Customizing the QuickChat Menu

[ QUOTE ]


Personally, my Scrapper recharges so fast, I rarely look at the Bar for that.... this also opens some interesting options for my Masterminds, who have a Bar dedicated to just their Pet related powers and commands....

I'll take a stab in that direction, and Post whatever I find works....

[/ QUOTE ]



The work is kinda slow, since i'm very rusty in terms of my programming skills. What I could really use is a glossary of terms used by the QuickMenu File. Anyone know where I could get a copy of that, one aimed at doing up a MasterMind set of Speed Controls? I personally never use the QuickMenu anyway.....

Oh, and the Reply String was getting a bit long, so I trimmed it down to a managable size.....

"Menu", "Title", "Divider", and "Option" are the only terms specially needed for the QuickChat Menu. (and Title and Divider are totally optional)

Everything else is either some string that you want to use, or a slash command.

<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>Menu MenuName
{
...
}</pre><hr />MenuName is some string, any string, that you want to show up to identify the menu. ("QuickChat" is the top-level menu name you need to use to make it accessible as the QuickChat Menu). You can add an ampersand (&amp before one of the letters in MenuName to set that character as the menu's mnemonic (press the letter on your keyboard to select the menu, rather than clicking with your mouse)

<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>Title TitleName</pre><hr />TitleName is some string, any string, that you want to show up in your menu as a plain string. It does nothing but add the title to the list.

<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>Divider</pre><hr />Adds a dividing line to your menu

<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>Option OptionName Command</pre><hr />OptionName is some string, any string, that you want to show up as a menu item. You can add an ampersand (&amp before one of the letters in OptionName to set that character as the option's mnemonic (press the letter on your keyboard to select the option, rather than clicking with your mouse)

Command is a slash command, and functions identically to macros and binds.



MenuName, TitleName, OptionName, and Command need to be enclosed in quotes if you include spaces.

Oh hey, it's out in the open now...

I don't see you mentioning /popmenu though.

With /popmenu you can open up other top-level menus defined in the same file.
For instance, "/popmenu example" will open up the predefined menu "example" (at the current location of your mouse cursor).

This way you can make smaller specialized menus, and bind them to keys (/bind &lt;key&gt; popmenu &lt;menu name&gt.
Really handy, especially if you assign hotkeys to the options and create "bind trees" (click a sequence of keys to rapidly gain access to a large number of options).

You're right, I didn't mention it (though I believe it is mentioned in the comments of the original file, which I've linked to).
*makes mental note to add to future version*

I can't get this to work. I've created the directory and file, but in game the menu doesn't pop up--mine or the default. Here's my test file:

<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>Menu QuickChat
{
Menu Quips
{
option Run1 "local We have a runner!"
option Run2 "local Don't run--the other thugs are laughing at you."
}
Menu Emotes
{
option Tea "emote teacup"
}
Menu Powers
{
option Box "powerexecname Boxing"
}
}</pre><hr />

Is there something wrong with the syntax?

Whoa. I JUSt found this, and will have to investigate some customizations.

Holy crap I need to look at people's sigs more often! O_O

I like the soul train just found this! Must mess with!

-C.A.

I don't have the data folder with the quickchat.
Can some one help me?

[ QUOTE ]
I can't get this to work. I've created the directory and file, but in game the menu doesn't pop up--mine or the default. Here's my test file:

<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>Menu QuickChat
{
Menu Quips
{
option Run1 "local We have a runner!"
option Run2 "local Don't run--the other thugs are laughing at you."
}
Menu Emotes
{
option Tea "emote teacup"
}
Menu Powers
{
option Box "powerexecname Boxing"
}
}</pre><hr />

Is there something wrong with the syntax?

[/ QUOTE ]Have you tried capitalizing "Option"? I've never tried using "option" in my file, so I don't know if it's case-sensitive.

[ QUOTE ]
I don't have the data folder with the quickchat.
Can some one help me?

[/ QUOTE ]You must create the directory yourself it it isn't there.

quickchat.mnu is just a text file; you can either create an empty text file and rename it, or download the game's default file (linked in my OP)

You have to create the entire folder "path" as well, if you don't have them.

Drop into a command prompt:

Assuming your City of Heroes is in the default location, you would need to do this:

<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>
cd "C:\Program Files\City of Heroes"
mkdir data
mkdir data\texts
mkdir data\texts\English
mkdir data\texts\English\Menus\
cd data\texts\English\Menus\
notepad quickchat.mnu
</pre><hr />

If your City of Heroes folder is in another location, the first CD command would need to be that location. Also if it is on another drive, preface the first command with:

<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>
X:
</pre><hr />

where "X" is the drive letter of the hard drive City of Heroes is installed on.

You can do this in Explorer by browsing to the folder, then right-clicking in the empty space and creating "New | Folder", naming the first folder Data, opening that folder, then repeating the creation process for the folders inside it. When you get to the innermost folder, right-click, select "New | Text File" and you'll get a blank Notepad. Save that file as "quickchat.mnu".

