Overview

MTFilterStack is a Movable Type plugin which constructs text filters out of other text filters and global filters. Each group of pre-existing filters is called a “stack” with a definite ordering. These filter stacks can then be used as the text filter for posts and comments.

The purpose of this plugin is to avoid having to hack code or give up features when one wants the features in two or more text filtering plugins. With MTFilterStack one can create a filter stack that performs all of the transforms and use that.

Installing

MTFilterStack requires MT 3.1, 3.2, or 3.31. It current works only for static publishing.

Get the distribution
You can get the zipped distribution here. Download it and unzip it in to a directory.
Install
Copy all of the unzipped files to a directory named “FilterStack” in the “plugins” directory of your Movable Type installation. Verify the that file “FilterStack/MTFilterStack-config.cgi” has execute permissions and that the first line is identical to that for your “mt.cgi” file.

That’s it, you’re done. MTFilterStack is now ready to use, except that you don’t have any filter stacks.

Configuring

To configure MTFilterStack, go to the main menu page of your Movable Type installation. MTFilterStack should be present in the “Configure Active Plugins” section. Click on the link to bring up the main configuration page.

Managing Filter Stacks

The main configuration page allows you to view your set of filter stacks, edit them, delete them and create new ones.

Create
Type in a name and a description in the two boxes at the bottom of the page and then click the “Create” button.
Delete
Click the “Delete” button in the same row as the filter stack to delete. You will be prompted to confirm the delete. If you do, the filter is permanently removed beyond all hope of recovery.
Edit
Click the “Edit” button in the same row as the filter stack.

Editing a filter stack

If you click an “Edit” button from the main page, you are taken to the filter stack editing page for the corresponding stack. Each filter stack consists of an ordered list of text and global filters. Editing consists primarily of modifying this ordered set. You can also change the name and description of the filter stack. But note: internally Movable Type stores the name of the filter stack wherever it has been used, so if you change it you will invalidate all of those instances, including every post where it was used. You can click the “Done” button to return to the main configuration page.

All edits are “live”, there is no “save” button.

Add Filter
Select the filter in the drop down list and click “Add”. It will be added as the last filter in the stack.
Remove Filter
Click the button labeled “X” next to the filter in the stack.
Move a Filter
You can move a filter up or down in the ordering by clicking the up and down arrow buttons next to the filters.

Release Notes

  • 0.1.2 — Updated to use MT 3.2 style CGI support.