Shoutbox

I wrote this rather pointless script (just practicing) and it works, but there's something I wanted to ask if you could change.

Here's the Script:
function OnEvent_ChatWndCreated(ChatWnd)
{
    var Message = "Your current status is " + Messenger.MyStatus + "!";
    Message = MsgPlus.RemoveFormatCodes(Message);
    MsgPlus.DisplayToast("", Message)
}

I was wondering if you could make it say in the message your actual status (i.e. "busy" | "online" | "away" | etc) instead of using the numbers associated with each status.

EDIT: I'm also failing to write a script that changes my status to busy every time I send a message if I'm not already set as busy.  So far I came up with this...:
function OnEvent_ChatWndSendMessage(ChatWnd, Message)
{
    if(MyStatus == (7))
    {
    var Message = "/busy";
    Message = MsgPlus.RemoveFormatCodes(Message);
    Messenger.ChatWnd.SendMessage
    }
}
^ guessed a lot

Thanks

~ 5n4k3

quote:

---

Originally posted by 5n4k3
I wrote this rather pointless script (just practicing) and it works, but there's something I wanted to ask if you could change.

Here's the Script:
function OnEvent_ChatWndCreated(ChatWnd)
{
    var Message = "Your current status is " + Messenger.MyStatus + "!";
    Message = MsgPlus.RemoveFormatCodes(Message);
    MsgPlus.DisplayToast("", Message)
}

I was wondering if you could make it say in the message your actual status (i.e. "busy" | "online" | "away" | etc) instead of using the numbers associated with each status.

---

Use a loop and a couple of arrays to replace the number?

javascript code:

---

function OnEvent_ChatWndCreated(ChatWnd)
{
    var Message = "Your current status is " + Messenger.MyStatus + "!";
    var number = new Array("2","3","4","5"....);
    var status = new Array("Appear Offline","Online","Busy","Be Right Back"....);
    for(var i = 0; i<number.length; i++){
        Message = Message.replace(number[i],status[i]);
    }
    Message = MsgPlus.RemoveFormatCodes(Message);
    MsgPlus.DisplayToast("", Message)
}

---

EDIT: Sorry, had a few errors, should work fine now... As for the second question, I'll answer shortly...

Thanks for that, btw is there a place where I can learn about "arrays", etc?

quote:

---

Originally posted by stoshrocket
Use a loop and a couple of arrays to replace the number?

---

Don't do this. There is absolutely no need for a loop to simply show the name of the current status, you can perfectly achieve this with an object literal indexed by the status number. Using arrays for this is totally unnecessary since we only need the ability to look up a certain property value (the name) by its identifier (the number).

js code:

---

// On the top of your script, outside any function definition
var oStatusNames = {
    0:    "unknown",
    2:    "appearing offline",
    3:    "online",
    4:    "busy",
    5:    "be right back",
    6:    "idle",
    7:    "away",
    8:    "in a call",
    9:    "out to lunch"
};

// The fixed event handler for chat window created
function OnEvent_ChatWndCreated( ChatWnd )
{
    // Find the name of the current status in our object   
    var status = oStatusNames[ Messenger.MyStatus ];
    // Make a nice message
    var message = "Your current status is " + status + "!";
    // Display a toast
    MsgPlus.DisplayToast( "Your current status", message );
}

---

As you can see, there's no need for looping through one array and replace all numbers by their status names: you perfectly know what status number you're looking for as you're building the message yourself! There's also no real necessity for calling MsgPlus.RemoveFormatCodes() when you don't add any format codes in the message. Of course, when the message could have been set by the user through some kind of script preference, you're better off removing the format codes, but in this simple example I chose not to.

---

As for setting your status, you can simply set Messenger.MyStatus yourself, it's not read-only:

js code:

---

function OnEvent_ChatWndSendMessage( ChatWnd, Message )
{
    // See if I'm not busy yet
    if( Messenger.MyStatus !== 4 ) {
        // Set to busy
        Messenger.MyStatus = 4;
    }
    // Return the unmodified message
    // Never forget to return something for ChatWndSendMessage!
    return Message;
}

---

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by 5n4k3
Thanks for that, btw is there a place where I can learn about "arrays", etc?

---

I highly recommend learning some JScript/JavaScript if you want to write Plus! scripts. There are many places to learn this, but perhaps the W3Schools tutorials are best suited for newcomers. Just beware that you're not programming in a website environment, so anything related to the place of your script in the HTML or the Document Object Model is not available in a Plus! script. Other than that, the syntax of JavaScript is as good as identical to JavaScript's syntax, therefore it's a very good starting point.

Arrays may not be ideal for this example (see above), but they're very interesting to work with. Basically, an array is a numbered list of stuff in which you can add, read, change and remove elements. Have a look at the W3Schools topics on arrays, that'll probably help you understand.

Much better solution Matti, thanks

Ah thanks guys. Lots to learn... gonna be interesting.

Hmm... I was just thinking... if both ways work why is Matti's way better?

Because it does not use a very slow, and completely unneeded, loop. Nor does it need two arrays being stored in memory.

