Bug 194357

Version:            (using KDE 4.2.3)
OS:                Linux
Installed from:    Gentoo Packages

KBlogger and Bilbo both use KBlog as the backend interface to send XML-RPC requests to and from blogging sites (unless I understood something wrong).

When posting a new message using the metaWeblog.newPost the categories are set as a QStringList object. The conversion from this object to the XML structure is done incorrectly: a <array> element should have a <data> element holding multiple <value> elements which should hold the <string> element.

For some reason, the generated XML structure ommits the <value> element and only inserts the <string> elements. According to the XML-RPC specs at http://www.xmlrpc.com/spec , this is not allowed and the PHP XML-RPC library which is used for example in Joomla! refuses to parse the XML structure generated for the XML-RPC communication with a "Invalid request payload xmlrpc element STRING cannot be child of DATA" error.

For example, the KBlog backend sends this to the server:
<member>
   <name>categories</name>
   <value>
      <array>
         <data>
            <string><![CDATA[General blog entries [Blog]]]></string>
         </data>
      </array>
   </value>
</member>

This is not valid markup as it should be:
<member>
   <name>categories</name>
   <value>
      <array>
         <data>
            <value>
               <string><![CDATA[General blog entries [Blog]]]></string>
            </value>
         </data>
      </array>
   </value>
</member>

The wrong format is rejected and results in an error, the 2nd example is accepted by the PHP XML-RPC library and also works for Joomla!.

Perhaps other blog systems are less strict and do not mind the omission of the <value> elements but systems following the specifications to the letter throw errors when KBlog tries to send the messages.

Note: I am assuming KBlog does the actual conversion from QStringList to the XML structure, if I am in error, please let me know which part of KDE handles XML-RPC.