Anarchy Online Bulletin Board  

Go Back   Anarchy Online Bulletin Board > Community forums > Knowledge Database

Reply
 
Thread Tools
Old Jan 3rd, 2010, 13:15:14   #1
Vhab
Yarr
 
Vhab's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Vha.Chat and Vha.Net released

tl;dr: Yet another standalone chat client, scroll down for links

Vha.Chat and Vha.Net
The chat client
Vha.Chat is a new standalone Anarchy Online chat client that aims to replace AORC as the primary chat client.
I hope to achieve this by creating a solid and much more feature complete implementation of Anarchy Online's chat.
Already has Vha.Chat matched many of AORC's features and includes several AORC doesn't.

The main difference between AORC and this client:
- Significant effort has been made to display AOML and Info Windows just like Anarchy Online does.
- Full support for encoded messages (displays the tower and org msg. channel correctly)
- Full support for system messages (offline tells, inbox full, /cc commands)
- Completely open source with active development and a public roadmap
- Popup windows for a single channel or private conversation

The chat library
The library (Vha.Net) is a heavily cleaned and fixed version of VhaBot's AoLib.
Most notable is the addition of full support for remote private channels and system messages.
Additionally many shutdown/disconnect related bugs have been fixed.
Links
Downloads
Latest official releases: http://www.vhabot.net/downloads.php#Vha.Chat
Latest beta releases: http://build.vhabot.net/ccnet/server...ckageList.aspx
Latest alpha releases: http://build.vhabot.net/ccnet/server...ckageList.aspx
Source: http://code.vhabot.net/svn/vhachat/

Other links
Roadmap: http://code.vhabot.net/vhachat/roadmap
Screenshot: http://dump.vhabion.net/images/VhaChat.png
Mono support status: http://forums.vhabot.net/index.php/topic,7148.0.html
Wine support status: http://forums.vhabot.net/index.php/topic,7149.0.html
Contributors
Developers
Vha.Chat wouldn't be the state it is in today without the help of the community.
Are you a developer and feel like helping out?
Simply grab a copy of the source from svn and make some enhancements.
Patch files can be submitted here: http://forums.vhabot.net/index.php/board,72.0.html

Alpha testers
But even as a user you too can help out. With Vha.Chat growing bigger we've increased our need for testers.
Among the links there is a link to a list of alpha builds (top one is the latest).
We'd be most grateful if you're willing to take the risk of taking these for a spin instead of the stable builds.
You can report bugs here on the forum, by PM or even on IRC (#coders @ irc.funcom.com).
Known issues
Weird characters
Output produced by certain bots (like VhaBot) may appear incorrect in Vha.Chat.
Unfortunately, this is related to a bug in these bots and a bug fix in Vha.Chat.
A fix has been made for VhaBot and will be included in its next release.

No colors
By default all colors are stripped from scripts and bots in the main chat window.
This is working as intended and often greatly improves the readability of bot output.
In 1.1 and earlier; this behavior can be changed by manually editing Config.xml.
In 1.2 and later; this behavior can be changed in the options interface.

Can't select
There are some known issues with selecting and copying text from the chat window.
I've been unable to track down the source of this and doesn't seem to be reproducible on my machine.
If you're having this issue, please reply with your OS and IE version. Also mention if the issue is constant or only at random times.
__________________
Vha.Chat
Standalone Anarchy Online chat client

[ #coders @ irc.funcom.com ]

Last edited by Vhab; Aug 14th, 2010 at 09:47:13..
Vhab is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Jan 3rd, 2010, 13:20:27   #2
Iriche
Public Services
 
Iriche's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Keylogger omgz
first!
__________________
Quote:
Originally Posted by Znore
removed due to stupidity of poster.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kaylinne View Post
Its not that much money and I can at least go to backyard (no lag), open my bank, take out lot of bags full of clothes and play Barbie with my toon.
If nothing else.
Iriche is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Jan 3rd, 2010, 13:25:50   #3
Alternity
PvP addict
 
Alternity's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Hey Candy Van


Client works great, very slick. I got 2 requests tho:


