New features in version 2.0

Entry Post 2.0 contains the following new features:

• Native Field Support - This means that the EntryPost plugin now manages fields by itself, so you don't need to install CustomFields or any other plugin. You can use Entry Post 2.0 alongside other fields plugins -- there are no known conflicts.
• Extra Fields - In addition to the standard Name, Email Address, URL, and Image fields, you can now use Entry Post to submit extra fields "on the fly".
• New Template Tags - New tags make it easier to display information about the poster (and any extra fields) in your blog pages.
• Support for MT4 - Entry Post two can be used with MT 3.2, 3.3, and now 4.0. tested with MT4 beta5.

I have been using external forms and scripts to do this for several years. Examples include Mars Rover Forum and Seinfeld Forum. These MT-powered forums enable forum members to post new topics (entries) using an external form. Based on this experience, I have converted the entry posting script into a plugin -- and added a bunch of additional features.

Basic Features

• enable visitors to post entries to your blog
• new entries can be set to "Published" or "Unpublished" (pending admin/moderator review)
• supports TypeKey authentication (optional)
• entries can be scanned against MT's Junk Filters
• entries can be previewed before posting
• email notifications of new entry submissions
• entries can be added to a category (set a default or allow poster to choose)
• entries can be tagged (default list of tags, or specified by the poster)
• included default templates include spam-protected form

Advanced Features

• enable posters to upload an image with the entry
• other entry fields supported (Extended Entry, Excerpt, Keywords)
• option to disable rebuilds when an entry is posted
• option to disable entry creation (makes the form work as a 'contact me' form with email notification turned on.)
• xml response option
• support for extra fields defined by you

Try Entry Post Now

I have set up an Entry Post test blog that you can use to submit test entries. You can use one of two forms:

1. Basic Form (default form installed with Entry Post)
2. Advanced Form (an example form to demonstrate advanced features)

By using the forms above, you will quickly get an idea of the visitor experience with Entry Post. In its simplest form, it is very similar to posting a comment.

The Administrator Experience

Entry Post has been designed to be easy to install and configure. Simply upload the files, change some file permissions, then configure the plugin via the Plugin Settings for each blog. Required templates are installed with a single click (which can then be customized, if desired).

The settings area for Entry Post looks like this:

By using the above settings, you can configure most of the features of Entry Post.

Template Tags

New in version 2.0, EntryPost includes the following template tags that you can use to display information posted using the plugin:

• <MTEntryPosterName> - The name of the poster, as submitted in the "Name" field. If the name field it blank, the plugin assumes that the entry was not submitted via Entry Post, and this tag will display the name of the author of the entry. This makes it very easy to update your templates, simply replace the <MTEntryAuthorDisplayName> tag with the <MTEntryPosterName> tag, and it will "just work", regardless whether the netry was posted by an author or posted by a visitor to your blog.
• <MTEntryPosterEmail> - The email address of the poster, as submitted in the "Email" field. If the "Name" field is blank, this tag outputs the email address of the author. For privacy and anti-spam reasons, I don't recommend using this tag in your templates.
• <MTEntryPosterURL> - The URL of the poster, as submitted in the "URL" field. If the "Name" field is blank, this tag outputs the URL of the author.
• <MTEntryPosterIP> - The IP address of the poster. For privacy reasons, I don't recommend using this tag in your templates.
• <MTEntryPosterImage> - The relative path of the image uploaded by the poster.
• <MTEntryPosterLink> - Outputs the linked name of the poster. If the "Name" field is blank, it will display the author's linked name. Supports the same arguments as <MTEntryAuthorLink>.
• <MTEntryPostField> - This tag can be used to to display the value of any extra fields submitted using Entry Post. A single field argument is required, which should inlcude the name of the field, without underscores. For example, <MTEntryPostField field="Favorite Color"> would display the value of the Favorite Color field.

Advanced Use - Adding Extra Fields

Entry Post 2.0 makes it very easy to add extra fields. All you have to do is add the extra fields to the form. First, browse to Templates and then Template Modules and edit the 'EntryPost Form" module. Now add a field to the form in the following format:

<input type="text" name="entrypost_Favorite_Color" />

..and you are done! Note that the "name" argument above must begin with "entrypost_", followed by the name of the field. Use underscores ("_") instead of spaces, if the field name has more than one word. You can add multiple extra fields in this manner, and they will automatically be added to the entries posted, and displayed automatically on the admin Entry screen.

