by Lee Bennett · Published · Updated
There’s not much to this blog entry other than to confirm I finally figured out why I couldn’t make the WordPress iPhone app work. This entry is being typed from my iPhone and I suspect it should post just fine. It’ll be nice to be able to easily compose an entry while on the go.
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No, that's not a Photoshop job. There really is an intersection sharing my name! (Click the image for proof.)
What was wrong with it? It just worked for me.
It’s all weird… okay, I’ll try to describe as brief as possible:
First of all, WordPress (as well as other publishing systems) use the xmlrpc.php library for handing a posted item. Unfortunately, many people with malicious intent are well aware of the default filenames and locations of these files and try to hack into them for their own purposes. Some web hosting services—including the one I use—are beginning to invoke a policy that this file must be renamed. Fortunately, it’s easy to configure the WordPress config files to point to the new file name, but it has the caveat of breaking any 3rd party service that only knows how to look for xmlrpc.php. Regrettably, the WordPress iPhone app will only look for that file.
My solution—and I really don’t understand why it works—is that I simply made a copy of the file and named it back to xmlrpc.php. I also had to add the SecFilterInheritance Off in the htaccess file to apply to xmlrpc as well as to the “real” differently named file.
At the moment, I cannot understand how this workaround is possible because 1) I don’t know how the WP engine knows about the file (at the moment, I can’t remember where the config file is to define it), and 2) I thought my web host blocked it.
I don’t understand all of what you said but i installed WP app recently and hope to begin using it this week or next when my blog is up. Hopefully I can go the Tanner route instead of the Lee. Ultimately have you found it worth the time/effort to use the App and what do you like/dislike about it?
I think the “Tanner” route is the case for most people. It just happens that I use a web host that has a slightly different approach to security than others. Probably wise and safer, but at the expense of having to find a few workarounds. Yes, I do like the app. While I admittedly haven’t had any real need yet, I like knowing I have an iPhone-optimized interface for posting an entry—something I could conceivably do. I would have done so during my trip to Macworld San Francisco if the app had been working when I took that trip. Probably the only thing that bugs me is that even though I can read and manage/approve/disapprove comments made to my blog, I cannot use it to post comment responses.