chatterbox client

This project by N-Wing is a Java applet that allows access to the chatterbox without having to constantly reload web pages. This is currently under development, although there is an alpha version available for testing at Java chatterbox. For those interested in making their own clients, chatterbox XML ticker contains the chatterbox messages. (warning - this is an XML file, so it will probably not look like much in your browser). Note: the current version only shows text from the "main" room.

things to do/bugs at
http://sourceforge.net/bugs/?group_id=4370
You can also add bugs you've found and/or any suggestions you may have there.

source is at
http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=4370

News: I am a lazy bum, and haven't updated this writeup for a while. Anyway, the version on E2 is "0.1.9.3 beta", the week AMTFB release.

update, 2000.06.14.n3 - Yay! Version 0.1.7.2 is done and up at Java chatterbox, and it works for me in NS 4.08 and IE 5. A manual is at Java Chatterbox Manual.

Argh! It still doesn't work under NS, only now instead of not updating the messages, it won't get them at all. (actually, I fixed one problem, but that caused another problem due to a different reason) When I was tested it locally, NS popped up the security window, asking me if I wanted to allow network access. However, when loaded from E2, Java chatterbox, it just fails, without even asking. Anybody know why and/or how to get around that? I'm going nuts with it.

2000.05.16.n2 - version 0.1.6 is done, which should fix the problem with Netscape caching the chatterbox XML ticker page, which caused it not to updated. I solved this by writing a lower-level HTTP class, LowHTTP. It (the LowHTTP class) is ugly right now, but I think it works. As long as I don't have any more major bugs to fix, I'm going to start working on making a rich-text display, so links will work.

2000.04.16.n0 - FYI - I'm working on some back end stuff on version 0.1.5, so it will be easier to convert it into an application. I'm also going to put the prefs in another window, b/c they are cluttering up the main window.

2000.04.11.n2 @ 5:43 UTC - Version 0.1.4 is up at Java chatterbox, which should allow login on most browsers. (note: "most" means "IE" and "NS" and maybe others) Please report bugs/suggestions to the bug page of the "E2 Java Chatterbox Client" project on SourceForge at
http://sourceforge.net/bugs/?group_id=4370

I am writing a chatterbox client as well. The language it is written in is Delphi. So far, it can load the chatterbox XML ticker and parse it, though it does not yet parse links or /mes. I have yet to allow the user to actually say some thing, but, due to N-Wing's help, I should have that done soon.

I just had the following idea: to take some load off of Everything 2's server, how about some body putting up a server middle-man for chatterbox clients to connect to? What this middle-man would do is connect to E2 every ten seconds or so, get the chatterbox XML ticker, and PUSH the results to all connected chatterbox clients.

Here's a short read-only chatterbox client in perl. It uses the perl chatterbox client module and Curses (barely).

Usage:
    e2chatterbox.pl [username] [password]

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

use strict;
use Curses;
use E2Chatterbox2;
use Text::Wrap;

my $cbox = new E2Chatterbox2;

if ( scalar( @ARGV ) >= 2 ) {
  $cbox->login( @ARGV[0,1] );
}
 
$SIG{INT} = sub { endwin(); exit; };

initscr();
noecho();
scrollok(1);

while (1) {
  my ( $chatter, $msg ) = $cbox->get_all();
  # clear();                               
  erase();  
            
  foreach my $line ( @$chatter ) {
    my ( $time, $speaker, $speech ) = @$line;
    $speech =~ s/\&/\&/g;
    $speech =~ s/\"/"/g;
    addstr( Text::Wrap::wrap("", "\t", 
      "[$time] $speaker: $speech\n") );
  }
     
  if ( scalar( @$msg ) ) {
    addstr( "----------------------- Messages -----------------------\n" );
    foreach my $line ( @$msg ) {
      my ( $time, $speaker, $speech, $id ) = @$line;
      $speech =~ s/\&/\&/g;
      $speech =~ s/\"/"/g;
      addstr( Text::Wrap::wrap("", "\t", 
        "[$time/$id] $speaker: $speech\n") );
    }
  }
     
     
  refresh();
  sleep( 15 );
}
 
endwin();

I will use this writeup to beg the following question: Why not a non-java chatterbox client that can be distributed as a binary or as source, so that it can run in a more optimized environment?

As of right now, I can't use the Java Chatterbox, as I'm at my girlfriend's apartment, on her roommate's iMac (with MacOS 8.6), and Netscape 4.5 pukes every time I even try to open the Java Chatterbox node.

If only there were a text client, compilable under *nix, I could telnet to a shell, compile the client, and use the chatterbox from there. Instead, I will have to use the chatterbox nodelet, which only refreshes when I load a page from e2.

Other advantages would include having binaries that are more optimized for the platform it is running on. There could also be features added to the independant client, such as making links that would open a web browser to the appropriate node, spell checking (and &Diety knows, when it comes to spelling, I am The Weakest Link), and who knows what else.

Since the writing, I've discovered #catbox on slashnet. Still, a seperate chatterbox client for the Windows platform would be nice. Actually, a client for multiple platforms including Windows would be nice.

I'd write it myself, but I'm no coder.