Help

Objirc Chat Documentation

If you are reading this from the Objirc Chat application, refer http://objexcel.com/ for the latest updates.

Help Contents

> Requirements

> Starting Objirc Chat

> Special Objirc Commands

> Aliases

> AddIns

> Free Objirc Chat Registration for your Addins

> Menus
> IRC
> View
> Command
> User
> Room
> Favorites
> Help

> Server Window

> Room Window

> Chat Window

> File Transfer Window

> Rooms Window

> Status Bar

> Advertising Banner

> Release Notes

> Ordering Information

> License

Requirements

Because Objirc Chat is written in Java, it requires a Java 1.1 or later Virtual Machine (VM). The Microsoft VM is the preferred VM since most testing was done with this VM, and it is noticeably faster than the Sun VM. You will have this VM if you have Internet Explorer 4.01. If you are using the Sun VM, please check you have the latest version (1.1.7 at the time of writing this).

Objirc Chat is developed and tested on Windows NT. People are using it on OS/2, MacOS (you'll need the very latest VM from apple) and Unix platforms including Linux.

Starting Objirc Chat

After Using the Windows Installer
If you are running Objirc Chat on Windows and have used the setup program, then simply click on the Objirc icon in the Start Button|Programs|Objexcel menu.

For those who are interested, here is how the launcher works. First, it attempts to start the Microsoft Java Virtual Machine. If you have not installed this VM it attempts to start the Sun Java Virtual Machine. The launcher application attempts to add the swingall.jar library to the classpath, searching in the Objirc Chat install directory and the %SUN_VM_HOME%\lib directory.

Starting Objirc Chat from the Command Line
If you have not run the setup program (e.g. if you are using Unix or a Mac) you can start Objirc Chat using the appropriate batch file:
+ jre_objirc.bat (contains jre -Dobjirc.home=. -cp swingall.jar -cp objirc.jar Objirc)
+ jview_objirc.bat (contains jview /d:objirc.home=. /cp:p swingall.jar /cp:p objirc.jar Objirc)
+ unix_objirc.bat (same as jre_objirc.bat but with a Unix return character).

Special Objirc Chat Commands
Objirc Chat does not require you to know or use any IRC commands. The user interface does almost everything. If you are a keyboard-a-holic or entrenched IRC guru, you can also enter IRC- and Objirc-specific commands at any of the command prompts. To do this, prefix your messages with '/'. All commands are case insensitive. You can access your command history using the up arrow key.

Objirc Chat supports all IRC commands e.g:
/PRIVMSG <nickname> <text to be sent> - Sends a message to a user without opening a special window for them.
/NICK <nickname> sets your nickname.
/OPER <nickname> <password> - gives you operator privileges (if you are one).
/JOIN #<room> - enter a room.
/KICK #<room> <nickname> [<comment>] - Forcibly removes a user from a room. Only a channel operator may kick another user out of a room.
/ISON <nickname> - Asks the server whether the nickname is on.

Objirc Chat also supports non-IRC commands:
/me sometext sends an action text. For example, if you typed "/me says hi!" other users would see "yournick says hi!"
/msg who sometext sends a private message to "who" without opening a Chat window. e.g. /msg K|wee hi there!
/notice who sometext same as msg but sends a "notice". The difference being bots and scripts are not supposed to reply to notices (if they did, then they might end up talking around in circles).
/query who sometext same as msg but will also open up a Chat window.
/away [msg] send [msg] to anyone who sends a message to you. For example, "/away gone to lunch, back at 1:00" would say that to anyone who begins chatting with you. To cancel the message, type /away without a message.
/part [room] [room] [room] ... Part tells the server to stop sending you messages intended for the rooms you list. If you don't supply a room, it uses the current window name. It is the same command sent when you close a Room window, but it leaves the Room window open (typing something at the room command prompt will automatically rejoin the room for you).
/ctcp who msg sends a CTCP message to another user. CTCP messages allow you to send client to client protocol commands.
/quote msg and /raw msg send exactly what you type to the server.
/j room is a shorthand command for joining a room (normally /JOIN room)
/addalias, /remalias and /listaliases let you work with aliases. See the alias section for details.
/load, /run and /kill let you work with addins. See the addin section for more information.

