The Sun BabelFish Blog
Don't panic !
Working around MetaWeblog xml-rpc vagueness
The MetaWeblog API is an xml-rpc communication mechanism which I am using to post these messages from BlogEd. It is a little like Java Remote Method invocation, except that it uses xml to serialise the object states. Xml-rpc is allready very vague and imprecise, but the MetaWeblog API does not help. There are for example no agreed upon error messages as there are in HTTP. So that it is not possible to tell with certainty if an error message to a request to update a remote blog entry is telling you that
- the password used to log in is wrong
- the remote entry no longer exists
- the remote entry never existed
- some other error in the communication occurred
There is a little bit of explanatory text that will help the end user if he speaks the preferred language of the server author. In order to help BlogEd users understand the predicament I am in as a programmer I have given them all the information they need to make up their mind. Where it makes sense to give the user a choice, I pop up a dialog where they can inspect the xml-rpc messages themselves.
This makes me feel less lonely. In any case the user will probably know that he deleted an entry using the web interface a few days before.
Posted at 12:35AM May 24, 2005 [permalink/trackback] by Henry Story in BlogEd |
Note on comments:
- I know the forms below are a little small. We have asked for years for this to be changed, but I don't think it's going to happen soon. In Apple's Safari you can resize the entry box with you mouse. For people using other browsers click on this javascript link, that should allow you to resize your form.
- Comments are moderated, so they will take a little time to appear. Currently moderation means I have to read them personally. Hopefully with OpenId deployment, this will become more automated.
- HTML markup no longer works here, due to some decision made somewhere. Sorry about that.
- If you are having trouble posting, it may be that you need javascript to be enabled. I don't think javascript should be needed for submitting a form, but that's the way it is here.
- Check your comments by using the preview button...
