Open Source Messaging Application Development

by Egan, Sean

• ISBN13: 9781590594674
• ISBN10: 1590594673
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-07-25
• Publisher: Apress

Summary

Are you enamored with instant messaging? Would you like to learn how to create your own messaging application? This book shows you how, by dissecting Gaim-the world's most popular open source instant messaging application. Authored by the Gaim maintainer, Sean Egan, you are presented a thorough overview of Gaim architecture and Application Programming Interface. You'll learn how to make the most of the popular GTK+ graphical user interface toolkit. Egan guides you through the creation and installation of plug-ins, and discusses strategies involved in supporting messaging protocols like MSN Messenger, AIM and IRC. He also covers topics such as multi-platform support and internationalization.

Table of Contents

About the Author	xv
About the Technical Reviewer	xvii
Acknowledgments	xix
Introduction	xxi
Getting Started	1	(22)
History of IM	1	(1)
History of Gaim	2	(1)
Setting Up Your Build Environment	3	(9)
Cygwin	3	(6)
MinGW	9	(1)
Library Dependencies	10	(2)
Getting Gaim	12	(1)
Configuring Gaim	13	(1)
Compiling Gaim	14	(1)
Using Gaim	15	(6)
Adding a New Account	15	(1)
Accounts	16	(1)
Buddy List	17	(1)
Preferences	18	(1)
Conversations	19	(1)
Tools	20	(1)
Summary	21	(2)
The Open Source Development Process	23	(14)
Open Source versus Free Software	23	(1)
Why the Open Source Development Process Works	24	(5)
Organization	24	(3)
Motivations of Open Source Developers	27	(2)
How the Open Source Development Process Works	29	(2)
Meritocracy	29	(1)
Cathedral and the Bazaar	30	(1)
Contributing to Open Source Development	31	(3)
Getting Started	31	(2)
Climbing the Ranks	33	(1)
Managing Your Own Open Source Project	34	(2)
Becoming a Maintainer	34	(1)
Management Techniques	35	(1)
Summary	36	(1)
Development Tools	37	(48)
Editors	37	(11)
Emacs	38	(4)
vi	42	(3)
IDEs	45	(3)
GCC	48	(3)
How a Program Is Built	49	(1)
Invoking GCC	49	(2)
make	51	(4)
Makefile Rules	51	(1)
Implicit Rules	52	(1)
Variables	52	(1)
Multiple Directories	53	(2)
Autotools	55	(6)
Automake	56	(1)
Autoconf	57	(2)
Other Required Files	59	(1)
autogen.sh	60	(1)
Using the Build Environment	61	(1)
GDB	61	(3)
Running Your Application Within GDB	61	(1)
Analyzing Core Dumps with GDB	62	(1)
Debugging Segfaults	62	(2)
CVS	64	(15)
Versioning	65	(1)
Branches	65	(1)
Using CVS	65	(8)
View CVS	73	(6)
SourceForge.net	79	(5)
Submitting a Tracker Item	79	(4)
Managing Tracker Items	83	(1)
Summary	84	(1)
Programming Gaim	85	(28)
Compiling Your First Plug-In: helloworld.c	85	(2)
Anatomy of a Gaim Plug-in	87	(7)
GAIM_INIT_PLUGIN	87	(2)
GaimPluginInfo	89	(3)
plugin_load()	92	(2)
#include Statements	94	(1)
Object-Oriented Programming	94	(2)
Abstraction	95	(1)
Inheritance	95	(1)
Polymorphism	96	(1)
Object-Oriented C	96	(5)
Objects	96	(3)
Inheritance	99	(1)
Accessor and Mutator Functions	100	(1)
Data Structures	101	(5)
Linked Lists	101	(2)
Hash Tables	103	(2)
Trees	105	(1)
The Gaim API	106	(6)
Core/UI Split	106	(2)
GaimAccount (account.h)	108	(1)
GaimConnection (connection.h)	108	(1)
GaimConversation (conversation.h)	109	(1)
GaimBuddyList (blist.h)	110	(2)
Summary	112	(1)
GTK+ Basics	113	(84)
Overview of GTK+	113	(4)
History	113	(2)
Architecture	115	(2)
Language Bindings	117	(1)
Anatomy of a GTK+ Application	117	(3)
The gtk_init() Function	118	(1)
The Main Loop	119	(1)
User Interface Principles	120	(2)
