What's New in Xelagot 3.5 and 3.6?
xelagot 3.5 and 3.6 is dedicated to Roland Vilett and Nelson Crowle (HamFon)

Bug fix: the ActionScript statements ProjectFromListAS and all other ProjectFromListXX went into an infinite loop and made the bot stop responding. Fixed (thanks Just In).

Bug fix: the ActionScript statement IsJumping (to detect this avatar state) was not working (a late night typo?). Fixed (thanks Holly T).

Terrain bug fix: due to a Delphi 5 compiler bug, some versions of xelagot have terrain downloads and elevdumps with a 0 altitude vertex at the SE corner of terrain nodes. Terrain sensing is also affected. This can be first seen with terrain sensing xelagots, where at some coordinates they will move down (or up) to 0 altitude. Elevdumps will have a 0 altitude at those coordinates in these compilations, resulting in files which, when uploaded to restore terrain, produce terrains with dips (or heights) to 0 altitude at intervals of at least 8 cells. This affects unknown versions of xelagots, early compilations (when the code was tested) were fine. If this problem strikes a version, terrain backups (elevdumps) and terrain sensing are therefore inaccurate.
 
This is a compiler bug related to SmallInt (signed two-byte integer) arrays when they are passed as parameters from a generic to an object procedure: the first array element is changed by the compiler to 0, sometimes but not always. I thank Chrispeg for spending quite a while of his valuable time helping me track this bug yesterday night and today, and Kyle for alerting about this glitch.
 
People who use xelagots for backing up terrain should upgrade and back up their terrain again. Xelagots using terrain sensing should also be upgraded.

Avatars.dat parsing code updated to include the special avatars. The 5 special avatars (251 to 255) can be explicitely mentioned at the end of the avatars.dat file, in their proper order, between the following tags:

special

endavatar

special
  name=special1
  geometry=special1.rwx
  beginimp
    walk=swalk
    wait=gray02
    endwait=gray07
    endwave=gray06
  endimp
  beginexp
    turn=qturn
    wave=swave
    angry=buangry
    happy=buhappy
    look=bulook
    maca=maca1
    point=bupoint
    shove=bupunch
   endexp
endavatar

This should work (if I'm not mistaken) with browsers of AW 3.4 upwards.

Bug fix of bug fix (sort of): Had missed one case of logging into universe, fixed. The bug fix in previous version was: the attempts to log back into universe and world after a disconnection or can't connect message have 3 tempos: the first four are done at the usual rate, then after 4 attempts the bot waits 5 minutes, and after 9 attempts 10 minutes between tries. This may solve some winsock problems.

Action Script: added SListTrim /s_myList to remove leading and trailing blanks from string lists, see here.

Action Script: added statements and an event handler for terrain backups, see Event ElevDumpComplete. (Thanks, Karten.)

Bug fix - affecting Action Script statements WriteToBot, ChatToBot, MessageToBot. These statements take two parameters, the bot-name and the command. The parameters can be in string variables or as a literal strings, for example:
WriteToBot $botname $command
WriteToBot $botname "hear,say Boo"
Due to an inconsistency in the code, the $command parameter, if written as a literal string (as in "hear,say Boo") did not recognise the surrounding double-quotes. This is fixed in this version, even if it could break some scripts: the help pages clearly show the literal strings surrounded by double-quotes. (Thanks, Foxmore).

Bug fix (sort of): the attempts to log back into universe and world after a disconnection or can't connect message have 3 tempos: the first four are done at the usual rate, then after 4 attempts the bot waits 5 minutes, and after 9 attempts 10 minutes between tries. This may solve some winsock problems.

Security - xelagot 3.607 adds some security measures concerning file access by scripts and verbal commands. Previous versions of Av99bot and SrvcXlgBot had an option to restrict certain actions. This version unifies this approach for all xelagots. In a few words: the Script folder has been renamed User folder. If security is turned on, access to files by scripts, verbal commands and write to bot is restricted to the User folder and its sub-folders by default (or to a sub-folder of the User folder and its sub-folders if so customised). This 'restricting' folder acts as User and Script Base Directory or USBD. There is an option to allow access to other folders in the computer. All read and write operations are restricted to these areas.

