MyChitChat (1.0.0 RC) - for MediaPortal 1.2.0 BETA!

all the details will be updated asap in this very first post - now I need sleep steady hands for typing!


Documentation:

Description:

This is my 2nd Plugin after the MySleepTimer. Spoiler: Another one involving "cats" is on it's way ;-).
MyChitChat is a plugin that allows you to send and receive instant chat messages via the Jabber/XMPP network and supported transports like ICQ, AIM, MSN, GTalk and many others as well. You can view your contact list and see who is online or has send you a message and reply instantly.

Versions:

• current:

  MyChitChat 1.0.0 RC (community reported bugs fixed)

• previous:

  MyChitChat 0.9.0 Alpha (initial public release)

Changelog:

• since 0.9.0 (Alpha)
• double notification bug fixed!
• skin navigation fixed (set OnLeft, OnRight controls)
• skin adjustments (resized columns a bit, removed overlaps)
• enhanced error recovery (i.e. on hibernate, server/ client errors, lost connection, ...)
• current Tune & Activity publication is now fully configurable (adresses privacy concerns)
• added event handling for PlayBackChanged (updates and publishes Tune/Activity correctly now)
• added event handling for PlayBackStopped (resets Activity to default / empties Tune info)

Features:

• Instant Messaging via Jabber/XMPP
• Yepp you heard that right ICQ, AIM, MSN, GTalk, IRC and many others right inside MediaPortal!
• Send/Retrive Presence Data
• Select & Set Your Online Status (Available, Ready to Chat, Away, Extended Away, Do not Disturb, Unavailable, Invisible)
• Send a custom status message
• Select your status on MediaPortal startup (optional)
• Automatically set customizable idle status when not in plugin/timeout
• Select & Set your current Mood (happy, excited, grumpy, ...)
• Send a custom mood message
• Select & Set your current Activity (working, sleeping, studying, gaming, socialising, ...)
• Send a custom activity message
• Automatically send current tune/media information on playback (title, artist, album, etc.)*
• Retrieve Contacts presence (status, mood, activity) and custom messages
• Retrieve & display contact Avatar images
• Customizable notifications for events (new message, contact status/mood/activity/tune updates, error
• Global notifications within MediaPortal even when the plugin isn't shown
• Conversation history per contact (no persistance between restarts though)
• Contact List filtering (online, offline, all)
• Disconnect/Reconnect Jabber account within MediaPortal
• Selectable input types (default keyboard, sms input, web keyboard)
• Last active Contact automatically selected in the list
• Ultra fast reply by simply starting to type (while a contact is selected in the list)**
• Fully skinnable status, mood and activity icons (i.e. plugin checks for [statustype].png on the fly)
• Fully skinnable message status icons (unread, read, replied, send)
• Multilanguage support
• Full event log
• Extended error logging (please rember to attach logs, they are crucial for finding/eliminating bugs)

* This is default enabled for now and not fully tested (listens to PlayBackStarted event in g_Player) Privacy concerns!
** I'm having problems with some hardcoded keys like 'h' which automatically returns to home screen

Screenshots:



Download:

• preferred: via "MediaPortal Extension Installer" (uncheck "Stable only" for now)
• optional: via MediaPortal Plugin Repository
• optional: directly download at the bottom of this post

Installation:

• preferred: Automatically via "MediaPortal Extension Installer" (this way you'll get auto-updates!)
• optional: by double-clicking the downloaded '*.mpe1' file and following the installation wizard

Configuration:






GUI Elements & Usage:

• Main Window

  Open the Plugin in MediaPortal to see your Jabber status and contact list. Select (hover) a contact from a List to see his/her last Message, online status and avatar image. Click on a Contact from the list to open the Chat window. Click on the Reply button on the lower left to write a new message to the currently selected contact. If a contact is currently selected and you want to quickly send a message her/him just start typing and the virtual keybord will come up (just don't start with the letter 'h' ;-) )

• Status information (left hand column)
• Your Jabber account name
• Your online status & message
• Your mood & message
• Your activity & message
• Selected Contact's nickname
• Selected Contact's online status & message
• Selected Contact's Avatar image (if available)
• Selected Contact's last chat message
• Reply button (MePo icon with typewriter on the lower left)
• Event log (middle column)
• This textbox contains the history of all event that occured (like incoming message, contact online status update, tune changed, errors, etc.)
• Contact list (right hand column)
• Contains all the contacts you added to your Jabber account (should look exactly like the desktop client's contact list)
• The list is filtered by default to show online contacts only (change this via context menu (F9))
• Listitem label: Contact's Nickname [unread/overall messages]
• Listitem icon: if available the contact's avatar image or else an online status icon (i.e. available, ready to chat, away,...)
• Chat Window

  This window shows the complete conversion history for the currently selected contact

• Selected Contact's status information (left hand column)
• Contact's nickname
• Contact's online status & message
• Contact's mood & message
• Contact'sactivity & message
• Contact's Avatar image (if available)
• Last chat message (incoming or outgoing)
• Conversation history (middle column)
• plain text of all messages from/to this contact in reverse chronological order (new on top)
• Every message is shown with sent/received timestamp and direction ('>' incoming / '
• Message list (right hand column)
• Contains all messages from/to this contact in reverse chronological order (new on top)
• Listitem label: Message subject (or shortened message body) and sent/receive timestamp
• Listitem icon: depicts the message type/status (i.e. incoming, outgoing, unread, read, replied)
• Context Menu (F9)

  This dialog menu will provide context sensitive options/settings. This menu and all subsequent menus are fully multilanguage supported.

