quote:
Originally posted by Itsme-HcK
@CookieRevised: Never, I hate VB.
Ok, but that's another issue. Though the core of the program will exactly be the same as what is shown in that other thread.
quote:
Originally posted by Itsme-HcK
Already thought of that. 
I'm thinking about something like this:
/xwonline [groupname] [required status] [mask]
(Things between [ and ] are optional.)
Groupname could be... (nothing for all groups)
Required status would be something like "status
nline", "status:away", "statusther" or maybe even "status:boo".
Mask could be something like this: "On group $groupname$: $name$ ($email$). His current status: $status$".
Default will be something like that too, but without the e-mail.
If I may suggest something, do it in another way (which looks a bit more logical and above all more generic IMHO)
eg:
/xwhois [required status] [groupname] [mask]
Make status the first parameter, as this is a required parameter (can't be "nothing") and groupname and mask are optional.
(required parameters always come before optional parameters)
This also reduces the need for the "
status:" prefix. eg:
/xwhois online
/xwhois away
<of the group> friends
(italic is imaginary of course; those are the words which makes the whole command into an logical english sentence)
Also, and what my main suggestion is, don't forget about the possebility you have with tags. A plugin can also output tags. With this the user has all the possebilities he whishes. And it doesn't require much from the plugin/programmer itself...
eg:
- (!XWHOIS_AWAY) will show everybody who is away in one string (seperated by whatever is set in the preferences of the plugin; by default a comma)
- (!XWHOIS_ONLINE_FRIENDS)
The user can make his own quicktext in that way. eg:
quicktext alias:
/showbusyfamily
quicktext text:
These are the ones from my family who are busy: (!XWHOIS_BUSY_FAMILY)
In fact you can program your plugin around this tag, and actually make the parsing of the command a kind of "special case" of that tag-use. eg:
The main routine is to parse the tag and is what the plugin is about: seperating the different fields inside the tag. Now you can make the routine for the command to actually call this same parsing tag routine (with the appropiate parameters). In other words, you only need to have 1 major parsing routine.
-------
Anyhow, that's how I would make it (in VB
... if I had the time). Nevertheless I look forward to see what you make it into (in C++, which is better as it doesn't require runtimes)
. Iether way, it has great potential for being a much used plugin... go for it
[*]
[*]this said, it should even be a standard function in Plus IMHO! 
/ 
