I've put together a small standalone driver for MSNClient.bcpx. It's not nearly complete, and there's no GUI setup (you'll have to use regedit), but it's usuable to chat through.

Known issues: Lots of the menus aren't implemented for the contacts window. Popup menus for the contact list aren't done yet. Sometimes everybody on your contacts list appears offline -- I think that I've fixed this, but post back if you see this happen to you... reconnecting or restarting appears to fix this if it does happen.

This program requires the Visual C++ 7.0 runtime libraries.

Okay, I've updated a whole lot of things. You can now change your online status from the GUI (via the Contacts menu), and if you have "Offline" selected, the program will stay disconnected. The "Offline" state is only "remembered" if it is manually set, not if you get disconnected by the server. The View > View List menu will show the active list being displayed, though you cannot change this yet.

The tooltips now work properly when you scroll the listbox. Chat windows will now flash (once, not endlessly as in the official client) if a message is displayed and they are not the active window. Issues with contacts display when disconnected have been resolved. Your current status should no longer (rarely) disappear from the first contacts listbox item.

Notice to moderators: Please leave my thread alone. I don't want it in the bot development forums, because it pertains to a specific program, and not bot development in general.

The latest update includes support for using enter as a keyboard shortcut to open a conversation to the currently selected contacts listbox user. Additionally, the popup menu for the selfinfo contacts item is functional, and the tooltip activation rectangles no longer extend far beyond the end of a contacts listbox item.

I moved to MSN bot development. And this is what this post relates to.

I just think you want this post here so more people will notice since you dont have many folks posting or care about the MSN bot development. :(

Sky, tell me when your client is better than the one made by MS then i'll use it, thanks.

Keep up the good work. ;)

Microsofts:
* It was made by microsoft -100000
This one:
* It can be used over telnet +2
* It was made by skywing +100000


Final score, -100000 to 100002. Skywing's wins by 200002, kthanks

Blah, everyone should just use Trillian. No flames.




:)

One of the things I dislike about MSNM or YMSG is the contact list is less accessible when you are not connected. You should be allowed to see your own contact list w/o having to log on the server. For instance, if you want to get an email address or telephone number off of a particular contact, without having to go through buried menu options to find it.

I don't like having a stricly limited message size, makes it a lot harder to send code which is something I end up doing a lot :)

Try using Direct connect for aim. I wasn't able to send large amounts of text(code) in normal mode, but once i direct connected, there was more than enough space.

[quote author=Grok link=board=2;threadid=832;start=0#msg6755 date=1049120522]
One of the things I dislike about MSNM or YMSG is the contact list is less accessible when you are not connected. You should be allowed to see your own contact list w/o having to log on the server. For instance, if you want to get an email address or telephone number off of a particular contact, without having to go through buried menu options to find it.
[/quote]

As far as I've seen, you can't access it at all while offline in MSN?

[quote author=Adron link=board=2;threadid=832;start=0#msg6765 date=1049134909]
As far as I've seen, you can't access it at all while offline in MSN?
[/quote]

I didn't think so, but didn't want to look stupid by not knowing about some hidden menu option that allows you to see them.

[quote author=Grok link=board=2;threadid=832;start=0#msg6755 date=1049120522]
One of the things I dislike about MSNM or YMSG is the contact list is less accessible when you are not connected. You should be allowed to see your own contact list w/o having to log on the server. For instance, if you want to get an email address or telephone number off of a particular contact, without having to go through buried menu options to find it.
[/quote]Right now MSNClient doesn't save your lists locally -- when I add that, you'll be able to view your contacts (and the other three lists) while offline.

The protocol limits the amount of data in a message to 1664 bytes - however, the actual limit is slightly less because this length includes the message header.

I'm planning on making MSNClient automatically split large amounts of text between messages.

[quote author=Skywing link=board=2;threadid=832;start=0#msg6769 date=1049139231]
I'm planning on making MSNClient automatically split large amounts of text between messages.
[/quote]

THAT would be a nice feature.

