The client interface is perfect the way it is. New features would ruin it.

;_; But isn't that why it's XML?

I should go and make my own version of LiveJournal with extensions. Maybe it'll get merged with the official LJ.

XML comment was in reference to "extensible," as in "eXtensible Markup Language." Easy to modify, extend, or add "new features," hopefully without breaking anything.

I might be interested in your LJCode project, but I'm mainly a Java (and thus JSP) developer with some experience in PHP, and very little experience with Perl (which is what LJ uses). (I also know the usual web-stuff like XML, (X|D)HTML, JavaScript, VB, etc.) So that means that if I do any serious work with the LJ code, it'll probably have to be re-written from scratch in Java.

I was referring to this instead of comparing /interface/xml-rpc to /interface/flat. I'm not suggesting a change in behavior, but rather, a new method for retrieving comments (as XML), which, I believe, might be a little more efficient than parsing a page that has to be constructed--wouldn't you agree?

I kinda expected an answer like that. ;) Which is why I want to make my own JSP-based weblog.

I don't think that LJ's XMLRPC supports comments... if it does, I'm in for a big shock. Skewer me if I'm wrong: http://www.livejournal.com/doc/server/ljp.csp.xml-rpc.protocol.html.

I don't see any method for it.

Darn. Then I do need to keep screen-scraping.

Do you know of an easy way to make up the auth cookies to send to the server? My screen scraping works for unprotected entries, but not for protected ones that require authentication.

Yeah, unfortunately. I was hoping to make a new interface for LJ based on XMLRPC on another site, but the comments interface... well, you know.

I think that the documents for LiveJournal's XML-RPC has a method for making cookies: sessiongenerate. (Corresponding function for logout: sessionexpire.) Both are on the TOC page (above). Hopefully, you're not doing all this manually... =D

Since you're working with the comments, you might be interested in the Export Comments page. You can find the details about it here. Good luck, and tell me how it goes.

OT: By the way, nice name. =)

"nice name?"

"Simson Garfinkel"

Hi. Since you commented on my posting last, it seems that there is now an XML way to download comments. It's documented at:

http://www.livejournal.com/developer/exporting.bml

(I found this out when I was screen-scraping; there is now a little comment in the code telling you not to screen-scrape.)

But I can't find an XMLRPC interface for the export_comments feature. Do you know how to do it or where the doc is?

Hello,

I have this funny feeling that I've seen this page before... *coughcough*

There isn't an XMLRPC way to do this--yet! Care to make one?

I don't know how to make an XMLRPC server for the livejournal.com webserver....

But I am now making the cookie automatically, rather than stealing a cookie using tcpdump...

LJcode.org might be helpful... but that's a pretty big task, isn't it?