Displaying Comments

Problem

You want to display comments in your weblog.

Solution

Use the template tags prefixed with MTComment.

Discussion

The default templates that ship with Movable Type are comment-ready. These templates are set up so that comments appear on both the popup comment window and the individual archive pages.

All of the various options for moderating and managing comments combine to make the default template code and HTML for comments quite extensive and sophisticated. To get you familiar with how comments can be implemented in MT templates we'll look at some...

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Authentication status

This option allows you to set up TypeKey (or a compatible service) on your blog to enable authenticated commenting. This is highly recommended as an extremely effective and easy anti-spam technique.

The "Setup Authentication" button will launch a wizard in a pop-up window that will easily allow you to complete the setup. You may also enter your TypeKey token (found on your TypeKey profile) manually into the space provided.

If you are not using TypeKey, but instead a TypeKey-compatible service, you must enter the token manually....

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Viewing the Pings Sent From an Entry

Problem

You want to know which TrackBack resources have been pinged with an entry.

Solution

Click the "View Previously Sent Pings" link on the Edit Entry screen.

Discussion

Movable Type records all outbound TrackBack pings for each entry. To see this list, click "View Previously Sent Pings" on any Edit Entry screen. This will open a pop-up window with a list of resources that have already been pinged.

Depending on the display options you have set for the New/Edit Entry screen, this link may not be visible. It is tied to the "URLs to...

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Question

I'm trying to set up a cron job for scheduled posting, but it's not working due to errors.

Answer

Error: Can't locate MT.pm

This means the cron job command is incorrect. It should be: cd /full/path/to/your/mt/install/; ./tools/run-periodic-tasks

For Windows servers, the run command should be the path and filename of your Perl interpreter, followed by the path to the tool. For example: C:Perlinperl.exe ools un-periodic-tasks

Be sure to set Start In to be the full path to your Movable Type directory. For example: C:Inetpubwwwrootmt...

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NoLocking

On some Windows systems, neither flock() nor link() are available, so you can't use the default flock() locking, nor can you use the NFS-safe locking. In such cases, you can turn on the NoLocking option. Note that you should ONLY do this if your system supports nothing else--it is a last resort, because it increases the likelihood of database corruption. However, if you are the only person using the system (for example, if this is your personal server), this should not be as much of an issue.

Default value: 0 (use locking)

Example: NoLocking 1...

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Recovering a Forgotten Password

Problem

You forgot your Movable Type password and need to recover it.

Solution

Follow the "Forgot your password?" link on the Movable Type sign-in screen and submit your username and password hint.

Discussion

Clicking the "Forgot your password?" link will open a pop-up window requesting your username and password hint (before 3.2, this was your Birth Place). Press Recover and Movable Type will verify your account and hint, and then reset your password with a series of random characters. The new password is sent to the email address stored...

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Creating a Category or Subcategory

Problem

You want to create a category or subcategory to assign entries to.

Solution

Use the Create action on the Category Listings screen.

Discussion

Creating a category is a quick and easy affair. Before you can begin, you must check that you have Edit Categories permission for the weblog.

Begin with the Category Listing and click the "Create new top level category" link. To create a subcategory, click the "Create" link next to the parent category.

If you are making a new entry and need to create a new category, Movable Type provides a...

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Usually a weblog is not the best place to give a good introduction into a certain subject. The author writes about whatever he wants. He doesn't care whether the current entry fits to the last entry or not. With this sitemap I want to give a complete listing of all entries and bring some structure into the chaos.

You can also use a simple list or a category-grouped list of all entries.

Why do I start a weblog?

There are probably many reasons for starting a weblog. Maybe you are interesting in mine. • In the Beginning nothing but Problems • Wake up! • Trying to be a Global Player

Basics

When I first read a weblog I thought its structure was rather difficult to understand....

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Question

When trying to load the script in my browser, I get an error that says %1 is not a valid Win32 application.

Answer

Your server may only be configured to recognize files with .pl extensions as valid Perl scripts. Try changing the file extension on the script file from .cgi to .pl to see if the script will execute with this change.

If changing the file extension resolves the error, then this could indicate that .cgi is not mapped to the PERL executable; and you'll need to contact your host or server administrator to update the...

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Entries to display

This setting controls how many entries are displayed by the MTEntries tag when no lastn or days attributes are included with the tag. You can choose either a specific number of entries or a time frame. The latter will display all entries with an Authored on date within that window.

This is a required field.

Note that the days option means consecutive days and not the last N days on which you posted an entry. A "day" is defined as the time from 24 hours ago to now, where "now" is the time when the page is rebuilt or compiled dynamimcally.

As an example, if you are...

