ID Shorts v1.1.3

Details

Overview

This plugin provides a way to pass an entry ID or other shortcode to a cgi script and have it send the user to the entry permalink.

Creating the shortcode

The plugin allows for several kinds of shortcodes that may be used, all can be created from the edit entry screen:

1. The entry id - this is the default value and can be used for any entry by visiting http://example.com/mt-directory/mt/id-shorts.cgi?id=[mt:EntryID]
2. An auto-generated “shortcode” - click the “Generate Shortcode” link to autogenerate a shortcode that can be passed to the cgi: http://example.com/mt-directory/mt/id-shorts.cgi?id=[shortcode]
3. A custom code or vanity path, entered into the Short URL Path field

After a value has been saved for the entry, a “Link” link will appear next to the “Generate Shortcode” link. This link will let you copy or visit the existing shortcode for an entry or page.

Using the “Generate Shortcode” link will hide the “Link” link until the entry is resaved, as the old link will no longer be valid.

WARNING: Changing the shortcode or vanity path for an entry will break any existing links to that shortcode.

Installation

Unarchive the plugin and copy id-shorts.cgi into your main Movable Type directory. Copy the contents of the plugins/ folder into your plugins/ directory.

Usage

1. Edit an entry or page
2. Find the Short URL Path setting under “basename”:
   
3. Generate a random shortcode for the entry or page, or enter a custom path
4. Save the entry.
5. Click on the “Link” link next to the shortcode field to visit the short url.
6. Get sent back to the entry or page’s permalink.

Rewrites

This plugin works best when you combine it with a tool like Apache’s mod_rewrite. Add this to your Apache config or .htaccess file:

RewriteEngine On
RewriteRule ^(\d{1,6})$ /cgi-bin/mt/id-shorts.cgi?id=$1&blog_id=<mt:BlogID> [L,R]

This says any one to six digit string after the hostname will be passed to id-shorts.cgi through the parameter id. Of course, you’ll want to change the path to match the actual location of your MT install and make the sure the matched text doesn’t conflict with a file or another rewrite rule. Also note that the blog_id parameter passes the current blog ID along; this is optional but required if you want to serve blog-level 404 Documents. After this, you should be able to visit http://super-awesome-url.biz/[mt:EntryID] and go to the entry.

Tags

This plugin adds the <mt:entryshorturl> tag. The output of this tag is based on the blog level plugin setting for the short url template, which defaults to <mt:blogurl><mt:var name='id_shorts_path' />.

Plugin Settings:

IdShorts provides two blog-level plugin settings, and one system-level setting. The blog-level settings are:

• Track Clicks: With this option selected, IdShorts will record each time an entries short url is clicked, and display this value on the edit entry (or page) screen.
• Short URL Template: This micro-template should be updated to match any custom paths set in your apache rewrite rules. For example, if you limit shorted urls to a /s/ namespace on your server, your Short URL Template value should be <mt:blogurl>/s/<mt:var name='id_shorts_path' />.
• Append Query Parameter: If Google Analytics is used on your site, this option will be useful to track visits to a page vs visits to a page coming from a shortcode. The query parameter and value utm_medium=go will be appended to the redirected URL.
• 404 Document: Because IdShorts can be configured (via mod_rewrite) to look for a short url when a file or directory is not found, it can bypass Apache’s ErrorDocument 404 handling. In these (hopefully rare) cases, you can tell IdShorts what file to serve to users to when both a file-system check and a short-url check have failed.

Note that the 404 Document plugin setting exists at both the system and blog levels. A blog-level 404 Document will be loaded, if specified, and the system-level 404 Document will serve as a fall-back. This way, a single 404 at the system level can handle all 404 requests for a multi-blog installation, but a single blog can have a custom 404 or can be served for a different domain, for example.

Credits

• IdShorts was written by David Raynes rayners@rayners.org
• Extensive additions were made by Steve Ivy steve@wallrazer.com, courtesy of Endevver Consulting
• The NewBase60 javascript used in generating random alpha-numeric shortcodes is courtesy Tantek Çelik: http://tantek.pbworks.com/NewBase60, translated from the original CASSIS by Edward O’Connor hober0@gmail.com, and was released under CC BY-SA 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/. Steve Ivy made some tweaks to remove $s.

License

Creative Commons