MSN Pandora Bot Help

MSN Pandora Bot Help

Version 1 Beta 5

Back to MSN Pandora Bot Page

Table of Contents

• • The Login Screen

    • Windows Live ID (MSN Messenger) Login Information

    • Bot Info

    • Server

    • Action Buttons

  • The Main Screen (Debug Console)

    • The Data Box

    • Message Area

    • Current Data Area

  • Bot Options Window

    • Error Notice Options

    • Message Options

    • Action Buttons

  • Console Options Window

    • Options Area

    • Action Buttons

  • User Data Window

    • User Data List Area

    • Action Buttons

• About Window

  • Menubar

    • File Menu

    • Tools Menu

    • Data Menu

    • Help Menu

• Other Information

The Login Screen

When you first start the program you'll see the login screen which lets you enter your Windows Live ID login info, Bot ID and name and pick which of the Pandorabots servers you want to use.

Windows Live ID (MSN Messenger) Login Information

This part of the login screen is for the login information to MSN Messenger for your bot. If you enter this information incorrectly the Debug console will say that it couldn't login due to a Authentication Failure. If that happens just close the program and re-enter your bot's login information again.

Bot Info

This part of the login screen is for your bot's information from Pandorabots.

Server

This part of the login screen is for picking the Pandorabots server to use.

Action Buttons

Start Button: Press the start button to start the program. Once you press the start button it will go to the main screen (Debug Console) then login your bot to MSN Messenger. It will also store your bot's MSN ID, Password, Bot Name, Bot ID and chosen server option in Windows Registry so that you don't have to re-enter it every time you start the program.

Clear User Info and Passwords Button: This button is used for when you either no longer want to use the program or are using this program on a public Computer that you do not own. When this button is pressed it will clear all stored information about your bot including Windows Live ID and Password, Bot Name and Bot ID will be cleared from the Windows Registry, and all stored options (such as your chosen server) will be set back to the default values.

The Main Screen (Debug Console)

This screen is the main screen of the program, also called the Debug Console. This screen allows you to see what's going on behind the scene with your bot such as messages sent to your bot's MSN Messenger and how your bot responded back to the message. It also allows you to send messages to MSN users form your bot's name or use special IRC or BitlBee commands. It also gives you some statistics such as the last user who contacted your bot, the last multi-person conversation number, the current message type and the current message flow.

Message Area

The message area of the Debug console allows you to easily send messages to MSN users from your bot's name. You can also send IRC or BitlBee commands from here as well.

Addressee Drop-Down Box: This drop-down box allows you to pick where you want to send your message. To send a regular Instant Message to a user just enter their User ID in the drop-down box. The User ID is the text before the @ in their email address, and if there's more than one user with the same user name before the @ then there might be one or more Underscores (_) after their user name. Refer to the "Last User" part of the Debug Console to see if the user has any Underscores (_) in their User ID. To send a message to a multi-person conversation you can either pick one of the pre-entered Convo numbers in the drop-down box or type in the convo number in "&chat_xxx" format with "xxx" being the convo number starting from "000" to "999." You can refer to the "Last Convo" part of the Debug Console to see what was the last active convo number.

You can also send IRC and BitlBee commands from here. To send an IRC command either leave the Addressee Drop-Down box blank or set it to "General CMD."

 If you need help with IRC Commands then please visit Wikipedia's helpful IRC Commands Page. To send BitlBee commands pick "&bitlbee" from the Addressee Drop-Down box. You can also send BitlBee commands using the Send BitlBee CMD button which will always send any messages in the message box as a BitlBee command regardless of what's selected in the Addressee Drop-Down box. You can get help with BitlBee commands on their Help Documents page.

Message Text Box: This is the text box where you type the message or command you want to send.

Send Button: Press this button to send the message or command in the text box to the User or Convo (or as a command) specified in the Addressee Drop-Down box.

Send BitlBee CMD Button: This button will send anything in the Message Text Box as a BitlBee command regardless of what's selected in the Addressee Drop-Down box.

Current Data Area

The current Data Area shows more information about your bot currently, such the flow of a message or the users or convos talking to it.

Flow: This shows the flow of the current message that's being processed. If it's 0 then no message is currently being processed, if it's 1 then the program has received a message from the user and is being prepared to be sent to the bot, if it's 2 then the bot's response has been received and is being sent to the MSN user.IM Type: This shows you the Type of IM that's currently being processed. If it's 0 then there's no message being processed, if it's 1 then it's a private IM with one user, if it's 2 then it's a message from a multi-person conversation.LastConvo: The last convo (multi-person conversation) that has sent a message to your bot. The convos are in "&chat_xxx" format where "xxx" is the convo number starting from "000" to "999." Each time your bot is invited to a convo it increments by 1.LastUser: The last user who sent your bot a private Instant Message.

