NAME

Net::Blogger - an OOP-ish interface for accessing a weblog via the Blogger XML-RPC API.

SYNOPSIS

use Net::Blogger;
my $b = Net::Blogger->new(appkey=>APPKEY);

$b->BlogId(BLOGID);
$b->Username(USERNAME);
$b->Password(PASSWORD);

$b->BlogId($b->GetBlogId(blogname=>'superfoobar'));

# Get recent posts

my ($ok,@p) = $b->getRecentPosts(numposts=>20);

if (! $ok) {
  croak $b->LastError();
}

map { print "\t $_->{'postid'}\n"; } @p;

# Post from a file

my ($ok,@p) = $b->PostFromFile(file=>"/usr/blogger-test");

if (! $ok) {
  croak $b->LastError();
}

# Deleting posts

map {
  $b->deletePost(postid=>"$_") || croak $b->LastError();
} @p;

# Getting and setting templates

my $t = $b->getTemplate(type => 'main');
$b->setTemplate(type=>'main',template=>\$t) || croak $b->LastError();

# New post

my $txt = "hello world.";
my $id = $b->newPost(postbody=>\$txt) || croak $b->LastError();

# Get post

my $post = $b->getPost($id) || croak $b->LastError();
print "Text for last post was $post->{'content'}\n";

DESCRIPTION

Blogger.pm provides an OOP-ish interface for accessing a weblog via the Blogger XML-RPC API.

ENGINES

Blogger.pm relies on "engines" to implement it's functionality. The Blogger.pm package itself is little more than a wrapper file that happens to use a default "Blogger" engine is none other is specified.

my $manila = Net::Blogger->new(engine=>"manila");

But wait!, you say. It's an API that servers implements and all I should have to do is changed the login data. Why do I need an engine?

Indeed. Every server pretty much gets the spirit of the API right, but each implements the details slightly differently. For example :

The MovableType XML-RPC server follows the spec for the getRecentPost but because of the way Perl auto-vivifies hashes it turns out you can slurp all the posts for a blog rather than the just the 20 most recent.

The Userland Manila server doesn't support the getUsersBlogs method; the Userland RadioUserland server does.

The Blogger server imposes a limit on the maximum length of a post. Other servers don't. (Granted the server in question will return a fault, if necessary, but Blogger.pm tries to do the right thing and check for these sorts of things before adding to the traffic on the network.)

Lots of weblog-like applications don't support the Blogger API but do have a traditional REST interface. With the introduction of Blogger.pm "engines", support for these applications via the API can be added with all the magic happening behind the curtain, so to speak.

PACKAGE METHODS

__PACKAGE__->new(\%args)

Instantiate a new Blogger object.

Valid arguments are :

  • engine (required)

    String. Default is "blogger".

  • appkey

    String. The magic appkey for connecting to the Blogger XMLRPC server.

  • blogid

    String. The unique ID that Blogger uses for your weblog

  • username

    String. A valid username for blogid

  • password

    String. A valid password for the username/blogid pair.

Releases prior to Net::Blogger 0.85 accepted a list of arguments rather than a reference. Version 0.85+ are backwards compatible.

Returns an object. Woot!

__PACKAGE__->init()

Initializes the specified engine

Blogger API METHODS

$pkg->getUsersBlogs()

Fetch the blogid, url and blogName for each of the Blogger blogs the current user is registered to.

Returns an array ref of hashes.

$pkg->newPost(\%args)

Add a new post to the Blogger server.

Valid arguments are :

  • postbody

    Scalar ref. required

  • publish

    Boolean.

If the length of postbody exceeds maximum length allowed by the Blogger servers -- 65,536 characters -- currently the text will be chunked into smaller pieces are each piece will be posted separately.

Returns an array containing one, or more, post ids.

$pkg->getPost($postid)

Returns a hash ref, containing the following keys : userid, postid, content and dateCreated.

$pkg->getRecentPosts(\%args)

Fetch the latest (n) number of posts for a given blog. The most recent posts are returned first.

Valid arguments are

  • numposts

    Int. If no argument is passed to the method, default is 1.

    "NumberOfPosts is limited to 20 at this time. Let me know if this gets annoying. Letting this number get too high could result in some expensive db access, so I want to be careful with it." --Ev

Releases prior to Net::Blogger 0.85 accepted a list of arguments rather than a reference. Version 0.85+ are backwards compatible.

Returns true or false, followed by an array of hash refs. Each hash ref contains the following keys : postid,content,userid,dateCreated

$pkg->editPost(\%args)

Update the Blogger database. Set the body of entry $postid to $body.

Valid arguments are :

  • postbody (required)

    Scalar ref or a valid filehandle.

  • postid (required)

    String.

  • publish

    Boolean.

If the length of postbody exceeds maximum length allowed by the Blogger servers -- 65,536 characters -- currently the text will be chunked into smaller pieces are each piece will be posted separately.

