Entry Post is a plugin for Movable Type that enables visitors to your site to submit entries using a form. Visitors do not need a user account and they do not need to login. Similar to posting a comment, they can simply fill in a form and submit.

New features in version 2.5

Entry Post 2.5 contains the following new features for use on MT4:

• Complete support for all Authentication methods in MT4 (including MT Auth, OpenID, and TypeKey)
• New "EntryPost Response" template makes it easier to customize the screen that users see after submitting an entry.
• Enhanced preview template.
• New email notification template enables to to customize the contents of the emails, including the ability to include extra field data
• Better error handling (errors displayed via customizable template)
• Advanced options for overriding the default "allow comments" and "allow trackbacks" settings.

I have been using external forms and scripts to submit MT entries 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• new entries can be set to "Published" or "Unpublished" (pending admin/moderator review)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 all MT4 authentication methods (optional)
• entries can be scanned against MT's Spam 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
• override "allow comments" and "allow trackbacks" settings.

Try Entry Post 2.5 Now

I have enabled Entry Post 2.5 on the MT Test Blog. Submit an entry by clicking here. Feel free to login (optional) and submit entries. (Note that you may need to clear your cookies before testing, as the test blog is on a different MT installation than MT Hacks).

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

EntryPost 2.5 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 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 4.01+
• Template Installer plugin

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 file.


• Login to MT and go to 'Preferences > Plugins' area of a blog and "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.


• If you are using the default template installed above, you must also made a small edit to your "Header" template module. Go to Design>Templates then choose template Module from the menu on the right. Open the module called "Header". Before the </head> tag, add the following:

  <MTIf name="entrypost_submit">
  <script type="text/javascript" src="<$MTLink template="javascript"$>"></script>
  </MTIf>

• 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.

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.

Not on MT4? Version 2.0 supports MT 3.2 and MT3.3x.

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

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

Note: - While Entry Post 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.