Image what would happen if there are 10000 elements you need to index. Your script would run so slow you would think it has been froozen/crashed.

stoshrocket's script did this:

code:

---

1) Make a list of names:
    number 1 is BlahBlah
    number 2 is BooBoo
    number 3 is HeyHey

2) Make a list of numbers/indexes
    number 1 is 1
    number 2 is 2
    number 3 is 3

3) Change the list of numbers into a list of names
    Check if the index is still within the bounds of the number list
    if so, lookup name 1 and store it in memory
    Replace index 1 with the value stored in memory
    increase the index by one
    Check if the index is still within the bounds of the number list
    if so, lookup name 2 and store it in memory
    Replace index 2 with the value stored in memory
    increase the index by one
    Check if the index is still within the bounds of the number list
    if so, lookup name 3 and store it in memory
    Replace index 3 with the value stored in memory
    increase the index by one
    Check if the index is still within the bounds of the number list
    if so, ...., if not end the loop

4) Look up the current status

5) Get the correct name in the list of numbers.

---

So, even if you used an array, you can see that there is really no need for two arrays. The array in step 2 is completely useless because you already have all the names in order in the first array. Making the loop also useless. The second array is simply a list of its own indexes (an index is the number which defines an element of the array).

Matti's script does this:

code:

---

1) Make a list of status names, indexed and sorted by their literal numeric value: blahblah, BooBoo, HeyHey
2) Look up the current status
3) Get the correct status name in the list of statusses

---

Matti simply uses Messenger.MyStatus to get the proper element directly from the list.

This is possible since the numeric values of Messenger.MyStatus are known and always the same.

eg: Messenger.MyStatus will always return the number 2 when you are appearing offline. So simply grab the third (counting starts at 0) element out of the predefined string list.



It's like:

You have a piece of paper showing a number  (= Messenger.MyStatus) which tells you behind what curtain your prize (= your status strings like "offline", "online", etc) is.

stoshrocket's method:

First, construct a bunch of curtains and put some prizes behind it.

Second, construct a bunch of new doors and put a new piece of paper behind it like so:
Door 1, instructon on the new piece of paper: open curtain 1
Door 2, instructon on the new piece of paper: open curtain 2
Door 3, instructon on the new piece of paper: open curtain 3
etc..
this is the loop

Next, open the door with the number listed on your original piece of paper.
Then, open the curtain instructed on that new piece of paper you've found behind the door you've opened....

But did you notice how all those doors have the exact same number as the number in the instructions of those new pieces of paper behind each door?

Thus Matti's method:

First, construct a bunch of curtains and put some prizes behind it.
Second, directly open the curtain with the number that is on your original piece of paper....


^^ sorry for the long post, I was bored

I came across another problem with the script:

js code:

---

function OnEvent_ChatWndSendMessage( ChatWnd, Message )
{
    // See if I'm not busy yet
    if( Messenger.MyStatus !== 4 ) {
        // Set to busy
        Messenger.MyStatus = 4;
    }
    // Return the unmodified message
    // Never forget to return something for ChatWndSendMessage!
    return Message;
}

---

When my auto-message responds it changes my status to busy. How do I fix that?

EDIT: Spent some time on it and I'm thinking I should use something like

js code:

---

{
if(Message == "<insert my auto-message>"
Messenger.MyStatus = 7;
}

---

But it doesn't work.

~ 5n4k3

quote:

---

Originally posted by 5n4k3
I came across another problem with the script:

js code:

---

function OnEvent_ChatWndSendMessage( ChatWnd, Message )
{
    // See if I'm not busy yet
    if( Messenger.MyStatus !== 4 ) {
        // Set to busy
        Messenger.MyStatus = 4;
    }
    // Return the unmodified message
    // Never forget to return something for ChatWndSendMessage!
    return Message;
}

---

When my auto-message responds it changes my status to busy. How do I fix that?

EDIT: Spent some time on it and I'm thinking I should use something like

js code:

---

{
if(Message == "<insert my auto-message>"
Messenger.MyStatus = 7;
}

---

But it doesn't work.

~ 5n4k3

---

When the auto message is sent, messenger appears to see it as it being sent in the format "AutoMessage: <automessage>" (test it yourself by creating a toast to popup with every message you send, when "you" send an automessage, it comes up in this format). Therefore, a possible solution would be to check if the message sent starts with "AutoMessage: " ...

javascript code:

---

function OnEvent_ChatWndSendMessage( ChatWnd, Message )
{
    //search message for "AutoMessage :"
    var automsg = Message.search("AutoMessage :");
    if(automsg == -1){
        // See if I'm not busy yet
        if( Messenger.MyStatus !== 4 ) {
            // Set to busy
            Messenger.MyStatus = 4;
        }
    }
    // Return the unmodified message
    // Never forget to return something for ChatWndSendMessage!
    return Message;
}

---

Note: this would just check if your message has "AutoMessage :" in, so if you typed a message with this in it obviously would pick it up, so a better solution might be to check the position?

Still, it's not the most elegant of solutions... As Matti proved earlier there's more than one way to solve a problem.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Matti

js code:

---

// On the top of your script, outside any function definition
var oStatusNames = {
    0:    "unknown",
    2:    "appearing offline",
    3:    "online",
    4:    "busy",
    5:    "be right back",
    6:    "idle",
    7:    "away",
    8:    "in a call",
    9:    "out to lunch"
};

---

---

...
I prefer to use the enumeration for status

js code:

---

// On the top of your script, outside any function definition
var oStatusNames = {
    STATUS_UNKNOWN:    'unknown',
    STATUS_INVISIBLE:    'appearing offline',
    STATUS_ONLINE:    'online',
    STATUS_BUSY:        'busy',
    STATUS_BRB:        'be right back',
    STATUS_IDLE:        'idle',
    STATUS_AWAY:        'away',
    STATUS_INCALL:    'in a call',
    STATUS_OUTLUNCH:    'out to lunch'
};

---