Shoutbox

A collection of tips relating to scripting.

ActiveX Objects
You can access ActiveX objects just like you can using IE.

var ob = new ActiveXObject("name here");
if(ob == false)
{
    Debug.trace("ActiveX objection creation failed");
}

Starting a program:
var shell = new ActiveXObject("wscript.shell");
shell.Run("notepad.exe");

(Will start notepad.exe)

Changing a message being sent:
You can return a message from the ChatWndSendMessage function and it will change the message before it is sent. If you don't return a message, the intercepted message will be sent.

The following code will replace all instances of hi with test.

function OnEvent_ChatWndSendMessage(ChatWnd, sMessage)
{
   return sMessage.replace("hi", "test");
}

To use send data to websites you use XMLHttpRequest

code:

---

var xmlhttp = new ActiveXObject("Microsoft.XMLHTTP");
xmlhttp.open("GET", "http://shoutbox.menthix.net", true);

    xmlhttp.onreadystatechange=function() {
          if (xmlhttp.readyState==4) {
              Debug.Trace(xmlhttp.responseText);
          }
         }
xmlhttp.send('');

---

that will print msghelp.net's html to your debug console

edit:
changed the async flag to true on the xmlhttprequest object (so it doesnt freeze the chats while doing its stuff)

Gah, finally figured out how to use what's in the IDL file.

First I was messing around with ActiveXObject() trying to create an instance, but it's much simpler.

For example,

code:

---

    //IMPMsgPlus interface
    [
        uuid(45C2DA37-53C8-4497-9C87-9E6A6DFF2B7C),
        helpstring("MPScript Messenger Plus! Interface")
    ]
    interface _IMPMsgPlus : IUnknown
    {
..snip..
        HRESULT DisplayToast([in] BSTR sTitle, [in] BSTR sMessage, [in,optional] VARIANT sCallback, [in,optional] VARIANT vCallbackParam, [out,retval] VARIANT_BOOL *bDisplayed);
        HRESULT DisplayToastContact([in] BSTR sTitle, [in] BSTR sContactName, [in] BSTR sMessage, [in,optional] VARIANT sCallback, [in,optional] VARIANT vCallbackParam, [out,retval] VARIANT_BOOL *bDisplayed);
    }

---

You take the name, which in this case is IMPMsgPlus and remove the IMP, making it MsgPlus. Then to, say, call DisplayToast you would simply use MsgPlus.DisplayToast()

Reading the contents of a file:
(This code contains no error handling - you're expected to add it yourself)

- See note below on file paths.

code:

---

function get_file_contents(file)
{
    var fileSys = new ActiveXObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject");
    var fileH = fileSys.OpenTextFile(file, 1, 0);
    var text = fileH.ReadAll();
    fileH.close();
    return text;
}

---

Checking if a file exists:

- See note below on file paths.

code:

---

function file_exists(file)
{
    var fileSys = new ActiveXObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject");
    if(fileSys.FileExists(file))
    {
        return true;
    }
    else
    {
        return false;
    }
}

---

Note:
You need double slashes in the path - ex, C:\\test\\file.txt.

Also - when reading files, the base path is actually your windows profile directory (C:\Documents and Settings\....). If you need to read something from your scripts directory, then you would use:

myFile = MsgPlus.ScriptFilesPath+"\\file.txt";

Just a simple module for perhaps making Plus Menus easier to create.

