Shoutbox

Can a script be written that would show/indicate when a contact is idle?  This feature used to be in the old msgplus, I think, (Idle) appeared next to the contact's name when he or she's in that state.  Currently what happens is that we still need to mouseover the contact because it only shows the tiny little circle that appears for when someone's away or on brb.   

This would really be a big help.   I'd write the script myself if only I could.

This was never a feature in Plus!3. To show idle instead of away with contacts who were idle you had to patch messenger yourself.

However, now in Plus! Live this patch is included. So it is integrated into Plus! Live (only). If you hoover over a contact you'll see the status of the contact. If it shows 'idle' that is Plus! Live's doing:

Plus! > Preferences > Customize > Main > Show contacts as Idle instead of Away when appropiate.

The problem you have is that now in Windows Live Messenger, the name of the statusses isn't shown anymore after the nickname. This is because MS has decided to remove it. There are however some patches floating around which maybe can add this back to WLM. But be aware that some patches break compatibility with Messenger Plus! and even disable some other functions in Windows Live Messenger itself (like sharing folders) if not applied properly.

PS: for those who wonder: no, this can not be added back with a script as you need to patch the resources before messenger loads them.

You can just use MessPatch or A-PAtch and Check the option to show IDLE users. =]

Yep, I have mine patched... weirdly I still don't see anything.  Anyway, thanks for the replies.

quote:

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Originally posted by Tartooob
You can just use MessPatch or A-PAtch and Check the option to show IDLE users. =]

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This will not do what milkbox has requested.

That patch will do exactly as the option in Plus! Live I described in my previous post. It will replace "Away" with "Idle" if appropiate; it will not add the status names after the contact names.

I'm sure mess patch had an option to show statuses... it did for earlier (beta) versions of WLM, I know that.

The patches' Show Idle Users option does show users as idle but only when you've mouseovered the contact.  It doesn't show on the contact list.

I'd like a script to show idle time, not only the status

quote:

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Originally posted by giken
I'd like a script to show idle time, not only the status

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true idle time can't be 'shown'/calculated. What can be 'shown'/calculated is the time the user is idle since you have seen him as idle (eg: a user might already be idle before you come online).

Note the use of 'shown'... It is put between quotes because there are 2 problems with this:

1) Currently the status name (whatever it is) isn't shown anymore in the contact list of Windows Live Messenger. As described in some previous posts this can be added back with certain patches (though, patches might always break compatibility with addons etc).
This can't be done with scripts.

2) You can not change what is shown in the status name (if it is shown at all) after the contact name with a script. Plus! itself could do this.
PS: when custom names are added back, it might be possible to dynamically change a custom name so it includes the idled time though. Or you could maybe do some other workaround with a script, but directly changing the status name is not possible.

I made a script that shows wen contacts go idle. the only problem is that it shows it with a toast (if thats not what you wanted).

I can post the download tomoz (Australian time).

NOTE: It does not calculate how long long the contact has been idle for.