How to create new post with photo attached in WordPress using XMLRPC?

Asked 30/9, 2011 at 7:51 Answered 7/6, 2014 at 10:3

php wordpress xml-rpc attachment metaweblog

Anyone knows how to create new post with photo attached in WordPress using XMLRPC?

I am able to create new post and upload new picture separately, but looks like there is no way to attach the uploaded photo to the created post?

Below is the codes I'm currently using.

<?php
DEFINE('WP_XMLRPC_URL', 'http://www.blog.com/xmlrpc.php');
DEFINE('WP_USERNAME', 'username');
DEFINE('WP_PASSWORD', 'password');

require_once("./IXR_Library.php");
$rpc = new IXR_Client(WP_XMLRPC_URL);
$status = $rpc->query("system.listMethods"); // method name
if(!$status){
    print "Error (".$rpc->getErrorCode().") : ";
    print $rpc->getErrorMessage()."\n";
    exit;
}

$content['post_type'] = 'post'; // post title
$content['title'] = 'Post Title '.date("F j, Y, g:i a"); // post title
$content['categories'] = array($response[1]['categoryName']); // psot categories
$content['description'] = '<p>Hello World!</p>'; // post body
$content['mt_keywords'] = 'tag keyword 1, tag keyword 2, tag keyword 3'; // post tags
$content['mt_allow_comments'] = 1; // allow comments
$content['mt_allow_pings'] = 1; // allow pings
$content['custom_fields'] = array(array('key'=>'Key Name', 'value'=>'Value One')); // custom fields
$publishBool = true;

if(!$rpc->query('metaWeblog.newPost', '', WP_USERNAME, WP_PASSWORD, $content, $publishBool)){
    die('An error occurred - '.$rpc->getErrorCode().":".$rpc->getErrorMessage());
}
$postID = $rpc->getResponse();
echo 'POST ID: '.$postID.'<br/>';

if($postID){ // if post has successfully created

    $fs = filesize(dirname(__FILE__).'/image.jpg');
    $file = fopen(dirname(__FILE__).'/image.jpg', 'rb');
    $filedata = fread($file, $fs);
    fclose($file);

    $data = array(
        'name'  => 'image.jpg',
        'type'  => 'image/jpg',
        'bits'  => new IXR_Base64($filedata),
        false // overwrite
    );

    $status = $rpc->query(
        'metaWeblog.newMediaObject',
        $postID,
        WP_USERNAME,
        WP_PASSWORD,
        $data
    );
    echo print_r($rpc->getResponse()); // Array ( [file] => image.jpg [url] => http://www.blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/image.jpg [type] => image/jpg )
}
?>

Tuttifrutti answered 30/9, 2011 at 7:51 Comment(0)

I've been involved in WordPress sites (my current employer uses 3 of these) and posting stuff daily and by the bulk has forced me to use what I do best-- scripts!

They're PHP-based and are quick and easy to use and deploy. And security? Just use .htaccess to secure it.

As per research, XMLRPC when it comes to files is one thing wordpress really sucks at. Once you upload a file, you can't associate that attachment to a particular post! I know, it's annoying.

So I decided to figure it out for myself. It took me a week to sort it out. You will need 100% control over your publishing client that is XMLRPC compliant or this won't mean anything to you!

You will need, from your WordPress installation:

class-IXR.php, located in /wp-admin/includes
class-wp-xmlrpc-server.php, located in /wp-includes

class-IXR.php will be needed if you craft your own posting tool, like me. They have the correctly-working base64 encoder. Don't trust the one that comes with PHP.

You also need to be somewhat experienced in programming to be able to relate to this. I will try to be clearer.