1. Ability to customize colors

2. Ability to ignore channels
__________________
President of Spartans.. omg

Darkempire 220/30/70 Agent

{edited by Anarrina: see me if you have questions}

When specifically asked for positive words, responding with a personal attack is incredibly rude and inappropriate. Please do not repeat such behavior.
Alternity is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Jan 3rd, 2010, 21:04:41   #4
Malaxia
Bureaucrat Prof. & CoT
 
Malaxia's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Note that a mobile version is being done using the same lib
__________________
RK1 - Malaxia - NM Bureaucrat (220/30/68) - Master of soloing
RK1 - Telbruk - Solitus Soldier (220/20/59) - Fake agent
RK1 - Telbewbs - Solitus Doctor (212/18) - Raiding assistant
RK1 - Telbot - Atrox Adventurer (59/4) - Lovechild raid bot
RK1 - Sumonia - NM Meta-Physicist (83/6) - Mochies totem and biomare killer.
RK1 - Coustaille - NM Engineer (51/0) - Totw Twink
RK2 - Altarah - Solitus Meta-Physicist (11/0) - Exploring RK2

President of Cosmic Forklift Inc. & Live Liaison of Council of Testers

Everything you need for your crat is here
Testlive fun : MMOATP and more! Join us!
Malaxia is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Jan 3rd, 2010, 21:16:22   #5
Entventurer
Hugs please
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Seems very nice.

Just a couple of personal things that i'd like to see:

/o <text> to talk to org - No idea if that's at all possible, but would be handy. (I use it all the time ingame ;p)

And slightly modified background colour of the program. When i join a bot I get white text which is quite hard to read. (And yellow text ;x)

And Itemref would rock ;p (When players link items >.>)
__________________
214/20 Adv - Entventurer
217+ Engi - Entity206
220/20 Doc - Entagain
220 Shade - Reali
Orgless & Stripped.
Awesome tradeskillers.

Last edited by Entventurer; Jan 3rd, 2010 at 21:19:13..
Entventurer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Jan 3rd, 2010, 22:55:26   #6
Entventurer
Hugs please
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
How on earth do I ignore OT OOC.

>.>
__________________
214/20 Adv - Entventurer
217+ Engi - Entity206
220/20 Doc - Entagain
220 Shade - Reali
Orgless & Stripped.
Awesome tradeskillers.
Entventurer is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Jan 3rd, 2010, 23:58:18   #7
Etheryal
Leet
 
Join Date: Nov 2008
Nice work so far. Looks great!

Some features/things I noticed:

1. Color/background color customization would be awesome. Some colors are really hard to see against the white background.

2. Can the offline buddy list not be expanded by default, and instead collapsed? People logging in will notice their right side menu spamming like crazy when they first open the program, while looks cools and all, but might eventually prove distracting, and overall just annoying after a while. On that note, maybe add [+] [-] collapse/expand tree buttons, to drive home the point that those menu's are expandable? (up to you)

3. When *I* log in, both my main window and my info window are always prefaced by the following:
-----------------
This program cannot display the webpage

Most likely causes:
You are not connected to the Internet.
The website is encountering problems.
There might be a typing error in the address.

What you can try:
Check your Internet connection. Try visiting another website to make sure you are connected.

Retype the address.

Go back to the previous page.

More information

-----------------
Before actually posting the actual data (be it a channel or w/e should be in the text window). My guess is that you are loading a web page in the info and main window in addition to displaying inc. chat from the server, but it seems like that connection is throwing an error?

4. When I was closing the program (thinking it would quit), it simply popped up the logon screen instead. I was hoping you could make the quit button (the X) an actual quit button, and maybe design disconnect/new connection buttons elsewhere on the screen. (Not a big deal in the long run, just a usability thing; no one like having to tell their programs to close...twice ).

Suggested new feature:

5. **Excellent** work on the ability to have *multiple* info windows up <3 vs AORC's single info window ability. Along those lines: Is it possible to have it so that tells could be double-clickable, and they would open up in their own chat window (the ability to have more than one info window is already there)? You could use the programming of the info window, and change the layout/style a bit. Having seperate windows available for tells would severely cut down on the crap-load of mistells I have when using AORC (from in-game, I'm used to only needing to switch channels [i almost always use the external/separate tell window when talking to multiple ppl/long convos, or /r for one person ftw] so aorc just kills meh ). No big deal though -- just a thought.

