You can post to WordPress from FileMaker:

1. Enable xml-rpc publishing protocols in Wordpress. From your wordpress dashboard, Settings > Writing > Check XML-RPC Enable the Wordpress…

2. Install the SmartPill PHP Edition plugin for FileMaker. Download, unzip and put the .fmplugin file in your FileMaker extensions folder. It works for a half hour at a time before you register it. This is a great FileMaker plugin, you should own it anyway.

3. Write a script. Here is mine:

Set Variable [ $result; PHP_Execute

"function wpPostXMLRPC($title,$body,$rpcurl,$username,$password,$categories){
$XML = \"<title>$title</title>\".
\"<category>$categories</category>\".
$body;
$params = array('','',$username,$password,$XML,1);
$request = xmlrpc_encode_request('blogger.newPost',$params);
$ch = curl_init();
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, $request);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_URL, $rpcurl);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, 1);
curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, 1);
curl_exec($ch);
curl_close($ch);
return $ch;
}
$result = wpPostXMLRPC ( " &
Quote ( Blog::Headline ) & ", " &
"\"" & Blog::body & "\"" & ", " &
Quote ( Resource::siteUrlXmlRpc ) & ", " &
Quote ( Author::Wordpress UserName ) & ", " &
Quote ( Author::Wordpress Password ) & ", 1 );
echo $result;"

Notes about Connecting FileMaker and WordPress

I am using the blogger.newPost. Wordpress accepts this API. Blogger requires these variables: appkey, blogid, username, password, content, publish. I pass these variables and the method call using xmlrpc_encode_request. Ignore appkey and blogid WordPress does. Username/password are pretty self-explanatory. Use what you use for Wordpress. If you add <title></title> and <category></category> tags inside the content variable, they will show up correctly. I default category to 1 which is uncategorized in this WordPress blog. I will post another blog about getting a list of WordPress categories, placing them in a portal on a FileMaker layout and choosing multiples. (An array is accepted for category.) Publish is a boolean; 1 will publish it immediately to your WordPress blog. $rpcurl is the location of your xmlrpc.php file. For example, mine is http://laurenkuhlman.com/xmlrpc.php. Yours may be in a wordpress subfolder.

You should only have to change these parts of the code to your FileMaker fields: Blog::Headline, Blog::body, Resource::siteUrlXmlRpc, Author::Wordpress UserName and Author::Wordpress Password.

I didn’t actually post this with the FileMaker script. I can’t seem to figure out how to pass PHP code without it doing funky things like not displaying the $variables. I am working on it. Promise. I am also trying to figure out how to get the postID back so I can get blogger.editPost working without having to look it up in the browser. All in good time.

If you have any questions/comments/know how to solve above mentioned issues, post them.

Why FileMaker and WordPress

I absolutely love both FileMaker and WordPress so connecting them just makes good sense. You can now manage FileMaker data alongside your WordPress blogs. This makes analyzing information about your WordPress campaigns alongside FileMaker data (leads, etc) so much simpler.

Cheers.

P.S. If you love it, share it!

FileMaker

You can connect FileMaker Pro to Twitter. On Macs, you don’t even need a plug-in.

Here is the code using the Native Applescript (Mac Only) script step:

set username to cell “username” of current record
set pw to cell “pw” of current record
set sta to cell “sta” of current record
do shell script “curl -u ” & username & “:” & pw & ” -d status=\”" & sta & “\” http://twitter.com/statuses/update.json”
set cell “WebResult” of current record to result

You need three fields on your layout. In my example, they are name username, pw and sta; pw is password and sta is status. For some reason, it fails when you user the word status.

I will post the info for how to do it on Windows using SmartPill PHP Edition plugin tomorrow. Also, forthcoming: using bit.ly’s API in conjunction with it to share a link.

Enjoy! If you love it, share it!