To achieve this, I had to rearrange the folder structure of the xelagots, the new folders being created automatically by the bot. The Script folder was renamed User. The Downloads folder is now only used by the bot for internal web downloads (e.g. the avatars.dat), all other web downloads go to a folder called _Downloads in the USBD (by default, the USBD is the User folder). The DeeJay folder has been moved to the USBD with the name _DeeJay and contains the CustomSpeakers folder; the Survey folder too has been moved to the USBD as _Survey, as well as the Logs folder (new name _Logs). After upgrading and running the bot once to create the new folders, all contents of the old DeeJay, CustomSpeakers, Survey and Logs folders must be moved manually to the new folders by the user or hosting service, and the old DeeJay, CustomSpeakers, Survey and Logs folders and their contents can then be deleted.

After upgrading any xelagot from a version lower than 3.607, or doing a fresh install, Security is turned ON automatically: the ini file entry FileAccessRestricted in section [Parameters] is set to 1. To turn Security OFF, stop the bot application and edit this parameter, putting its value to 0.

For more information on upgrading and Security, read this link.

Inifile changes in x1 - the section names [Bot0] ... [Bot2] have been renamed [Bot1] ... [Bot3], and the key Caption was changed to BotName. These changes, which are done silently by the application, should make the x1 inifile more compatible with the other xelagots.

FTP file transfer - new in this version, allows uploading and downloading files using the FTP protocol.

Action Script - implementation of FTP connection to upload and download files. See here.

I added code to ZIP and UNZIP files the AW way (one file per zip), so the use of Andras' Zipdll.dll is now obsolete, and can be removed from the Plugins folder.

Action Script - new statements for zip/unzip. See here.

Action Script - the statement EmailAttachments now allows specifying the path separately, see here.

Action Script - added statement Query3x3At @a that forces a 3x3 sector query even in worlds that support a 5x5 sector query. QueryAt @a, on the other hand, automatically does a 5x5 query if the world server supports it, otherwise it does 3x3 query. See here.

Action Script - changes in the behaviour of ObjectAddED, ObjectChangeED and ObjectModifyED: the bot checks if it has Eminent Domain to apply the ED variant. If it does not have ED, it applies the normal ObjectAdd, ObjectChange and ObjectModify. (ObjectDeleteED is identical internally to ObjectDelete). See here.

Action Script - added ClearConfirmedLists, see Surveying, building... and the Lists and Managing memory usage when building.

Action Script - added two file management statements: DeleteFile and RenameFile, see here.

Action Script - addition of SQLMaxRows to the SQL statements.

Action Script - addition of SListRenumber, DBRenumber, DBGetValue, SListRecordGetField(s), DBRecordGetField(s), see here.

Action Script - EnterUniverse, EnterInvisible and Enter now accept an optional parameter @p to indicate destination. See here.

Action Script - new persistent memory chunk with ini file structure, allowing to store and read parameters in and between scripts. See here.

Action Script - two more string operations: GetUnusedChar and GetFirstSDF. See here

Action Script - added SListGetNamesSDF and DBGetNamesSDF. See here.

Bug fixes:

• Action Script: IfDBGetValue was not working. Fixed.

User List correction. Active Worlds had not documented that the User List has to be refreshed at least once every half hour, otherwise departed users are not handled properly; this documentation has just been added (thanks Chrispeg for the info). I added to xelagot an automatic refresh of the User List every 20 minutes if the User List has been queried at least once. Manual query (X1 through user interface, all bots through Action Script) can be done at any time, as before.

Note: the AW browser had similar problems with the User List for a slightly different reason. This is fixed in browser build 555.

Thanks, BCat of 3DWorlds, for testing the User List and reporting these problems with bots and browsers.

The User List user interface on X1 now remembers the sorting method between sessions (it used to default to 'sort by citizen number').

Bug fix:

• 3.5 universe caretakers could not request the User List unless it was enabled for all. Fixed. Thanks, Anne of DLP.

User List

The universe server 3.5 introduced a new feature, especially usefull for universe caretakers: the User List. This list can be queried, and gives information about who is online in the universe. If the universe owner wishes, s/he can make a shorter list available to its users, although this in not normally recommended, as it disregards individual privacy settings. Xelagots now have full support for this feature.

