Gus What?!

A number of you are trying out the recently released AIM SDK 1.6.7. I thought it would be a good idea to answer some of the early questions. So here they are in my usual Q&A style…

Q: What SDK files do I need to run an Open AIM client or bot?
A: You need to copy some of the DLL files from the dist\release folder into your application’s folder. You can omit the jg*.dll files if you don’t need to support talk (aka voice) sessions with legacy AIM clients like AOL 9.x and AIM 5.9. You can also omit the sipxtapi.dll if you don’t need to support the newer SIP based Audio/Video sessions in AIM 6.x. You only need the accjwrap.dll and the accjwrap.jar files if your bot or client is written in Java. All other DLLs are required.

Q: What are all these new DLLs for?
A: We added support for SSL based encryption to Open AIM clients, which is based on NSS and NSPR from Mozilla. We also updated the audio/video stacks for full multimedia support in Open AIM.

Q: How do I enable SSL based encryption in my bot or client?
A: You can enable this via the boolean preference named “aimcc.connect.secure”. The default is false.

Q: What does SSL based encryption protect?
A: This encrypts all regular IM traffic between the client and the AIM host. It will not encrypt direct IMs, picture sharing sessions, A/V sessions, file transfers, buddy art retrievals and uploads, or alerts. Note: for end to end security your buddy also needs to be running a client that uses SSL encryption, like AIM 6.5.9.1.

If I did not answer your question, feel free to ask in a comment or post it in one of the forums.

Hello again. I am back. Today I am starting a new series of posts on Open AIM. For this first post, I will start by introducing a handy little function similar to the one I wrote for my plug-ins that makes it easy to register commands that your plug-in will handle.

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// The following code is public domain. Written by Gus Verdun
static void RegisterPluginCommand(IAccPluginInfo * pluginInfo, 
                                               int id, UINT flags, 
                                               LPCWSTR pCommand)
{
    CComPtr <IAccCommand> spCommand;
    pluginInfo->AddCommand(id, &spCommand);
    if (spCommand)
    {
        CComBSTR str(pCommand);
        put_Text(spCommand, str);
        put_Flags(spCommand, (AccCommandFlags)flags);
    }
}

I normally call this function from the IAccPlugin::Init method, but you can call it at any time you want to add a command. The first parameter is the IAccPluginInfo interface pointer that is passed to you on the Init() call. The second parameter is the command identifier that is assigned by you and handled in your plugin’s IAccCommandTarget methods. The third parameter, flags, are the AccCommandFlags that let you indicate where you want this command to appear in the UI. Finally, the fourth parameter is the actual text that will be displayed in the client’s UI.

Here is a simple example to define a command that will show only in the plug-in settings page.

RegisterPluginCommand(pPluginInfo, -1, 
     AccCommandFlags_PreferencesUi, 
     OLESTR("Settings...") );

For localization purposes, you can easily change this function to load the command string from a resource. I will leave that as an exercise for you to try.

Hope this helps. Comments? Questions?

I have seen a number of questions come up in searches to my blog. Here are a few answers. Unless noted, these apply to AIM 6.x, including AIM Triton.

Q: How do I get the black theme to work in the AIM 6.5 Beta?
A: We have integrated the black them and you no longer have to modify any files to get it. Just click on the beach ball icon at the right of the menu bar in the Buddy List and select it.

Q: How can I transfer (or export or copy or move or send) my buddy list from one screen name to another?
A: You need to install the AIM Buddy Options plugin. See the posts on this subject at the AIM Buddy Blog and on tek. You can get the Buddy List Options plugin here. This plug works on all versions of AIM Triton, AIM 6.0, 6.1 and 6.5. [Update: I covered this before in my previous AIM 6.0 Q&A Volume VI post but this post has the latest links.]

Q: Why do my AIM buddies disappear when they go away?
A: Go to the View menu of the Buddy List. This menu is all about what and how you “see” things. Make sure the “Away/Idle Buddies” option is checked.

Q: Why is my buddy list alphabetical?
A: Go to the View menu of the Buddy List. Open the “Sort Buddy List By” Submenu and make the appropriate selection in there.

Q: How to go invisible before you sign on?
A: See my IM Tweaks plugin. It has several features on this.

Q: How to make yourself idle on AIM?
A: See my RX-plugin. Checkout the Idle Lock feature.

Q: Why does AIM not go idle?
A: Go to the Settings window in AIM (Press F7 from the Buddy List.) Select the Privacy Tab. Make sure the “I am idle” is checked in the “Allow other to see:” Section at the bottom.

How do I load, save, import, or export my buddy list in AIM 6.0?

I posted on this before, here, but this one deserves its own post due to the volume of requests. AIM 6.0 does not have this functionality built-in. You have to install the buddy list operations plug-in to get it. This plug-in is part of the AIM Gadgets collection of plug-ins.