Modify class-wp-xmlrpc-server.php
- Download this to your computer, through ftp. Backup a copy, just in case.
- Open the file in a text editor. If it doesn't come formatted, (typically it should, else, it's unix-type carriage breaks they are using) open it elsewhere or use something like ultraedit.
- Pay attention to the mw_newMediaObject function. This is our target. A little note here; WordPress borrows functionality from blogger and movabletype. Although WordPress also has a unique class sets for xmlrpc, they choose to keep functionality common so that they work no matter what platform is in use.
- Look for the function mw_newMediaObject($args). Typically, this should be in line 2948. Pay attention to your text editor's status bar to find what line number you are in. If you can't find it still, look for it using the search/find function of your text editor.
- Scroll down a little and you should have something that looks like this:
```
 $name = sanitize_file_name( $data['name'] );
 $type = $data['type'];
 $bits = $data['bits'];
```
- After the $name variable, we will add something. See below.
```
 $name = sanitize_file_name( $data['name'] );
 $post = $data['post']; //the post ID to attach to.
 $type = $data['type'];
 $bits = $data['bits'];
```
  Note the new $post variable. This means whenever you will make a new file upload request, a 'post' argument will now be available for you to attach.
  
  How to find your post number depends on how you add posts with an xmlrpc-compliant client. Typically, you should obtain this as a result from posting. It is a numeric value.
  
  Once you've edited the above, it's time to move on to line 3000.
```
// Construct the attachment array
// attach to post_id 0
$post_id = 0;
$attachment = array(
    'post_title' => $name,
    'post_content' => '',
    'post_type' => 'attachment',
    'post_parent' => $post_id,
    'post_mime_type' => $type,
    'guid' => $upload[ 'url' ]
);
```
- So here's why no image is associated to any post! It is always defaulted to 0 for the post_parent argument! That's not gonna be the case anymore.
```
// Construct the attachment array
// attach to post_id 0
$post_id = $post;
$attachment = array(
    'post_title' => $name,
    'post_content' => '',
    'post_type' => 'attachment',
    'post_parent' => $post_id,
    'post_mime_type' => $type,
    'guid' => $upload[ 'url' ]
);
```
  $post_id now takes up the value of $post, which comes from the xmlrpc request. Once this is committed to the attachment, it will be associated to whatever post you desire!
  
  This can be improved. A default value can be assigned so things don't get broken if no value is entered. Although in my side, I put the default value on my client, and no one else is accessing the XMLRPC interface but me.
- With the changes done, save your file and re-upload it in the same path where you found it. Again, make sure to make backups.
  
  Be wary of WordPress updates that affects this module. If that happens, you need to reapply this edit again!
Include class-IXR.php in your PHP-type editor. If you're using something else, well, I can't help you there. :(

Hope this helps some people.

Zulemazullo answered 31/12, 2011 at 7:1 Comment(1)

Hacking core files is never advisable, and nowadays it's possible to achieve the solution without hacks. – Sumter 11/6, 2014 at 10:23

When you post, WordPress will scan at the post for IMG tags. If WP finds the image, it's loaded in it's media library. If there's an image in the body, it will automatically attached it to the post.

Basically you have to:

post the media (image) first
Grab its URL
include the URL of the image with a IMG tag in the body of your post.
then create the post

Here is some sample code. It needs error handling, and some more documentation.

$admin ="***";
$userid ="****";
$xmlrpc = 'http://localhost/web/blog/xmlrpc.php';
include '../blog/wp-includes/class-IXR.php';
$client = new IXR_Client($xmlrpc);

$author         =   "test";    
$title          =   "Test Posting";
$categories     =   "chess,coolbeans";
$body           =   "This is only a test disregard </br>";

$tempImagesfolder = "tempImages";
$img = "1338494719chessBoard.jpg";


$attachImage = uploadImage($tempImagesfolder,$img);
$body .= "<img src='$attachImage' width='256' height='256' /></a>";

createPost($title,$body,$categories,$author);

/*
*/
function createPost($title,$body,$categories,$author){
    global $username, $password,$client;
    $authorID =  findAuthor($author); //lookup id of author