Aliases
Aliases are shortcuts for command sequences. You can associate a short name with one or more commands.

One way to create aliases is with /addalias:
/addalias aliasname <commands...>

For example, "/addalias jnew /join #ircnewbies" would join the ircnewbies room when you typed /jnew.

You can have parameters in your aliases. A parameter starts with a a dollar sign ($) (two if you want to be prompted for any missing values) followed by a number or range. When you invoke the alias, the parameters are replaced with what you type. E.g. If you added this alias:
/addalias wb Welcome back $$1="name". $2-
then
"/wb" would prompt your for a name and send "Welcome back <name>."
"/wb fred" would send "Welcome back fred."
"/wb fred What have you been up to?" would send "Welcome back fred. What have you been up to?

Some parameter names are special. $$1="me" will automatically be replaced with your current nickname. $$5="room" will be replaced with the current room. $$1="Nick" will be replaced with the nickname of the currently selected user. For example, set up an alias "/addalias w Hello $$1="Nick". Welcome to $$1="room". $$2="me" is your host.". Then type "/w" in the #ircnewbies room when you have the person you wish to send the message to selected. The alias will expand to "Hello friend. Welcome to #ircnewbies. Fred is your host."

To remove an alias, type "/remalias w". To see what aliases you have loaded use "/listaliases".

Another way to enter aliases is with with Favorites | Add commands to favorites. Make sure you select the "Load the commands as an alias" option. This option makes Objirc Chat load the commands as an alias when the menu item is selected later (rather than sending the command to the server).

AddIns
If you want to extend Objirc Chat and try your hand at programming, then AddIns are your you!

Objirc Chat currently supports AddIns written in Java and Python. Have at look at test.py in the Objirc Chat install directory and the class documentation in the Doc folder to get you started.

Objirc Chat provides commands to help you work with AddIns. First, /Load loads the AddIn. E.g. "Load J jpython.jar" will load the Java libraries need to run a Python script. The 'J' is the type of AddIn you are loaded (in this case Java). To load the test.py Python script, type "/LOAD PY test.py" This parses and compiles the script but does not run it.

To run a Java AddIn (after you have /Load'ed it) type /RUN J classname. To run test Python class in the test.py script, type "/RUN PY test". For this to work you must have loaded jpython.jar and test.py first.

Free Objirc Chat Registration for your Addins
Send us your Objirc Chat addins and we'll send you an Objirc Chat registration code!

We want to foster a community of developers who will provide addins that will make Objirc Chat the best chat client on any platform. Selected scripts will be published on the Objexcel web site earning you fame if not fortune. All scripts should be sent to us. Source is required for all addins (so we can check the scripts aren't doing anything malicious).

Here are some ideas to get you started:
+ Text colorizers (take the command line and beautify it)
+ FServe
+ Play WAV or MP3 files.
+ Auto-greet
+ Channel control
+ Who list on rooms
+ Ascii Art
+ Dalnet (or your favorite network) extensions such as mail and auto-login.

Objirc Chat is distributed with the 1.0.3 JPython libraries. For example Python code and documentation, download the Python SDK from http://www.jpython.com/

Here are some useful books for picking up Python:

Internet Programming With Python by Aaron Watters, Guido Van Rossum, James C. Ahlstrom, gui Van Rossum, Aaron Waters Amazon Price: $27.96 Avg. Customer Review: |  | Programming Python (Nutshell Handbook) by Mark Lutz Amazon Price: $35.96 Avg. Customer Review: |
Learning Python (Help for Programmers) by Mark Lutz, David Ascher, Frank Willison (Editor) Amazon Price: $23.96 Avg. Customer Review: |  | Python : Pocket Reference by Mark Lutz, Gigi Estabrook (Editor) Amazon Price: $5.56 |

Menus

IRC|Join Server...
Objirc Chat displays the Connect to IRC Server dialog. The user selects a Network. Objirc Chat displays a server for that network and a port number.

