How to: configure Windows Live Writer for Dotclear (or any other blog not listed)
Windows Live Writer supports no less than 9 blogging platforms, excluding WordPress custom installations. It also supports the Metaweblog API as well as the Movable Type API.
These last two options make that Windows Live Writer can work with almost any blogging platform — including Dotclear.
To configure Windows Live Writer to work with Dotclear, first enter your blog information as you normally would when adding an new Weblog Account to Windows Live Writer:
In the Weblog Homepage URL field, enter your Dotclear homepage.
Once you click Next, Windows Live Writer will start to analyze and, as it doesn’t recognize the blog platform, present you with the option to manually select the type of Weblog you’re using.
In our case we select Movable Type:
Selecting the Custom (Movable Type API) will also work.
After selecting the blogging platform, enter the full URL to the xmlrpc.php file. If your Dotclear installation is in a folder named dotclear, your URL would be:
http://example.com/dotclear/ecrire/xmlrpc.php
Now when you click Next, Windows Live Writer will retrieve the settings of your Dotclear blog and you can start posting.
Note: this type of configuration works with all blog platforms which support either the Metaweblog API or the Movable Type API. Popular (blog) platforms such as bBlog, Community Server and Drupal, to name but three, work with the Metaweblog API, for example.
Finally, here is a quick screencast of the steps involved in configuring Windows Live Writer to work with Dotclear (or other API supported platforms).
Thanks to Philippe Lagane’s original idea and his subsequent information!
tags: windows live writer, wlw, tutorial, screencast, dotclear, moveable type api, metaweblog api, api
