Blog Tool Guide

9 April 2003

Installationguide and ephemera for the blog tool.


Tested on:
Zope 2.6.2/CMF 1.4.2
Zope 2.6.1/CMF 1.4.2
Zope 2.6.1/CMF 1.3.1

Features of PABlog (running on CMF or plone)

  • You can have as many weblogs on a site as you want
  • Customizable subjects for entries
  • Comment system*
  • Multiple editors on all weblogs
  • Search*
  • Member registration*
  • Member profiles (if they want)*
  • Publish date (decide when you want something to publish)*
  • Expiration date*
  • Calendar*
  • RSS Headline Syndication
  • Security and Access Control*

*uses the underlying CMF or Plone


 

Known problems


When using CMF 1.3.1, the blogindex_html_utils needs to be edited toremove the '.css' on the stylesheet. Also in CMF 1.3.1, wheneditingcomments you must hit the "Change and View" button rather than the"Change button".

New in 1.8:

 

  • rss generator (edit blog.rss to contain your url and blogtitle)
  • list last 10 comments
  • cleaned up css
  •  there is a fork of PABlogPlone for plone users
  •  changed ID generation format for cleanliness
  • added 'publish date' to entry edit form (note that if youare logged in  and are the owner of the blog,you will see the entry in the main list anyway)
  • automatically add PABlog to Calendar Types
  • removed calendarBox.pt, CalendarStyle.dtml,viewThreadsAtBottom.pt



Preconditions


  1. You have Zope and CMF installed.  You will need toinstallPABlogPlone if  you have Plone installed.
  2. You have CMFCalendar installed. This is highly recommended,as the archiving function derives from this. If you don't have it,comment outthe relevant section of main_template. To install CMFCalendar, createanexternal method in your CMF root with the module nameCMFCalendar.Install and the function name is install, run the test, andthe move on.
  3. You have HtmlArea3 installed.  


Installation


  1. run the installer (create an external method where theModule Name is PABlog.Install and the Function Name is install)
  2. In the ZMI, go to portal_skins/PABlog, and click ondiscussion_reply. You will see a readonly version of the file and adropdown and button. Make sure that "custom" is selected, and hit thebutton. Click the Proxy tab at the top and select Manager, and hit save.
  3. copy blog.zexp to your Zope import folder (e.g./var/Zope/import).
  4. Back in the ZMI, select your CMF Site (in our case 'site')and import blog.zexp into the site.


Usage


Simple blog tool. Create/edit posts in the folder for the currentmonth. You can put images/documents/files/etc in the same folder (it'sjust aregular Portal Folder) and access them easily.