New version released - changes:
Fixed a bug which caused the userlist to be obscured when a user in a conversation was renamed.
Added support for adding/removing users from the contact, allow, and block lists.
Added support for deleting a user from the active list by using the delete key.

Posted a new version. What's new:

- Fixed issue which caused enter to not properly open a chat window with a user selected on contacts.
- Added support for automatically splitting messages. You can send up to 48KB (yes, kilobytes) "at once" (this is the approximately maximum which the server will allow you to send within a short period of time without kicking you), split into messages of about 1600 bytes each. Compare this to the official client's and Trillian's approximately 400 byte limit on outbound messages.

Posted a new version with some minor changes:

Added a second, high-resolution set of contact icons to be used when the screen resolution is at 16bpp or higher.

The contacts window will now automatically move itself to the top-right screen edge when the resolution changes.

On a related note, fixed an issue in the telnet server plugin which caused the focus to be incorrectly changed when opening an MSN session (the focus should have only been changed if it was not previously set).

This update fixes some crashing issues and adds a new userinterface element:

- Fixed an issue which could cause the program to refuse to connect or to crash.
- Added popup notification windows. While enabled by default, they can be disabled via the View menu in the Contacts window.
- Chat windows belonging to sessions initiated by other users will be initially minimized, and won't take the focus.

Several new things added with this update.

- Fixed an issue where the plugin wouldn't automatically reconnect to the server properly under certain circumstances.
- Changed when status changes are stored in the settings area. Previously, status changes were only saved to settings when the server confirmed the change, but they are now recorded as soon as you request the status change. Note that your status will still be (both locally and remotely) displayed as what the server has you set to at any given moment; this only changes when status updates are saved to disk.
- If your status is set to Online, the program will automatically set your status to Idle if you haven't interacted with it in 5 minutes. This does not replace your preferred status. When you next interact with the program, it will change your status back to Online.
- If your status is set to Online and you switch to a fullscreen window, the program will automatically set your status to Busy. When you switch to a non-fullscreen window, the program will restore your previous status. Once again, this does not replace your preferred status.
- Notification windows will not be displayed if you are working with a fullscreen window.

Major update! New in this version:

- Fixed an issue where windows would not be reused properly if their connected sessions were active.
- Fixed an issue where minimized windows with activated system menus would be mistakenly identified as fullscreen.
- Improved the accuracy of the idle detection code. Fixed an issue where it would tend to go off right away if you didn't interact with the program in the first few seconds.
- Notification windows no longer take the focus when popping up.
- Added status bar to the list display window. A summary of your status will be accessible from any list mode via the status bar.
- The plugin now remembers it's "Always on Top" state, and you can set it's server via the registry (messenger.hotmail.com, the default, will redirect you to a new server each time you connect).
- Added extensive UTF-8 (Unicode) support for chatting when using Windows NT. This means that you can now properly send and receive messages containing characters from virtually any language. When using Windows 9x, international character sets are partially - but not fully - supported; you may see some inconsistancies from time to time.

This release adds support for chat logging. You can enable/disable this via the new Settings menu...

Logs are stored in a subdirectory named 'Logs'. Each user's logs are stored in a subdirectory under this directory named after their passport e-mail address, with the log files themselves named mmddyyyy.log. For example, example@valhallalegends.com's logs for 04/13/2003 would be in: Logs\example@valhallalegends.com\04132003.log. Log filenames are automatically switched when the date changes.

Additionally, this version introduces a new system for negotiating client capabilities with other clients. In the future, this will be used to determine if other clients support extended features such as encrypted chat.

Major update!