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I thought I’d answer a few “quickies” that I often see in the search queries used to access this blog in one form or another. If you have a question about AIM 6.0, just ask. You can leave a comment with your question and I will do my best to answer them.

Q: Can AIM 6.0 let me send messages while away?
A: YES. Make sure you check the “Allow me to send IMs while away” option in the Away Status tab of the IM window.

Q: How do I check offline IMs?
A: Offline IMs are delivered every time you sign-on from any AIM client.

Q: Where are offline stored?
A: They are stored on the host. You can send up to 40 of them per 24 hours and the host will save up to 40 of them per SN for as long as two weeks. Your buddy must have you in their buddy list in order to save offline IMs from you.

Q: How to import AIM 5.x settings into AIM 6.0
A: This is done for you when you install AIM 6.0 for the first time.

This volume covers some of the more common settings related questions derived from the search data to my blog. Be sure to read the comments on these posts, since they may contain more answers to some of your questions.

Q: How do I find the settings for something?
A: Open the Settings window, Press F7 from the Buddy List. You should see a search edit box at the top right of this window. Type in the name of option you are looking for in there. This will filter the Settings window to show only tabs that contain the word you are looking for. In some cases, the word will be highlighted where it is found as you click on the visible tabs. If you don’t see an option try a different name for it. Click on the red circle with a white dash in it to clear your search filter.

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Many people have been having problems with issues on how buddies are shown in the Buddy List. Rather than answering them in a Q&A format, I thought it would be better to cover the Buddy List View menu in more detail.

The Buddy List View menu looks like this:

After the jump you will see an item by item description along with some tips and recommendations.

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In this post I will cover some the icons in the Buddy List window and what happened to the IM Catcher in AIM 6.0. I derived these questions from some of the search queries people used to get to my blog in the past.

Q: What is the exclamation point icon on buddy list in AIM 6.0?
A: This icon, a circled i or upside-down exclamation point: , appears when you hover over a buddy. You can click on it to view the buddy’s profile and “Buddy Updates” information. The icon will appear automatically whenever your buddy has made a change to his/her profile, made a new journal post, change to AIM Pages, or changed any other RSS feed that your buddy has associated with his/her screen name since the last time you read it. Clicking on the icon will let you view the changes and make the icon go away when not hovering over your buddy.

Q: What does a red sign mean next to a name on the buddy list?
A: This icon () means that you have blocked this buddy. That buddy cannot see if you are online or send you IMs. Go to the Settings window [F7], then select the “Privacy” tab to make changes.

Q: Where is the IM Catcher in AIM 6.0?
A: This feature was improved in AIM 6.0. Rather than having a separate window that showed all the caught messages, this was combined with the Grouped IM window. When you go away, the Grouped IM window opens and shows the yellow “Away Status” tab on the top right. The IMs received will be grouped and you can see the names of the buddies that have sent you IMs while you were away in the tabs on the left. You can click on those tabs to see their IMs without having to return from away. The “Away Status” tab has some useful options that you can invoke after you set your away message. There you can set the options to let you send IMs while you are away and to suppress sounds and pop-ups while away. You can also click on the “Hide IMs” button to hide all your IM windows. Double-click on the system tray icon to show the buddy list and hidden IMs when you return. You can clear your away message from the “Away Status” tab by clicking on the “Return From Away” button. IMs from unknown senders will appear with a prompt window over them warning you that they are from an unknown sender and letting choose the appropriate course of action.

I will answer more questions in future posts. E-mail me or add your own question in the comments and I will answer those as well.

I was looking at some of the search terms used to reach my blog the other day. Most searches involve “plugins” in one way or another which I have covered in many posts. However, there are a bunch of them from people looking for answers on AIM. Today, I thought it would be interesting to answer some of the questions that may not have been answered specifically on my blog. Here are a few of them:

Q: What happened to AIM Triton?
A: The simple answer is that AIM Triton is now AIM 6.0. AIM 6.0 was built from AIM Triton. It is designed to be faster, easier to use, more stable, and has a number of new features like: Sending IMs to offline buddies, IM logging, hide IMs while away, etc. You can get AIM 6.0 here. Note: AIM 6.0 will import your settings from AIM 5.x at install time while AIM Triton does not. The future is with AIM 6.x.

Q: How do I create an AIM 6.0 or Triton launch shortcut?
A: I have updated my IM Control Panel software to let you re-create these at the push of a button. It also does a few more things. You can read more about this tool here and download it here.

Q: How can I change the AIM 6.0 install directory?
A: You cannot change this at this time. It is fixed at “C:\Program Files\AIM6”.

Q: How to import buddies on AIM 6.0?
A: I suggest you install the AIM Gadgets plug-in and use the “Buddy List Load” and “Buddy List Save” options from the “Actions” button in the Buddy List window.

I will answer more questions in future posts. E-mail me or add your own question in the comments and I will answer those as well.