it's safe to say that bloggers, like everyone else, appreciate recognition for what they do. The opportunities for showing that don't come along every day - so grab it while you can, along with the opportunity to discover some great reads you might not have been aware of until now.

Thanks to everyone who nominated me; to my fellow forum moderators; to the plugin developers; to the users who keep me hopping; and last, but most importantly, to Ben and Mena Trott for creating such an inspiring product! The Movable Type community is incredible, and I'm thrilled to be a part of it.

And good luck to my fellow nominees - I'm in excellent company, there's no doubt.

category specific recent comments listing

In a recent entry, I showed how I used PHP/MySQL to display the lastn comments from a single category. The code can also be modified for use in a Category Archive page, to show recent comments only for that particular category.

]]> This piece of code from the original entry is the one to modify:

(placement_category_id = 54)

If you only assign one category to each entry in your blog, replace 54 with:

If you assign multiple categories to each entry, install the Compare plugin and replace 54 with:

Inspired by this topic in the MT forum.

show all comments for comment author

This PHP/MySQL code will list all comments made by a particular comment author (based on their email address - if you allow anonymous comments, you'll need to modify the code to use another field).

Also, the script uses the Trackback URL for each entry commented on to provide a permalink to the entry. If your entries aren't Trackback-enabled, you may get strange results.

Update 04.15.04: The code has been updated to strip tags from comment text as a precautionary measure against malicious code.

]]> //connection info
include ("/path/to/your/connection/file/connect.php");

$author = 'girlie';
$email = 'girlie@thegirliematters.com';

$leaders = mysql_query("SELECT comment_url, comment_author, comment_text, comment_created_on, comment_entry_id, entry_title, trackback_url FROM mt_comment, mt_entry, mt_trackback WHERE (comment_blog_id=8) AND (comment_email='$email') AND (entry_id=comment_entry_id) AND (trackback_entry_id=comment_entry_id) ORDER BY comment_created_on DESC");

$email=str_replace("@", "@", "$email");
$email=str_replace(".", ".", "$email");
echo "Comments by $author:

\n";

while($row = mysql_fetch_array($leaders)) {
while (list($key,$val) = each($row)) {$$key = $val;}
$date = date("m.d.y", strtotime($comment_created_on));
$comment_text = strip_tags($row['comment_text']);
echo "posted $date on entry $entry_title:\n";
echo "

$comment_text

\n";
}

?>

You must change /path/to/your/connection/file/connect.php to point to your connect file; change girlie and girlie@thegirliematters.com to match the comment author to display; and change 8 to match your blog ID.

You can also view a demo of the results (which is limited to 10 comments for the sake of brevity), and then read a tutorial at Virtual Venus on using the script dynamically for all comment authors.

"mail this entry" used for spam

SEE UPDATE BELOW

If you are using Movable Type's "Mail This Entry" feature on your blog, you are advised to rename your mt-send-entry.cgi file, or remove the feature entirely.

If you are not using the feature on your blog, you still need to either rename the script, disable it by changing the permissions, or remove it from your server altogether.

Spammers have discovered a means of using this script to send messages that will appear to be coming from your server.

Renaming the script won't prevent them from finding it if you continue to use the feature on your site, but it will slow them down a little if everyone chooses a unique name for the script.

Also, if you're using other versions of this feature such as Pop-Up Mail This Entry or MT-Mail-Entry, you may want to take a similar approach to those as well.

If there are any developers out there interested in working on a fix for this vulnerability, please leave a comment and I will contact you with the details of the method being used (if you need them).

Update: Ben posted a fix in the previously-mentioned forum thread:

Before line 40 in mt-send-entry.cgi, add these lines:

die "Invalid from or to value"
if $to =~ /[\r\n]/ || $from =~ /[\r\n]/;

Save mt-send-entry.cgi, upload to your server in ASCII mode, and CHMOD permissions to 755 again (if necessary).

(Cross-posted at Virtual Venus)

nicer autolinked urls in comments

Movable Type offers an autolink feature for URLs in comments, which is rather handy. However, if a URL is lengthy, it can mess up the display in other areas of your site (such as a Recent Comments Listing in your sidebar).

Dylan Cuthbert posted a hack that will extract just the site name as the text of the link.

]]> You'll need to hack two MT files: lib/MT/Util.pm and lib/MT/Template/Context.pm (line numbers referenced are as of v2.64, and code changes are in color):

lib/MT/Util.pm, lines 403-412:

sub munge_comment {
my($text, $blog) = @_;
unless ($blog->allow_comment_html) {
$text = remove_html($text);
if ($blog->autolink_urls) {
$text =~ s!(http://([^\s/]+)\S*)!$2!g;
}
}
$text;
}

lib/MT/Template/Context.pm, lines 1215-1230:

sub _hdlr_comment_body {
my($ctx, $arg) = @_;
sanitize_on($arg);
my $tag = $ctx->stash('tag');
my $c = $ctx->stash($tag =~ /Preview/ ? 'comment_preview' : 'comment')
or return $ctx->_no_comment_error('MT' . $tag);
my $blog = $ctx->stash('blog');
my $t = defined $c->text ? $c->text : '';
$t = ($tag =~ /Preview/ ? $t : munge_comment($t, $blog) );
my $convert_breaks = exists $arg->{convert_breaks} ?
$arg->{convert_breaks} :
$blog->convert_paras_comments;
return $convert_breaks ?
MT->apply_text_filters($t, $blog->comment_text_filters, $ctx) :
$t;
}

I have not tested this hack personally (believe it or not, I do very little actual hacking to my own MT files). but I thought it was worth adding here and to the Requested Features List.

more than five recent items on editing menu

By default, the Editing Menu for your blog shows the most recent entries, comments, and trackback pings (5 of each). Here's how to increase that number.

]]> The code is in lib/MT/App/CMS.pm, and all line numbers are based on v2.661.

Entries, lines 233-236:

my $iter = MT::Entry->load_iter({ blog_id => $blog_id },
{ 'sort' => 'created_on',
direction => 'descend',
limit => 5 });

Comments, lines 254-257:

$iter = MT::Comment->load_iter({ blog_id => $blog_id },
{ 'sort' => 'created_on',
direction => 'descend',
limit => 5 });

Pings, lines 272-275:

$iter = MT::TBPing->load_iter({ blog_id => $blog_id },
{ 'sort' => 'created_on',
direction => 'descend',
limit => 5 });

Change 5 to the number you want to display.

how to work with templates when making changes

Just something I posted on the MT Support Forum that I thought I'd put here as well, regarding how I use link this template to a file when making changes to my templates that I may not want to keep.

]]> I have a templates folder in each of my blog directories. I use the Link this template to a file field to save a copy of every template. For example, my Main Index template is linked to a file named templates/mainindex.tmpl.

When I want to make changes to a template that I'm not sure I want to keep, I modify the linked filename by adding a number to the name (templates/mainindex2.tmpl) and press SAVE.

If I decide I don't like the changes, I delete everything in the template body window, modify the linked file name back to the original (i.e., remove the number) and press SAVE again. The original template then appears in the body window, and I'm back to where I started.

If I decide I do like the changes, I just modify the linked file name back to the original and press SAVE to copy over the original linked file, and now my changes have been permanently retained.

Every now and then, I FTP to my site and remove any of the testing templates by deleting those with numbers.