Chat Monitor

 

This screen is the program’s integrated chat line monitor.  It allows you the flexibility of viewing all of your chats and color-coding each one for easy viewing.  For non-Portal© supported MUDs, please refer to the help file on Using Variables on how to apply the Chat Monitor for use.

 

Chat Monitor Elements

 

 

File Menu

Save Chats to Text File

Allows you to save your chatlines to a text file.  You can save all lines or just do one chat line individually.

 

Close Chat Monitor

Closes the chat monitor.

 

Close and Disable Chat Monitor

Closes and disables the the chat monitor (to conserve memory if necessary).

 

Chat  Menu

Show All Lines (Ctrl+A)

Shows all lines in the Chat Grid.

 

Clear Chats from Line

Clears all chats from the currently selected line.

 

Clear All Chats

Clears all chats from all lines.

 

Options Menu

Show Chat Line Grid (Ctrl+G)

Toggles showing/hiding of the Chat Line Grid.

 

Show Expanded Chats (Ctrl+E)

When checked, the current chat is displayed more fully expanded at the bottom of the monitor.  Use the scrollbars if the chat is exceptionally long.

 

Keep Chat Monitor on Top

Sets the Chat Monitor to remain on top of other screens.

 

1 Line Height

Displays the chats in one line.

 

2 Line Height

Displays the chats in two lines – useful for word-wrapping long chats.

 

3 Line Height

Displays the chats in three lines – even more useful for word-wrapping long chats.

 

Help Menu

Chat Monitor Help (F1)

Displays this screen.

 

Chat Line Grid

This Grid is only visible if the Show Chat Line Grid menu option has been checked.  All lines this session which have received a chat are listed in this grid, along with the number of chats in each.  To view one specific line in the Chat Grid, double click on the desired line in the Chat Line Grid.  When one line is focused, that line’s name is enlarged in the Chat Line Grid.  You can double click on the grad again to show all lines.

 

All chat lines initially appear as simple black text, right clicking on the Chat Line Grid allows you to color the currently selected line a specific color.  All chats on that line will then appear in those colors, until you decide to change them again.  This makes it very handy to identify what line a chat just came across, especially when viewing all chats.

 

When the Chat Line Grid is visible, you are able to resize it using the thin bar below it.  When you pass the mouse over this bar, the cursor will change to that of a “split” image.  Left click the mouse on the bar, then drag the bar up or down to your desired position.  Release the mouse button to lock it into place.  The position of the bar is saved with your character profile.

 

Note: You can only hold 1000 chats maximum for each line.

 

Chat Toolbar

This thin panel, just below the menu items, displays the current line being viewed.  If all chats are being viewed, the panel is blank.  On the right hand side are the pause controls.

 

All Button

If one line is being viewed, pressing this button will show all lines.

 

Pause Button

Pressing this button will temporarily pause incoming chats.  None will be lost, they are simply stored into a buffer until you decide to un-pause them from coming in.  While chats are paused, you can freely browse the Chat Grid without worrying about it being forced to the bottom should you receive a new chat.

 

Play Button

This button will un-pause chats from coming in.  If any chats are currently buffered, they will be added at this time, all at once.

 

Pause Button (on the keyboard)

You can also toggle the pausing of incoming chats by pressing the keyboard Pause button.  If chats are incoming, pressing Pause will pause them.  Pressing Pause again will allow the chats to flow freely in again.  Again, the Pause button referred to here is the button labeled “Pause” on the keyboard.

 

Chat Lamp

This light will be lighted green when chats are free to come in.  If chat reception is paused, the light will flash red.

 

Chat Grid

This grid lists the chats for all lines or for only one.  Initially it starts out simply listing every chat you have received, along with the order it appeared in that line.  Double clicking on a specific chat will focus the monitor to only view chats from the line that chat was on.  At this point, the Edit Chat field becomes available for you to type into.  This allows you to actively chat on a line in the Chat Monitor and not just view the chats.

 

If chats in the Chat Grid tend to scroll off the screen, try expanding the lines using the Options Menu items.

 

The chats are listed from top to bottom, with the most recent being at the bottom.  Whenever a new chat is received, the grid auto-focuses upon it at the bottom of the grid (unless chats are paused).

 

Just like with the Chat Line Grid, all chats initially appear as simple black text, right clicking on the Chat Grid allows you to color the currently selected line a specific color.  All chats on that line will then appear in those colors, until you decide to change them again.  Any line that has been colored, regardless of whether it has been colored via the Chat Line Grid or the Chat Grid, appear in that color in both grids.

 

Right clicking can also identify who made a specific chat and send them to the Tell Monitor.  Simply right click on a specific chat made by a person and it will offer you the option to add this person or not.

 

Note: When the index of a chat in a specific line exceed 1000, the counter resets to 1.

 

Chat Field

This field is only visible when you are viewing one specific line.  Pressing Enter in this field will send any text contained therein to the selected line.  For example, if you enter “hi there” into the field and the press Enter, it would send “hi there” to the chat line selected.

 

Note: You can also enter emergency commands to the game via this field also.  By using the activator character once (not twice as in the Tell Monitor), the chat functionality is overridden and all following text will be send to the game as if it was entered it into the command line directly.  For example, if you entered “;say hello” you will send “say hello” to the game.  This is assuming, of course, that you have the semicolon selected as your activator character.

 

Expanded Chats Field

Use this field (and its associated scrollbar) to view a chat that wraps off the Chat Grid.  Whatever chat is currently selected in the Chat Grid will be displayed in this field.  Use the attached scrollbars to view more lines if the chat happens to be extremely long.