Just one minor gripe, and this isn't a new thing. Can you make it so that when you install it on top of an old version, it knows where to install it? I have it installed in a non-default directory, and it wants to keep installing it in the default. Maybe a simple registry entry that says where it's installed so I don't have to manually select the directory.

Otheriwse, keep up the good work!

Thanks for the update on future posting. I'm really looking forward to this.

@Jake - Pocket or desktop? The desktop should let you select a location at install... the install doesn't know where an older version was installed though - that's would require a rework in the install and that's something I'm not touching (installers and I have a pact: once they work and I don't break them - this installer script is like 7 years old now!) If it's Pocket, that's as is - PPC is sorta like that anyway.

@James - yeah, MT sorta screwed me on it. Should be do-able in the future though.

Randy, how come Pocket SharpMT doesn't support the Windows clipboard? I really could use copy and paste for entering URLs into weblog posts.

Not all Typepad blogs use the Typepad domain name. You can also use blogs.com for Typepad domains, such as mine at http://myppc.blogs.com/frank

Um, not sure what's up with the clipboard. There's nothing "special" going on with it all - in fact I'm not allowed to put shortcut keeps on PPC menus, so I know nothing is intercepting it... it's all standard Windows Forms. Should just be able to Ctrl+X/C/V and it should work.

As to the URL, I don't know what you mean by having different URL's... I mean, yeah, I use www.randyrants.com to let people access by TypePad blog - that much I know about. But I was under the impression - mostly from their documentation - that you ALWAYS had to point to http://www.typepad.com/t/api when posting to the XML-RPC API... that's got nothing to do with the URL of the Blog itself - it seems to be a constant. And if pointing to another domain DOES work, don't do that: it won't know that you're using a TypePad blog!

My bad on the URL. I wasn't thinking of the API URL for posting, but the URL for the weblog.

I Ctrl+X/C/V does not work for me in Pocket SharpMT no matter what Pocket PC I run it on. It does work with other apps on my Pocket PC. I now it's strange.

What are the command line paramaters to make SharpMT work with FeedDemon

Thanks

There aren't any. I was supposed to work with Nick, to get the format that he'd be passing over, but we never connected. It supports RSS Readers that support IBlogExtension though - there's a SharpMTPlugIn.dll file that I include for that.

Hi there Pocket SharpMT is one of the best blog editor i've seen on pocketpc nor the only one ??

i would like really to have on the next version the ability to go and fetch for files that are on my SD card

Best Regards

Ariel

You mean like SMT files? They should be picked up automatically if you put them in a My Documents directory on the SD card - that's a Pocket PC thing. Glad it's workin out for you tho :)

Randy--

All of the TrackBacks I send in SharpMT seem to be unsuccessful. I have to use MT's web-based client to send pings. Any ideas for what I'm doing wrong?

Well, I know there has to be one site per line. I also know that the target server has to rebuild itself before they will show up on the target server. I've sent a couple to other people but I didn't follow up on them... I'll take a peek. Historically trackback support has been pretty sucky in MT, so it's an iffy feature at best as it is.

I'm having problems with Cut/Copy/Paste in Pocket SharpMT as well. Can't do it at all, not even with Transcriber gestures.

This is a fantastic program!!! Have just returned to MT for my personal blog and this is just what I was looking for. I will definitely be recommending it to my friends but if I may I have a couple of suggestions:

1) For some reason your MSI download doesn't have the MIME handler set correctly. Firefox tries to open it as a page!
2) How much work would be involved in switching the default tags from the soon to be deprecated and to the xHTML compliant and ?

Just little things but maybe worth sorting!

Anyway, thanks again.

Rob

Looks like a nice program. I'm trying the desktop version but can't connect to my MT server. All of the config looks good and I'm using mt-xmlrpc.cgi with other remote apps, I'm curious if it might be because my domain is .us. Thoughts? I'll try the PPC version later this week.

One other thing. Is there anyway to handle multiple sites rather than just multiple blogs? Those of us with different blogs for work/play could benefit from such a feature.

Thanks, Marc g

@Rob - I'll have to pass on to TypePad that they have a rogue MIME type for MSI... I don't run that part of the blog [anymore] and frankly, I'm completely unimpressed with Mozilla's browsers so I didn't even know about it... you can still d/l the EXE, though, right? Also, the default tags can be edited with via the Custom Tags dialog (under Options) - given that xHTML has been the "next big thing" since 2000, I haven't paid much attention to that :)

@Marc - The domain shouldn't matter... #MT is pretty oblivious to what's in the box, unless the URL is TypePad's which is a special case. Email if you can with some of your config info and I'll take a look. As to multiple Blogs, it's the same rule of thumb be it blogs on the same server or blogs on different servers: #MT isn't really geared for it... there's been a few posts (or comments) about that, and why I sorta can't add multiple support blog for it - long story short is that it's been designed for one blog at a time.