- All the lists are now accessible from the View > View List menu.
- Blocked users now have a blocked icon for the Contacts List and Block List views.
- Added two new settings to View > Notify Windows: Allow in full-screen mode determines whether the program will generate popup notifiy windows when you're working with a fullscreen program, and System messages determnies whether the program will generate popup notify windows for messages from the MSN server (typically, "The server is going down in 10 minutes." type things).
- You can start a conversation with a user while in a view besides the Contacts List by double clicking the user or selecting them and hitting enter. Exceptions: You can't start a conversation with a user on the block list this way.
- You can delete a user from the list you are currently viewing by selecting them and using the delete key. Exceptions: You can't delete a user from the 'People Who Have Added Me' list.
- Added typing notification and last message received date support to the chat windows. The client will both display typing notifications from other users (and unlike in some clients, it doesn't allow them to be spoofed), and will notify other clients of your typing a message.
- Fixed issues with the cllient capabilities negotiation. Additionally, you can now view what information the program knows about other users in a conversation; use File > Client Informaton in a chat window. Note that the official MSN client doesn't report any information; my client does, as well as gaim and a number of other third party clients (Trillian is not one of these).
- Reduced the border thickness for the chat window.
- A message will now be displayed in the chat window when the log file is changed (such as when you pass midnight).
- The logfile will be automatically switched if the person under whose name the log is going to leaves the conversation.
- The program will automatically decline invitations which it doesn't support. Currently, this is everything; however, file transfer support is coming very soon!
- The status bar for the contacts window will now display a message if the program is in the progress of logging on.
- Fixed an issue where multiline messages would be truncated at the rate of one character per line.

Edit: Relatively minor service release:
- Fixed Windows 98 compatibility.
- Fixed link clicking.
- Added display of system message notifications if the program couldn't logon.

[u]Changes:[/u]

- Added right-click menus for contacts in all four views.
- Added support for setting privacy options. (Note: The program currently does not display a message when somebody adds you to their list (nor does it add them to your allow list). This will be added in a future release.
- Added notifications of users placing you on their contacts list.
- The program will now leave a conversation if the only remaining users are blocked.
- An error message is displayed to the chat window if an attempt to invite a user was rejected by the server (for example, if you attempted to invite a blocked user).
- Added support for phone number tracking; you can view phone numbers by using the right click menu on a contact and selecting "Properties".
- Added full support for paging mobile devices. You can send a message to somebody's mobile device if they've enabled this via the right click menu.
- Added support for displaying error messages when a page could not be delivered (if you have system message notifications enabled).
- Added notifications providing information as to why the server has signed you out in these cases, if system messages are enabled: server shutdown and signed out due to a duplicate logon.
- The program will no longer automatically reconnect if it's signed out due a duplicate logon. This is so that you can use your MSN sign-in name from a different computer without getting kicked off every 20 seconds if you left MSNClient running...

Also, the standalone driver has been updated: If you specify the -hidden command-line switch, the program will not display the Copy/Exit registry information window.

[u]New in this version:[/u]
- Fixed several issues with the activation rectangle calculation for all list modes. Both item selection and tooltips should use the correct bounds now.
- Improved spacing of the user properties window.
- Added better Unicode support to numerous portions of the program, including friendly (display) name handling, and the contacts window. When running under Win9x, however, display names are converted to ANSI characters using the current code page. This means that Unicode characters that can't be translated using the current locale settings may not display properly.

Known issues: Typing notifications don't properly show the name when one person is typing. This will be fixed in the next version.

Dude, how does this whole thread not belong in the "MSN Client/Bot Development" forum?!

I wish you would allow me to move it there. :(

[quote author=Invert link=board=2;threadid=832;start=15#msg8385 date=1051168430]
Dude, how does this whole thread not belong in the "MSN Client/Bot Development" forum?!

I wish you would allow me to move it there. :(

[/quote]The MSN Client/Bot development forum is for issues relating to the protocol, not to specific clients. To my knowledge, the same goes for all of the other bot/client development forums here.

[u]Anyways, I've updated the program again:[/u]

- Fixed several issues causing users with native Unicode (e.g. WinNT, Win2K, WinXP) support being unable to properly invite users to a conversation.
- Fixed typing notifications to properly display a user's name when only one user was typing.
- Added HTTP proxy support. Note that, like the official MSN client, my client does not use a standard HTTP proxy. However, Microsoft runs a public MSN-compatible HTTP proxy at gateway.messenger.hotmail.com. To select this with MSNClient, simply edit the registry string "Proxy Server" and set it to "gateway.messenger.hotmail.com". Note that using the HTTP proxy will probably noticibly reduce performance and increase bandwidth usage.