Requirements

• MT 3.2+ (Note: The tags and TypeKey login features require MT 3.3+)

Limitations

• Under MT 3.2, you will be able to see the Entry Post fields on the entry screen, but you won't be able edit them.
• Under MT 4.0, the Typkey sign-in feature doesn't work reliably. The next version of Entry Post will focus on support for MT4's native authentication system.

Installation

• Download the zip file and extract the contents.


• Upload the "EntryPost" directory (and all its sub-directories and files) to your MT 'plugins' directory.


• Change the file permissions to 755 (CHMOD 755) for the EntryPost/mt-entrypost.cgi and EntryPost/signin.cgi files.


• Login to MT and go to the 'Settings' area of a blog and choose the 'Plugins' tab. Then click the "Settings" link for EntryPost. You should now see the available settings for EntryPost, as shown above.


• Enable the plugin by checking the Enable checkbox, choose other settings, and the save the settings.


• Return to the EntryPost settings and install the templates by clicking the provided link. After the templates have been created, you can customize them, if desired, to suit your needs or match your site design. The primary template is an index template called "EntryPost Submit Page" - this page includes the form to post entries.


• You will probably now want to provide a link to the Submit Page from your main index. One way to do this is to use the provided "EntryPost Submit Link" widget (using WidgetManager). Alternatively, you can manually create a link such as <a href="<MTEntryPostSubmitPage>">Submit an Entry</a>.

Get Entry Post

Commercial License - $97

If you site or blog is for-profit, a commercial license is required. The license includes all future updates to Entry Post and priority feature requests.

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Personal License - $33

For use on a personal site or blog, a personal license is required. The license includes all future updates to Entry Post.

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If you would like to use Entry Post on a non-profit or charity site, please contact me.

Live Demo

If you are interested in purchasing EntryPost, but would like to try it first, that can be arranged. To experience the poster side of things, visit the Entry Post test blog using the links provided above. If you would like to login to see the admin interface, please contact me.

As always, feedback, suggestions, and product questions are appreciated. Please reply to this entry.

Note: - While Entry Post 2.0 includes built in support for poster fields and extra fields, it is not intended to be used as a general purpose "extra fields" plugin. Fields can only be added via the external Entry Post form. If you are interested in a general purpose fields plugin, there are several available, including CustomFields and RightFields.

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<a href="<MTEntryPosterURL> "><MTEntryPosterName> </a>

Unfortunately, the use of the latter does not provide an author for my prior blog entries.

That usage seems correct. It should work as desired. What version of MT are you using? Can you provide a link to your site (if you want, send it privately via my contact form).

In future, I could add an advanced feature in which a hidden form field could be used to override the default setting. This would have to be used with care however, as people could submit their own version of the form (sitting on their own server) and set this field to turn on comments for their entries, etc.

Let's file this under feature requests, then. I can see how it could be a concern in and of itself, but the site I'm working on has every piece of content go through moderation, so the overriding isn't much concern. And really, anyone accepting outside content for immediate publishing is probably opening themselves up to much worse than comment spam, in my opinion.

Generally speaking, I'd always rather have options available with the ability/responsibility to turn them off than for things to just be impossible. Impossible makes me angry *grin*

I have the form embedded in a sidebar rather than a separate page, and so this was causing it to fail on individual archives. Just change the form's name and adjust the JS immediately below to fix.

is it possible to restrict the usage of your plugin to authenticated (without TypeKey) commenters?

Another feature to expect, as requested recently (Thanks Grace!), is that the email notifcations will likely have a template module that can be customized on a per-blog basis. This will make it easy to customize what is contained in the emails, including the ability to add extra fields.

So by now I can only choose between everybody may post to the blog or only TypeKey authenticated user may post to the blog?

Just an idea: If I set MT to 'Any authenticated commenters', force the commenter to either register or log-in and then present your form (instead of a comment entry form). Might this work until your next major version?

In the current version, you can simulate what you want to do (showing the form only if they are logged in), but the entry won't get attributed to their user account, but rather under the default EP user.

In short, you definitely be able to do as you describe in the next version (barring any unforeseen difficulties in adding those features.

Maybe I can fiddle the commenters data into the posting through some hidden fields and JavaScript (in the meantime) and later fetch them through your new plugin. If I buy today, will I get the new version (timeframe ;-) for free?

Can you send an email alert when you have it ready with MT 4 native authentication?

Thanks