X1 - user list in universe attributes screen (menu 'Uni | Universe Attributes', tab User List). If the 3.5 or higher universe has enabled the user list for all (universed.ini file, section [misc], keyword user_list=1), this list is available for all. Otherwise, only number 1 bots can see it. Information available:

• for all bots if user list is enabled - name, world and citizen number. Logged in bots are not listed, only tourists and citizens.
• for #1 bots: name, world, citizen number, privs, IP, and (not working) e-mail. Bots are also listed, but the world field is empty.

Note: Xelagots show citizen numbers and privs in a slightly different way than they are received from the SDK. For tourists, there is no difference, both cit and privs are 0. For citizens, if they are not wearing privs, the SDK sends privs = 0, xelagot sets in this case the privs = citizen number. For bots, the SDK sends citizen number = 0, privs = citizen number of owner; xelagot sets both to citizen number of owner.

Action Script: a whole new set of event handlers and statements were added to support the User List. See here for details.

Bug fixes:

• In world eject database, sorting by IP was not working properly. IPs are big-endian encoded and need to reverse the byte order before comparing on a little-endian system. Fixed.
• Action Script: DBAddField %f $a and SListAddField %f $a were not working. Fixed.

My thanks to BCat, universe caretaker of 3DWorlds/3DEE, for allowing me to test this code.

Compiled with AW 3.6 SDK build 39.

Action Script: as from this version, conditional (IF) statements followed by ELSE statements allow blank and comment lines before the ELSE line:

Xelagot 3.600 recompiled with the new 3.6 SDK build 38. Enables the two new world attributes described in version 3.600.

Action Script: the statement to tilt the bot, Pitch @a and Pitch %a, works now in the +/- 180 degrees range.

LAST MINUTE NOTE: due to a delay in the availability of 3.6 SDK 38, this version is compiled with 3.5 SDK 37, so the two new world attributes mentioned below do not work. Xelagot 3.600 will be recompiled (with a higher version number) when SDK 38 becomes available.

Action Script: added SQL connectivity. See Database Connectivity: SQL (in the help pages). Added a new set of statements for a modified database system with string lists, all prefixed with DB instead of SList, see string lists. This new database avoids the pitfalls of embeded commas and equal signs in string fields and works better with SQL.

Two new AW 3.6 World attributes: DisableMultipleMedia and SoundAmbient, see world attributes and write to bot. In X1's world attributes screen, they are on the General and Lights tabs. (not yet working in this version).

Bug fixes:

• fixed date and time operations for dates before december 30th 1899.
• fixed a bug in SListSetField, where if the index was bigger than 1 and the first field was missing, the field count would go wrong.

X1 - Cosmetic changes: login messages on screen and logs have been drastically reduced when no errors occur. This does not affect the amount of usefull information given.

X1 - Survey Manager: Added a trackbar to the left of the map, which allows to change the level (altitude) of the colour codes in the map. Moving it up makes higher regions look 'lower' in the colour coding, etc. So for example, if your buildings are at 80m altitude, setting the level to 80m shows much more detail on the map. The actual level of this origin point is shown on the top right corner of the map panel. If you click on this level indicator, the level gets reset to its default value: 0m.

X1 - Survey Manager: state is now remembered between sessions for type of map (cell density, altitude, depth), colour scheme, zoom factor (3x3 or 5x5), and level of colour codes. Previously, only map tracks bot, auto survey and use cache were remembered. Also now all these can be customised per bot. Move Mode was and is also remembered, but is shared by all bots.

Bug fixes:

• Terrain offset (AW 3.5) was not being added to terrain sensing routines. Fixed.

Ghosts... are real in VR. See the xelagot topic Ghosts. A lot of the code in this version tries to fix the mess caused by the poor coding in the world server when it accepts duplicate connections... this is my third attempt, with hopefully better insight. The only real fix would be to fix the world server, my code here can only apply an approximate patch. Unfortunately, since I notified AW about this a few months ago (world server 57), world server 64, the new 3.5 released, has yet not fixed this.

