OPML clean install problem

[theWebalyst]

Trying to set up River2 based on instructions here: http://quick.newsriver.org/

OPML starts fine. New document fine. Creating, expanding collapsing
nodes fine.

Lots of OPML commands do nothing though, including the crucial "Misc >
Tool Catalog ..."

I gather this should spawn a browser window, but nothing happens.
Possibly the other non-responsive commands fail for the same reason,
but I don't know for sure as this is the first time I have seen OPML.

I am on XP and have Chrome and FireFox browsers running (Chrome is my
default browser).

Any clues or suggestions for debugging this?

Thanks

Mark
http://theWebalyst.com

[Adam Curry]

The OPML Editor doesn't support Chrome out of the box.

FIrst you can try this direct link to make sure you can get to the
Tools page: 127.0.0.1:5337/opmlEditor/catalog

Next, to set Chrome as your default browser, bring the OPML Editor to
the front and go to Misc->Jump

Enter user.webBrowser and click enter

In the value for the field currentID replace what is in there
(probably MOZB) to rimZ


THis should set your environment to the Chrome browser.

If that doesn't work, open Firefox, it should behave normally with the
OPML Editor.

AC

[theWebalyst]

Thanks Adam, see below...

On Oct 24, 9:41 pm, Adam Curry <foobar...@gmail.com> wrote:
> The OPML Editor doesn't support Chrome out of the box.
>
> FIrst you can try this direct link to make sure you can get to the
> Tools page: 127.0.0.1:5337/opmlEditor/catalog

Works fine.

>
> Next, to set Chrome as your default browser, bring the OPML Editor to
> the front and go to Misc->Jump
>
> Enter user.webBrowser and click enter
>
> In the value for the field currentID replace what is in there
> (probably MOZB) to rimZ

The value was "NONE". Changing it made no difference - still now
browser action.

> THis should set your environment to the Chrome browser.
>
> If that doesn't work, open Firefox, it should behave normally with the
> OPML Editor.

Nope. In all my tests I have had BOTH Chrome and FireFox running, and
OPML has never opened a tab in either.

Mark

[Adam Curry]

Ah, my bad. I gave you Mac OS X instructions.

Here's a screenshot from one of my windows machines:http://
blog.curry.com/images/2011/10/24/webBrowser.jpg

It isn't XP though, but I'm hoping it will work for you.

AC

[theWebalyst]

Strange. I've tried the path / currentID (and checked the path is
correct for my machine). I can't set the currentID to firefox.exe (as
soon as I click away it resets to NONE).

Just changing the path - still nothing appearing in FireFox!

Mark

[Adam Curry]

try hitting 'enter' once you have changed a value, it should 'take'
then.

After that, do a File->Save just to make sure.

AC

[theWebalyst]

Nope, it doesn't accept any value (except "NONE")!

Mark

[Dave Winer]

Run one browser.

[theWebalyst]

Sorry Dave, if I ditch anything it is going to be exploring OPML.

The idea that I should have to stop using any other program, yet alone
re-orgainse my workflow to accommodate one application is ridiculous.

OPML being unable to cope with Chrome running, even when its favourite
browser is running, is a serious bug.

Thanks both of you for being so responsive and helping me try to get
OPML working, but it is not going to be of any use to me if I can't
run it alongside certain other browsers, so there's no point me
evaluating it.

If there is a solution found to using it with Chrome running, I would
though love to hear about it and check out what appears to be a very
interesting and useful platform. I'm a great fan of outline editors,
and OPML seems to have some really great potential for me.

Mark

[Dave Winer]

Oy. I didn't say never run another browser.

I run two. Youre having a problem, the goal is to isolate it.

We have no idea where the bug is Mark. Nor do you, until you isolate the problem.

[theWebalyst]

Solved. Thanks both of you: Adam and Dave.

Dave, your suggestion didn't seem related to the dialogue with Adam so
I misunderstood. Thanks for clarifying.

So, to summarise. Getting OPML running on Windows XP which does not
have FireFox as the sole browser, you need FireFox installed. If
another browser is set as default (cf. Chrome) you need to re-
configure OPML as follows...

1) Start OPML and FireFox
2) Close all other browsers
3) In OPML, go to Misc->Jump
4) Enter user.webBrowser and click enter
5) Set winDefaultBrowserApp to the full path of FireFox (using double
backslash for path separators) for example: "C:\\Program Files\
\Mozilla Firefox\\firefox.exe"
6) Set currentID to "firefox.exe"
7) Press Ctrl-S to save the database

Testing:
A) In OPML by choosing Help > OPML Help. This should open a Firefox
tab at URL http://cribsheet.opml.org/
B) Start Chrome and in OPML choose Misc > Tools Catalog. This should
open a Firefox tab at URL 127.0.0.1:5337/opmlEditor/catalog

Hey presto.

Mark
http://theWebalyst.com

[Dave Winer]

Glad it worked out, and thanks for the excellent after-the-fact report.

Dave

[Dave Winer]

Adam, I think we should support Chrome out of the box, yes?

http://worknotes.scripting.com/october2011/102711ByDw/chromeSupported

I have it working on Mac, now working on the Windows side.

Also thinking about doing a howto that shows people how to set it
through opmlstartupcommands.txt instead of editing the object
database. It's the kind of thing that might get in the way of someone
starting up, as we found out the other day. :-)

Dave

[Adam Curry]

Right on. Beats repeating this process by hundreds of miles :-)

Of course the obvious next requests from someone will be Opera and
whatever else comes along....

AC