Select OK and Objirc Chat logs you onto that server.

To enter a new network, click the New button and type the network name in the combo box and enter a server and port (usually 6667), and press OK. Objirc Chat adds those details to its standard list and connects to the new server.

To delete a network, select a network name and press delete.

Tip: When choosing a server, opt for one that is close to you. Take note of the lag-o-meter readings to rate each server's performance. The lower the lag, the better the response.

Each server is part of a larger IRC network (e.g. Dalnet or Undernet). Each network has slightly different commands and ambience.

IRC|Rejoin Last Server
Select this option and Objirc Chat connects to the server to which it was last connected.

IRC|Leave Server
Select this option and Objirc Chat disconnects from the current server.

IRC|Exit Objirc Chat
Select this option to close Objirc Chat.

View|Rooms
Select this option and Objirc Chat selects the Rooms Window.

View|File Transfers
Select this option and Objirc Chat selects the File Transfers Window.

View|Options
Select this option and Objirc Chat displays the Options Dialog.

You can enter your nickname here, a short message that Objirc Chat will send to anyone who asks for it, defaults for whether to automatically accept chats and files from other IRC users. You may also enter the default directory for file downloads.

If you change your nickname here while connected, Objirc Chat will change your name on your connected IRC server to keep the two in sync.

You will also need to enter the full path to your browser here. Use Start Menu|Find|Find Files or Folders to locate your browser.

View|Show ToolTips
If you hover the mouse over most fields in Objirc Chat, they will display a short help message. Deselect this option if you do not wish to see the ToolTips.

View|Look and Feel Options
To change the look and feel of Objirc Chat, select one of the installed look and feels.

Command
The command menu contains common IRC commands.

User|Chat
Open private chat window with the currently selected user. This chat goes through the IRC server so is slower and less private than a Direct Chat.

User|Direct Chat
Opens a private chat window with the currently selected user. Messages go directly to the other user so this method is faster and more secure than a plain Chat.

User|Get Info
Opens an information window for the currently selected user and fetches information on that user from the IRC server.

User|Send File
Allows you to send a file to the currently selected user.

User|Kick Ban
Allows you to send a file to the currently selected user from the currently select room. You will only be able to do this if you are an operator in the room. When banning someone you can specify a mask. The mask will help thwart attempts by the user to rejoin the channel by simply changing their nickname.

Room|Join Room
Enter the currently selected room. A "room" or channel is a place where you can have a conversation with a group of other people.

Room|Part Room
Leaves the currently selected room.

Favorites
This menu provides a place for you to put all your favorite rooms, servers and friends. You can organize your favorites to keep them handy.

Favorites/Startup
Rooms
The Startup folder is a special Favorites location. Whenever you connect to a server, Objirc Chat will automatically join each room in this list. To stop this, use the "Organize your Favorites" menu item to delete or move the room file from the Startup folder.

Users
When you connect to a server Objirc chat begins monitoring all the users in the Favorites Startup folder. Every 30 seconds or so, Objirc Chat checks whether they are connected to the same network as you are. If it finds them, it enables the notify widget (the user icon) on the status bar and displays a message in the server window. You can reset the notify widget by clicking on it.

Commands
The Startup folder can also contain commands. These commands will execute when you connect to a server. Put your favorite aliases and AddIns here.

Favorites/User
Commands placed in the User folder show up in the User menu as well as the popup menu on the room window's user list.

Favorites/Room
Commands placed in the Rooms folder show up in the Room menu as well as the popup menu on the rooms window room list.

Favorites/Command
Commands placed in the Command folder show up in the Command menu.

Favorites|Add ...
Adds the currently select user, room or server to this menu.

Favorites|Organize Your Favorites
Each favorite menu item is a file. Each folder is a file directory. Organize opens a file dialog for you to rename files, delete them or move them to a different directory. The favorites files can be created and edited with any text editor (follow the simple format of the existing favorites). Feel free to move the files around to suit your access, there is nothing special about any of the folder names or locations (with the one exception of the Startup folder).