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0.04 (2001.09.27)

• Changed internal timestamp format so that timezone offsets are not recalculated on every rebuild. Changed from epoch time (seconds since 1970) to YYYYMMDDHHMMSS. • Added uneditable name of template to top of editing page for non-index templates; this limits possible confusion over which template you are actually editing. (Steven Jarvis) • Made MTCommentAuthorLink web links open in new window. (Steven Jarvis) • Bookmarklet Javascript now works in IE 5.5 (needed to use document.selection in that browser). (Caroline van Oosten de Boer)...

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Question

When clicking View Site from within Movable Type, I get a 403 Forbidden error.

Answer

In most cases, this means that no index file has been generated in your weblog directory yet. Follow the same diagnostics as outlined in 404 on View Site to troubleshoot this error.

If Movable Type is generating an index file correctly in the weblog directory, and you are still seeing this error, then your server may not be configured correctly to display the index file as the default page for that directory.

In other words, if you can browse to the...

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Question

Are there any third-party clients which I can use to post to my Movable Type weblog?

Answer

The following list is provided merely as a resource to our licensees. Six Apart is not liable for any damages arising from the use of these third-party clients, nor can our support staff cannot provide assistance with using them. If you have any questions about a particular client, please direct those to its developer. Desktop - Windows • blogBuddy • BlogJet • ecto • Frequency • MozBlog • MTClient • SharpMT • Slug • w.bloggar • Zempt Desktop - Mac • blogApp • ecto • EspressoBlog...

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Question

When saving an entry or rebuilding, I see an error message that starts with Malformed UTF-8 character (unexpected continuation byte 0xb7) at extlib/DateTime/LocaleCatalog.pm line 25.

Answer

This error typically shows up when you've used a Mac to upload the files. If so, then upload the file again, but this time, use BINARY mode.

Although most of the files in the distribution should be uploaded in ASCII mode, the extlib/DateTime/LocaleCatalog.pm contains non-ASCII characters and thus would technically need to be uploaded in BINARY mode instead....

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Doing a Rebuild

Problem

You want to republish some of a weblog's content.

Solution

Click the Rebuild Site button in the Weblog Toolbar and select the appropriate rebuild process.

Discussion

When you make changes that affect the display of your weblog, involving areas such as templates, category labels and so on, you will need to rebuild your pages to see these changes reflected on your public site. Rebuilding is the process of merging templates with weblog content to publish pages that visitors can view in their browsers.

When you need to rebuild, click the Rebuild Site...

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Question

When uploading files, I get the following error:

Got an error: CGI open of tmpfile: No such file or directory

Or

Got an error: CGI open of tmpfile: Permission denied

Answer

No such file or directory

Movable Type can't find the tmp folder on your server; the value for this directory is controlled by the TempDir setting in mt-config.cgi1: # When processing uploaded files, if Movable Type notices that the file you # uploaded already exists, it will allow you to overwrite the original file, # by first asking for your confirmation. To do...

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2.0b4 (2002.02.25)

• Added border="0" for thumbnail image after choosing popup image; also fixed the invalid XHTML. • Fix thumbnail creation error by providing Image::Magick with the image format on $magick object creation. • Fix bug on category-editing page where an error will be displayed if the user who created a category has been deleted. • When creating a new author, give an error if no password is provided. • Fix bug with Convert Line Breaks being unchecked for pre-2.0 entries even if the default in blog config is set to on. blog • Cache format hashes for dates after creating them....

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Question

How do I make changes to the default search template visitors see when searching my weblog?

Answer

You can modify the search template by downloading the search_templates/default.tmpl file from your server and editing it with a plain text editor. Then upload it back to your server in ASCII mode.

Power Tip

You can more easily manage your default search template (and any alternate search templates) by linking them to a new Template Module.

Create the new Template Module, and enter the full server path to the default search template in the...

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The following topics have not bee sufficiently covered in the user manual but will be included at a future date. • Save & Rebuild button on New/Edit Entry Screen. • Creative Commons Licensing. • IP Banning. • Throttling. • Author Listing Screen. • Deleting a Weblog. • Plugins Listing Screen. • Atom ID in author profile. • General discussion of Listing Screens in Getting Started Introduction. • Expiration of sessions if Remember Me option not used. Include configuration directive and purpose of feature. • Background Tasks. Testing, purpose/explanation and configuration. • Defining Default Templates for All Weblogs. • Main Menu Welcome Message....

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Content Omissions

The following topics have not bee sufficiently covered in the user manual but will be included at a future date. • Save & Rebuild button on New/Edit Entry Screen. • Creative Commons Licensing. • IP Banning. • Throttling. • Author Listing Screen. • Deleting a Weblog. • Plugins Listing Screen. • Atom ID in author profile. • General discussion of Listing Screens in Getting Started Introduction. • Expiration of sessions if Remember Me option not used. Include configuration directive and purpose of feature. • Background Tasks. Testing, purpose/explanation and configuration. • Defining Default Templates for All Weblogs....

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