From Plugins to Scripts

This document is intended to be read by developers familiar with the old plugin system of Messenger Plus! 3.

The old plugins system previously offered by Messenger Plus! has been deprecated and is no longer supported by Messenger Plus! Live. Developers of such plugins are faced with two options when upgrading their old plugins for Messenger Plus Live!:

Create a script proxy that will call their old plugin DLL.
Recreate their features from scratch in the new Messenger Plus! Live scripting system.

If you're in a hurry, solution 1 may sound appealing so you may want to know that this solution comes with a couple of limitations. First, the scripting API does not give direct access to the old Messenger COM object (from the days of Windows Messenger 4) which means that if your plugin was using the "iMessengerObj" or "oMessenger" parameter of Initialize, it will need to be modified to work in the new system. Also, if your plugin was created with the C/C++ interface (as opposed to the VB interface), you will need to use a DataBloc object to create the structure parameters for functions like ParseCommand.

Recreating your features directly in the scripting system may take longer but will bring several new advantages. The main obvious one is the rich API offered by the scripting system compared to the one that was available for plugins. Your script will be able to do much more and with less code. You'll also be able to take advantage of the interface windows feature of Messenger Plus! Live and create windows for your script that will completely blend in Messenger. Nevertheless, if you want to directly load your old plugin DLL, here is how to do it:

//Load a C plugin DLL
function LoadPlugin_Dll(DllPath)
{
	if(Interop.Call(DllPath, "Initialize", 8, "", 0) == 1)
		Debug.Trace("The C plugin has been initialized");
}

//Load a VB ActiveX object
function LoadPlugin_VB(ProgId)
{
	var PluginObj = new ActiveXObject(ProgId);
	if(PluginObj)
	{
		if(PluginObj.Initialize(8, "", undefined) == true)
			Debug.Trace("The VB plugin has been initialized");
	}
}

Here is an upgrade listing that will help you make the switch from the old system to the new one.

C/C++ Developers:

Plugins Interface	Scripting System	Additional Information
Initialize	OnEvent_Initialize OnEvent_Signin	You should send 8 for the nVersion parameter. sUserEmail is an empty string when called from OnEvent_Initialize and Email when called from OnEvent_Signin. iMessengerObj must be null (send 0).
Uninitialize	OnEvent_Uninitialize OnEvent_Signout	None.
Configure	OnGetScriptMenu OnEvent_MenuClicked	Scripts create their own menus with OnGetScriptMenu or the ScriptInfo file. You can create your own "Configure" menu from there.
PublishInfo	OnGetScriptCommands	Scripts return the list of commands they support in OnGetScriptCommands or specify them in the ScriptInfo file. This information is used for informational purposes only in windows such as the Command Helper. It is the responsibility of scripts to parse every message sent for eventual commands or tags to replace.
ParseCommand	OnEvent_ChatWndSendMessage	Messenger Plus! Live does not search for specific script commands in messages sent by the user. Instead, every message is sent to scripts so that they can do their own analysis of the message. This removes the need for all your commands to start with "/x" and gives you much more flexibility for the output. pParam->iConversationWnd must be null (send 0). pParam->sContactName should be an empty string.
ParseTag	OnEvent_ChatWndSendMessage	Messenger Plus! Live does not search for specific script tags in messages sent by the user. Instead, every message is sent to scripts so that they can do their own analysis of the message. This removes the need for all your tags to start with "!X" and gives you much more flexibility for the output. pParam->iConversationWnd must be null (send 0). pParam->sContactName should be an empty string.
ReceiveNotify	OnEvent_ChatWndReceiveMessage	Messenger Plus! Live does not search for specific markers in messages that are received. Instead, every message is sent to scripts so that they can do their own analysis of the message. pParam->iConversationWnd must be null (send 0). pParam->sContactName is set to the Origin parameter of the event.
DisplayToast	MsgPlus.DisplayToast MsgPlus.DisplayToastContact	None.
SetNewName	Messenger.MyName	None.
AddEventEntry	MsgPlus.LogEvent	None.

Additional note: when calling your old C/C++ plugin, make sure to convert your strings to ANSI if your plugin was not using the Unicode handlers. In JScript, every string is Unicode by default.

Visual Basic Developers:

Plugins Interface	Scripting System	Additional Information
Initialize	OnEvent_Initialize OnEvent_Signin	You should send 8 for the nVersion parameter. sUserEmail is an empty string when called from OnEvent_Initialize and Email when called from OnEvent_Signin. oMessenger must be undefined.
Uninitialize	OnEvent_Uninitialize OnEvent_Signout	None.
Configure	OnGetScriptMenu OnEvent_MenuClicked	Scripts create their own menus with OnGetScriptMenu or the ScriptInfo file. You can create your own "Configure" menu from there.
GetPublishInfo GetPublishCommandInfo	OnGetScriptCommands	Scripts return the list of commands they support in OnGetScriptCommands or specify them in the ScriptInfo file. This information is used for informational purposes only in windows such as the Command Helper. It is the responsibility of scripts to parse every message sent for eventual commands or tags to replace.
GetPublishTagInfo	None	Scripts should create entries in their own menu.
ParseCommand	OnEvent_ChatWndSendMessage	Messenger Plus! Live does not search for specific script commands in messages sent by the user. Instead, every message is sent to scripts so that they can do their own analysis of the message. This removes the need for all your commands to start with "/x" and gives you much more flexibility for the output. oConversationWnd must be undefined.
ParseTag	OnEvent_ChatWndSendMessage	Messenger Plus! Live does not search for specific script tags in messages sent by the user. Instead, every message is sent to scripts so that they can do their own analysis of the message. This removes the need for all your tags to start with "!X" and gives you much more flexibility for the output. oConversationWnd must be undefined.
ReceiveNotify	OnEvent_ChatWndReceiveMessage	Messenger Plus! Live does not search for specific markers in messages that are received. Instead, every message is sent to scripts so that they can do their own analysis of the message. oConversationWnd must be undefined. sContactName is set to the Origin parameter of the event.
DisplayToast	MsgPlus.DisplayToast MsgPlus.DisplayToastContact	None.
SetNewName	Messenger.MyName	None.
AddEventEntry	MsgPlus.LogEvent	None.

Working with Scripts

From Plugins to Scripts

C/C++ Developers:

Visual Basic Developers:

See Also