Skywing is correct. He is not discussing the MSN protocol, he is announcing one of his products, its features and upgrades. Try to see more forest, less trees.

I was just trying to clean up the forest. Maybe the forum should be renamed. Skywings post is all about MSN Client Development.

How about renaming "MSN Client/Bot Development" forum to "MSN Protocol Development"?

[quote author=Invert link=board=2;threadid=832;start=15#msg8427 date=1051215435]Maybe the forum should be renamed. Skywings post is all about MSN Client Development.[/quote]Skywing's post is about his own client, not MSN Client Development in general, and as far as I can read (with the exception of a few complaints/notes about the protocol and the official client) his posts are not about MSN's protocol.

Though, it is indeed odd to have a specific client's development thread of a "General Discussion" forum. If Skywing doesn't want it moved to the generic MSN Client Development thread, perhaps it could be moved instead to a thread specifically for himself or his client (similar to Grok's forum, CupHead's forum, and etc).

This could be related to (as an example) CupHead doing his "By-the-consumer Bot" in his own forum (both the brainstorming thread and the status thread) instead of the in Battle.net Bot Development forum.

Uhhh ... what? This is a general forum and from the topics these look pretty general. Are you two suggesting these each have their own forums? What, is there not enough to do out in the real world that you want to overmoderate this forum?

MSNClient
Some Windows XP tips
Yo Skywing
ZeroBot
Photoshop question
Netdevil
Some more american propaganda dispelled
Spelling 101
Your website was stolen o.O
Operating Systems R Us
The ultimate Denial Of Service Attack
Funny Clips From Clan [vL]
" Run-time error '7': Out of memory "
riddle
Haiku Contest!
An error occured while reading the channel list.
Starcraft key switcher
Battle.Net Channel Ideas

[u]Changes:[/u]

- Added support for all MSN protocols to date. This includes the latest version, which uses Passport tickets to authenticate. By default, the program will auto-negotiate and use the highest protocol version supported by the server; however, you can set the highest protocol version it will use by setting the "Logon Protocol" registry string. Valid values are MSNP2 through MSNP8. Various features may not be available when using older protocol versions. For instance, you may not be able to send a message to a mobile device when using a protocol earlier than MSNP5, and (when support is added for them) groups will only be functional on MSNP7 or later. MSNP8 offers new NAT compatibility features which will be taken advantage of in future versions to better support file transfers between users who do not have a direct connection.

- Added support for displaying exactly why a logon failed when using MSNP8. For instance, if you try and connect using an e-mail address that does not have a passport, you might see a message like "The e-mail address you provided is not a valid .NET Passport. Please try again or register for a .NET Passport.". These notifications are not displayed if you have turned off system message notifications.

- Fixed an issue with the popup notification windows causing them to not properly wrap text between lines under some circumstances.

- Corrected a few other minor spacing issues with some of the popup notification messages.

- Fixed an issue where pings would not be sent properly. Now, the client will send a message to the server every 30 seconds, which should help prevent idle timeouts with some firewalls and NATs.

- Numerous other internal changes paving the way for file transfer and group support.

- Minor bugfix: addressed an issue causing display names to have 0s appended to them.

[u]New in this verison:[/u]

- Full file transfer support (finally). Additionally, when working with contacts using MSN 5, Windows Messenger, MSNClient, or certain other third-party clients, MSNClient will use an enhanced, more NAT-compatible file transfer mode that should improve the odds of being able to transfer files from behind a restrictive NAT or firewall.

- Fixed an issue that prevented MSNClient from signing in to Hotmail accounts when using MSNP8.

- Fixed an issue which caused the popup notification window links to not do anything when clicked on Windows 95/98/Me.

