Shoutbox

As many must already know the popular plugin stuffplug is going to release a new version for WLM 8 (now not as a plus plugin but as an independent program), however it was announced that both closed windows and open windows notifier will not be anymore...

That's because it worked with "when a user begin his connection with other user" and "when a user finish his connection with other user", and that's not neccesary when a user open or close a windows (for example if you see his space or his avatar the connection begins and if you don´t talk for a while, even without closing the window, the connection is finished)

However, as you can see in many msn forums, it was only a matter of getting used to it and to know it wasn´t 100% accurate... It was really useful anyway...

Is there a way (and someone who wants to do it ^_^) to make a script that notify when a connection with other user begins or finishes?

I think it already exists thay have released it.

It's http://shoutbox.menthix.net/attachment.php?pid=685671

I think it's the script you search

Now I see there were many topics about this

But the link you put was only a joke script that only opened the alert when YOU opened a window

Has someone made a "connection stablished/lost" script that really worked? (the name is because I don´t want to argue with people who say that it doesn´t work, because I understand what they say, but I want it all the same XD)

Many Many many people ask for it.
It doesn't work, and will never work.
So, I don't think this feature will ever come back. And I don't expect that there will be someone out there friendly enough to reintroduce it...
Face it.

It worked its way... But I don´t want to make this topic a war between people who say it worked and people who don´t (that's why I asked for a "connection stablished/lost script" and not a "open/closed windows script" ^_^)

Yeah, i know it worked, it did work sometimes for me too - often enough to make it acceptably reliable to me.
However, if you search the forums of Stuffplug for example: such requests made all developers so angry they decided to never reintroduce it again
Face it, no one is gonna waste their breath to that

if 2 people had the same program, the program could send a silent message to the other persont that thay have opend the window, and if they other person has that program, itll disaplay it as a toast, saying...

babab@hot.com has opend a windows with you

But that's not the idea... even that script existed less than 1% of your contact list would have it

And I don´t understand why if so many people ask for it somebody would not do it... but well, I will try to see if I can do it myself (I dunno XD)

I even had a few ideas how to make it A BIT more reliable, for example, if 1 o 2 minutes passed between the last messege, desactivate the "connection lost" notify... This way most "automatic connection finished" would not give a false "close window" notify... It wouldn´t be 100% accurate either, I know, but well... It's an improvement...

About the "connection stablished" notify, you always have the "contact is writing a message" message to know if the other contact really had opened the window and is going to talk with you... Although this don´t work if the other opened the window but wasn´t going to talk with you (yeah there are crazy people out there XD), so I wouldn´t make the script to wait for that...

(please don´t make this topic a war about "if it work" or "why would someone use it" or "nobody is going to do it", there are just too many topics about that in the forum. Instead make this topic a topic to talk about the script itself and how to make it the best we can for people who want it... And about people who think it's useless, just try to think this topic as a lot of crazy people talking about useless things but happy about that )

Anyway it's just not reliable. The feature can't be trusted, but if it was reliable I would have used it.

quote:

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Originally posted by tbcat
And I don´t understand why if so many people ask for it somebody would not do it...

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several reasons, but the main one would be that many people (the majority) will interpret the function of such a plugin/addon/script in the wrong way. And there is nothing more frustarting than explaning to people again and again how things work. So in the end, most developpers simply don't even want to talk about it anymore, let alone make something like that or make it public.

quote:

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Originally posted by tbcat
I even had a few ideas how to make it A BIT more reliable, for example, if 1 o 2 minutes passed between the last messege, desactivate the "connection lost" notify... This way most "automatic connection finished" would not give a false "close window" notify... It wouldn´t be 100% accurate either, I know, but well... It's an improvement...

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The time-outs for the sessions are somewhat known, but MS has changed them from time to time. Making something that will ignore everything after x minutes will not be good because:
a) the timeout could actually be less than those x minutes for all you know (only those who are very familiar with the protocol know the timeout value; aka don't guess such stuff, research it).
b) no end of session will be reported back after the x minutes, even if the end of session was caused by the contact itself

You can argue that it would notify the user and it would always be accurate if you implemented your own time-out after x minutes. Although this is true, it would not be as usefull and accurate as when you actually use the real timeout. Not to mention that without knowing the real time-out, all you still do is guessing (but this time guessing what the time-out might be).

quote:

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Originally posted by tbcat
About the "connection stablished" notify, you always have the "contact is writing a message" message to know if the other contact really had opened the window and is going to talk with you... Although this don´t work if the other opened the window but wasn´t going to talk with you (yeah there are crazy people out there XD), so I wouldn´t make the script to wait for that...

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That message can also easly be disabled with many patches btw.

quote:

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Originally posted by tbcat
talk about the script itself and how to make it the best we can for people who want it...

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best way? Study the protocol and stick to it. Don't implement stuff which is guessed or which needs interpretations.

quote:

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Originally posted by tbcat
And about people who think it's useless, just try to think this topic as a lot of crazy people talking about useless things but happy about that )

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The subject of the topic is serious enough to debate about it. This is still and always will be a serious forum where in the first place support is given and thus where information needs to be posted as accurate as possible without the possebility of misconceptions.

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To make what you want, start by studying the protocol. Info about the protocol or links to it (and sessions in particular) can be found on many messenger related sites. (PS: not many people can deal with the protocol. This means something: it isn't easy to get it right!! success...)... After that, study how packet sniffers work.