• "Set My Status"
• "Available"
• "Ready to chat"
• "Away"
• "Extended away"
• "Do not disturb"
• "Unvailable"
• "Invisible"
• "Custom..." (Select a status and write a custom status message)
• "Set My Activity"
• "doing maintenance
• "doing the dishes";
• "doing the laundry";
• "unning an errand";
• "walking the dog";
• "having a beer";
• "having coffee";
• "having tea";
• [...]
• "Custom..." (Select an activity and write a custom activity message)
• "Set My Mood"
• "afraid"
• "amazed"
• "angry"
• "annoyed"
• "anxious"
• "aroused"
• "ashamed"
• [...]
• "Custom..." (Select a mood and write a custom mood message)
• "IM selected Contact"
• "Show all Contacts"
• "Show Online only"
• "Show Offline only"
• "Jabber reconnect"
• "Jabber disconnect"
• "Set Keyboard type"
• "Cancel"

Skins:

• Generic Skin (should work with all skins)

Translations:

• The plugin's default language is english
• The Plugin is fully translateable (at least will be)
• Everybody is invited to create a translation file for their language of choice ;-)
• Have a look at the Plugin Configuration, there you'll find a button to create a new language template
• fear not! no XML-Skills required, just look for the stuff between these: '>Code:

  example 
      eng: brave 
   => ger: mutig

• Once you're done translating, insert your name in the XML and attach the file to a new Issue @ GoogleCode
• Troubleshooting: Internet Explorer needs to be open when you click the "Create new..."-Button!
• Troubleshooting: An error will occur when XML-files don't have a default program to be opened with on your system!

Icons:

• most (if not all) icons are taken from either blue3 skin, the old MePo-Green skin or from grassynoel's Website
• The plugin will search the skin path for the appropriate icons ("\Skin\Blue3wide\Media\MyChitChat\[type]\[name].jpg")
• example: "\Skin\Blue3wide\Media\MyChitChat\activity\watching_a_movie.png"
• Fallback to default icons for missing status/mood/activity icons

Sources:

• Browse Source: mychitchat - Project Hosting on Google Code
• Subversion: Code:

  "checkout http://mychitchat.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ mychitchat-read-only"

Bugs/Suggestions:

• Please file Bug Reports as new Issues @ GoogleCode
• Please remember to attach logfiles!
• File Feature requests as new Issues @ GoogleCode as well
• KISS principle applies
• I'd really appreciate any feedback, bugs, suggestions, feature wishes and the like (and using the Issue List would definately lower my/your overhead)!

Jabber:

Why:

• Open Protocol Standard based on XML
• Many stable Libraries
• Many Free & Open Source Clients
• Single Login for Multiple Networks!
• Single Client for Multiple Networks/Protocols
• No need for "Free" Clients (read 'enriched', read 'Adware') with a payload of many user friendly "features" (read unwanted 'Registry-Mayhem', read 'browser TOOLBARS' that take 50% screen real estate)

Links:

• Jabber.org
• Jabber/XMPP Server List
• Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol ? Wikipedia

Clients:

• Miranda IM
• Pidgin
• Trillian
• Psi
• more...

Servers:

• jabber.hot-chilli.net
• jabber.tf-network.de
• jabber.tmkis.com
• jid.pl
• na-di.de
• pluser.ru
• aqq.eu
• jabber.org
• comprehensive server list

Transports/Gateways:

• XMPP (Jabber)
• ICQ
• AIM (AOL Instant Messenger)
• GG (Gadu Gadu)
• IRC (Internet Relay Chat)
• MSN (Microsoft Network)
• Y! (Yahoo!)
• PEP (Personal Eventing Protcol)
• MUC (MultiUser Chat)
• GTalk (Google Talk/Chat)
• QQ (Tencent QQ /former "open ICQ")
• Facebook
• email
• sms
• ...

Credits:

Shukuyen - Jabber.MP v0.1 for the idea that started this (sadly you stopped development)

grassynoel - MePo - MediaPortal's very own Mascot! for this little sweetheart fellow (I should've ask you first though )

fripsy - Skype4MP for some much needed code insights

fforde and team - Moving Pictures Plugin for the translation engine that i cold heartedly stole from you guys

finally to all of YOU who work hard and help out to make this place what it has become!

external:
AG Software - agsXMPP - Open Source C# .NET Jabber Library (comprehensive XMPP protocol implementation library)
Microphage71 - nJim - dotNet Jabber Instant Messaging Library (nice wrapper for agsXMPP)

have fun and keep 'em bugs & suggestions comin',
Anthrax