Shoutbox

See my page for details:

http://www.student.cs.uwaterloo.ca/~kzorin/

Cheers, Kirill.

not tested yet, but it seems well made so far (despite the messages that it "couldn't be done")...

This one I'll install for sure once it is bug free ...


EDIT:
a quicky for those who want to know what this plugins does:
It converts mathematical formulas (written in Tex) to a picture and sends it, inside the conversation itself, to your contact. Your contact needs the same thing to view the pic though.




Three remarks though:
* The /xtex command isn't listed as being a command, this can easly be solved of course (and should be, because it can have other side effects as well).

* It can be quite confusing and a big hassle to install the needed packages for certain people (plus that they are quite big). So a tutorial specifically for Windows and MSN Messenger with the needed links (and what to check in the setup files) wouldn't be bad...

* Also, it would be nice if the various libraries don't need to be installed. eg: it would be quite doable I think (hope) to implement the image manipulating routines directly into the plugin itself, same with the ghostscript for example. The additional things you need to install is much in filesize (+-18Mb?) and I highly doubt that everything is actually used.

First bugs:
* Only works in Windows Messenger; In MSN Messenger, when I send /xtex I get an error: "Invalid conversation window" (and Tex mode isn't enabled of course). (then it is followed by the Messenger Plus! error: "don't reconize the command" because of the first point above.)

* When I send text after I typed and send the "\tex blahblah" string, the screen is updated rather strange:

quote:

---

CookieRevised says:
here is a line inserted when I send text after sending the Tex command
\tex \label{ex-2} \hat{p}^{\beta}_{1} (tg) = 1 - \frac{ (1 - f_{2}) d^{t}_{\left[ 1,2 \right]} \cdot g}{\beta_{t-2} - h cdot f_{1} d^{t-2}_{\left[ 0,1 \right]}-(1 - f_{1}) d^{t-1}_{\left[ 0,1 \right] }-g \cdot f_{2} d^{t}_{\left[ 1,2 \right]}} \end{equation}
[image here]
CookieRevised says:
some random text after sending the Tex command

---

Sometimes, stranger things happen, like my screenname splitting up:

quote:

---

CookieRevised say
\tex \label{ex-2} \hat{p}^{\beta}_{1} (tg) = 1 - \frac{ (1 - f_{2}) d^{t}_{\left[ 1,2 \right]} \cdot g}{\beta_{t-2} - h cdot f_{1} d^{t-2}_{\left[ 0,1 \right]}-(1 - f_{1}) d^{t-1}_{\left[ 0,1 \right] }-g \cdot f_{2} d^{t}_{\left[ 1,2 \right]}} \end{equation}
[image here]
s:
CookieRevised says:
some random text after sending the Tex command

---

But maybe this is due a Messenger Plus! bug though; such beheviour was reported a long time ago with some previous Messenger Plus! versions, but was fixed since then. Although now it seems to happen again. Dunno if this is because of the plugin or because of Messenger Plus! itself. Although I only got this by sing the plugin...

Tested with:
MSN Messenger 6.2.0137
Windows Messenger 5.1.0639
(both with and without other plugins)
Windows XP Home SP2

Suggestions to add:
* Make a configuration panel where you can select to show the Tex commands (like it is now) OR to actually replace them (or "delete" if you like) with the picture, so you don't see the Tex command anymore.

EDIT: note that this kind of plugin will not have a large userbase. Though for those who actually do math stuff via Messenger it is a great tool...

just out of interest, why would you want this, its looks smart but i don't see the point of it tbh (much like the contact lense plugin )

Holy mother of god! Thats the greatest thing I have ever seen!

I have always wanted something like this!

Well not really... But I have been looking for something like this.

Good job!

Hi again,

Thanks for testing it with MSN Messenger! Well, on the website I did state that I only tested this on Windows Messenger 4.7 or whatever. As soon as I'm back home today, I'll add in the MSN Messenger 6+ support code.

Kirill.

P.S. - So clearly, one can notice that this is still in BETA, so I'm not guaranteeing anything. I can say it works fine on Windows Messenger 4.7, and apparently on version 5.x as the nice gentleman stated above.

P.P.S. - It doesn't quite send the image to the other party, no. What it does is send the "\tex blabla" to the other person, and the image is constructed and displayed on their side. It prevents unnecessary network traffic.

Hi again,

Bad news. MSN Messenger is structured quite differently from Windows Messenger in terms of the "controls", as they were, that Microsoft decided to use.

I'll have to do some research and see how to embed the plugin into MSN Messenger. This will likely be either an extension to the original plugin (which now works on Windows Messenger), or a separate plugin altogether.

That's what happens when you hack away at applications written by fascists.

i find no real use for this tool unless i'm in r 12 doing maths with a friend...

This sounds like a very useful plugin, thanks for writing it.

However, I'm afraid the friends I have/want to blurt out formulae to aren't at all interested in installing stuff on their machines (probably, they don't know how to either).

If you have time to look into this, I'd be grateful But I understand if you don't have that time on your hands and I'm prepared to look into Plus! Plugins myself, but before I start, I'll ask you this first; would it be possible to adapt this plugin to send the pictures as normal file transfers instead of inline pictures? (And do you allow people to do it?)

In any case, thanks for your time and this great plugin

(By the way - I haven't installed it yet, I only use MSN Messenger (7 actually) and I'm keeping track of developments via this topic; I only saw the screenshots sending it as inline pics )

quote:

---

Originally posted by Kirill
Hi again,

Bad news. MSN Messenger is structured quite differently from Windows Messenger in terms of the "controls", as they were, that Microsoft decided to use.

I'll have to do some research and see how to embed the plugin into MSN Messenger. This will likely be either an extension to the original plugin (which now works on Windows Messenger), or a separate plugin altogether.

That's what happens when you hack away at applications written by fascists.

---

Microsoft uses windowless rich text box in msn 6...
I guess that you got the hWnd of the rich text box, get the text received draw and insert the image...
It isn't easy to get the hWnd of the RTB in msn 6...

Hello,
I know this thread is a very old one but i can't find the plugin. Has it been removed?

You can try using Math Pastebin. It isn't a real plugin, but it is usefull when you want to use LaTeX formulas in your conversations.