Hacking Movable Type Training - Day 1

Hacking Movable Type A guide for developers Six Apart Ltd. Page 

Developing for Movable Type in 2 Days • Day 1: The Basics – Plugin Structure – The Registry – ConﬁguraEon DirecEves – Template Tags – Objects – Callbacks • Day 2: Building User Interfaces – Menus – New ApplicaEon Screens – Dialogs – LisEng Screens 2 Page 

Course Prerequisites • This course requires that you have access to a  working Movable Type installa:on. • This course also assumes that you are familiar  with basic system administra:on tasks, such  as copying and ediEng ﬁles. • Finally, this course requires knowledge of the  Perl programming language. Page 

About Hacking • What makes a good programmer? • Use the source Luke. • Copy and paste is your friend. Page 

Developing for Movable Type in 2 Days • Day 1: The Basics ➡ Plugin Structure – The Registry – ConﬁguraEon DirecEves – Template Tags – Objects – Callbacks • Day 2: Building User Interfaces – Menus – New ApplicaEon Screens – Dialogs – LisEng Screens 5 Page 

Plugin Structure • Your config file – plugins/MyPlugin/config.yaml • Your library files – plugins/MyPlugin/lib/* • Your templates – plugins/MyPlugin/tmpl/* • Your staEc images, javascript and CSS files – mt-static/plugins/MyPlugin/* Page 

Plugin Structure • Other important ﬁles and directories – MyPlugin-README.txt – MyPlugin-LICENSE.txt – plugins/MyPlugin/t/* – plugins/MyPlugin/extlib/* – plugins/MyPlugin/php/* Page 

Plugin Packaging • Files that really help with the packaging and  distribuEon of an enEre plugin: – Makeﬁle.PL – MANIFEST.SKIP Page 

Makeﬁle.PL use ExtUtils::MakeMaker; WriteMakefile( NAME => \"My Plugin's Display Name\", VERSION => '1.1', DISTNAME => 'MyPlugin', ); Page 

MANIFEST.SKIP # version control \\bCVS (^|/)\\. # CPAN chain files ^MANIFEST ^Makefile ^META.yml$ ^blib/ ~$ # packages \\.zip$ \\.tar\\.gz$ Page 

CreaEng a Plugin Zip File These simple sequence of commands: > perl Makefile.PL > make manifest > make zipdist Will produce the perfect MT Plugin zip ﬁle: • MyPlugin‐1.1.zip Page 

Developing for Movable Type in 2 Days • Day 1: The Basics – Plugin Structure ➡ The Registry – ConﬁguraEon DirecEves – Template Tags – Objects – Callbacks • Day 2: Building User Interfaces – Menus – New ApplicaEon Screens – Dialogs – LisEng Screens 12 Page 

The Movable Type Registry • Movable Type is a config‐driven applicaEon. • The “registry” is where Movable Type stores its  configuraEon. • Each plugin provides a mini‐registry file, config.yaml,  that defines its feature set. • The config.yaml file is then merged into Movable  Type’s main registry. • Every plugin therefore is 50% configuraEon and 50%  code. Page 

conﬁg.yaml name: Fluid App id: FluidApp author_link: http://www.majordojo.com/ author_name: Byrne Reese description: This plugin provides enhanced support for Fluid. version: 0.90 plugin_link: http://www.majordojo.com/projects/mt-fluid-app.php applications: cms: methods: fluid_update: $FluidApp::FluidApp::Plugin::cms_update callbacks: MT::App::CMS::template_source.header: $FluidApp::…::Plugin::xfrm Page 

Yikes What is all that? Page 

A YAML Primer • YAML == “Yet Another Markup Language” • XML AlternaEve • Less verbose • Human readable and writable Page 

XML vs. YAML <?xml version=\"1.0\"> <address> <first_name>Byrne</first_name> <last_name>Reese</last_name> <email>byrne@majordojo.com</email> <company> <name>Six Apart, Ltd.</name> <street_address> 548 4th Street, San Francisco, CA 94107 </street_address> </company> </address> Page 

XML vs. YAML address: first_name: Byrne last_name: Reese email: byrne@majordojo.com company: name: Six Apart, Ltd. street_address: 548 4th Street, \\ San Francisco, CA 94107 Page 

Your First Plugin Place this in: plugins/Good4Nothing/conﬁg.yaml name: Good for Nothing Plugin for Movable Type id: Good4Nothing key: Good4Nothing author_link: http://www.yourwebsite.com/ author_name: Your Name Here description: This plugin is an example plugin. version: 1.0 Page 

Developing for Movable Type in 2 Days • Day 1: The Basics – Plugin Structure – The Registry ➡ Conﬁgura:on Direc:ves – Template Tags – Objects – Callbacks • Day 2: Building User Interfaces – Menus – New ApplicaEon Screens – Dialogs – LisEng Screens 20 Page 

