How do I use x500 to password-protect my blog?

How do I password protect my blog/entries with x.500/U of M Internet IDs?

With Movable Type 4.25, it is now possible to password protect blogs using x.500/U of M Internet IDs! Having said that, while it is now possible it will take some work on your part.

These instructions are only for blogs created within Movable Type 4.25 (blogs created after June 15, 2009). These instructions might work in older blogs, but the template names will be different.

• How do I password protect my blog with x.500/U of M Internet IDs?
  
• How do I password protect my blog entries with x.500/U of M Internet IDs?

How do I password protect my blog with x.500/U of M Internet IDs?

1. First of all, login to UThink/Movable Type and click on "Design" -> "Templates" in the upper menu bar.

2. Look in the Index Templates section. Do you see a template called "Privacy Bootstrapper?" If not, go to step 3. If so, go to step 4.

3. If you don't have the "Privacy Bootstrapper" template, click on "Install Templates" in the lower right hand corner. In the resulting pop-up, select "Privacy Bootstrapper" in the drop down menu. Then click "Continue." After the template has been created, exit the pop-up and reload the "Design" -> "Templates" page. You should now see the "Privacy Bootstrapper" template.

4. Enter the Main Index template. Within the code for this template, near the top of this code find the line that starts:

<$mt:Include module="Banner Header"$>

Change that section to read:

<$mt:Include module="Banner Header"$>
<MTPrivateBlog>

5. Now, near the bottom of the code for this template find the line that starts:

<$mt:Include module="Banner Footer"$>

Change this section to read:

</MTPrivateBlog>
<$mt:Include module="Banner Footer"$>

Essentially what you've done here is enclose your blog home page in privacy protection.

6. Within the Main Index template, click on "Template Options" and change "index.html" to read "index.php" ... what you are doing here is allowing the blog home page to execute the code that makes the privacy feature work.

7. Click "Save."

8. You will need to repeat step 5 for the "Category Entry Listing," "Entry," "Monthly Entry Listing," and "Page" templates. Save them all with the new <MTPrivateBlog> tags inserted.

9. Go into the "Preferences" -> "Publishing" menu in the upper banner menu bar. Change the "File Extension" field to read "php" and click on "Save Changes."

10. Go into "Preferences" -> "General" and set the Privacy drop down menu to "Private." If you haven't used the functionality before it then bring up a pop-up menu where you can select between "Password" protection and "U of M Authentication" protection. Make your choice and fill in the corresponding box. If you select U of M Authentication, enter each Internet ID separated by commas and without the "@umn.edu" part. Click "Save Changes" to save your authentication information and click "Save Changes" again to save the Preferences -> General menu.

11. Finally "Rebuild" your entire blog.

Congratulations! Your blog should be password protected now.

How do I password protect my blog entries with x.500/U of M Internet IDs?

If you only want to make certain entries password protected, but leave the rest of your blog publicly accessible, follow these instructions.

This functionality may need a little tweaking, but it seems to work for now.

1. Repeat steps 1-3 and steps 6-9 above.

2. In "Design" -> "Templates," go into the "Entry" template. Find the line that starts:

<$mt:Include module="Banner Header"$>

Change that section to read:

<$mt:Include module="Banner Header"$>
<MTPrivateEntry>

3. Now, near the bottom of the code for the "Entry" template find the line that starts:

<$mt:Include module="Banner Footer"$>

Change this section to read:

</MTPrivateEntry>
<$mt:Include module="Banner Footer"$>

Essentially what you've done here is enclose your entry in privacy protection.

4. Go back into "Design" -> "Templates" and now find the "Entry Summary" template. Go into the "Entry Summary" template and towards the middle of the body of the code find the line that starts

<div class="asset-content entry-content">

Change this section to read:

<MTPrivateEntry>
<div class="asset-content entry-content">

5. Now, near the bottom of the code for the "Entry Summary" find the line that starts:

<div class="asset-footer"></div>

Change that section to read:

</MTPrivateEntry>
<div class="asset-footer"></div>

6. Click "Save" to save your template changes and then "Rebuild" your entire blog.

7. Now you can "Create" a new entry. When you do, you should notice the "Privacy" menu option. You can set this to "Private" when you write a new entry out. It will also ask you to enter the U of M Internet IDs that you want to be able to read the entry.

That's it. There seems to be a little issue with the system remembering the Internet IDs that you've already entered, or at least displaying them again. I can't figure out if each entry can have its own set of Internet IDs or if the system remembers the Internet IDs already entered. We'll see if we can't get that fixed up.

-- Main.uthink - 15 June 2009