Hmm, and if you need help: lemme know. I do vb.net and some visual c/c++ as well.

Other than that: again, great work so far!
Etheryal is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Jan 4th, 2010, 13:17:40   #8
Vhab
Yarr
 
Vhab's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
I'll probably be very busy the next 3-4 weeks, so I'll have to queue the larger features until after that.

For now, I had an hour to kill so I made some minor improvements and called it RC3:
- Fixed a possible race error (threading related)
- Changed the method of pre-loading the html template, should be faster and less error prone (should fix errors for some too I hope)
- Added addbuddy/rembuddy support
- Added support for /o to talk to the org channel
- Enabled the +/- buttons on the right panel
- Keep offline section in right panel collapsed by default

Download link updated in main post.

As for people wishing to help out.
Feel free to grab a copy of the code from SVN and see what you can change/improve.
I'll accepted patches (preferably generated with tortoisesvn) and stuff it into the main release.
Only thing I really ask is for features to be clean and complete (handles faulty input and idiot users).
__________________
Vha.Chat
Standalone Anarchy Online chat client

[ #coders @ irc.funcom.com ]

Last edited by Vhab; Jan 4th, 2010 at 13:58:44..
Vhab is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Jan 4th, 2010, 19:58:29   #9
octopuss
Supa Leet
 
octopuss's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2002
Nice.
When will we see you ingame again? :P
__________________
"Many philosophical problems are caused by such things as the simple inability to shut up."
I am Luciesa - Octowuss - Ssupotco

still addicted since 2001-07-03 11:55:38
octopuss is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Jan 11th, 2010, 23:55:01   #10
Docine
Nonih and Noonkeep
 
Docine's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2002
gj mate, mac version plx?!
__________________
22023 Docine Eternalist
22023 aAnon Soldier
22030 Nonih Crat
219 ? 19 Nonstopp Shade
220 ? 30 Noonkeep Keppur

›»» People use the freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought they barely use.
Docine is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Jan 12th, 2010, 20:06:12   #11
Vhab
Yarr
 
Vhab's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Quote:
Originally Posted by Docine View Post
gj mate, mac version plx?!
I've got a test setup on Linux atm and will work out mono compatibility (there are a few issues to work out still).
This should cover mac too I think.

In total I have quite a few things I still want to do, but it'll be a few weeks till I have time again.
Stay tuned
__________________
Vha.Chat
Standalone Anarchy Online chat client

[ #coders @ irc.funcom.com ]
Vhab is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Jan 23rd, 2010, 20:42:51   #12
Vhab
Yarr
 
Vhab's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Had a few hours to kill, I bring you a new release:

- Beefed up the graphics in VhaBot.Chat a bit, a new top bar has been added and the forms have been given icons.
- Added support for itemref:// through Auno.org (will switch to Xyphos.com when the new version goes live )
- Changed closing/disconnect behavior to be more intuitive

Attempted to support Linux through mono, however it seems the implementation of their WebBrowser control is severely lacking and bugged.
I also attempted to run it through wine, but wasn't too successful either.
On the long term I do intend to get rid of displaying content using WebBrowser, but for now this is the most convenient and easiest implementation.
Don't except Linux/Mac compatibility soon.
__________________
Vha.Chat
Standalone Anarchy Online chat client

[ #coders @ irc.funcom.com ]

Last edited by Vhab; Jan 23rd, 2010 at 20:49:31..
Vhab is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Jan 25th, 2010, 17:58:56   #13
Vhab
Yarr
 
Vhab's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Version 1.0 up!

- Name changed to Vha.Chat to prevent confusion with VhaBot
- Added many pretty icons
- Added mute/unmute support for channels
- Added context menu's to the right panel as shortcuts to /commands
- Ordered the character selection list
- Added a small notice when a character is already online in the selection list
- Fixed a bug related to text window extraction
__________________
Vha.Chat
Standalone Anarchy Online chat client

[ #coders @ irc.funcom.com ]
Vhab is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Jan 27th, 2010, 18:18:20   #14
Vhab
Yarr
 
Vhab's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Ooh dear, versions flying out of the door!

Version 1.1 up!