Elegance	120	(1)
GNOME HIG	120	(2)
Creating Dialogs in GTK+	122	(14)
Widget Packing	122	(1)
Container Widgets	122	(14)
Event Listeners	136	(3)
Signals	136	(1)
Callbacks	136	(1)
A Sample GTK+ Application	137	(1)
Gaim Signals	138	(1)
GTK+ Widgets	139	(33)
GtkLabel	139	(1)
GtkImage	140	(1)
GtkProgressBar	141	(2)
GtkEntry	143	(3)
GtkSpinButton	146	(1)
GtkButton	147	(3)
GtkToggleButton	150	(1)
GtkCheckButton	151	(1)
GtkRadioButton	152	(1)
GtkTextView	153	(5)
GtkTreeView	158	(5)
GtkComboBox	163	(1)
GtkToolbar	164	(3)
GtkMenu	167	(2)
GtkDialog	169	(2)
GtkFileChooserDialog	171	(1)
A Gaim Plug-in Example	172	(23)
Gaim Plug-in Boilerplate	173	(1)
The Data Structures	174	(1)
Using Gaim Signals	175	(1)
Scanning Messages	175	(3)
Hooking into Account Actions	178	(2)
Creating the GUI	180	(7)
The Entire Plug-In	187	(8)
Potential Enhancements	195	(1)
Summary	195	(2)
Advanced GTK+	197	(40)
A Sample Plug-In	197	(2)
GObject	199	(18)
Object-Oriented Features of GObject	199	(3)
Using GObject	202	(15)
Creating a Composite Widget	217	(2)
GdkPixbuf	219	(3)
Working with Image Files	219	(1)
GdkPixbufLoader	220	(1)
Animations	221	(1)
Pango	222	(2)
PangoLayout	222	(1)
PangoAttribute	223	(1)
GDK	224	(8)
The X Window System	224	(2)
GdkDrawable	226	(1)
Drawing Functions	227	(5)
Overriding GtkWidget	232	(3)
Data Fields of GtkWidget	232	(1)
Overriding Functions	233	(1)
Receiving Events	234	(1)
Summary	235	(2)
Sockets	237	(30)
Networking	237	(5)
The OSI Seven-Layer Model	238	(4)
Domain Name Service	242	(1)
Sockets	242	(11)
Connecting to a Server	242	(6)
Accepting Connections from Clients	248	(4)
Reading and Writing Data to a Socket	252	(1)
Non-blocking I/O	253	(1)
select()	253	(2)
fd_set	254	(1)
timeval	254	(1)
Non-Blocking Sockets with select ()	255	(1)
Integrating into GLib's Main Loop	255	(2)
GIOChannel	256	(1)
g_io_add_watch()	256	(1)
A Sample Gaim Plug-in	257	(8)
The Boilerplate	257	(1)
plugin_load ()	258	(1)
incoming_cb()	259	(1)
create_response()	260	(1)
The Final Plug-In	261	(3)
Possible Extensions	264	(1)
Summary	265	(2)
Protocol Plug-Ins	267	(32)
Protocol Design	267	(8)
Packet Framing	267	(2)
Packet Headers	269	(2)
Packet Data	271	(4)
Protocol Implementation in C	275	(5)
Binary Protocols	275	(2)
Text Protocols	277	(3)
Learning Protocols	280	(8)
Reverse Engineering	280	(1)
Legal Ramifications of Reverse Engineering	281	(2)
Packet Sniffing	283	(3)
Reverse Engineering Techniques	286	(2)
Interfacing with Gaim	288	(9)
server.c	288	(1)
GaimPluginProtocolInfo	289	(5)
Command Functions	294	(3)
Program Flow of a prpl	297	(1)
Summary	297	(2)
Internationalization	299	(20)
Internationalization Defined	300	(1)
Text Encoding	301	(5)
ASCII	302	(1)
Foreign Encodings	302	(1)
iconv	303	(2)
Knowing What Encodings to Use	305	(1)
Unicode	306	(2)
Code Points	306	(1)
Encodings	307	(1)
UTF-8	307	(1)
Translations with gettext	308	(9)
An Overview of gettext	309	(1)
Setting Up gettext	310	(2)
Coding with gettext	312	(2)
Translating with gettext	314	(2)
Using Translations	316	(1)
gettext Summarized	316	(1)
Summary	317	(2)
Portability	319	(18)
The C Programming Language	319	(6)
History	320	(1)
K&R, ANSI, and C99	321	(2)
libc	323	(1)
Tips on Writing Portable C Code	324	(1)
POSIX	325	(1)
Porting to Windows with MinGW	326	(1)
Cygwin	327	(1)
Windows Compatibility Libraries	327	(1)
GLib	327	(6)
Portable Macros	328	(1)
Utility Functions	329	(1)
Memory Allocation	330	(1)
File Management	331	(1)
Plug-Ins	331	(2)
GDK	333	(2)
X11	333	(1)
Win32	334	(1)
WIMP	335	(1)
Summary	335	(2)
Index	337