PHOCA A Social MUCK client for Winsock Version 0.2 Date: 8/11/95 Phoca is a MUCK/MUD/MOO/M Windows Winsock client for SLIP/PPP Internet connections. It is oriented towards social interaction rather than fighting and all future expansion of this program will reflect the same. Before I get asked the inevitable question: 'Phoca' is the Genus name of true seals (as opposed to sea lions). Features of V0.1 ---------------- * 'World' description files can be created, edited, saved and loaded from disk. All current world settings and the scroll back buffers are saved to disk on exit of the program. * Status lights give you information on connections. Attempting to connect to a dead MUD will NOT hang your system for minutes as other clients frequently do. * Logging to file. * Local Echo, Word Wrap control. * Watch word or phrase highlighting. * Gag word or phrase censoring. * User definable quick buttons for frequently used commands or sequences of commands. * Compass like keypad for directional commands. Features added to V0.2 ---------------------- * Screen text, watch text and highlighted text colors are user definable. * Font and font size are user definable. * Scroll back buffer size can be adjusted. Buffer can also be cleared. * Triggers. * Various usability fixes, etc.: - Flickering of scroll back buffer greatly reduced. - Splash screen added. - [Tab] instantly moves you to user input window. - Window size really fixed at 640x480 now. - Entries to watch/gag/trigger lists are now moveable. - Session options saved when changing mucks as well as exiting program. - User input window cleared after text is sent to host. * (Hot key macros were NOT implemented and are currently on hold, sorry) Features in the process of being added -------------------------------------- * A REAL HELP FILE! * Disk to host data transfers for uploading complex building commands, etc. * Sound alarms. * Cut/Paste and printing. (1) * Dynamic resizing of the window. (Currently 'fixed' at 640x480) (1) * Multiple world support in a single launch of the program. (1) (1) Although Phoca versions < 1.0 will forever remain freeware. These features to be added will only be available in the 1.0 $20 version available later this year. Installing and Running Phoca ---------------------------- Although Phoca 0.2 is in beta it is already a fully featured client. I have taken pains to test it as thoroughly as possible but I'm sure you may find a bug or two! E-Mail me at my address at the end of this file and I will take care of BUGS it ASAP. Anyone who is instrumental in helping me with suggestions on User Interface or Debugging will receive the commercial version free when available. PHOCA.ZIP contains a single EXE, one example world file with a .MCK extension and this README. Unzip the file into a new directory, launch your SLIP dialer and connect to your service, run Phoca. That's it! Quick and Dirty First Connection -------------------------------- Click on the New Page tool bar button (left most next to the Open File button) or FILE, NEW WORLD. Fill out MUD name, numeric or verbal IP address, and port and click on OK. Then click on the Connect button (fourth from left on the tool bar) The status light should turn yellow. If the address was good and the sight is up you will connect and the status light will turn green. You can click on FILE,SAVE AS to save this session or you will be prompted to do so when you exit Phoca. Menu Item Descriptions ---------------------- Menu Item: FILE, NEW WORLD Tool Bar: New Page Button, #1 from left Brings up a new world dialog. You enter the MUD name, address (numeric OR verbal) and port and click OK. A new world session is created with default settings. You should probably click on FILE,SAVE_AS before doing anything else. Menu Item: FILE, OPEN WORLD Tool Bar: Open File Button, #2 from left Opens a previously saved world file. Menu Item: FILE, EDIT WORLD Tool Bar: None. Allows you to edit the world file that is currently loaded. This includes the world name, IP address and port. The address and port will be in effect the next time you press the connect button. Menu Item: FILE, SAVE WORLD Tool Bar: Disk Button, #3 from left Saves the currently loaded world to the same file name it was loaded from. Menu Item: FILE, SAVE WORLD AS Tool Bar: None Saves the currently loaded world to any file name you choose. (The only way to save a newly created world. Menu Item: FILE, CONNECT TO WORLD Tool Bar: Net Connect button, #4 from left Attempts to connect to the IP address and port of the currently loaded world. The status light will turn yellow to indicate a connection attempt is being made, and turn green when connected. Menu Item: FILE, DISCONNECT FROM WORLD Tool Bar: Net Disconnect button, #5 from left Disconnects you from the loaded world. The status light will turn red. Menu Item: FILE, START LOGGING TO DISK Tool Bar: Text To Disk button, #4 from right Start logging all incoming and outgoing text to disk. If you select a file that already exists then new text will be appended to the end of it. NOTE: Disconnecting from a world does not stop the logging but exiting the Phoca or connecting to