Replying to a PING message in an IRC Bot.

**steamruler** · 03-05-2012, 06:11 PM

I am making an IRC Bot. The thing is, IRC randomly sends PING messages. I need to filter these and reply to these PING messages with a PONG message.

An usual log of 1 minute is:

Java Code:

:coyote.furnet.org NOTICE AUTH :*** Looking up your hostname...
:coyote.furnet.org NOTICE AUTH :*** Checking ident...
:coyote.furnet.org NOTICE AUTH :*** Found your hostname
:coyote.furnet.org NOTICE AUTH :*** No ident response; username prefixed with ~
PING :BF005A21
:coyote.furnet.org 451 SnowMurrTestUser :You have not registered

(Yes, I am a furry. Deal with it.)

To successfully stay on the server you need to reply to the PING :BF005A21 message with a
PONG :BF005A21 message. The letters and numbers after the : is randomly generated. I figure i need too split the string.

However, i need the other messages to stay intact.
How will i do this?

**Tolls** · 03-05-2012, 06:22 PM

How are you reading the messages?
If line by line as they come in (which is what that looks like to me) then seeing if it's a PING shouldn't be a problem?

**steamruler** · 03-05-2012, 07:01 PM

I am reading them one-by-one as they drop in. I have no idea how I will identify if it is an PING message however.

EDIT: I now split them, but for some reason it does not acnowledge that the server sends the PING-command.

My Java Code:

Java Code:

while (true) {
	    //out.println(userInput);
		line = in.readLine();
		if (line != null) {
			linearray = line.split(":");
			System.out.println("PING :" + linearray[1]); //Debug to compare the lines
			if (linearray[0] == "PING ") {
				out.println("PONG :" + linearray[1]);
				System.out.println("Recieved Ping with ID " + linearray[1] + ". Sent PONG with ID " + linearray[1] + "!");				
			}
			else {
				System.out.println(line);
			}
			
		}
	    
	}

The Log:

Java Code:

Opening connection to irc.furnet.org at port 6667...
PING :coyote.furnet.org NOTICE AUTH 
:coyote.furnet.org NOTICE AUTH :*** Looking up your hostname...
PING :coyote.furnet.org NOTICE AUTH 
:coyote.furnet.org NOTICE AUTH :*** Found your hostname (cached)
PING :coyote.furnet.org NOTICE AUTH 
:coyote.furnet.org NOTICE AUTH :*** Checking ident...
PING :coyote.furnet.org NOTICE AUTH 
:coyote.furnet.org NOTICE AUTH :*** No ident response; username prefixed with ~
PING :8C99AFE2 <----------- Same, that would trigger the
PING :8C99AFE2 <----------- action and send "PONG :8C99AFE2"
PING :coyote.furnet.org 451 SnowMurrTestUser 
:coyote.furnet.org 451 SnowMurrTestUser :You have not registered

**Tolls** · 03-06-2012, 09:47 AM

Java Code:

linearray[0] == "PING "

Never use '==' to compare objects. ALways (unless you really need to know if they are the same reference) use 'equals()'.
You could save a bit of processing on the JVMs behald by simply comparing the first 4 characters (using substring) before doing the split, as you are currently splitting lines which don't need to be split.

**steamruler** · 03-06-2012, 05:54 PM

Originally Posted by Tolls

Java Code:

linearray[0] == "PING "

Never use '==' to compare objects. ALways (unless you really need to know if they are the same reference) use 'equals()'.
You could save a bit of processing on the JVMs behald by simply comparing the first 4 characters (using substring) before doing the split, as you are currently splitting lines which don't need to be split.

Okay, done. I am still splitting the lines by the ":" because they are also used before messages (regular messages) recieved.
However, I keep getting an error here on line 5 (ArrayOutOfBoundsException):

Java Code:

public static String CreateCompleteMessage(String[] Array) {
		Integer control = Array.length - 1;
		Integer beginningoffmessage = 2; //We guess it is 2. Bad practice, I know.
		Integer shuffling = beginningoffmessage + 1;
		String returnmessage = Array[beginningoffmessage];
		PrintMessage(control.toString());
		if (control.equals(beginningoffmessage) == false) {
			while (shuffling.equals(control) == false) {
				returnmessage = returnmessage.concat(":");
				returnmessage = returnmessage.concat(Array[shuffling]);
				shuffling = shuffling + 1;
			}
		}
		return returnmessage;
	}

The line being read when it is thrown is:

:foxtaur.furnet.org 003 SnowMurrTestUser :This server was created Sun Jan 31 2010 at 21:57:37 EST

In order to debug: Split the string and feed it to the function.
Expected Output: "This server was created Sun Jan 31 2010 at 21:57:37 EST"

Help please :P

**Tolls** · 03-06-2012, 06:12 PM

Use some printlns to see what the data is.
What is the value of 'control'.
What is the contents of 'Array' (which is a bad name, should be 'array' or preferably a more meaningful description based on what the code is operating on)?
Print that out (useing a for loop).

**steamruler** · 03-06-2012, 09:34 PM

Heh, got an idea before i saw you replied and remade the function!
Instead of trying to put together strings in a array i got the lenght of the strings i wanted gone and removed them from the string in the end!

Java Code:

public static String CreateCompleteMessage(String[] stringarray, String OriginalMessage) {
		Integer letterno0 = stringarray[0].length();
		Integer letterno1 = stringarray[1].length();
		Integer letterstoremove = letterno0 + letterno1 + 1; // The extra 1 is to justify the ":" in the beginning of every message.
		String returnmessage = OriginalMessage.substring(letterstoremove);
		return returnmessage;
	}

No more problems right now, so I consider this solved!