Post XMLRPC using Rflatten.pm

February 3rd, 2008   Tagged , ,
Posted in Perl, Web Development  

As prommised a test script with Rflatten.pm for you to play with. I have created three test POST forms:

  • Livejournal
  • Broerse Blog
  • Ping-O-Matic

    • Of course you can’t test the Broerse Blog form but you can create a Livejournal blog and play with the Livejournal form. The Ping-O-Matic form just works. You can also ping your own Blog with it. I also tried Blogger but Google closed down the http://plant.blogger.com/api/RPC2 XMLRPC proxy. (Perhaps XML-RPC will die in 2008 by the hand of REST) To explain how you can create complex XML-RPC structures with the Rflatten style of writing see this html source:

    <FORM ACTION=“postxmlrpc.cgi” METHOD=“POST”>
    <INPUT TYPE=HIDDEN NAME=“:0″ VALUE=“LJ.XMLRPC.postevent”>
    <INPUT TYPE=HIDDEN NAME=“_proxyurl” VALUE=“http://www.livejournal.com/interface/xmlrpc”>

    <TABLE BORDER=0>
    <TR><TD>username</TD><TD><INPUT TYPE=TEXT NAME=“:1.username” VALUE=“” SIZE=25 MAXLENGTH=50></TD></TR>
    <TR><TD>password</TD><TD><INPUT TYPE=PASSWORD NAME=“:1.password” VALUE=“” SIZE=25 MAXLENGTH=50></TD></TR>
    <TR><TD>subject</TD><TD><INPUT TYPE=TEXT NAME=“:1.subject” VALUE=“this is the subject” SIZE=25 MAXLENGTH=50></TD></TR>
    <TR><TD>event</TD><TD><INPUT TYPE=TEXT NAME=“:1.event” VALUE=“and this is the body.” SIZE=25 MAXLENGTH=50></TD></TR>
    <TR><TD>lineendings</TD><TD><INPUT TYPE=TEXT NAME=“:1.lineendings” VALUE=“pc” SIZE=25 MAXLENGTH=50></TD></TR>
    <TR><TD>year</TD><TD><INPUT TYPE=TEXT NAME=“:1.year” VALUE=“2008″ SIZE=25 MAXLENGTH=50></TD></TR>
    <TR><TD>mon</TD><TD><INPUT TYPE=TEXT NAME=“:1.mon” VALUE=“2″ SIZE=25 MAXLENGTH=50></TD></TR>
    <TR><TD>day</TD><TD><INPUT TYPE=TEXT NAME=“:1.day” VALUE=“3″ SIZE=25 MAXLENGTH=50></TD></TR>
    <TR><TD>hour</TD><TD><INPUT TYPE=TEXT NAME=“:1.hour” VALUE=“20″ SIZE=25 MAXLENGTH=50></TD></TR>
    <TR><TD>min</TD><TD><INPUT TYPE=TEXT NAME=“:1.min” VALUE=“45″ SIZE=25 MAXLENGTH=50></TD></TR>
    <TR><TD> <BR></TD></TR>
    <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><INPUT TYPE=SUBMIT VALUE=“Post”> <INPUT TYPE=RESET VALUE=“Reset”></TD></TR>
    </TABLE>

    </FORM>

    XMLRPC::Lite uses an Array to generate a XML-RPC call. “:0″ is the first item in the Array and always contains the “methodName”. In this example this is “LJ.XMLRPC.postevent”. “_proxyurl” is an exception hard-coded in “postxmlrpc.cgi” to specify the proxyurl for XMLRPC::Lite. Sometimes this is also called the XML-RPC endpoint. Its value will not be included in the XML-RPC data! As you can see here Livejournal uses an XML-RPC struct you specify in the POST with a Hash “:1.” resulting in multiple Hash keys is Array value 1 (”:1″). If you understand this simple call take a look at the following example:

    <FORM ACTION=“postxmlrpc.cgi” METHOD=“POST”>
    <INPUT TYPE=HIDDEN NAME=“:0″ VALUE=“metaWeblog.newPost”>
    <INPUT TYPE=HIDDEN NAME=“_proxyurl” VALUE=“http://www.broerse.net/wordpress/xmlrpc.php”>

