We are looking to have a dashboard widget coded that will post a new entry to the blog site
http://www.pleonast.com. This site operates using PHP. After looking into have posting works, there are several issues that the widget will have to address:
1) The site uses a cookie to store and remember user-id and passwords. You cannot include this information in the widget, it must be pulled from the user's cookie.
2) Since adding an entry can only be done using the "POST" form method, you cannot simply have the user's input enclosed in a URL for a "GET" method from the server.
3) There must be three fields included on the widget: a "subject" text field, an "entry" text field, and a "allow comments?" checkbox.
From our research, the way to pull this off would be to have the information the user entered into the widget be passed to a "dummy" or temporary HTML page that when opened, auto submits the form-- just as if the user had entered it from Pleonast's webpage. This method addresses and solves these issues:
1) The user's cookie would still be used. If there login information is found, Pleonast will accept the entry. If they are not logged in (Pleonast remembers logins for two weeks) then they will be prompted to login, and then the entry is added.
2) Since only the "POST" method works, the "dummy" or temporary page allows this to work, since a widget cannot perform a "POST" request on its own.
3) All the required fields will be intact in both the widget, and then passed to the "dummy" or temporary page, and then to Pleonast.
For more information, visit Pleonast and register for a free account and look at the source code for the form method, inputs, hidden inputs, etc. on the "add entry" page. Also cross-reference this proposed method with the "Jack of All Widgets" widget (found on Google and/or on Apple's Dashboard site) -- this widget uses the same "dummy" or temporary HTML files to allow search forms from sites that only support the "POST" method.
The widget has been designed graphically and is ready to go-- it just needs a working code to be dropped into it. Can anyone please help us with this?
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