    /*$categories is a list seperated by ,*/
    $cats = preg_split('/,/', $categories, -1, PREG_SPLIT_NO_EMPTY);
    foreach ($cats as $key => $data){
        createCategory($data,"","");
    }

    //$time = time();
    //$time += 86400;
    $data = array(
        'title' => $title,
        'description' => $body,
        'dateCreated' => (new IXR_Date(time())),
        //'dateCreated' => (new IXR_Date($time)),  //publish in the future
        'mt_allow_comments' => 0, // 1 to allow comments
        'mt_allow_pings' => 0,// 1 to allow trackbacks
        'categories' => $cats,
        'wp_author_id' => $authorID     //id of the author if set       
    );
    $published = 0; // 0 - draft, 1 - published
    $res = $client->query('metaWeblog.newPost', '', $username, $password, $data, $published);
}

/*
*/
function uploadImage($tempImagesfolder,$img){
    global $username, $password,$client;
    $filename = $tempImagesfolder ."/" . $img;

    $fs = filesize($filename);   
    $file = fopen($filename, 'rb');  
    $filedata = fread($file, $fs);    
    fclose($file); 

    $data = array(
        'name'  => $img, 
        'type'  => 'image/jpg',  
        'bits'  => new IXR_Base64($filedata), 
        false //overwrite
    );

    $res = $client->query('wp.uploadFile',1,$username, $password,$data);
    $returnInfo = $client->getResponse();

    return $returnInfo['url'];     //return the url of the posted Image
}

/*
*/
function findAuthor($author){
    global $username, $password,$client;
    $client->query('wp.getAuthors ', 0, $username, $password);
    $authors = $client->getResponse();
    foreach ($authors as $key => $data){
        //  echo $authors[$key]['user_login'] . $authors[$key]['user_id'] ."</br>";
        if($authors[$key]['user_login'] == $author){
            return $authors[$key]['user_id'];
        }
    }
    return "not found";
}

/*
*/
function createCategory($catName,$catSlug,$catDescription){
    global $username, $password,$client;
    $res = $client->query('wp.newCategory', '', $username, $password,
        array(
            'name' => $catName,
            'slug' => $catSlug,
            'parent_id' => 0,
            'description' => $catDescription
        )
    );
}

Pup answered 5/6, 2012 at 20:47 Comment(0)

Here's some sample code to attach an image from a path not supported by WordPress (wp-content)

<?php
function attach_wordpress_images($productpicture,$newid)
{
    include('../../../../wp-load.php');
    $upload_dir = wp_upload_dir();
    $dirr = $upload_dir['path'].'/';

    $filename = $dirr . $productpicture;                    
    # print "the path is : $filename \n";                    
    # print "Filnamn: $filename \n";                
    $uploads = wp_upload_dir(); // Array of key => value pairs
    # echo $uploads['basedir'] . '<br />';
    $productpicture = str_replace('/uploads','',$productpicture);
    $localfile =  $uploads['basedir'] .'/' .$productpicture;
    #  echo "Local path = $localfile \n";         

    if (!file_exists($filename))
    {
        echo "hittade inte $filename !";
        die ("no image for flaska $id $newid !");                                                   
    }
    if (!copy($filename, $localfile)) 
    {
        wp_delete_post($newid);
        echo  "Failed to copy the file $filename to $localfile ";
        die("Failed to copy the file $filename to $localfile ");
    }

    $wp_filetype = wp_check_filetype(basename($localfile), null );
    $attachment = array(
        'post_mime_type' => $wp_filetype['type'],
        'post_title' => preg_replace('/\.[^.]+$/', '', basename($localfile)),
        'post_content' => '',
        'post_status' => 'inherit'
        );
    $attach_id = wp_insert_attachment( $attachment, $localfile, $newid );

    // you must first include the image.php file
    // for the function wp_generate_attachment_metadata() to work

    require_once(ABSPATH . 'wp-admin/includes/image.php');        
    $attach_data = wp_generate_attachment_metadata( $attach_id, $localfile );
    wp_update_attachment_metadata( $attach_id, $attach_data );  
}
?>

Strikebreaker answered 30/9, 2011 at 9:3 Comment(1)

I'm sorry. I appreciate your sample codes, but I'm looking for the methods to be done in XML-RPC. – Tuttifrutti 1/10, 2011 at 13:36

After calling the method metaWeblog.newMediaObject, we need to edit the image entry on the database to add a parent (the previously created post with metaWeblog.newPost).

