Tag Archives: OpenAIM

AIM Express 7 Beta 2

Posted on by
Reply

Last week was a busy week in the AIM world in Dulles, so I am still catching up on all the news we generated. We pushed a new update of AIM Express beta 2, which is an AIM application for people who do not want to download the AIM client or have issues connecting due to network configuration.

AIM Express 7 is built using the Web AIM APIs ActionScript3 library (wimas3, for short). In the latest release here is what we added:

  • Easily enter a custom status message or away message using the inline status field at the top of your Buddy List
  • View Buddy Info by right-clicking on a Buddy’s name and selecting “Get Buddy Info”
  • See when your Buddies are typing a message to you in the IM window
  • Hover over a name on your Buddy List to see your Buddy’s screen name and status message
  • A sound notification will play when you receive a new IM
  • Hyperlinks in the IM window are now clickable
  • The IM input field expands as you type to show all of your message
  • Tooltip support – descriptive text is displayed when hovering over buttons

Check it out here and as always feedback is appreciated.

Partners who are AIM-ing with AMOs

Posted on by
2

When we launched AIM 6.8 last week, we shipped the client with a new type of AIM client extension or plugin, known as AIM Modules, AMOs for short. While Gus and I wrote a handful of AMOs to test the APIs early on, once we felt comfortable with the API we brought in a few launch partners to help get things kicked off right and to help them with reaching our audience. So with Vivaty, Goodreads, TenCent, blogTV, shopIt, and phonevite, we welcome you to the OpenAIM family.

TwitterMan updated

Posted on by
1

I have a new version of TwitterMan that I posted to the AIM Gallery today. This version includes additional features like viewing your friends timeline and being notified of when your friends have posted a new status message. The flyout showing your friends timeline contains your friends icon, link back to your friends feed, status message, and of course the time the tweet was sent.

Download TwitterMan 0.5 here.

If you are new to Twitter, the first friend to add is the MarsPhoenix lander.  Its fun since the lander is tweeting in the first person.

Making some AIM Money

Posted on by
1

When we launched Open AIM 2.0 in March this year we shared that we were going to be rewarding developers for building on the AIM network with advertising revenue. The ad revenue sharing program is called AIM Money and it is launching today. Signing up is free and incorporating a little bit of code will show an ad from the web’s most powerful ad network, AOL’s Platform-A.

Getting started is as easy 3 steps.

1. Register (you just need to be logged into the web page with an AIM screen name, same as getting a developer key)

2. Get the AIM Ad Money code and embed it into the app or website

3. Get Paid.

AIM Money is about rewarding developers for their hard work building on top of our platform, and by leveraging the same ad assets that we use at AOL gives developers a great path to make money!

Check out AIM Money here.

Taking AIM with AMO

Posted on by
1

In the next evolution of Open AIM client extensions, today we are releasing as part of the AIM 6.8 client a new type of AIM plugin called AIM Modules. These AIM Modules, known as AMOs are client extensions written using HTML and JavaScript. These plugins have full access to the Open AIM APIs that so many of you use today, but it also provides hooks into the AIM client itself, so developers can now get specific information about the Buddy List window (location, height and width of the window) and other AIM application properties.

We have added lots of documentation and samples so you can get started building AMOs. AMOs are simply zipped up packages with an ‘AMO’ extension, instead of ‘ZIP’, so rename the package to ‘ZIP’ and unpack the file to view the code.

We have also helped out developers by adding a secure way of storing preferences via the Open AIM APIs. Developers who need users to enter in their credentials for their plugin can now store those credentials or other data securely.

AMOs are downloadable from the AIM Gallery and require AIM 6.8 or greater.

AIM 6.8 is Live

Posted on by
6

Today we launched the best AIM client ever. I say this, and I really mean it. I have been working on AIM since AIM 2.5 in 1999, and I can confidently say we got this client right. AIM 6.8 builds upon the themes of Open AIM of giving users what they want by customizing the AIM experience via a new type of plugin called AIM Modules. I will have a follow up post getting into further details on what an AIM Module is.

AIM 6.8 also supports C++, C#, and VB plugins just like previous clients, so AIM Tunes and AIM MusicLink will still work.

AIM 6.8 also gives users the ability to import or export their Buddy List, a feature that had been a plugin I wrote years ago is now part of the client.

One last thing to point out we have made the black skin on the AIM the new default skin. All the old ones are still there in case you want to switch it up.

Refreshed Open AIM Forums

Posted on by
1

We refreshed all of the developer network web sites this week. This upgrade included a refresh of the Open AIM forums. After feedback both from my team as well as developers on the network, we needed to make some tweaks to give all of us a better experience. With the changes in place, the forums are a great place to get the latest help and info on building on top of the Open AIM platform.

Check out the forums here.

Welcome to the AIM MusicLink Home

Posted on by
2

After all the feedback and comments that I have gotten over the years regarding MusicLink, I thought I would put together a web page for the plugin. This web page will explain what AIM MusicLink does, all the versions ever released including the change log for each release, and how AIM MusicLink actually works. I even included code samples on how it works for C++, C#, VB, and even Javascript.

You can check out the AIM MusicLink Home here.

A couple of plugin updates

Posted on by
3

AIM MusicLink was updated this afternoon. When I fixed the Songbird plugin issue I accidentally packaged an old version of the AIM MusicLink dll, so this is now fixed. You can download AIM MusicLink version 2.2.0.0 here. The latest version of AIM MusicLink will display a music note in the status message and has support for over a half dozen different music players.

I have also updated the AIM Stats plugin so when all the stats are expanded you will get a scroll bar. AIM Stats can be downloaded here. I will be adding more stats over the next couple of weeks.

Witness the Core

Posted on by
1

Debugging AIM plugins is always a challenge. If you are writing a plugin for Windows AIM clients that are C++, C# or VB or what we call native plugins, you simply attach the Visual Studio.net debugger (ctrl-alt-p) is the shortcut key combo, to AIM 6.8. Place your breakpoints in your project and you are all set to debug. For developers writing simple plugins using javascript like plugins via AIM Widget development, debugging requires breaking into JScript.

To be honest, this sucks if the all you are looking to do is peak into the way the Open AIM APIs work and maybe see why your plugin is not getting events. CoreWitness is just the plugin to make your life suck less. It gives you the ability to trigger specific events or dumps properties of objects in Open AIM.

The plugin was written in C++ and has the nice feature of self checking for updates, so as we add new objects or events to the Open AIM API, you will be the first to know. As I say, sometimes the best plugins are the utilities that let you see how we are doing things on AIM.

Download CoreWitness here.