Download Module: util_MsgPlus.js


Example Usage:

Generating the Menu

code:

---

function OnGetScriptMenu(){
    //Create new menu
    var myMenu = new PlusMenu;
   
    //Populate menu
        //Add a menu item
        myMenu.addItem("mnuItem1", "Item #1");
        myMenu.addItem("mnuItem2", "Item #2", false); //Disabled menu item
       
        //Add a separator because separators are pretty cool...
        myMenu.addSeparator();
       
        //Create a sub menu
        myMenu.openSubMenu("My 1st Sub Menu!");
            //Add a menu item to the sub menu
            myMenu.addItem("mnuItem3", "Item #3");
        myMenu.closeSubMenu();
       
        //Create a disabled sub menu
        myMenu.openSubMenu("My 2nd Sub Menu!", false);
        myMenu.closeSubMenu();
   
    //Build menu
    return myMenu.build();
}

---

Detecting when a menu item is clicked

code:

---

function OnEvent_MenuClicked(sMenuId){
    if(sMenuId=="mnuItem1"){
        MsgPlus.DisplayToast("Menu Click", "Menu Item #1 was clicked!");
    }
}

---

Showing those crazy MS agent characters


First the user must have a MS agent installed for this example we will use Merlin
Download him here...
http://download.microsoft.com/download/1/d/b/1dbe...f3c4669/Merlin.exe

for more agents see here http://www.msagentring.org/chars.htm


Code to load your character

code:

---

//open a new object of the agent control
var Agents = new ActiveXObject("agent.control.2");
Agents.Connected = true;

//now to load our character into that control.
Agents.Characters.Load("Merlin","C:\\WINDOWS\\msagent\\chars\\Merlin.acs");
var merlin = Agents.Characters.Character("Merlin");

---

To show him you do

code:

---

merlin.Show();

---

To hide him you do

code:

---

merlin.Hide();

---

To make him speak you do (must be showing to speak this)

code:

---

merlin.Speak('dt is your master now');

---

To make him think

code:

---

merlin.Think("Oh wow im thinking ");

---

each character also has gestures which they can do like...
to make merlin lift his arms and then point to the right..

code:

---

merlin.Play("GestureUp");
merlin.Play("GestureRight");

---

To move a character you do

code:

---

merlin.MoveTo(300,200);

---

which makes merlin to a crazy flying animation to that point



This code shows merlin  makes him fly to a point  then say hello , raise his hands and then hide.

code:

---

//open a new object of the agent control
var Agents = new ActiveXObject("agent.control.2");
Agents.Connected = true;

//now to load our character into that control.
Agents.Characters.Load("Merlin","C:\\WINDOWS\\msagent\\chars\\Merlin.acs");
var merlin = Agents.Characters.Character("Merlin");

merlin.Show();
merlin.MoveTo(300,200);
merlin.Speak('Hello');
merlin.Play("GestureUp");
merlin.Hide();

---

To make your agent speak what hes saying outloud you need to install the MS speech stuff
http://activex.microsoft.com/activex/controls/agent2/tv_enua.exe
http://activex.microsoft.com/activex/controls/sapi/spchapi.exe

If you are calling an XML service and expecting a reply in XML form parse it with MSXML...

code:

---

// -------------------------------------------------------------------
// XML request
function NewRequest(service)
{
    xmlFile = service;
    Debug.Trace("Calling: "+xmlFile);
    var xml = new ActiveXObject("MSXML2.DOMDocument.4.0");
    xml.validateOnParse = false;
    xml.async = false;
    xml.load(xmlFile);
    var resp = xml.documentElement;
   
    return resp;
}

---

The object returned represents the root tag in the document. To get its first child tag

code:

---

var root = NewRequest("http://...");
var child = root.childNodes.item(0);
Debug.Trace("First child's text: " + child.text);

---

For more information on DOMDocument object... http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url...lrfdomdocument.asp

hope it helps

To show how things can be made shorter:


As an example I'll take the 'file existing' routine shown by Chris Boulton.

code:

---

// Checking if a file exists:

function file_exists(file)
{
    var fileSys = new ActiveXObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject");
    if(fileSys.FileExists(file))
    {
        return true;
    }
    else
    {
        return false;
    }
}

---

If you use an IF THEN ELSE structure to check on a function which only returns true or false on its own, you can do:

code:

---

return fileSys.FileExists(file)

---

Since filesys is an object which you have defined before and since this is only used once, you don't specifically need it to be defined as a variable but you can use it directly:

code:

---

return new ActiveXObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject").FileExists(file)

---

All this makes that the function is reduced to only 1 line:

code:

---

function file_exists(file)
{
    return new ActiveXObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject").FileExists(file);
}

---

-------------------------------

Various short functions derived from VB6:

see "CookieRevised's reply to [I help them] VB2JS"

Accessing the registry, without getting errors (see attachment):

Both variable and path should not begin with a slash (/).