This is just wonderful! I stripped out some of the things I never use and added some stuff I can never remember. For example:

<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>
Menu E&amp;xtras
{
Menu "Wedding Pack"
{
Option "&lt;propose&gt;" "e propose"
Option "&lt;confetti&gt;" "e throwconfetti"
Option "&lt;rose petals&gt;" "e throwrosepetals"
Option "&lt;rice&gt;" "e throwrice"
}
Menu "Magic Pack"
{
Option "&lt;juggle balls&gt;" "e juggleballs"
Option "&lt;juggle fire&gt;" "e jugglefire"
Option "&lt;juggle magic&gt;" "e jugglemagic"
Option "&lt;juggle electricity&gt;" "e juggleelectricity"
Option "&lt;card trick&gt;" "e cardtrick"
Option "&lt;mystic fortune&gt;" "powexec_name mystic fortune"
}
}
</pre><hr />

This is a great guide for a cool feature.
I've been busy lately so I only just got around to giving this a try.

I've discovered one little "gotcha" about creating your own versions of the quickchat.mnu file that might help other people. I initially tried a test version of the quickchat.mnu file that had the "Menu QuickChat" as the very first line of the file (no blank lines or comment lines) and it wouldn't work for me. But after I decided to add a comment line and a blank line at the top before the "Menu QuickChat" line it finally worked.

It seems the game will only 'read' in this file as long as there's at least a comment and/or blank line in front of the "Menu QuickChat" first. Weird but true. It might just need the blank line for syntax but since the comment was useful to me I just left it there.

Just a bit I hacked together for the Magic pack costume changes. Tested and working.

<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre> Menu "Cost&amp;ume Changes"
{
Menu "&amp;Cast"
{
Option "Costume &amp;1" "cc_e 0 ccCast"
Option "Costume &amp;2" "cc_e 1 ccCast"
Option "Costume &amp;3" "cc_e 2 ccCast"
Option "Costume &amp;4" "cc_e 3 ccCast"
Option "Costume &amp;5" "cc_e 4 ccCast"
}
Menu "&amp;Lightning"
{
Option "Costume &amp;1" "cc_e 0 cclightning"
Option "Costume &amp;2" "cc_e 1 cclightning"
Option "Costume &amp;3" "cc_e 2 cclightning"
Option "Costume &amp;4" "cc_e 3 cclightning"
Option "Costume &amp;5" "cc_e 4 cclightning"
}
Menu "&amp;Presto Chango"
{
Option "Costume &amp;1" "cc_e 0 ccPrestoChango"
Option "Costume &amp;2" "cc_e 1 ccPrestoChango"
Option "Costume &amp;3" "cc_e 2 ccPrestoChango"
Option "Costume &amp;4" "cc_e 3 ccPrestoChango"
Option "Costume &amp;5" "cc_e 4 ccPrestoChango"
}
Menu "&amp;Spin"
{
Option "Costume &amp;1" "cc_e 0 ccSpin"
Option "Costume &amp;2" "cc_e 1 ccSpin"
Option "Costume &amp;3" "cc_e 2 ccSpin"
Option "Costume &amp;4" "cc_e 3 ccSpin"
Option "Costume &amp;5" "cc_e 4 ccSpin"
}
} </pre><hr />

Ooh, I like that set, Mouse Man!

Did anyone ever come up with a full menu file with all the add-on pack emotes added?

Still here, even after all this time!

I added this to my file, but the file itself has been customized all to heck. You can just uncomment the sections you don't have.

<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>// Menu E&amp;xtras
// {
// Wedding Pack
// Option "&lt;propose&gt;" "e propose"
// Option "&lt;confetti&gt;" "e throwconfetti"
// Option "&lt;rose petals&gt;" "e throwrosepetals"
// Option "&lt;rice&gt;" "e throwrice"
// Magic Pack
// Option "&lt;juggle balls&gt;" "e juggleballs"
// Option "&lt;juggle fire&gt;" "e jugglefire"
// Option "&lt;juggle magic&gt;" "e jugglemagic"
// Option "&lt;juggle electricity&gt;" "e juggleelectricity"
// Option "&lt;card trick&gt;" "e cardtrick"
// Option "&lt;mystic fortune&gt;" "powexec_name mystic fortune"
// Cyborg Pack
// Option "&lt;robot dance&gt;" "e robotdance"
// Option "&lt;powerup&gt;" "e powerup"
// Option "&lt;powerdown&gt;" "e powerdown"
// Option "&lt;self-destruct&gt;" "powexec_name self destruction"
// }
</pre><hr />

Has anyone figured out the syntax to add global chat channels to the these pop menus? I've run into an issue when using global channels that have spaces in them. Previously, I've used a bind to send chat to a global channel (that includes the toon Im playing and my level)

<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>/bind o beginchat /send "Global Channel" [$name, $level]</pre><hr />

Since the Global Channel has a space, I needed to enclose it in quotes to get the bind to work correctly.