Favorites|Items...
Select a user icon to open a private chat window with that user. If the user has a red x against them, it means they are not using IRC at the moment. Every time you go into the menu, Objirc Chat performs another check to see if they have joined.

Select a room icon to join a room.

Select a computer icon to change your IRC server.

Window|Close
This option closes the current window. If the window is a room, Objirc Chat sends a part. The Server Window cannot be closed. If the window is a Direct Chat (DCC) window, Objirc Chat disconnects from that person.

The shortcut to this menu item does not display properly but is ctrl+F4.

Help|Contents
Display this file.

Help|Register Objirc Chat
Allows you to support future development on Objirc Chat.

Help|Objexcel's Objirc Chat Web Site
Keep up to date with current the current Objirc Chat releases.

Help|Dalnet and Undernet
Menu items that take you to the web site of two of the largest IRC networks. Both sites contain valuable IRC links and related information.

Server Window

Message History
Displays IRC Server messages and Objirc Chat warnings

Command Prompt
You can send commands to the IRC Server from any of the command prompts.

Room Window

Message History
Displays all the messages sent to the room since joining it.

Command Prompt
Send messages to the room by typing something then pressing enter.

Sends actions to the room (by prefixing action with /me). E.g. /me says hi to everyone!

Press the up arrow to retrieve your command history.

Comings and Goings
Displays who leaves or joins the room.

User List
Displays the number of people in the room.

Shows the name, operator status, time the nick joined the room, the number of times they have spoken in the room and when they last spoke.

Sort each column by clicking on the column header.

Double click on a user to chat with them, or right click on them to get a menu with other options.

Chat Window

Message History
Displays the conversation between you and the other user.

Command Prompt
Send messages to the other user by typing something and pressing enter.

Sends actions to the user (by prefixing the action with /me).

Use the up arrow to access the command history.

File Transfer Window

File Table
Shows details of files being transferred. The columns include the other party, direction (incoming or outgoing), the file name, % file progress, Kb received/sent, status (not accepted, connected, finished), message (any problems).

Sort each column by clicking on it.

Get details of the row by clicking on it. The details display in the File Detail area.

Begin a file download by selecting the Save File context menu item associated with a row. The default save location is the directory you installed Objirc Chat to.

Begin a file download saving it to a different name by selecting the Save File As... context menu item associated with a row.

Cancel a row by selecting the Remove context menu item associated with a row.

Offer a file to a friend by selecting the Send File... context menu item associated with a row. Objirc Chat displays a file chooser. The user selects a file and presses the Send button. Objirc Chat offers the file to the friend using CTCP.

File Detail Area
The File Detail Area presents the same information as the File Table. The buttons perform the same function as the File Table context menu.

Rooms Window

Rooms Table
Press the Load button to get a complete list of rooms and their topics on the current server. Some networks can have HUGE room lists (like ten thousand !) so you may wish to enter a short search string (e.g. "fun" will match #funfactory on the server) to shorten the list returned to you.

Some servers ignore one or more of the filter fields: Dalnet uses the name field but ignores the minimum and maximum number. Undernet ignores the room name but takes note of the minimum and maximum.

You can filter the loaded list by changing any of the filter fields (name, min or max). The list will change as you type.

The table lists the room name, the number of people in the room and the room topic.

Sort each column by clicking on it.

Join a room by double clicking it or selecting the Join Room context menu item associated with a row.

Objirc Chat will save the list you loaded and display it the next time you use Objirc Chat. Since rooms come and go over time, you may wish to reload the list to make it current.

Status Bar

The IO Monitor widget shows messages being sent from Objirc Chat to the server (the right arrow) and messages received from the server (left arrow). If Objirc Chat is not connected to a server, it shows a red cross. The tooltip for this icon shows the last message sent or received.

The Notify widget is highlighted when someone from your Favorites | Startup folder is found on IRC. The ToolTip will show which users are present or which users Objirc Chat is attempting to locate. Click on the icon to reset it to the disabled state.

