mynetx » Messenger Library

Complicated Messenger Library

Jo Michael — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:08:05 +0000

I am really disappointed. I spent the past 3 hours on figuring out how to get the display picture from a user that is signed in with Windows Live Delegated Authentication. Would you have thought that you need more than 15 lines of client-side Javascript code, plus loading a library of several KB, for getting the display picture URL on the server?

I asked a Lead Software Design Engineer at Microsoft, responsible for the Messenger Library, about this, and after more than one hour of discussion, he told me: “Thanks for clarifying. This currently isn’t possible.” He couldn’t do anything but noting my feedback wish to have this added.

He explained that they have “optimized for a set of scenarios and for those no code is required. It’s arguable whether we’ve missed certain scenarios.” In the meantime—if somebody wants to help me with solving this, please talk to me, as I still could not get the display picture URL on the server.

What are your experiences with the Windows Live Messenger Library and the Windows Live Messenger Web Toolkit?

Windows Live Web Messenger, reinvented

Jo Michael — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 20:19:26 +0000

Microsoft Singapore have recently released their web-based Messenger, built on top of the Messenger Library. You don’t need to install anything, as messaging works out-of-the-box.

Check it out for free: http://webim.live.sg/
What do you think?

¿Qué tal? The Messenger Web Toolkit in your language

Jo Michael — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:51:56 +0000

„Schön dass du da bist!“ « Bienvenue chez moi ! » “¡Bienvenido en mi sitio web!” If you are running a non-English website, you will be glad to hear that it is now possible to use the Windows Live Messenger Web Toolkit in your own language; over 40 languages are supported. Siebe Tolsma, Software Development Engineer in the Messenger Web Platform team, states:

We are very excited to announce that in total over 40 new languages are available for the UI Controls, as well as greatly improving support for right-to-left languages! Because localization is such a hip new feature, we have also decided to update the version of the library to 3.1.

Sounds interesting—And how can I use these new features?

Locate the following HTML code in your website source:
Replace the 3.0 with 3.1.
Now check your HTML document type.
Are you using HTML 4? Then add the parameter “lang”, like this:

Using XHTML?
Remember you should also set the reading direction property “dir”, if you are planning to use a right-to-left language, like Hebrew.

I am sure that localization will help many users to make use of the Messenger Web Toolkit, as English is not the primarily used language of Messenger users.

On a side note, the update to version 3.1 also fixes some minor bugs, like CSS incompatibilities. If you find that some of the translated strings are wrong or difficult to understand, please leave a comment and we will forward it to the Messenger Web Platform team instantly.

Wanted: Logo for a new Web Messenger!

Jo Michael — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 19:58:17 +0000

See your creation become the logo of a popular web service!
Without publishing too much details: I am looking for a logo for a new Web Messenger.
You think you can create such a logo? Start over, and show me your creation!
What do you get from it? The designer of the winning logo will get invited to Beta testing of the project and will be credited in an appropriate way, and his logo becomes the logo of the service. Additionally, I can offer you a free 6-months subscription for WLMStatus Premium!
Need more details? Sure. Just read the following Contest Rules.

Anybody aged 13 or upwards is able to enter the contest.
The contest starts on Saturday, November 8, 2008, at 12:00:00 AM GMT, and ends on Friday, November 21, 2008, at 11:59:59 PM GMT.
Any logo matching the criteria below is entering the contest.
Each author may present up to 2 (two) creations.
The following logo criteria apply:
- The logo must not contain any text.
- The logo must be submitted in image format PNG, with Transparency Channel (PNG32).
- The logo must have a minimum size of 256 x 256 pixels. The bigger, the better.
- The logo canvas must be squared.
- It must be well to recognize even when scaled down to 16 x 16 pixels.
Only logos with a professional look will be considered to enter the final round (see below). No rules except for this one are being made in regards of the contents or style of the logo. Be creative.
You may not create logos that could create an outward impression to be a simple modification of an existing, copyright-protected logo, such as the Windows Live Messenger logo, and as such result in a copyright infringement if used.
You may choose to add a text design template matching your logo. If you supply such text design, you will be asked to set the project name in this design, if you should win. Use „Messidog“ as demo text string (this is not the project name). Do not integrate the text into the logo, but keep the two separate. Adding a text design is not necessary to enter the contest with your design.
Submit your creation by replying to the contest thread at msghelp.net, the Official Messenger Plus! Live Community Forums, and attaching your creation. Please respect the forum guidelines for large images and use a linked thumbnail preview, or refer to an external image hosting service like TinyPic or ImageShack.
After the contest has ended, I will pick the 5 best logos from all considered submissions (refer also to Rule 6), and these 5 logos will be published for a public vote.
The logo with the most votes wins.
The designer of the winning logo will get invited to Beta testing of the project and will be credited in an appropriate way, and his logo becomes the logo of the service. Additionally, I can offer you a free 6-months subscription for WLMStatus Premium!

Now be creative and show me your ideas and creations!