X1 - new function in World | Preferences: caretaker bots can deny access to their world, if they want, to browsers that are lower than a certain minimum build. They can simply notify the user that the browser is not adecuate, and leave it at that, or notify and eject the user for 20 seconds. The message is a Console Message if possible, otherwise (in older worlds) a whisper. The console message uses the style and colour of the World announce. Best used in Global Mode.

X1 - Small changes in the way the DO and apply buttons work on certain screens: by default they are disabled, the are enabled only if they need to be used. Applies to menu World, items Preferences, Follow & Join, Random Movement and Blimp Movement.

This version focuses among other things on worlds where citizen whisper has been disabled. In these worlds, not only citizens but also bots can not whisper. Therefore, a few features of Xelagots will not work: the xelagot recognition greeting and communication via scripts that use whisper will fail. There is no substitute for whisper. The changes in this version merely attempt to show these limitations in the X1 user interface. The xelagot greeting gets delayed until citizen whisper is re-enabled, if ever. The previous version already fixed the 'xelagots report' feature in these cases, which is then said aloud instead of whispered.

X1 - Speak rights can also be restricted, and obviously do not exist outside a world. This version tries to signal when the bot can not speak by changing the background colour of the chat input box. This change of colour also applies to Whisper, Whisper as Console message (Global Mode option in the O button) and Console message mode.

X1 - I also revisited the enabling and disabling of menu items (Presence screen, Map), and rewrote most of the code in the Search dialog box.

X1 - The Search dialog box now allows you to restrict your search to the universe or world the bot is in. Handy if the bot has been visiting other worlds and universes. New buttons added: console message, change avatar and gesture. Buttons now get disabled and enabled appropriately. The only exception is for the eject button: if the avatar is in the same universe, bot not in the presence of the bot, and the bot has eject rights, the colour of the text on the eject button turns to red but the button remains enabled if the bot does not have Global Mode.

X1 - The Eject dialog box has a facelift: it allows to select seconds, minutes, hours or days. The selection is remembered between sessions, even if you cancel the eject.

Added the possibility to force arrival, departure, eject and click whispers to be sent as console messages. X1 - menu World | Preferences | Universe, see new checkbox. Av99bot and SrvXlgbot has an Inifile key 'ArrivalAsConMsg=0' (off by default). (Thanks, Dom Perignon)

X1 - There is a new window called Universe Attributes, in menu Uni, which can be reached as soon as the bot enters a universe. This window has two tabs: General which has information about the universe (was previously in World Attributes tab Varia); and User List which is a new 3.5 facility allowing to see who is logged into the universe, and in which world they are. Universe caretakers always have access to the User List, and it can be enabled for all to see if the universe owner so decides. This second tab has been disabled, as I could not test and finish the User List code due to lack of testing facilities.

Warning about universe attributes: Since a few versions, the AW SDK for bots has a bug (the AW browser does not have this bug). It misreads the value of the 'Latest Browser', reading instead the value of 'Latest 2.2 Browser'. For universe caretakers who want to use a bot (any bot, not only Xelagots) to set universe attributes, for example the universe message, there is a workaround: use the AW Browser to change the 'Latest 2.2 Browser' value so that it matches the 'Latest Browser' value as seen in the AW Browser. For example: if 'Latest Browser' is 498, then 'Latest 2.2 Browser' must also be 498. If both values are the same when seen in the AW Browser, then the bug will not strike and you can use a bot to change universe attributes. Let's see how long it takes for AW to fix this bug.

The Ghost recognition code has been made more efficient. This code attempts to detect world server connection code bugs: duplicate connections of session numbers, citizens or tourists. Upon detection, the ghost is removed from the bot's database and a message appears in the X1 chat screen. A new message appears (usually about 2 minutes later) when and if the world server detects and removes the same ghost. I have still work to do on this :)

X1 - The layout of console messages and botgrams has changed a little in the chat screen, as well as a few other details.

Bug fixes:

• X1 - The Search dialog box could enter an infinite loop of error message dialog pop-ups. This would not crash the bot, but would make the user interface unreacheable. Fixed.

X1 - Adjusted Cell Data Limit combo in World Attributes screen to show if a non-standard value is set (the value is followed by a question mark and the font colour is changed to red to draw attention). The minimum world build for using Mega is now set to build 62 (was erroneously set to 57).