The Lag-o-meter icon shows how long it takes the server to reply to a query sent from Objirc Chat. The shorter the reply time, the better your connection. Under two seconds is adequate. Anything worse and you should try connecting to a different server.

Advertising Banner

This banner is loaded from the Objexcel web site each time you run Objirc Chat using technology developed here at Objexcel. Contact us if you wish to license it for your own products.

By supporting our sponsors you help fund Objirc Chat development.

This banner is currently advertising books and games from Amazon.com, the world leader in on-line sales of books and CDs. The banner offers one click access from Objirc Chat to Amazon.com's most popular books and CDs of the week (so you can become a more informed and interesting IRC netizen!).

When you buy from Amazon you benefit from their services like gift-wrapping, fast shipping and unbeatable prices. Objexcel receives a commission from sales through Objirc Chat and these sales help fund future Objirc Chat development. You benefit both ways!

We choose the books advertised in the banner, if you wish to recommend a book, drop us a email.

Release Notes

Release 4 beta 2 Release June 1999
This release added:
+ The ability to select which active chats show in the status window
+ Options to select which join, leave, quit, kick, ban messages show in Room windows.
+ Connect options for invisible mode and receipt of server messages
+ Kick and masked ban control added
+ Aliases (aka macros)
+ Implemented a /? (help) command
+ Added a nickname alternative to automatically recover from nickname 'collisions'
+ Support for AddIns written in Java or Python (see http://www.jpython.com/)

Release 4 beta 1 Released March 10 1999
+ Tiled windows option
+ Proxy server/firewall support (we support it, your company may not!)
+ IdentD server support (people were having trouble connecting to some IRC servers without it)
+ An all-chats-in-one-window window (I've got to get a better name for it than that).
+ Added a right click option on message panels to save a conversation log
+ Different room layout (more conventional? improved? let me know what you think).
+ Added an option to turn off the news ticker.
+ Different handling of notices. Since they are often sent by room operators, they now go to the room rather than to a separate window for the operator.
+ Made colored text a little easier to read.
+ Fixed a problem where rooms were not being displayed as they loaded.
+ Bug fixes for some annoyances such as having to manually scroll some windows
+ GUI logic fixes in send file
+ Fix for GUI logic when an IRC server is slow to connect
+ Fix for parsing of a user entered /away <msg> command
Release 3

Released: November 2 1998

Added a toolbar. Added a user menu. Added a room menu. Each item is linked to the "current user" or "current room" and enabled. Each item is enabled only when applicable. When disabled, the icons tell you why - e.g. not connected, no room selected, etc. When enabled, each item tells you what it does.

Added the favorites menu giving instant access to your favorite rooms, friends and servers. Objirc Chat shows whether a user in the favorites menu currently on IRC or not.

Added color text - no more ugly control characters.

Added popup hints (tool tips) on pretty much every field, button, menu, table and label in the application. Hopefully, these will make Objirc Chat easier to use. You can turn them off from the View menu if you don't care for them.

Replaced all icons with a set of much more attractive ones created by Dean S. Jones (Copyright (c) 1998).

Improved the usability of the Login Dialog by adding a New button for you to update our server listings.

Set up a list of 372 servers and 52 different networks in the favorites menu so you probably won't need to add a new server!

Added a Startup folder in the Favorites menu. Objirc Chat will automatically join each room you add to this folder and begin monitoring for the presence of any users in the folder.

Created a status bar. Put a notify widget on it to notify you when friends from the Favorites Startup folder come on line.

Put a Lag-o-meter and IO Monitor widget on the status bar. These are basically eye-candy.

Added a send button to the Chat windows and Room windows. They allow you to send your message as a normal message or as an action, you'll probably find you never use. Their real purpose it to disclose how to send a message (press enter), and how to send an action (type /me does some action). Also some people just like using a mouse!

Improved the Rooms window so it no longer needs the filter button (filtering now works automatically as you type).

Improved the Room windows so they remain open after you get kicked or banned and automatically attempt to re-enter the room if you type anything to it.