Adding a Config DirecEve • What is a configuraEon direcEve? • When should you use a config direcEve? • What are the alternaEves? Page 

Adding a Conﬁg DirecEve name: Good for Nothing Plugin for Movable Type id: Good4Nothing key: Good4Nothing author_link: http://www.yourwebsite.com/ author_name: Your Name Here description: This plugin is an example plugin. version: 1.0 config_settings: MyImageURL: default: http://path.com/images/foo.jpg Page 

Conﬁg DirecEve ProperEes • Registry properEes: – path – handler – alias Page 

Developing for Movable Type in 2 Days • Day 1: The Basics – Plugin Structure – The Registry – ConﬁguraEon DirecEves ➡ Template Tags – Objects – Callbacks • Day 2: Building User Interfaces – Menus – New ApplicaEon Screens – Dialogs – LisEng Screens 24 Page 

Adding a Template Tag • What is a template tag? • Where are template tags used? • What are the various types of template tags? Page 

Adding a Template Tag ‐ conﬁg.yaml name: Good for Nothing Plugin for Movable Type id: Good4Nothing key: Good4Nothing author_link: http://www.yourwebsite.com/ author_name: Your Name Here description: This plugin is an example plugin. version: 1.0 config_settings: MyImageURL: default: http://path.com/images/foo.jpg tags: function: MyImageURL: $Good4Nothing::Good4Nothing::Plugin::tag Page 

Adding a Template Tag ‐ Handler # Good for Nothing Plugin for Movable Type # Author: Your Name Here, your.email@address.com # Copyright (C) 2008 Your Name Here # This file is licensed under the Artistic License, # or the same terms as Perl itself. package Good4Nothing::Plugin; use strict; sub tag { my ($ctx) = @_; my $cfg = $ctx->{config}; return $cfg->MyImageURL; } 1; # Every module must return true Page 

More about Template Tags • Types of Tags – funcEon – block – modiﬁers • CondiEonal Tags • Loops • Template Context Page 

More about Template Tags tags: function: 'SaySomething': $Example::Example::Plugin::SaySomething 'SayWhatever': $Example::Example::Plugin::SayWhatever block: 'LoopTenTimes': $Example::Example::Plugin::LoopTenTimes 'IfOdd?': $Example::Example::Plugin::IfOdd Page 

More about Template Tags # Example: <mt:SaySomething> sub SaySomething { my ($ctx, $args) = @_; return \"Something\"\"; } # Example: <mt:SayWhatever say=”Hello”> sub SayWhatever { my ($ctx, $args) = @_; # What the person passed in through the # argument 'say' my $input = $args->{'say'}; return $input; } Page 

More about Template Tags # Example: <mt:LoopTenTimes>...</mt:LoopTenTimes> sub LoopTenTimes { my ($ctx, $args, $cond) = @_; my $out = \"\"; my $builder = $ctx->stash('builder'); my $tokens = $ctx->stash('tokens'); for (my $i = 1; $i <= 10; $i++) { $ctx->stash(\"current_loop_number\",$i); $out .= \"$i * \" . $builder->build($ctx,$tokens,$cond); } return $out; } # Example: <mt:IfOdd>do this</mt:IfOdd> sub IfOdd { my ($ctx, $args, $cond) = @_; my $num = $ctx->stash('current_loop_number'); if ($num % 2 == 0) { return 0; } else { return 1; } } Page 

Adding a Tag Modifier • What is a tag modifier? • Example modifiers: – <mt:block capitalize=“1”>abc</block> – <mt:block ltrim=“1”> foo</mt:block> – <mt:block regex_replace=“/foo/gi”,”bar”> foo </mt:block> – <mt:block count_words=“1”>Hello World</mt:block> Page 

Adding a Template Tag ‐ conﬁg.yaml name: Good for Nothing Plugin for Movable Type id: Good4Nothing key: Good4Nothing author_link: http://www.yourwebsite.com/ author_name: Your Name Here description: This plugin is an example plugin. version: 1.0 config_settings: MyImageURL: default: http://path.com/images/foo.jpg tags: modifier: lolcats: $Good4Nothing::Good4Nothing::Plugin::lolcats Page 

Adding a Modiﬁer ‐ Handler # Good for Nothing Plugin for Movable Type # Author: Your Name Here, your.email@address.com # Copyright (C) 2008 Your Name Here # This file is licensed under the Artistic License, # or the same terms as Perl itself. package Good4Nothing::Plugin; use strict; sub lolcats { my ($str, $val, $ctx) = @_; return \"CAN I HAZ “. uc($str); } 1; # Every module must return true Page 