X1 - added the world build to the window caption of the World Attributes screen.

X1 - botgrams can be sent by right-clicking an avatar of the presence list (only bots and citizens count, tourists don't), as well as from menu Uni | Send Botgram. Botgrams are always sent to bots, not to citizens.

In worlds where citizen whisper is disabled, 'Xelagots report' causes xelagots to report aloud. (Thanks, morales78705)

Console messages can now be sent named, i.e., the bot sends it's name first, like in chat or whisper:

• X1 user interface:
  (i) The dialog box to send console messages has a new button called send named.
  (ii) The dialog box called with the 'O' button above the chat input field, has in the Console message to whisper list pane a checkbox send named. This setting is remembered beween sessions.
   
• Action Script - added ReplyCWithName ON|OFF. This statement forces all ReplyC variations (ReplyC, ReplyCConcat, ReplyCText) to prepend the name of the bot to the console messages it sends, just like chat and whisper do, if set to ON; it is OFF by default.
   
• Action Script - added ConMsgWithName ON|OFF. This statement forces all ConMsg variations (ConMsg, ConMsgConcat, ConMsgAll, ConMsgAllConcat, ConMsgText, ConMsgAllText) to prepend the name of the bot to the console messages it sends, just like chat and whisper do, if set to ON; it is OFF by default.
   

Due to the lack of proper documentation on the ActiveWorlds SDK web pages, and to the inconsequent functioning of the SDK build 37 and of the browser build 531 regarding this matter on world builds earlier than 63 or 64, the previous 2 versions of Xelagot lack the ability to set the Cell Data Limit to Mega. This version attempts to fix this. (Thanks Ep0ch).

X1 - Modified slightly the Botgram dialog screen.

Modified the URL event to include the new POST and Target3D parameters.

• Action Script: see GetURL in the URL event page.
• X1 - message in chat window about a received URL event adds mention of the new parameters when necessary.

3.5 URLClick event in Action Script. Requires world server 63 or higher and sender browser 530 or higher. See here.

3.5 ToolbarClick event in Action Script. Requires world server 63 or higher and sender browser 530 or higher. See here.

3.5 Botgram event and methods in Action Script. Requires universe server 51 or higher with botgrams enabled. See here.

Action Script: to handle POST strings and URLClick messages (if they are sent as parameters in the standard POST and GET way), the following new statement converts the string to name=value pairs in a string list:
SListGetURLParams /s_List $params

Avatars.dat access in Action Script. Caretaker bots and bots that have access to the avatars.dat can use these new statements IfHasAvatarsDat, GetAvatarByName, GetAvatarByNumber, GetGestureByName, GetGestureByNumber. Requires Andras' Zipdll.dll. See here.

Action Script universe events: added events for UniverseEnter, UniverseExit, UniverseDisconnect, UniverseAttributes. These only signal events, they carry no extra information. See here.

ActiveWorlds 3.5 new World attributes:

• Terrain Offset - a float value between 230 and -230 (metres), allows the origin of the terrain to be displaced vertically.
• Water Under Terrain - a boolean allowing or disallowing (default) water to be rendered under the terrain.
• Action Script: TerrainOffset %m - in metres; WaterUnderTerrain ON|OFF, see here and, for WriteToBot, see here.
• X1 - World Attributes screen - tab Ground, Water include these 2 new attributes.

ActiveWorlds 3.5 new Botgrams - The universe server must be 3.5 (build 51 or higher), and must allow bots to send telegrams to other bots (Botgrams). If both conditions are met, then Xelagot will allow you to send these Botgrams.

• X1 - menu Uni | Send Botgram brings up a dialog where you can enter the citizen number of the owner of the bot, and a message (maximum 1000 characters long).

ActiveWorlds 3.5 more enhancements for sending URLs (caretaker bots only). Two parameters can be set, if the world is build 63 or higher and the browser build is 530 or higher: Post and Target3D. Post is a string that will be sent to the Web server using the POST method. Target3D allows you to load the page in the 3D viewer. I could not test this at present, world build 63 and browser build 530 were not available.