ExistsRegistry (
[optional string] sub directory in the script's registry key,
[optional string] variable  in the script's registry key
)
Returns true if exists, false if not exists

DeleteRegistry (
[optional string] sub directory in the script's registry key,
[optional string] variable to remove, if not set, the whole directory will be removed
)
Deletes a variable or key.

ReadRegistry (
[optional string] sub directory in the script's registry key,
[optional string] variable to read from,
[optional string] default value in case the variable is not set yet
)
Reads the value of a key or variable, returns the value if found, returns default value if set, returns null if failed.

WriteRegistry (
[optional string] sub directory in the script's registry key,
[optional string] variable to read from,
[string] value to write,
[boolean] whether or not to overwrite if set already
)
Writes a value to a key or variable, returns the written value if overwrite is true or value did not exist, returns original value if overwrite is false and value did exist, returns null if failed.


Examples:

code:

---

ExistsRegistry("example", "MyAge");
// returns false

ReadRegistry("example", "MyAge");
// returns null

WriteRegistry("example", "MyAge", 16);
// writes 16, returns 16

ExistsRegistry("example", "MyAge");
// returns true

WriteRegistry("example", "MyAge", 17, false);
// does not write, returns 16

DeleteRegistry("example", "MyAge");
// deletes value

ReadRegistry("example", "MyAge", 17);
// writes 17, returns 17

WriteRegistry("example", "MyAge", 18);
// writes 18, returns 18

DeleteRegistry("example");
// deletes whole example key

---

both

code:

---

WriteRegistry("example", "MyAge", 16, false);

---

and

code:

---

ReadRegistry("example", "MyAge", 16);

---

will write and return 16 if value does not exist, and won't write but will return the original value if it does exist.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Plan-1130
Accessing the registry, without getting errors (see attachment):

Both variable and path should not begin with a slash (/).

ExistsRegistry (
[optional string] sub directory in the script's registry key,
[optional string] variable  in the script's registry key
)
Returns true if exists, false if not exists

DeleteRegistry (
[optional string] sub directory in the script's registry key,
[optional string] variable to remove, if not set, the whole directory will be removed
)
Deletes a variable or key.

ReadRegistry (
[optional string] sub directory in the script's registry key,
[optional string] variable to read from,
[optional string] default value in case the variable is not set yet
)
Reads the value of a key or variable, returns the value if found, returns default value if set, returns null if failed.

WriteRegistry (
[optional string] sub directory in the script's registry key,
[optional string] variable to read from,
[string] value to write,
[boolean] whether or not to overwrite if set already
)
Writes a value to a key or variable, returns the written value if overwrite is true or value did not exist, returns original value if overwrite is false and value did exist, returns null if failed.


Examples:

code:

---

ExistsRegistry("example", "MyAge");
// returns false

ReadRegistry("example", "MyAge");
// returns null

WriteRegistry("example", "MyAge", 16);
// writes 16, returns 16

ExistsRegistry("example", "MyAge");
// returns true

WriteRegistry("example", "MyAge", 17, false);
// does not write, returns 16

DeleteRegistry("example", "MyAge");
// deletes value

ReadRegistry("example", "MyAge", 17);
// writes 17, returns 17

WriteRegistry("example", "MyAge", 18);
// writes 18, returns 18

DeleteRegistry("example");
// deletes whole example key

---

---

I posted a registry module already that uses the Windows API http://shoutbox.menthix.net/attachment.php?pid=738349