- Fixed a rather exponential memory leak
- Sorted characters list and right panel contents alphabetically
- Added input history (defaults to 25 last used commands/messages)
- Added encoded text support (tower channels will no longer display gibberish)
__________________
Vha.Chat
Standalone Anarchy Online chat client

[ #coders @ irc.funcom.com ]
Vhab is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Jan 27th, 2010, 19:25:28   #15
Mekh
Doctor Professional
 
Mekh's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2005
Just tried it out... Nice one


Request:
Custom colors, please... Yellow on white background for example is pretty much impossible to see
__________________
Mekhkeeper 220/22/70 Equip ~ Mekhdoc 220/24/70 Equip ~ Roflmao 220/15/50
Fixyaself 167/15/41 Equip ~ Shadesch 219/16/66 Equip ~ Drainier 60/6/xx Equip
RK1 - Veteran Months: 60

Quote:
Originally Posted by Stick View Post
what? you mean there are not enough pvp-ers in this game to get the BS running? that's impossible. shocking. it cannot be. then how come every freakin balance/LE mish/VP idea is shot down by a pvp-er because he says the majority of the players are pvp?
you are probably mistaking. go do those numbers again.
Mekh is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Jan 31st, 2010, 14:34:59   #16
octopuss
Supa Leet
 
octopuss's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2002
After I ran the chat client for first time, channels reported as muted (and I do have them muted ingame) still showed people talking... Not sure what is causing it.
Is it possible to add some options like being able to remember dimension and char to log in? Also I am used to having friendlist on the left side of the screen, being able to move it would rock!
__________________
"Many philosophical problems are caused by such things as the simple inability to shut up."
I am Luciesa - Octowuss - Ssupotco

still addicted since 2001-07-03 11:55:38
octopuss is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Feb 1st, 2010, 14:30:34   #17
Alternity
PvP addict
 
Alternity's Avatar
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Need some support for custom colors, either via gui or other means. As it is it hurts the eyes to use :x
__________________
President of Spartans.. omg

Darkempire 220/30/70 Agent

{edited by Anarrina: see me if you have questions}

When specifically asked for positive words, responding with a personal attack is incredibly rude and inappropriate. Please do not repeat such behavior.
Alternity is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Feb 2nd, 2010, 21:54:28   #18
Vhab
Yarr
 
Vhab's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
Changing colors is on the roadmap, but will need some fundamental changes first.
Incidentally, the main post has been updated with a roadmap.
I probably forgot a few things, but it does show where my focus will be going first for the next few weeks.
__________________
Vha.Chat
Standalone Anarchy Online chat client

[ #coders @ irc.funcom.com ]
Vhab is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Feb 3rd, 2010, 07:54:05   #19
octopuss
Supa Leet
 
octopuss's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2002
thumbs up
__________________
"Many philosophical problems are caused by such things as the simple inability to shut up."
I am Luciesa - Octowuss - Ssupotco

still addicted since 2001-07-03 11:55:38
octopuss is offline   Reply With Quote
Old Feb 3rd, 2010, 10:45:55   #20
Vhab
Yarr
 
Vhab's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2004
A minor release today, 1.1.1
- Gave a few dropdown menus a more sensible default value than empty
- Fixed an input history related bug
- Added guests section to the right panel which displays all characters in your private channel
- Added an invite button to directly invite people to your private channel from your friends list

Quote:
Originally Posted by octopuss View Post
thumbs up
thank you

Quote:
Originally Posted by octopuss View Post
After I ran the chat client for first time, channels reported as muted (and I do have them muted ingame) still showed people talking... Not sure what is causing it.
Is it possible to add some options like being able to remember dimension and char to log in? Also I am used to having friendlist on the left side of the screen, being able to move it would rock!
I'll have to take a look at that bug. Could be the server no longer does server-side muting and I'll have to do it client side.
Will have to do some investigation.

The other requests are on the roadmap \o/
__________________
Vha.Chat
Standalone Anarchy Online chat client

[ #coders @ irc.funcom.com ]

Last edited by Vhab; Feb 3rd, 2010 at 11:11:07..
Vhab is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 15:23:06.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.2
Copyright ©2000 - 2010, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright © Funcom 1999 - 2006