My Blog Engine

Originally published on: Tue, 15 Nov 2011.

This blog is powered by:

• One PHP script
• One PHP "include" file
• An HTML theme template
• A mod_rewrite rule
• A hand-rolled RSS 2.0 XML document. (As of 7 Feb, 2012)

( NOTE: When I had enabled blog comments, I was using an additional PHP script to process the blog entries. This script is no longer used. )

Each blog post is an HTML fragment. Each fragment can be inserted into a DIV section easily.

When you visit a "named" post on the site, such as http://www.mailsend-online.com/blog/along-came-awk.html, the mod_rewrite rule alters the request so that the document name is passed to the default PHP script.

The default PHP script loads the PHP "include" file, which contains an associative-array of blog posts and the index number of the latest post. The key is the post name, the value is a post number.

The default PHP script then:

• Logs various items
• Searches the associative-array for the post number
• Defaults the post number, if not found
• Loads the template HTML file into a template field
• Generates a list of random posts into a template field
• Generates a list of the last several posts into a template field
• Merges all template fields into the theme template
• Renders the page

I write each post (such as this one) in a simple programmer's text-editor (usually SciTE). I preview the fragment itself in a Firefox.

I then update the "include" file, bumping up the highest index by one. I also add the new document name to the associative-array. Then, I push both the "include" file and the new fragment document to my web site with an FTP script.

I have one other PHP script that I run locally as a command-line PHP app that also uses the "include" file. It generates the list of all of my blog posts:

Click here to see the complete list.

My process of posting a blog item is:

• Edit and refine the post as an HTML fragment
• Edit the list of posts in the "include" file
• FTP the post, "include" file and corresponding graphics to the blog site
• Generate bloglist.htm
• Upload the bloglist.htm file to two sites

There are downsides to maintaining my own blogging software. I haven't happened upon a good way to format source code that integrates with my blog software. I also haven't figured out a way to categorize each post without using a database or some kind of generator process.

Overall, I like the freedom and simplicity of my approach. The simple nature of my blog engine allows me to tinker with concepts without going to great lengths.

Unless otherwise noted, all text is Copyright ©2011 by James K. Lawless.

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