Live Writer Plug-in for Sharing Technical Post
Adding a new post to my blog was always a daunting task.
I had to follow these steps:
- Write the post on Windows Live Writer
- Publish it and get the post link
- Submit to DotNetKicks and get their counter html
- Submit to DotNetShoutout and get their counter html
- Prepare html for my CodeProject blog feed
- Edit the post and add the html I’ve collected in the previous steps
- Republish post
Well, no more!
Inspired by Guy Burstein’s post I’ve decided to write my own Live Writer Plug-in that will handle all of this mess for me.
In order to test the plug-in I have to publish something on my blog.
So, this is it. Wish me luck.
How to implement a Windows Live Writer Plug-in that adds sharing buttons to your post
First, credit goes to Guy Burstein for providing a reflectable DLL in his post.
Also, I’ve used guidelines for Windows Live Writer Plug-in written by Scøtt Lovegrove.
The end result is a plug-in that adds to your posts the following share icons:
Since enough information already exists on this subject, I’ll just quickly review the steps I’ve followed:
1. Create new Class Library project, using .NET Framework 2.0 (!)
Not sure why, but Microsoft recommends to use version 2.0 of the .NET Framework when writing a Windows Liver Writer plug-in.
2. Add reference to WindowsLive.Writer.Api.Dll, which resides in the Windows Live Writer folder (e.g. \Program Files\Windows Live\Writer\)
3. Add “using WindowsLive.Writer.Api;”
4. Create a class that inherits HeaderFooterSource
This type of plug-in allows us to add custom generated html in either the header or the footer of the post.
5. Put WriterPlugin attribute on the class
Here is the code for a basic version of the plug-in (only has one button):
using System.Text;
using System.Windows.Forms;
using WindowsLive.Writer.Api;
namespace ShareTechPost
{
[WriterPlugin("00407F92-2152-4339-A9A5-B89873EB77A7",
"Share Technological Post",
PublisherUrl = "http://blogs.microsoft.co.il/blogs/arik/",
Description = "A plugin that lets you share a technological" +
" post on numerous sharing sites.",
ImagePath = "writer.png",
HasEditableOptions = true)]
public class ShareTechPostPlugin : HeaderFooterSource
{
private Settings _settings;
public override bool RequiresPermalink
{
get
{
return true;
}
}
public override void Initialize(IProperties pluginOptions)
{
base.Initialize(pluginOptions);
_settings = new Settings(pluginOptions);
}
public override void EditOptions(IWin32Window dialogOwner)
{
SettingsForm settingsForm = new SettingsForm(_settings);
settingsForm.ShowDialog(dialogOwner);
}
public override string GeneratePreviewHtml(
ISmartContent smartContent,
IPublishingContext publishingContext,
out Position position)
{
position = Position.Footer;
StringBuilder generatedHtml = new StringBuilder();
if (_settings.AddDotNetKicks)
{
generatedHtml.AppendFormat
("<a href=\"http://www.dotnetkicks.com/kick/" +
"?url={0}\"><img border=\"0\" "+
"alt=\"kick it on DotNetKicks.com\" " +
"src=\"http://www.dotnetkicks.com/" +
"Services/Images/KickItImageGenerator.ashx" +
"?url={0}&bgcolor=6600FF\" /></a> ",
publishingContext.PostInfo.Permalink);
}
return generatedHtml.ToString();
}
public override string GeneratePublishHtml(
IWin32Window dialogOwner,
ISmartContent smartContent,
IPublishingContext publishingContext,
bool publish,
out Position position)
{
return GeneratePreviewHtml(
smartContent,
publishingContext,
out position);
}
}
}
The Settings class and SettingsForm just lets you control some of the sharing options.
This is how the settings form look like:
You can find the full source for this plug-in here.
That’s it for now,
Arik Poznanski.