- Fixed a minor memory leak related to the popup notification windows.

[u]New in this version:[/u]

- Fixed an issue causing the program to stop trying to reconnect to MSN until you restarted it.
- Fixed an issue causing contacts to not be recognized on any list if they weren't on your forward list when using MSNP8.
- Fixed internal group tracking when using MSNP8 (note that groups are still not visible to the end user yet).
- Fixed an issue causing the program to not recognize changes to some privacy options stored server-side until the next logon when using MSNP8.
- Fixed an issue preventing the status bar and status menuitem for the main contacts window from being properly updated when a view besides 'Contacts' was selected.
- Added tracking for the last 10 chat messages in switchboard sessions. If a message couldn't be delivered, you'll be notified.
- Added tracking for the last 10 invitations in switchboard sessions, and notifications for undeliverable invitations.
- Added an option to start an IM conversation with a user not on your contacts list (Contacts > Send an Instant Message...).
- Added an option to modify which lists a user is in to the user properties window.
- Added notifications for switchboard (chat) sessions being closed due to inactivity.
- The program will now notify you if a user adds you to your contact list. The program will now automatically add users to your allow (but not contacts) list when they add you if you have enabled this.
- Improved native Unicode support in several areas of the program.

It's been awhile since the last update, but the project is far from dead.

[u]New in this version:[/u]
- Fixed several issues that could cause the client to crash.
- Fixed an issue that could cause the client to disconnect immediately on connect.
- Fixed an issue with decoding certain friendly names.
- Fixed a longstanding issue that prevented the client from noticing that somebody had added (or removed) you from his/her contacts until your next reconnect.
- User data is now stored in HKEY_CURRENT_USER instead of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE if the client is not running as a service. You may need to re-enter your configuration information because of this.

[u]Known issues:[/u]
- Some friendly names show up as blocks in the contacts list, even when you are using a Unicode-enabled operating system. This appears to be a limitation in DrawTextW; if anyone has a solution for this problem, I'd like to hear from you.
- File transfer handling still seems to have a few problems. If it crashes on you, it'd be most helpful if you could post or send me a stack trace.
- MSNP9 support needs to be updated with the most recent challenge values.
- You can't (yet) change where logfiles are kept. Hopefully, this will be addressed in the next release.

[u]Other related news:[/u]
- MSNP2 through MSNP7 are now disabled and cannot be used on official Microsoft MSN Messenger servers. While MSNClient still handles these protocols, you will not be able to use them successfully except on third-party servers. There is nothing that I can change in the program to work around this.
- Fixed download link for hypothetic.org.
- MSNMessenger.dll updated for MSNP8, various bugs fixed.

The MSNMessenger.dll ISAPI application has now been released.

You can get it here. A basic readme is included.

A new version of MSNMessenger.dll has been released that fixes the .say command.

Expect more updates of MSNClient and MSNMessenger.dll in the near future!

This update adds a great deal of new functionality and fixes many bugs.