Bot Options Window

The Bot Options windows lets you change how your bot behaves such as the error messages it sends to user when an error has occurred or set how long it takes for your bot to respond to a user's message.

Message Options

Bot Message Delay: This option allows you to set the amount of time the bot will take until the bot responds to a user's message. This delay is in milliseconds so keep in mind that each second is 1000 milliseconds. Also don't set this delay too high, otherwise you will get an overflow error (About under a minute is about the maximum delay). You also can't enter a negative number since it's not possible to wait a negative amount of seconds. Note: This delay doesn't apply to bot commands such as /Help which will be responded to instantly, as usual. Also even if the delay is set to 0 it will still take the time it needs to wait until the Pandorabots server responds to a user's message, and if the Pandorabots server isn't responding it will take the time of the delay plus the time it needs to get an Unresponsive Error to respond.

Action Buttons

OK Button: Saves the current entered options to Windows Registry, applies them to the program and returns to the Debug Console.Cancel Button: Discards any changes to the options and returns to the Debug Console.Defaults: Sets all the options back to their default values.

Console Options Window

The Console Options window lets you change how the main program behaves such as picking whether it auto-reconnects if connection is lost or if it isolates customer IDs.

Options Area

Reconnect after Internet dispuption: When this option is turned on the program will periodically check if the connection to the Internet is active and if it's not then it will automatically try to reconnect until it's connected again. If this option is off then it wont try to reconnect or check if the connection is active.Customer ID Isolation: When this option is turned on the program will give each user who talks to the bot an individual Customer ID. If this option is turned off the each user will share the same Customer ID. Customer ID's are ID's used to track the conversation of a user in Pandorabots. When a user first talks to a Bot the program will send a request to the Pandorabots server containing the message, the Pandorabots server will respond with the bot's response and a unique Customer ID that's tracked to that conversation, the program will temporarily store the Customer ID as long as the program stays open and the bot is not reset. Customer IDs help the bot remember collected information about a user such as their Name, favorite things and the current topic that the user is talking about.Warn Users of Messenger Incapabilities: This feature was supposed to warn the user when they tried to do something that the bot is incompatible with (Such as send a Voice Clip), though MSN changed how this works and this feature was never implemented and will be removed from this window in the next version.

Action Buttons

OK Button: Saves the current entered options to Windows Registry, applies them to the program and returns to the Debug Console.Cancel Button: Discards any changes to the options and returns to the Debug Console.Defaults: Sets all the options back to their default values.

User Data Window

The user Data Window shows a list of the currently saved users and their Customer IDs. If Customer ID isolation is turned off then one user named "All Users" will represent all users and the Customer ID they share. You can easily delete user data or clear all the data if you want.

User Data List Area

The User Data List Area List shows all the stored users (and their Customer ID) who have talked to your bot at some point since the program was started. If Customer Isolation is turned off then one user named "All Users" will represent all the users and the Customer ID that they share. Sometimes some users might not have any Customer IDs due to either the Pandorabots server not responding to the user's message (which means no Customer ID was assigned) or too many people trying to talk at the same time which causes the user's message to get replaced with another user's message. The next time the user talks to the bot he/she should get a Customer ID assigned to them as long as the program gets a response from the Pandorabots server.

Action Buttons

OK Button: Closes the User Data Window and returns to the Debug Console.Reload Data Button: Reloads the list to show newly added users and newly added Customer IDs.Delete All Data Button: Deletes all stored users and their Customer IDs.Delete Selected Button: Deletes the selected User and their Customer ID. If Customer ID Isolation is off then it basically does the same as the Delete All Data Button.

About Window

The About Window displays information about the program such as the version of the program, the name of the program and the creator of the program (me xD).

Menubar

The menubar, like in any other program that doesn't use the horrible Ribbon Interface, gives you easy access to other features of the program such as the options.

File Menu

Bot Options: Shows the Bot Options Window.Console Options: Shows the Console Options Window.

Data Menu

User Data: Shows the User Data Window.

Help Menu

Help: Goes to this Help page.About: Shows the About Window.

Other Information

Protocol: This program uses the same protocol as Windows Messenger 4.7, so features such as Voice Clips, Nudges and more wont work with your bot.

Programming Language: Visual Basic 6 was used to make this program with the Microsoft XML 4.0 Library.