Now within the pop menu, I first tried this syntax:

<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>Menu &amp;Globals
{
Option "GC Chat" "beginchat /send "Global Channel" [$name, $level] "
}</pre><hr />

However, that didn't work as the system read it like this:

<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>Menu &amp;Globals
{
Option "GC Chat" "beginchat /send "
}</pre><hr />

I then tried using some other format but haven't found one that worked yet:

<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>Option "GC Chat" "beginchat /send 'Global Channel' [$name, $level] "

Option "GC Chat" "beginchat /send ""Global Channel"" [$name, $level] "</pre><hr />

Since the pop menu can be used across all my characters, getting this to work here would be a much preferred option. Has anyone figured out how we can include a nested quoted command within the quoted Option definition?

[ QUOTE ]
Has anyone figured out how we can include a nested quoted command within the quoted Option definition?

[/ QUOTE ]
Wow, that's annoying. I'm usually pretty good at figuring out things like this for scripting and batch files but everything I've tried has failed.

Doesn't Work:
<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>Option "GC Chat" "beginchat /send """"Global Chat"""" " (Quadruple Quote Marks like programming embedded quotes)
Option "GC Chat" "beginchat /send &amp;#34;Global Chat&amp;#34; " (HTML-style Quote Mark Decimal value)
Option "GC Chat" "beginchat /send &amp;#x22;Global Chat&amp;#x22; " (HTML-style Quote Mark Hexadecimal value)
Option "GC Chat" "beginchat /send &amp;quot;Global Chat&amp;quot; " (HTML-style Quote Mark Name value)
Option "GC Chat" "beginchat /send ""Global Chat"" " (Double Quote Marks)
Option "GC Chat" "beginchat /send """Global Chat""" " (Triple Quote Marks)
Option "GC Chat" "beginchat /send \"Global Chat\" " (Slant-Escaped Quote Mark)
Option "GC Chat" "beginchat /send ^"Global Chat^" " (Caret-Escaped Quote Mark)
Option "GC Chat" "beginchat /send $"Global Chat$" " (Dollar-Escaped Quote Mark)
Option "GC Chat" "beginchat /send ''Global Chat'' " (Double Single-Quote Marks
Option "GC Chat" "beginchat /send “Global Chat” " (Word-style opening and closing Quote Marks)</pre><hr />
I'm going to guess that either the Menu file parser can't understand nested Quote Marks to pass them to the command line or else there's some other freaky way of telling it to do it that the Devs would have to clue us in on. Is there even an escape character in their command parser?

I was almost positive that one of the HTML-style quote would work since other parts of the chat interface use HTML encoding and interestingly enough, if you use a % symbol in your chat and then cursor up in your chat to scroll back, it will show a "&amp;#37;" but unfortunately, the Quotation Mark (&amp;#34 doesn't work the same way.

I would even have bet that the Quadruple-quotes would have worked as well since that's a fairly common practice in programming and scripting languages to embed an actual quotation mark inside a string value.

[ QUOTE ]
Doesn't Work:
<font class="small">Code:[/color]<hr /><pre>Option "GC Chat" "beginchat /send """"Global Chat"""" " (Quadruple Quote Marks like programming embedded quotes)
Option "GC Chat" "beginchat /send &amp;#34;Global Chat&amp;#34; " (HTML-style Quote Mark Decimal value)
Option "GC Chat" "beginchat /send &amp;#x22;Global Chat&amp;#x22; " (HTML-style Quote Mark Hexadecimal value)
Option "GC Chat" "beginchat /send &amp;quot;Global Chat&amp;quot; " (HTML-style Quote Mark Name value)
Option "GC Chat" "beginchat /send ""Global Chat"" " (Double Quote Marks)
Option "GC Chat" "beginchat /send """Global Chat""" " (Triple Quote Marks)
Option "GC Chat" "beginchat /send \"Global Chat\" " (Slant-Escaped Quote Mark)
Option "GC Chat" "beginchat /send ^"Global Chat^" " (Caret-Escaped Quote Mark)
Option "GC Chat" "beginchat /send $"Global Chat$" " (Dollar-Escaped Quote Mark)
Option "GC Chat" "beginchat /send ''Global Chat'' " (Double Single-Quote Marks
Option "GC Chat" "beginchat /send “Global Chat” " (Word-style opening and closing Quote Marks)</pre><hr />


[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks for doing more testing on this UnnamedOne. I've been trying lots of different syntax as well (with no success) to try to figure this out. I think we are going to need a dev feedback on how this works (if at all). I believe Babs posted something about editing the quickmenu recently. I'll start with a PM to him and see if he can help or point me in the right direction.

Random thoughts:

Have you tried skipping putting the channel name in quotes and tried replacement for the space? Such as with an underline or %20?

Yea, Zombie, I did try that idea as well, but it didn't work either.

I got a reply from Babs and he basically said that editing this is a gray area and that they can't officially support it... So it looks like we are on our own to test and figure out what we can or can't do here.

(still very cool that Babs took the time to reply to my PM)

The answer is simple: Everyone needs to migrate to global channels that don't use spaces in their names!

Hey everyone! Thanks to Fleeting_Whisper's work here (with an assist from Stargazer) I've made a related Guide to using the POPMENU command that expands on the functionality of the Custom Menu (.mnu) files to make some really cool Power Bar macro buttons.

Check it out here: The magic of the POPMENU Command