Optional modules

Askbot supports a number of optional modules, enabling certain features, not available in askbot by default.

Embedding video

Want to share videos in askbot posts? It is possible, but you will have to install a forked version of markdown2 module, here is how:

pip uninstall markdown2
pip install -e git+git://github.com/andryuha/python-markdown2.git#egg=markdown2

Also, for this to work you’ll need to have Pip and Git installed on your system.

Finally, please go to your forum live settings –> “Settings for askbot data entry and display” and check “Enable embedding video”.

Limitation: at the moment only YouTube and Veoh are supported.

LDAP authentication

To enable authentication via LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol, see more info elsewhere) , first install python-ldap package:

pip install python-ldap

After that, add configuration parameters in live settings, section “Keys to connect the site with external services ...” (url /settings/EXTERNAL_KEYS, relative to the domain name)

Note

Location of these parameters is likely to change in the future. When that happens, an update notice will appear in the documentation.

The parameters are:

  • “Use LDAP authentication for the password login” - enable/disable the feature. When enabled, the user name and password will be routed to use the LDAP protocol. Default system password authentication will be overridden.
  • “LDAP service provider name” - any string - just come up with a name for the provider service.
  • “URL fro the LDAP service” - a correct url to access the service.
  • “Explain how to change the LDAP password” - askbot does not provide a method to change LDAP passwords , therefore - use this field to explain users how they can change their passwords.

Uploaded avatars

To enable uploadable avatars (in addition to gravatars), please install development version of application django-avatar, with the following command:

pip install -e git+git://github.com/ericflo/django-avatar.git#egg=django-avatar

Then add avatar to the list of INSTALLED_APPS in your settings.py file and run (to install database table used by the avatar app):

python manage.py syncdb

Also, settings MEDIA_ROOT and MEDIA_URL will need to be added to your settings.py file.

Note

Version of the avatar application available at pypi may not be up to date, so please take the development version from the github repository

Wordpress Integration

To enable authentication for self hosted wordpress sites(wordpress.com blogs will work with openid login). To enable it follow the following steps:

  • Check if you have the package “python_wordpress_xmlrpc from pypi.
  • Go to your wordpress blog admin panel and serch for: Settings->Writing->Remote Publishing then check the box for XML-RPC.
  • Go back to your askbot site settings and click on Login Provider Settings and then activate the option Activate to allow login with self-hosted wordpress site,
  • Input your blog url to the xmlrpc.php file it will look something like this http://yoursite.com/xmlrpc.php
  • Upload an icon for display in the login area.

After doing this steps you should be able to login with your self hosted wordpress site user/password combination.

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