Releases prior to Net::Blogger 0.85 accepted a list of arguments rather than a reference. Version 0.85+ are backwards compatible.

Returns an array containing one, or more, post ids.

$pkg->deletePost(\%args)

Delete a post from the Blogger server.

Valid arguments are

  • postid (required)

    String.

  • publish

    Boolean.

Releases prior to Net::Blogger 0.85 accepted a list of arguments rather than a reference. Version 0.85+ are backwards compatible.

Returns true or false.

$pkg->setTemplate(\%args)

Set the body of the template matching type $type.

"template is the HTML (XML, whatever -- Blogger can output any sort of text).
 Must contain opening and closing <Blogger> tags to be valid and accepted."
    --Evan

Valid arguments are

  • template

    Scalar ref. required

  • type

    String. required

    Valid types are "main" and "archiveIndex"

Releases prior to Net::Blogger 0.85 accepted a list of arguments rather than a reference. Version 0.85+ are backwards compatible.

Returns true or false.

$pkg->getTemplate(\%args)

Fetch the body of the template matching type $type.

Valid types are

  • type

    String. required

    Valid types are "main" and "archiveIndex"

Releases prior to Net::Blogger 0.85 accepted a list of arguments rather than a reference. Version 0.85+ are backwards compatible.

Returns a string.

EXTENDED METHODS

$pkg->GetBlogId(\%args)

Return the unique blogid for $args-{'blogname'}>.

Valid arguments are

  • blogname

    String.

Releases prior to Net::Blogger 0.85 accepted a list of arguments rather than a reference. Version 0.85+ are backwards compatible.

Returns a string. If no blogname is specified, the current blogid for the object is returned.

$pkg->DeleteAllPosts(\%args)

Delete all the posts on a weblog. Valid arguments are :

  • publish

    Boolean.

Releases prior to Net::Blogger 0.85 accepted a list of arguments rather than a reference. Version 0.85+ are backwards compatible.

$pkg->PostFromFile(\%args)

Open a filehandle, and while true, post to Blogger. If the length of the amount read from the file exceeds the per-post limit assigned by the Blogger servers -- currently 65,536 characters -- the contents of the file will be posted in multiple "chunks".

Valid arguments are

  • file

    /path/to/file required

  • postid

    String.

  • publish

    Boolean.

  • tail

    Boolean.

    If true, the method will not attempt to post data whose length exceeds the limit set by the Blogger server in the order that the data is read. Translation : last in becomes last post becomes the first thing you see on your weblog.

If a postid argument is present, the method will call the Blogger API editPost method with postid. Otherwise the method will call the Blogger API newPost method.

Releases prior to Net::Blogger 0.85 accepted a list of arguments rather than a reference. Version 0.85+ are backwards compatible.

Returns true or false, followed by an array of zero, or more, postids.

$pkg->PostFromOutline(\%args)

Like PostFromFile, only this time the file is an outliner document.

This method uses Simon Kittle's Text::Outline::asRenderedHTML method for posting. As of this writing, the Text::Outline package has not been uploaded to the CPAN. See below for a link to the homepage/source.

Valid outline formats are OPML, tabbed text outline, Emacs' outline-mode format, and the GNOME Think format.

Valid arguments are

  • file

    /path/to/file required

  • postid

    String.

  • publish

    Boolean.

If a postid argument is present, the method will call the Blogger API editPost method with postid. Otherwise the method will call the Blogger API newPost method.

Releases prior to Net::Blogger 0.85 accepted a list of arguments rather than a reference. Version 0.85+ are backwards compatible.

Returns true or false, followed by an array of zero, or more, postids.

NOTES

The Atom API

In January 2004, Blogger announced their support for the Atom API.

As of this writing (version 0.87) this package does not support the Atom API. If you need to do things Atom-ish, your best bet is to use the XML::Atom package.

Content negotiation

Persons trying to connect to a server using shortened URLs and content negotiation should not be surprised if they encounter weirdness and/or errors. Specifically, a HTTP 406 error.

Some preliminary investigation suggests that, if there's a bug at play here, it's a bug somewhere deep in SOAP::Lite/HTTP::* land.

Patches are welcome. Otherwise, you've been warned. :-)

See also :

AUTHORS

Originally authored by Aaron Straup Cope
Adopted by Christopher H. Laco

SEE ALSO

Net::Blogger::API::Core

Net::Blogger::Engine::Base

http://plant.blogger.com/api/

BUGS

Hopefully, few. Please reports all bugs to :

http://rt.cpan.org/NoAuth/ReportBug.html?Queue=Net::Blogger

SOURCE

You can get the latest version of the source code from the Subversion repository at http://handelframework.com/svn/CPAN/Net-Blogger/

LICENSE

Copyright (c) 2001-2005 Aaron Straup Cope.

This is free software, you may use it and distribute it under the same terms as Perl itself.