Couldn't SharpMT autodetect the XMLRPC when doing the setup. In Zempt you just enter the blog site I think

Autoloading of blog links when starting up could also be VERY nice.

One thing I really really nice is that the cursor comes back when going from the preview to the edit. I also have to click in the edit once again to type on if I just switch to preview.

Nope, because the mt-xmlrpc.cgi file can be in a number of different place or renamed. Also, TypePad uses a different module than MT and since #MT does have limited support for other engines (i.e. .Text) it made more sense to me to leave it a simple edit box. Besides, it's a one time configuration.

Not sure what you mean by autoloading of blog links... they are automatically there whenever you start up #MT - if you mean that it should ping the server after a change, I left that off since it could be a timely grab and not everyone uses the Blog Links. It WILL ping the server whenever a post is posted.

Autoloading of blog links: When SharpMT starts it would automatically load the blog links instead of me having to press the update blog links button.

Setting a default category would also be nice. So a blog entry would have a default category. I post most of my postings in one category.

OK, the desktop client works for me now. I had proxy unchecked but my IE settings had a proxy set. I guess somehow the IE settings overroad. I have not been able to get the PPC version to work yet though. I'll have to setup a pass through connection to the PC to debug that first since I'm guessing there are a lot of variables in a bluetooth connection to my phone which is my normal connection mode.

Okay, one minor question. The blog links, by default, are sorted by date. I inadvertently clicked on the title heading, and they sorted by title -- and I can't seem to get the damned thing to go back to the default (and much more useful) behavior!

heh. There's a hidden column in the Blog Links panel. Dock the thing so it's always open and you should be able to stretch out the right column border, which will expose the ID. Sorting on the ID is just about the same as date - they don't send me the date as part of the links, so I did this as a makeshift hack... which should be pretty obvious by the workaround (sorry that it sucks - I kept forgetting about it!)

Aha! Thanks, that worked perfectly. (Hell, I'd keep it visible; the post ID isn't so arcane a datum that folks would get confused, and it would let people who want to sort on one or the other do so.)

It's awesome program. :-)
but, PocketSharp doesn't support 2-byte language?

Like Korean, Japanese, Chinese, etc? Sadly no. SharpMT could handle it, if it saved it's drafts in UTF-8, but XML-RPC (which MT uses for communication) seems to choke on anything that isn't ASCII...

So *I* can do it - the server couldn't. I plan to try this again with TypePad and/or MT3 when I can get to it... they might have updated their modules!

Hi
Pocket SharpMT 2.6
I like it (and I have made a donation because I can see you have worked hard on this - that deserves my thanks) but I am having a few problems. Please can I ask for some help, or just tell me where I am going wrong?

How can I make the Pocket SharpMT 2.6 program open existing drafts? That menu option is shaded out and unavailable to me. I cannot tap on the draft itself to open it because that brings up a 'no association with application' message. Also I cannot get ctrl-c and ctrl-v to work - am I being stupid?
I am using an iPaq hx2750 with 2003SE. Should be okay?
Take care
Kind regards
Jonathan (UK)

You can ask for help even without the donation, but many thanks for the help!

As to Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V... those work on the emulator yet a lot of people have told me that it doesn't work on the device. I don't have access to PPC hardware anymore (my last iPaq has disappeared during a move and that was 2002) but I'm hoping to borrow a machine from a fellow Blogger. Having said that, even if I get the hardware, I have no idea why the Cut/Copy/Paste keys are getting trapped - there's no short cut keys allowed in PPC so it's not like I can add them.

As to the association of .SMT files... that is odd. I believe it should have done this when you installed it - it should definately offer you an option to do it again if it failed... I'll look into it and see if I can dig out the registry setting... you might have to add it by hand or with an REG file. I'll see what I can find out with it.

Hi, I use the pocket version - it's fab. =)

Just a note on the Copy & Paste not working. I use a Toshiba e805 and the c&p functions don't work on it either. Since my pda has no keyboard, usually the only way I can copy and paste is either done via the menu or by "tap and hold" down on a selection.

Normally in other applications like Notepad or file explorer, when you do "tap and hold", a drop down menu comes on which gives you the option to Cut/Copy/Paste/other fancy functions etc.

At the moment "tap and hold" works only like a tap - ie. puts the cursor on where you tapped rather than showing the menu.

Hope it helps..

Would PocketSharpMT work with other blog CMSes that also implement the Blogger.com XMLRPC? Nucleus CMS, for example?