If we try with metaWeblog.editPost, it throws an error 401, which indicates that

// Use wp.editPost to edit post types other than post and page.
if ( ! in_array( $postdata[ 'post_type' ], array( 'post', 'page' ) ) )
    return new IXR_Error( 401, __( 'Invalid post type' ) );

The solution is to call wp.editPost, which takes the following arguments:

$blog_id        = (int) $args[0];
$username       = $args[1];
$password       = $args[2];
$post_id        = (int) $args[3];
$content_struct = $args[4];

So, just after newMediaObject, we do:

$status = $rpc->query(
    'metaWeblog.newMediaObject',
    $postID,
    WP_USERNAME,
    WP_PASSWORD,
    $data
);
$response = $rpc->getResponse();
if( isset($response['id']) ) {
    // ATTACH IMAGE TO POST
    $image['post_parent'] = $postID;
    if( !$rpc->query('wp.editPost', '1', WP_USERNAME, WP_PASSWORD, $response['id'], $image)) {
        die( 'An error occurred - ' . $rpc->getErrorCode() . ":" . $rpc->getErrorMessage() );
    }
    echo 'image: ' . $rpc->getResponse();

    // SET FEATURED IMAGE
    $updatePost['custom_fields'] = array( array( 'key' => '_thumbnail_id', 'value' => $response['id'] ) );
    if( !$rpc->query( 'metaWeblog.editPost', $postID, WP_USERNAME, WP_PASSWORD, $updatePost, $publishBool ) ) {
        die( 'An error occurred - ' . $rpc->getErrorCode() . ":" . $rpc->getErrorMessage() );
    }
    echo 'update: ' . $rpc->getResponse();
}

_{I've used the Incutio XML-RPC Library for PHP to test and the rest of the code is exactly as in the question.}

Sumter answered 7/6, 2014 at 10:3 Comment(0)

I had to do this several months ago. It is possible but not only is it hacky and undocumented I had to dig through wordpress source to figure it out. What I wrote up way back then:

One thing that was absolutely un-documented was a method to attach an image to a post. After some digging I found attach_uploads() which is a function that wordpress calls every time a post is created or edited over xml-rpc. What it does is search through the list of un-attached media objects and see if the new/edited post contains a link to them. Since I was trying to attach images so that the theme’s gallery would use them I didn’t necessarily want to link to the images within the post, nor did I want to edit wordpress. So what I ended up doing was including the image url within an html comment. -- danieru.com

Like I said messy but I searched high and low for a better method and I'm reasonably sure that none exists.

Tracheo answered 4/11, 2011 at 6:16 Comment(1)

$id = media_handle_sideload( $data, $this->_post_id, $title ) + update_post_meta( $this->_post_id, '_thumbnail_id', $this->_thumb_id = $id ) – Sumter 7/6, 2014 at 10:6

As of Wordpress 3.5, newmediaobject now recognizes the hack semi-natively.

it is no longer necessary to hack class-wp-xmlrpc-server.php.

Instead, your xml-rpc client needs to send the post number to a variable called post_id. (Previously it was just the variable 'post')

Hope that helps someone out.

Zulemazullo answered 29/12, 2012 at 5:30 Comment(1)

Hi, so is it possible to do it all in XMLRPC without editing wordpress? and if yes what are the steps? I made a new question here #17723243 Thanks. – Secession 18/7, 2013 at 12:24

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