    <TABLE BORDER=0>
    <TR><TD>blogid</TD><TD><INPUT TYPE=TEXT NAME=“:1″ VALUE=“1″ SIZE=25 MAXLENGTH=50></TD></TR>
    <TR><TD>username</TD><TD><INPUT TYPE=TEXT NAME=“:2″ VALUE=“” SIZE=25 MAXLENGTH=50></TD></TR>
    <TR><TD>password</TD><TD><INPUT TYPE=PASSWORD NAME=“:3″ VALUE=“” SIZE=25 MAXLENGTH=50></TD></TR>
    <TR><TD>title</TD><TD><INPUT TYPE=TEXT NAME=“:4.title” VALUE=“this is the title” SIZE=25 MAXLENGTH=50></TD></TR>
    <TR><TD>description</TD><TD><INPUT TYPE=TEXT NAME=“:4.description” VALUE=“and this is the body.” SIZE=25 MAXLENGTH=50></TD></TR>
    <TR><TD>mt_allow_comments</TD><TD><SELECT NAME=“:4.mt_allow_comments”><OPTION VALUE=“0″>No<OPTION VALUE=“1″ SELECTED>Yes</SELECT></TD></TR>
    <TR><TD>mt_allow_pings</TD><TD><SELECT NAME=“:4.mt_allow_pings”><OPTION VALUE=“0″>No<OPTION VALUE=“1″ SELECTED>Yes</SELECT></TD></TR>
    <TR><TD>mt_keywords</TD><TD><INPUT TYPE=TEXT NAME=“:4.mt_keywords” VALUE=“xmlrpc, muis” SIZE=25 MAXLENGTH=50></TD></TR>
    <TR><TD>categories:0</TD><TD><INPUT TYPE=TEXT NAME=“:4.categories:0″ VALUE=“Perl” SIZE=25 MAXLENGTH=50></TD></TR>
    <TR><TD>categories:1</TD><TD><INPUT TYPE=TEXT NAME=“:4.categories:1″ VALUE=“Web Development” SIZE=25 MAXLENGTH=50></TD></TR>
    <TR><TD>publish</TD><TD><SELECT NAME=“:5″><OPTION VALUE=“0″>No<OPTION VALUE=“1″ SELECTED>Yes</SELECT></TD></TR>
    <TR><TD> <BR></TD></TR>
    <TR><TD COLSPAN=2><INPUT TYPE=SUBMIT VALUE=“Post”> <INPUT TYPE=RESET VALUE=“Reset”></TD></TR>
    </TABLE>

    </FORM>

    You see the “:0″ again but now you see multiple Array values. Some Array values contain a Hash as in the first example. This Hash in case of the Key “categories” contains an Array with the categories used like this “:4.categories:0″ and “:4.categories:1″. See this post to learn more about categories.
    I hope this explains how postxmlrpc.cgi and Rflatten.pm work. I think you must be able to create any XML-RPC call with it. If you like to try it please mail me your proxyurl and server so I can unblock you. Because this is such an universal script I baked some protection, against misuse, in it.

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    Rflatten.pm

    January 27th, 2008   Tagged , ,
    Posted in Perl, Web Development  

    Today I wrote a module that I like to use eventually for sending complex data structures with a simple html POST form. Because POST is only Key/Value a flat hash seems to be the way to go. The module now converts:

    $VAR1 = [
          'ccc',
          'ddd'
        ];

    into this hash:

    $VAR1 = {
          ':0' => 'ccc',
          ':1' => 'ddd'
        };

    The module knows “:” is an Array element. “.” is used as a hash key. This complex structure:

    $VAR1 = {
          'qqqqqq' => [
                        'ccc',
                        {
                          'vvvvv' => 'ddd'
                        }
                      ]
        };

    It will convert to:

    $VAR1 = {
          '.qqqqqq:0' => 'ccc',
          '.qqqqqq:1.vvvvv' => 'ddd'
        };

    The key “qqqqqq” is written in the second key as well. This enables me to create any structure. OK this works but how do you specify a simple Scalar value? I choose this:

     $VAR1 = \'cccc';

    converts to:

    $VAR1 = {
          'SCALAR' => 'cccc'
        };

    ‘SCALAR’ can be any word as long as it does not contain “:” or “.”.  I hope to get a http POST example online soon for you all to see and checkout. 

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