Bit of an update on my "Open drafts" issue: I managed to connect the iPaq to the internet on a pass through with ActiveSync and successfully connected to Typepad. I was then able to open up the saved drafts, further edit them and post them to my weblog - excellent and it all worked perfectly. Perhaps I have misunderstood how it is supposed to work? Can you open a previously saved draft when you are offline and not connected to the weblog site?

This is an excellent piece of software. I am really enjoying what it allows me to do. Thanks.

Take care
Kind regards
Jonathan

@Ketsugi - Yes and no. The blogger.com XML-RPC commands are the foundation of the MT/TypePad commands, but SixApart has added a number of additions to those commands and that's what SharpMT supports... so the optimistic answer is "Maybe, but I don't know - you'd have to try" and the cynical answer is "probably not, but I don't know - you'd have to try". I'm told #MT supports .Text, but I've never used it so I don't know.

@Johnathan: #MT was designed to be an offline writer: write and save drafts locally and post them as new when you're connected to the 'net. To that end, yes you can keep drafts saved (locally), edit them while on or offline and then post them when you're connected. This is true of Pocket and desktop versions. An addition to the desktop version is that you can edit existing server based posts - this isn't done on the Pocket version, for various reasons. Also, once a local draft is posted, if you decide to post it again a second copy will hit the server - if you want to edit an existing version, you'll need the desktop version and open it via Blog Links.

Lastly, the SMT files used on the Pocket version are 100% compatible with the Desktop version, so they can move between devices.

It has now started to work. Suddenly, in a bit of an Outer Limits type moment, I was able to open previously saved drafts. All the menu items that had previously been greyed out (Open drafts, Post to server, in fact all of the Tools menu items) became selectable. I was well and truly off-line too. All very strange. It is still working after a quit and re-start (no reset (soft or hard) attempted yet though). The upshot of all this is that I appear to now have a fully functioning software package and I have absolutely no idea why.
Take care.
Jonathan (now iPodding with Bloc Party - they are coming to the US soon - go see)

Three feature suggestions (just the thing you need, I know):

1. It would be nice if #MT, if you click on a link in the Preview mode, used the "default" browser, rather than IE ... nice, that is, for us Firefox users ...

2. Also, dunno if it's possible, but it would be grand if the post process didn't lock up the ap (I often have another post in mind, and waiting for the post cycle to complete is irksome). Since the editor is designed to handle multiple posts, that seems like a logical extension of functionality

3. It would also be nice to be able to have a default save that would just go ahead and do it upon post. More than once I've clicked to post, clicked to a different window (since I have to wait, ahem, before continuing writing), and come back later only to find the "save as" window up, awaiting my input.

I always welcome suggestions :)

1) Um. Not likely... after all, I don't like Firefox much (I gave it a whirl... it's fast for loading but it makes some pages look like shit, so it'll sit unused, there to be counted with the "whatever"-million downloads that they are so concerned about) and besides, I busted my ass to get a working in-app preview...

2) Interesting notion... I mean the comm layer is threaded but I locked the UI to prevent any "problems"... and right now, the Whidbey version locks the entire UI. Not like "disable everything" I mean it *locks* the entire UI, and it's threaded in a similar fashion - it's something I can check into.

3) That window only comes up the first time you have to Save. So if you Save a draft before posting - which will set the filename - it won't prompt you for it again (meaning when you post, it WILL silently save a copy)...

Randy:

As a nontechie, I have started a blog on Blogspot.com or Blogger.com. They are using something called Atom API.

My PDA is a Dell with WM2003SE.

In setting up account, I have to enter Webserver: I assume that will be www.blogger.com

Where can I find the CGI-BIN Path?

I searched blogger.com but couldn't find a link in the required format.

Please help. I assume the same information will be required for the desktop version

Thanks
Neil

@Neil - I'm pretty certain that this won't work with the Atom API: SharpMT is designed to work with the MT-specific version of an XML-RPC interface... and not having used Blogger or Blogspot, I'm really at a disadvantage to say what the CGI-BIN path would be. You might want to take a look for settings that w.Bloggar use and give them a try, but I'm pretty sure that it won't work for you either way, as it's a different API than what MT uses.

But yes, the Desktop version works the same way - sorry!

Randy: another question, sorry.

Can I attach an image into a blog entry whilst off-line? At the minute when I browse for an image off-line I can select an image but as soon as I press "OK" P#MT gives me an "Error connecting to host" message, then reverts back to the blog entry screen but inserts an html string referencing the image source as being my blog http - http\typepad.com etc etc. When I next go on-line and post the entry to the Typepad server I get no images in the post - just little boxes with X in them.. Am I doing it right? Should be using another tool/menu option to do this?