• X1 - the user interface dialog box has been enhanced with these two options.
• Action Script - SendURL now has two extra optional parameters. Note that parameters may not be skipped before an optional parameter, so if you want to use Post, you have to specify Target.
  SendURL &person $url $target $post ON|OFF

New Verbal Commands for setting the bot's avatar state (walking, flying etc), and the pitch (looking up, down etc). See the verbal commands section.

X1 - Avatar Map now allows controlling the pitch setting from -180 to +180 degrees (full circle) in 5 degree steps. Previous versions only allowed this within a -90 to +90 degrees range. Looking up now shows negative numbers on the map screen.

X1 - Command input field: multi-line text can be pasted into this field, as into the Chat, Whisper, Console Msg fields, or can be input as separate lines holding the CTRL key while pressing ENTER. If the bot leaves the world or universe, or re-enters, the text in memory is erased... this is not new. What is new is this: the Command multi-line text (yellow background) does not get erased any more. This allows inputting:
  botname void
  join me
and both commands will be executed (previously, the Void command would cause the others following it to be erased). The Command multi-line text does get erased with the others if you select menu Bot | Kill text.

New Action Script statements: besides those mentioned above, added LocMoveZXY (see here), MoveTo (see here), LookAt, Avoid, StopNoticing (see here).

Join and Follow movements are now smoother, the bot waits 1.5 seconds before starting the 'end' phase of the movemement, allowing for delays in reception of new position of the target avatar.

X1 - Added two new items to the context menu of the Presence List: obey and stop obeying .... This adds or removes a 'second boss', it does not change the login and first bosses.

X1 - Enhancements to Object Manager: Full coords can now be edited (and copy/pasted) in one line, as well as individually per category. If full coords are copied to the clipboard, pasting them into the individual fields for categories NS, WE, Altitude etc. results in pasting of the individual category. Pasting into the full coords field modifies all categories. To use these functions, right click on the field and select copy coords or paste coords from the context menu. Changes in the input fields for coordinates become effective when you either leave the field by changing the focus to another field, or when you select accept changes from the context menu. If coords have been modified in the fields but not yet 'accepted', you can undo by selecting cancel changes in the context menu.

X1 - Enhancements to Cell Viewer: the viewer can now be moved by one cell to the North, West, South or East.

X1 - Enhancements to Survey Manager:

• The map can be viewed as a 3x3 sector map, or (new) as a 5x5 sector map. There is a button to the right of the map to toggle the view.
   
• Centre map on survey and on project now have buttons (was only available from the menu).
   
• The map can be moved now using up, down, left and right buttons below the other buttons to the right of the map area. Clicking one of these buttons moves the map by 5 sectors. Clicking and pressing CTRL moves the map by 3 sectors, clicking + SHIFT moves it by 1 sector, and clicking and pressing both CTRL and SHIFT moves it by one cell. If the central button between the arrows is down position (default), not the map but the camera moves (i.e. the map moves but in opposite direction). This central button's position is remembered between sessions, and is valid for all bots.
   
• Dragging the map now updates the map image on the fly.
   
• The Textures tab: fixed an ommission. This tab was only showing the textures mentioned in the animate command. When the textures command was introduced, I forgot to add these to the list. Done! (Thanks, Just In).
   
• Textures Tab: the textures and [masks] now show the full filename. Placeholder for base texture numbers in the animate command is ?. Textures for animate and texture commands are on separate lines, and so are unmasked and masked textures (for animate commands, the 3.0 convention is followed for masks, i.e. default is unmasked). Base textures (with placeholder ?) and full textures are also on separate lines. The animate command textures have a symbol @ at the end, followed if necessary with the highest frame number registered.
   
 
 
See the updated seccions of Xelagot Building Tools, especially the first three pages: Introduction, Survey Manager and The Survey.

Bug fixes:

• Action Script: the Step set for Walk and To was being rounded off to full metres per second. Fixed
• Action Script: with middle and high heartbeats and small walking steps, the bot could suddenly warp to the end of the walk. Fixed
• Verbal commands: Obey xxx was not working if xxx was a xelagot! Fixed.

Thanks for beta testing parts of this version: Just In, Adam 'adalex16', Volker, Franz2000 (City4All), Shankahtus, BCat (3DWorlds).