a new world does. Menu Item: FILE, STOP LOGGING TO DISK Tool Bar: Stop Text To Disk button, #3 from right Stops the logging and closes log file. Menu Item: FILE, PRINT/PRINT PREVIEW Not yet implemented. Menu Item: FILE, EXIT Tool Bar: Exit button, #2 from right Exits Phoca, closes any log files, saves back scroll buffers and world settings. I included an exit button on the tool bar 'cuz I hate double clicking and traversing menus :) Menu Item: EDIT, CUT/COPY/PASTE Not yet implemented. Menu Item: VIEW, TOOLBAR Tool Bar: None Hides the tool bar. But doesn't give you any more lines on incoming text so why even have this? Menu Item: OPTIONS, LOCAL ECHO Tool Bar: None Turns on/off local echo of user input. When off you will not see an echo of your input that is sent to the host system. If the host system is lagged then there will be a pause between hitting enter and seeing any response in the main text window. Some people find this uncomfortable and prefer that echo be on. This includes user input being logged to a file. If echo is off then your input is not logged. Menu Item: OPTIONS, WORD WRAP Tool Bar: None Turns on/off word wrap. Text is wrapped according to the width of the font. A smaller font will get you more characters and lines of text. Menu Item: OPTIONS, WATCH HIGHLIGHTING Tool Bar: None Turns on/off highlighting of sentences containing words or phrases you define in a watch list. See OPTIONS, EDIT WATCH WORDS Menu Item: OPTIONS, NO NOISE Tool Bar: None If WATCH HIGHLIGHTING is on then you can also select NO NOISE. You will then ONLY see sentences which have a watch word or phrase in them. You will have to carefully edit you watch list so as not to miss anything that's directed to you. Menu Item: OPTIONS, GAGGING Tool Bar: None Turns on/off gagging. Sentences with words or phrases that are listed in your gag list will be 'censored'. They will not appear at all in the main viewing window or back scroll buffer. Menu Item: OPTIONS, GAGS OVER WATCHES Tool Bar: None What happens when you have a sentence with a watch word AND a gag word? Well, if Gags Over Watches is selected than even if there is a watch word in the sentence then it will still be gagged. If it's not selected than gagging will still be in effect unless there is a watch word in the sentence. Menu Item: OPTIONS, TRIGGERS Tool Bar: None Turns triggers on and off. Triggers are automatic responses to an incoming word or phrase. i.e. "Jane has arrived" might trigger a "hug Jane" response. See OPTIONS, EDIT TRIGGERS Menu Item: OPTIONS, QUICK BUTTONS... Tool Bar: Button button, #8 from right Brings up a dialog to edit the quick buttons. Select the button you want to edit and, well it's pretty self explanatory... Menu Item: OPTIONS, WATCH WORDS... Tool Bar: Binoculars button, #7 from right Brings up a dialog to edit the watch words or phrases. Sentences with words or phrases that are listed in your watch list will be highlighted. You may double click on an existing gag word to edit it or click on insert to create a new one. There is a limit of 200 different watch words or phrases in this list. Menu Item: OPTIONS, GAG WORDS... Tool Bar: Gag button, #6 from right Brings up a dialog to edit the gag words or phrases. Sentences with words or phrases that are listed in your gag list will be 'censored'. They will not appear at all in the main viewing window, disk log or back scroll buffer. You may double click on an existing gag word to edit it or click on insert to create a new one. There is a limit of 200 different gag words or phrases in this list. Menu Item: OPTIONS, TRIGGERS... Tool Bar: Trigger button, #5 from right Brings up a dialog to edit the list of triggers. Triggers come in two parts. The trigger word or phrase, i.e. "Jane has arrived" and the trigger response, i.e. "Hug Jane". You may double click on an existing trigger to edit it or click on insert to create a new one. There is a limit of 200 different triggers in this list. Menu Item: OPTIONS, COLORS... Tool Bar: None Click on this option to bring up a color selection dialog. There is example text at the top which may be clicked on to choose for a color change. Then click on the color selection boxes below. You may also custom define colors. This can be a bit strange due to the standard window color picker but here's the steps from the 'Colors...' dialog: 1) Click on 'Define Custom Colors'. 2) Click on one of the 16 colors under the 'Custom Colors' label. These are the same colors as on the previous dialog. 3) Use the controls on the right to create a new color. 4) Click on the 'Add to Custom Colors' button. 5) Repeat for as many new colors as you want and click on OK to keep or Cancel to discard changes. Menu Item: OPTIONS, Font... Tool Bar: None Brings up the 'Choose Font' dialog. You can use any font that is installed on your system. Smaller fonts will get you more lines of text and more characters per line. NOTE: This changes the font in the entire scroll back buffer so a large buffer and/or a slower machine may take a few seconds to complete the change. That's all for now... Thanks and enjoy! Larry Adams farallon@crash.cts.com ftp.cts.com /pub/farallon