[u]New in this version:[/u]
- Text output is much faster. Scroll and selection positions are now properly preserved. The new behavior is to automatically scroll down as new text is added to the chat window if the scroll bar is positioned at the bottom. Additionally, the behavior regarding saving the selection / caret position has changed. The selection will be preserved if the caret is not positioned at the end of the chat window; otherwise, it will be moved down as new text is added.
- Added preliminary IPv6 support for all connections.
- The client now resolves hostnames asynchronously. This means that a DNS resolution request that is taking a long time to complete will no longer make the user interface appear unresponsive.
- No user interface elements block network activity. Support for modeless menus currently causes some unexpected behavior sometimes due to a bug in Windows; if you find this to be unacceptable, modal menus can be reenabled by setting the REG_DWORD Modeless Menus to 1 in Software\Valhalla's Legends\Skywing\BinaryChat\Global Settings\User Interface. Modeless menus are only supported on Windows NT 4.0/Windows 98 or later.
- Registry accesses are now based from HKEY_CURRENT_USER if the client is not running as a service. As a result, you may need to re-enter some configuration information when upgrading from a previous client version.
- The caret is now properly positioned to the end of the passport text field in the modify contacts window if a passport was automatically filled in (which would be the case if you went to a contact's property pages and modified their list settings).
- Added a notification area ("tray") icon. On Windows 2000 and later, a 256 color icon will be used; otherwise, a 16-color icon will be used.
- There is a context menu associated with the notification area icon that can be used to show the contacts window if you hide it by clicking the close button.
- Attempting to view the properties of a user that is not on your contacts list will now bring up the edit contacts window.
- Added a menu option to the File menu of the chat window that gives easy access to the received files directory.
- Added a logon configuration window to the client; this is accessible from the Settings menu in the contacts window. The logon configuration window will automatically be displayed if you have not yet entered in all information required to connect (for instance, if this is the first time you have run MSNClient).
- Added support for playing user-defined sounds when certain events occur. These are disabled by default, but can be configured through the Settings menu in the contacts window.
- Added an option for disabling sounds except for when you are working with a fullscreen program.
- Added support for paging users with MSNP9. Additionally, support for including international text in pages has been greatly improved.
- Added preliminary support for paging MSN Direct watches. This has not been tested.
- Added preliminary support for configuring whether or not pages can be sent to your MSN Direct watch. This has not been tested, and appears to only work properly if you have setup an MSN Direct watch with your account at http://mobile.msn.com.
- Added support for receiving messages from mobile devices.
- Existing chat and file transfer connections will now be retained when reconnecting to the main MSN Messenger server.
- Pages are now logged if the client's logging settings permit it.
- Added support for receiving MSN Alerts. This also includes support for receiving MSN Calendar notifications if you have signed up for a subscription service that includes MSN Calendar. Alerts will be logged if the client's logging setttings permit it.
- Files can now be dragged and dropped to an open chat window with less than two participants to initiate a file transfer session. Note that more than one file can be dragged and dropped at a time in this fashion.

- Fixed several issues that could cause the client to crash when shutting down.
- Fixed an issue with changing the client's logging settings.
- Fixed an issue that prevented the System messages menuitem in the contact window's View > Notify Windows menu from working properly.
- Fixed an issue that prevented some display names containing international characters from being properly displayed in the contacts window.
- Fixed an issue that could cause the client to crash if an MSNP8 or MSNP9 connection was canceled at a certain time in the logon process.

[u]Known issues:[/u]
- MSNP10 is not supported yet; the client will not function properly if you attempt to logon with it.

Version 1.02 of MSNMessenger.dll has been released.

Several bugs have been fixed, and functionality for paging users from a Web browser has been added.

You can get it here.

Version 1.03 of MSNMessenger.dll has been released.

This version fixes a recently-occcuring issue that could prevent MSNMessenger.dll from detecting any contacts as online. If you are experiencing this problem, the new version should resolve it.

Additionally, a minor bug that caused the program to exit the chat session instead of send an error message when a command with an invalid syntax was issued has been fixed.

A new version of MSNClient will be released shortly to correct the contact visibility bug, as well as several other problems.

A new MSNClient version has been released. It can be downloaded from the usual locations.

[u]New in this version:[/u]
- Fixed a recent issue that caused all contacts to appear offline on certain accounts.
- Fixed a parsing problem with some file transfer requests.
- Fixed an issue that could (very rarely) cause failures when disconnecting and reconnecting.
- Fixed an issue that could cause random failures if a file transfer request initiated by you (not the remote party) timed out.
- Modified the behavior of the user interface with respect to modeless menus. Now, window menus will be modal by default, unless explicitly overridden by setting REG_DWORD Software\Valhalla's Legends\Skywing\BinaryChat\Global Settings\User Interface\Modeless Window Menus to 1. This fixes several focus issues related to menu activity.
- Added a 30 second logon timeout to prevent the client from getting 'stuck' at the authentication phase.

If you were having problems running the previous 1.03 release, download the file again. This update should resolve the problem.