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Setting up your environment

Your environment is your computer and the tools installed on it to enable you to write and run computer programs like Chatbots. You will need to complete the following steps in order to setup your environment. The third step will instruct you on how to use Windows Live Messenger with JAWS:

1. Install Required Programs - make sure you have what you need to write, compile and run chatbots on your computer.
2. Configure Your Programs - configure your programs up to make coding and testing easy.

Program Installation

Please download and install the following list of software. The function of each piece of software is listed too.

1. Windows Live Messenger (for chatting with your bots)
2. Microsoft .NET 3.5 Framework (for compiling your code - includes C# compiler)
3. TextPad (version 5.3.1) (for editing your code)
4. Chatbots Code (for coding your bots). Once downloading is complete, unzip the file to a location you'll remember. You will code your chatbots inside the directory that is created by unzipping this file.

Program Configuration

This section will guide you through configuration of the programs used in coding chatbots:

Creating Your Windows Live Accounts

You'll need at least two Windows Live accounts to test your chatbots; one account for the chatbot, and one account for you to chat with the bot. You can sign up for these accounts here: Windows Live Messenger (limited) account signup. Signing up will not require you to enter any personal information, but does require you to complete an audio CAPTCHA. For your username and password, refrain from using non-Latin letters and &, <, >, (, ), @, ^, |.

C# compiler

1. Verify that you have properly set up the C# compiler by installing the Microsoft .NET 3.5 Framework. Navigate to this path: C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v3.5\
2. Look for a file called csc.exe. If you see it, the C# compiler is installed, and you can continue. If either the .csc file or the path from step one do not exist, please repeat step 1 of Program Installation.

TextPad

1. Remove the preset command shortcuts.
   1. Open TextPad and press CTRL+Q, P. This will open the Preferences window.
   2. Navigate down the tree view in the Preferences window to Tools.
   3. Press tab until "Compile Java" is selected. Press delete 3 times to delete this command as well as "Run Java Application" and "Run Applet".
   4. Press Apply, and then OK.
2. Set up the TextPad compile script shortcut (to CTRL+1).
   1. Open TextPad and press CTRL+Q, P. This will open the Preferences window.
   2. Navigate down the tree view in the Preferences window to Tools, then tab to the Add button/drop-down, press space, select Program... from the drop down, and press enter.
   3. Find compile.bat in the chatbots directory that was unzipped and press enter.
   4. Highlight the "Compile" option in the Tools window and rename this to "Compile Chatbots" by typing this and pressing enter.
   5. Press Apply (not OK, this will apply the changes, but keep the window open).
   6. Expand the Tools subtree and select "Compile Chatbots".
   7. Change the contents of the Parameters field to

      $FileName
      

   8. Make sure the Initial folder field is set to

      $FileDir
      

   9. Check the "Save all documents first" checkbox. This will automatically save your source files when compiling.
   10. Press OK.
3. Set up the TextPad execute program shortcut (to CTRL+2).
   1. Open TextPad and press CTRL+Q, P. This will open the Preferences window.
   2. Navigate down the tree view in the Preferences window to Tools, then tab to the Add button/drop-down, press space, select Program... from the drop down, and press enter.
   3. Find ChatBot.exe in the chatbots directory that was unzipped and press enter.
   4. Highlight the "ChatBot" option in the Tools window and rename this to "Run Chatbots" by typing this and pressing enter.
   5. Press Apply (not OK, this will apply the changes, but keep the window open).
   6. Expand the Tools subtree and select the second item named "Run Chatbots".
   7. Change the contents of the parameters field to:

      -m -b $BaseName -u username -p password
      

      where username and password are your Windows Live Account username and password. For example, if your username was numblox@passport.com and your password was fishies, the parameters field should be this:

      -m -b $BaseName -u numblox@passport.com -p fishies
      

   8. Make sure the Initial folder field is set to

      $FileDir
      

   9. Uncheck the "Sound alert when completed" checkbox. We'll reserve this sound for compilation.
   10. Press OK.
4. Add line numbers.
   1. Open TextPad and press CTRL+Q, P. This will open the Preferences window.
   2. Navigate down the tree view in the Preferences window to View.
   3. Press tab once to select "View Options". Press down (10 times) until "Line Numbers" is selected. Push the space bar to activate.
   4. Press Apply, and then OK.
5. Add the Tool Output window to the Document Selector.
   1. Open TextPad and press CTRL+Q, P. This will open the Preferences window.
   2. Navigate down the tree view in the Preferences window to View.
   3. Press tab once to select "View Options". Press down (6 times) until "Tool Output" is selected. Push the space bar to activate.
   4. Press Apply, and then OK.