Windows Live Writer Plugin

Edit your ASPDotNetStorefront Topics using Windows Live Writer!

Without having to make any changes to the core code of ASPDotNetStorefront you can have Topic editing supported through Windows Live Writer.

WLWHomePageTopic
Home Page Topic Loaded into Windows Live Writer

HomePageTopic
Home Page Topic through browser.

How Does it Work?

Step 1. Install the Katmando MetaWeblog XML-RPC Service DLL

Copy into the bin directory of your website the supporting DLLs to deliver a standard set of MetaWeblog API used by Windows Live Writer to interact with your content.

Step 2. Upload XML-RPC Interface Page

A special page is provided that exposes the API delivered by the DLL in Step 1.

Step 3. Upload your WLW Manifest and rsd files

There are two key XML files that help define where Windows Live Writer is going to find your API and supporting pages. You edit these files and then upload them to the root of your website.

Step 4. Edit your homepage template to include pointers to WLW Manifest

For Windows Live Writer to be able to automatically determine the capabilities of your blogging API several xml files need to be pointed to from your home page. For some reason these cannot be found automatically by Windows Live Writer.

Step 5. Upload the Edit and Preview Templates

These are static HTML files that define what your edit and preview screens look like within Windows Live Writer. At the moment I take the HTML generated for the homepage and replace the CONTENTS placeholder used by ASPDotNetStorefront with the {post-body} tag expected by Windows Live Writer. I expect, in the future, we can create custom topics to support this.

ALL DONE. Now, time to get Windows Live Writer hooked up.

Configuring Windows Live Writer

You will use Windows Live Writer in the same way as for any other blog. Start it up and indicate you want to add a new blog. Select “Other Blog Service”

AddNewBlog

Enter your URL and login credentials. This needs to be someone that has edit rights to the Topics.

AddNewBlogAccount

Wait for Windows Live Writer to download all the relevant templates and also check your blogging API capabilities.

AddNewAccountDownload

If all goes well, you give this blog definition a title and you are all set!

AddNewBlogFinal

Loading a Topic

Once you have your ASPDotNetStorefront blogging interface all set up you can use File –> Open to select a topic to edit.

WLWSelectTopic