Current mood:	*thud*
Entry tags:	dreamwidth, tutorial

OpenID tutorial for JF
Hi, all. I am still messing with JF/DW imports and stuff. And thus I have created this tutorial for getting an OpenID through your journalfen. I'd love it if a few of you'd try to work through it and tell me if you succeeded and where it's confusing; it shouldn't take very long, if it works. I'll probably be crossposting it to a few JF and DW communities eventually.

So, Journalfen is an LJ clone site from which you can import to DW, but it does not actually have a functioning OpenID server. So it is difficult to actually use the openID JF accounts that the Dreamwidth importer creates.

However you can still use a JF OpenID by using OpenID delegation. That is, link your JF page to an account that *does* have an OpenID server, and Dreamwidth will use that server to give you a JF OpenID.

The Easy Way:

1. If you're currently using S2, switch back to S1 by going to: http://www.journalfen.net/customize/switch_system.bml and choosing "switch to S1". If you're already in S1 (new accounts at JF still default to S1, I believe), skip to step two.


2. Go to http://www.journalfen.net/customize/ , and scroll all the way to the bottom, to where it says "Overrides". Copy/paste this text:

   GLOBAL_HEAD<=
   <link rel="openid.server" href="http://www.exampleserver.com/openid/server.bml" />
   <link rel="openid.delegate" href="http://yourusername.exampleserver.com" />
   <=GLOBAL HEAD

   
   (JF seems to be sometimes adding an extra <=GLOBAL HEAD at the end when you save; if this happens, go back, take out both the <=GLOBAL HEAD s at the end, and save again, and you should be fine.)


3. If you're going to delegate to an LJ clone, replace "exampleserver.com" with the service you're delegating to, and "yourusername" with your username at that site. LJ, DW, IJ, inksome, and basically everybody who is cooler than JF will work. However: you have to be logged in to that service in order for your journalfen openID to work. So pick a service that a) you are usually logged in to, and b) you are *not* going to be using your JF OpenID account at. (You can't be logged in to your personal account there while logging in to your OpenID, so you will always get a login failure.)
   
   If you want to delegate to something that isn't an LJ clone, and get around the login problem, try an OpenID from one of these places. In the text in your JF style, you'll replace "http://www.exampleserver.com/openid/server.bml" with the URL of your service or domain's openID server, and replace "http://yourusername.exampleserver.com" with the URL of your account there.


4. Click "Save Changes" at the bottom of the page.


5. You should now be able to use your JF account anywhere you can login with OpenID. However, make sure the URL you use is www.journalfen.net/users/yourusername , since JF doesn't do subdomains. In terms of DW, you will be able to use that account to claim and put an icon on imported comments originally made on JF, and eventually associate that account with your personal account. It will not affect your ability to use the OpenID account you delegated to (so, I delegated my JF openID to my LJ, but my LJ openID account still functions completely seperately and it counts as another openID account for invite code lottery purposes)

The Hard Way

1. Think very hard about how badly you want to keep using S2. Most of the JF styles are there in S1 too! And S1 is so easy to customize if you know even a little HTML! If you decide to switch to S1, go to The Easy Way.


2. Are you sure you want to stay in S2? It's really much nicer over in S1 land! ... fine. Go to http://www.journalfen.net/customize/advanced/ . We're going to create a custom theme layer. This is technically only allowed for paid users, so if you're a free user, you really ought to try The Easy Way. Or you could dishonestly take advantage of the fact that JF doesn't bother to block free users and do it anyway. I guess. This tutorial for creating theme layers is pretty good, and has pictures, so do reference it if you get confused here. If you're already using a custom theme layer, skip to step 4.


3. Go to "Your Layers", then "Create layout-specific layer", type= "Theme", layout= whatever layout your journal is currently using, and click "create".


4. The layer you just made should now appear in the chart at the top of the page, labeled "child of" whatever layout you used. If you're already using a custom layer, choose that one. Click the "edit" button under it to go to the S2 compiler.


5. If this is a new layer, you should see a mostly-blank screen divided into several boxes, with the text

   layerinfo "type" = "theme";
   layerinfo "name" = "";

   in the largest box. Fill in the "" after name with a name that will remind you what layer this is.


6. Underneath those first two lines, copy and paste this text:

   function Page::print_custom_head() {
   """
   <link rel="openid.server" href="http://www.exampleserver.com/openid/server.bml" />
   <link rel="openid.delegate" href="http://yourusername.exampleserver.com" />
   """;
   }

   It should also work to copy-paste the same text with a pre-existing theme layer, but I have not tried it.


7. If you're going to delegate to an LJ clone, replace 'exampleserver.com' with the service you're delegating to, and 'yourusername' with your username at that site. LJ, DW, IJ, inksome, and basically everybody who is cooler than JF will work. However: you have to be logged in to that service in order for your journalfen openID to work. So pick a service that a) you are usually logged in to, and b) you are *not* going to be using your JF OpenID account at. (You can't be logged in to your personal account there while logging in to your OpenID, so you will always get a login failure.)
   
   If you want to delegate to something that isn't an LJ clone, and get around the login problem, try an OpenID from one of these places. In the text in your JF style, you'll replace "http://www.exampleserver.com/openid/server.bml" with the URL of your service or domain's openID server, and replace "http://yourusername.exampleserver.com" with the URL of your account there.


8. Click the "Save and Compile" button at the top of the screen. If you're lucky, the page will reload, and the box at the bottom of the page will tell you "compiled with no errors". If the box at the bottom of the page spits gibberish at you instead, try the easy way.


9. If your layer compiled with no errors, go back to http://www.journalfen.net/customize/advanced.bml . If you're already using this custom layer, skip to the last step. If you created a new layer, choose "your styles". Go to "Create style", type in a name for your OpenId-ified style, then click "create".


10. You're taken to the Edit Style page. Go down to "Style Layers", and select the layout you chose when you created your theme layer. This should give you more options; go to the "Theme" dropdown, and select the theme you just made (it will be at the very end of the list.) Choose "Save Changes"


11. You should get taken to the "Your Styles" page. Click the "use" button next to the style you just created. Your journal should now be using the new style, including an openID delegation in the headers. However, if you ever change your style or theme, you will need to repeat this tutorial. (Or you could just switch to S1 and do it the easy way.)


12. You should now be able to use your JF account anywhere you can login with OpenID. However, make sure the URL you use is www.journalfen.net/users/yourusername , since JF doesn't do subdomains. In terms of DW, you will be able to use that account to claim and put an icon on imported comments originally made on JF, and eventually associate that account with your personal account. It will not affect your ability to use the OpenID account you delegated to (so, I delegated my JF openID to my LJ, but my LJ openID account still functions completely seperately and it counts as another openID account for invite code lottery purposes)