Added a highlight to the tab of each window with unseen messages.

Objirc Chat performance has been tweaked. We have a performance test where Objirc Chat connects to a dummy IRC server which sends a IRC conversation file. Objirc Chat handles this file in 25 seconds, mIRC - probably the most popular IRC client in the world - takes 23 seconds. We believe this is pretty good going since Objirc Chat is written in Java (considered slow by some) and mIRC is probably written in C++. If you find Objirc Chat is slower than you'd like, use the Microsoft VM - we found it a couple of times faster on our tests. Note too, there is a considerable difference between a VM that uses JIT code compilation and one that uses pure bytecode interpeting (such as older Windows VMs and some quite recent Unix VMs). Check your VM is using JIT code compilation.

Changes too numerous to mention were made in the guts of the application including a couple of bug fixes and some IRC parsing for a few new commands.

Improved this help file.

Release 2.2 (bug fix + usability)

Released: August 15 1998

Added a startup room option.

Added links to the Dalnet and Undernet IRC network web sites for IRC help.

Made some slight usability improvements (expect some major ones in the next release!)

In other news: fixed a problem with filtering room names, made sorting case insensitive in the rooms and user lists, improved scrolling in the message history panels, got rid of a bug restricting CTCP commands to a single word.

Release 2.1 (bug fixes only)

Released: August 6 1998

Improved the file chooser used on Java VM's that don't support the Swing file chooser.

Fixed a problem with message boxes 'hanging' the application.

Removed an unnecessary warning when some versions of the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser where closed.

Fixed a problem where the Filter button in the Rooms tab was not enabled when it should be.

Worked around a couple of problems with the IRC|Join command when you were already connected.

Release 2
Released: August 2 1998

Added a user info window. This window provides about as much information as we can get out of the IRC network.

Added a help menu to call up this file.

Added an field on the Options Dialog to enter your preferred browser.

Added client side flood protection. On IRC a server can disconnect you if you send too many messages (basically the server allows you to send one message every two seconds). Objirc Chat now automatically prevents you reaching that limit. Note: some rooms have bots or operators who may still 'kick' you out if they think you are being too noisy. There is not much we can do about that though.

Made menu commands and buttons disabled when they are not applicable. Added 'tool tips' to the buttons to tell you why they are disabled.

Added an Exit command to the IRC menu.

Made the room list load in a separate when reading it off disk. Before, loading the saved rooms froze Objirc Chat for a few seconds..

Designed a splash screen and options sidebar (using Adobe Photoshop 5).

Added a Direct Chat and Send File context menu command to the speech bubble on the chat windows.

Added some code to close IRC rooms when you re-connect to a server.

Made the Rooms window Load button work with the Internet Relay Chat network (was working only with the Dalnet network).

Made Objirc Chat show the Options Dialog the first time it is run so you can change your nickname before connecting.

Made Objirc Chat show the Rooms Panel each time it loads. Hopefully this will make it easier to get started on IRC.

Enabled Direct Chats (aka DCC chats) with CTCP. Huh? This means you can use commands like "/me says hi" which will show up on the other side as "Yournick says hi".

Fixed a bug where the room tabs did not display when you joined a room.

Added a registration dialog for you to enter the lock key emailed to you after you register Objirc Chat.

Added an ad banner. We had to have some mechanism to encourage people to register Objirc Chat. Rather than crippling the application, we've added an ad banner which you can turn off after registering.

Release 1
The original trial release.

Ordering Information
For technical support or comments about this program, contact us at: support@objexcel.com.

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License
Objirc Chat is provided "AS IS," without a warranty of any kind. You may
not decompile or reverse engineer any Objirc Chat code.

JPython (Version 1.0.x) is made available subject to the terms and conditions in CNRI's License Agreement. This Agreement may be located on the Internet using the following unique, persistent identifier in URN format: hdl:1895.22/1002. The Handle System can be used to resolve this identifier to access the CNRI License Agreement on the Internet. For information about using the Handle System see the documentation at http://www.handle.net