Developing for Movable Type in 2 Days • Day 1: The Basics – Plugin Structure – The Registry – ConﬁguraEon DirecEves – Template Tags ➡ Objects – Callbacks • Day 2: Building User Interfaces – Menus – New ApplicaEon Screens – Dialogs – LisEng Screens 35 Page 

Objects and Data Persistence • An overview of Movable Type Objects – MT::Entry – MT::Comment – Etc. • Before and afer a record is modiﬁed in the  Movable Type database, an event is ﬁred. • Plugins can register callbacks for those events. Page 

About MT Objects • Movable Type’s Data AbstracEon Layer – Data::ObjectDriver – MT::ObjectDriver – MT::Object • Memcached Support • Event PropagaEon • Gegers/Segers Page 

InteracEng with MT::Objects • MT::MyObject‐>new() • $obj‐>save() • MT::MyObject‐>load($terms, $arguments) • MT::MyObject‐>load_iter($terms, $arguments) • $obj‐>remove($terms, $arguments) • MT::MyObject‐>remove_all • MT::MyObject‐>count($terms) • MT::MyObject‐>exists($terms) • $obj‐>clone() Page 

new() and save() my $foo = MT::Foo->new; $foo->first_name(’Byrne'); $foo->last_name(‘Reese’); $foo->save() or die \"Saving foo failed: \", $foo->errstr; Page 

load() my @objects = MT::Foo->load( { title => \"Hello World\", foo => \"bar\", }, { sort => 'created_on', direction => 'ascend', } ); foreach my $obj (@objects) { print $obj->baz(); # do something } Page 

load_iter() my $iter = MT::Foo->load_iter( { title => \"Hello World\", foo => \"bar\", }, { sort => 'created_on', direction => 'ascend', } ); while (my $obj = $iter->()) { print $obj->baz(); # do something } Page 

load and load_iter OpEons • sort • direcEon • limit • lastn • oﬀset • start_val • range • range_incl • join  • unique Page 

CreaEng Your Own Object • Schema deﬁniEon • Registering database indexes • Record audiEng • Primary keys • Meta Data Page 

MT::MyObject package Example::MyObject; use strict; use base qw( MT::Object ); __PACKAGE__->install_properties({ column_defs => { 'id' => 'integer not null auto_increment', 'blog_id' => 'integer', 'some_property' => 'string(100) not null', }, audit => 1, indexes => { id => 1, }, datasource => 'myplugin_myobject', primary_key => 'id', }); Page 

MT::Object Database Data Types • string • integer • boolean • smallint • dateEme • blob • text • ﬂoat Page 

Extending ExisEng Objects • Extending exisEng objects • schema_version registry property Page 

Extending ExisEng Objects name: Example Plugin for Movable Type id: Example key: Example description: This plugin is an example plugin version: 1.0 schema_version: 2 object_types: entry: is_featured: smallint Page 

Extending ExisEng Objects • Which then let’s you do this: use MT::Entry; my $entry = MT::Entry->load($id); $entry->is_featured(1); $entry->save; Page 

Developing for Movable Type in 2 Days • Day 1: The Basics – Plugin Structure – The Registry – ConﬁguraEon DirecEves – Template Tags – Objects ➡ Callbacks • Day 2: Building User Interfaces – Menus – New ApplicaEon Screens – Dialogs – LisEng Screens 49 Page 

Movable Type Callbacks • Nomenclature: – Event, Callback, Fire, Listening • Event Types – Object Level – ApplicaEon Level – TransformaEon Page 

Object‐Level Callbacks • Events: – MT::ObjectName::pre_save – MT::ObjectName::post_save – MT::ObjectName::pre_load – MT::ObjectName::post_load – MT::ObjectName::pre_remove – MT::ObjectName::pre_remove_all – MT::ObjectName::post_remove_all Page 

Adding a Callback ‐ conﬁg.yaml name: Good for Nothing Plugin for Movable Type id: Good4Nothing key: Good4Nothing author_link: http://www.yourwebsite.com/ author_name: Your Name Here description: This plugin is an example plugin. version: 1.0 callbacks: MT::Entry::pre_save: $Example::Example::Plugin::pre_save Page 

Adding a Callback ‐ Handler package Example::Plugin; use strict; sub pre_save { my ($cb, $obj) = @_; # $cb - holds a reference to the callback object # $obj - holds a reference to the object about # to be saved # do your thing if ($error) { return $cb->error(“Error Message”); } } Page 

Exercise: Add a Callback • Your Mission: Add a record to the Movable  Type AcEvity Log, just afer an entry is saved. • About Logging: MT->log({ message => \"DemoPlugin: an object was saved.\", class => 'system', level => MT::Log::INFO() }); }); Page 

End Day 1 Byrne Reese byrne@sixapart.com Page 

Hacking Movable Type Training - Day 1

6 comments

Notes on slide 1

5 Favorites