How To: The Scripturizer for Dummies

Update: 03.06.06! Wow, apparently this is quite useful to some people. It still works, as far as I know, for the latest versions of Movable Type. I noticed a lot of misspellings in this, so I am trying to correct it and make it as concise as possible.

The Scripturizer plugin is an extremely useful tool for Movable Type users. It turns Scripture quotations into active links to Bible Gateway's website in whatever version you prefer. So, say I'm typing along in my typical format...

...which is why I fail to see how anyone of a non-Calvinist position can read Romans 9:16 and not grasp His complete freedom in the bestowal or withholding of mercy, which He exercises not based on anything in man.

Click on it and you'll see where it leads. I've chosen the ESV for my website, but you can substitute it for the Bible version of your choice (KJV, NIV, NASB, etc.).

I have had quite a fun time learning how all this works as a newbie. Because I've failed to find good documentation anywhere on this plugin, I thought I'd provide some myself in the hopes that others will find it useful.

First, upload the code
Go to the website and locate the code. Copy the code from the first box (titled, Scripturizer.pl) into a new text file in any text editor. Save it as "Scripturizer.pl" and make sure it's text-only (not .rtf, nor .doc, etc.). Upload this into your Movable Type plugin folder. Here's how I did it at mine:

http://www.robhulson.com/mt/plugins/Scripturizer.pl

Copy the next bit of text (titled, "Scripturizer.pm"), save it as a file and name it “Scripturizer.pm” Put this one in the following directory:

http://www.robhulson.com/mt/extlib/Sermonizer/Scripturizer.pm

Notice you need to create a folder/directory in the /extlib folder called “Sermonizer.” Did I mention that exact spelling is essential?

Change permissions to 755
Change the permissions of both files to “755” and they’ll be usable files. Don’t ask me why; I’m a newbie! A visual FTP client will let you do this, and if you’re telnetting in, you probably already know how to chmod.

Log out
The documentation recommends you log out of your Movable Type admin. I figure you might as well do it.

Change the templates
Log back in. Here’s where things get dicey! I screwed up royally by misunderstanding what’s supposed to go on, here. I’m assuming you just want to add Scripturizer to your body entries, not sidebars and all that. If so, you need to alter your “Main Index,” and underneath all that (hidden to my eyes), locate the “Category Archive,” “Date-Based Archive,” and “Individual Archive” templates.

1. Locate the tag <$MTEntryBody$> in each template.
2. Change it to <$MTEntryBody scripturize="ESV"$> (it's not scripturizer, and make DOUBLY sure there are only two $ symbols. Say "No" to <$MTEntryBody$ scripturize="ESV"$>!
3. Locate the tag <$MTEntryMore$> in each template.
4. Chage it to <$MTEntryMore scripturize="ESV"$> Again, no "r" in scripturize and only two $ symbols. Both of these tell Movable Type that when it pulls up data from an entry body or extended entry, Scripturizer should look for Scripture references.

Conclusion
Save each time you update the code. When done, rebuild. If you follow this guide precisely and don’t misspell anything, this ought to work. Let me know if it does. I hope this helps the MT community.

Special thanks to Joseph Markey for helping clear things up for me, and to Dean Peters and Jonathan Fox for creating this thing in the first place.