Kind regards
Jonathan

Yes and no. You can use the Upload Image feature to insert image tags into the body of a draft, but it's core functionality is that of "Upload Image". So if you're offline, the error box is normal and if you don't upload it when you're online, you won't see it on the server - it doesn't hold onto it like an attachment or queued batch job, so if you upload it a "second" time it will go that time... HTH!

It did. Thank you.
Jonathan
(Having mobile fun with Pocket SharpMT)

I've started actively posting to two different blogs, and noticed a few things:

1. It's a bit of a pain to do it. Tools/Options/drop-down/click. Nice if there were a toolbar button to do it. Or doubleclick the blog name in the status bar. Or something.

2. I keep losing the "Text Formatting" setting when I go back and forth (it doesn't seem to be wholly consistent, but as soon as I don't check, it loses it), going from Convert Line Breaks to None, which, obviously, causes formatting problems. Since both the blogs are set (in MT) for Convert Line Breaks, I'm not sure where #MT is losing it.

Still love the ap, though. Good stuff, and my primary way of posting. And it's a lifesaver during those times when my Net connection is unavailable.

Well, this is why I don't really recommend it for multi-Blog support... when I started working on it, I only ever had single blog support in mind. And when I took a whack at converting it to give better support for multiple blogs I ran into a wall. Drafts are saved locally with information that might be on one blog and not on another - that would lead to huge problems. Beyond that, switching between blogs while online aren't so bad: categories and text filters are updated... Blog links could be changed to do that too. But what happenes when offline? Not only that, but what do you do with the draft defaults, where Text Formatting is a blog-related value? I know it's a short coming of the app, but I haven't really figured out a better way to work around it... even with a re-write it would have the same issues; I'd have to take out the added features that cause these issues and go from there, which I didn't want to do.

Thanks so very much for taking your time to create this very useful and informative site. I have learned a lot from your site. Thanks!! I think you have done an excellent job with your site. I will return in the near future.

Shoo bitch! No URL for you!

Randy,
You had stopped by and replied to the trackback from stimulated. I'm currently upgrading sendmail so mail's down at the moment but to answer your question about text filters, that's a no. I've simply installed, configured the server information and used. No other customization.

I'll go play with it now to see if it's still behaving that way with the new CSS I added earlier. If so, I'll dig in and hopefully find the culprit.

Thanks for checkin out the site and the quick response. More of a thanks for the app.

Randy,
I just tried again and it worked just fine. I'll continue playing with it to see if it should happen again. If it does, I'll send ya all of the details for debugging purposes.

I can only assume it was CSS based, but I didn't change the text-align or float attributes at all, so I'm baffled as to why it'd show up right justified.

Anyway, all is good at the moment.

Also, sorry about the multiple trackbacks.

Ah, cool. I do know that there are times when the text filters get updated that they sometimes bounce to "None" since that's the Draft Default setting... seems no matter how long I work with software I can't even seem to anticipate what I'm downloading, so I default it to the "none" option :)

Thanks for the trackback, BTW - I took it down to one :)

hi randy,

dunno if this is the right place to put it, but i get an error.

Pocket SharpMT.exe
Exception
I have used SharpMT before and love it. Its great. I have Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition. Its got me stumped. Do I need to load the .Net stuff? I think I might try that. What do you think?
_______________________
MISC::HandleAR+0x5b
ImageCollection::Add+0x2e
Dialog_Main::Initialize Component+0x13e0
Dialog_Main::ctor+0x20
Dialog_Main::Main+0xa
____________________

Not a clue - 2003SE was supposed to include the .NET CF as part of the base image... maybe ya need a service pack? I don't have any hardware for the Pocket version - I've always run off the simulator (and now the emulator that comes with VS2005) and I knwo it runs there...

Hi Randy,

Not a problem! I got a image of my PPC with Pocket Sharp-MT. Everything is working ggreat again, and I am a happy chappy. :)

Ah, cool :)

Hi Randy,

Excellent program and much needed. I have a problem connecting to my blog server though. Movable Type has been set up on a virtual host... the address is above. However, the cgi-bin path config option in Pocket SharpMT seems to require a / at the start. Since I assume that this is intended to set a path relative to the main webserver address... this does not work in this case. I have tried entering the RPC as a URL starting with http:// but a / is always entered in front of the http...

Is there a workaround for this situation?

Jonathan
ps we have Movable Type 3.15 and I am using Windows Mobile 5

Hm. Well, the thing is that the path to the XMLRPC stuff HAS to be on the server so the path is always relative to the root. If it's in the root then it would be just /mt-xmlrpc.cgi - for something more common like a bin directory it would be /bin/mt-xmlrpc.cgi

The file needs to be somewhere, though, even if a virtual host is used. The host name only needs to be the host name, i.e. www.randyrants.com - the http:// isn't required for that edit box. Lemme know if that helps or email me with the URL stuff... I'll take a look.