Miranda IM

Functionalities

In addition to those making it possible to connect to others networks, Miranda has a very significant number of plugins (nearly 500). Those make it possible to add multiple functions to him not raising of the instant messaging like the monitoring of a box of Email (using POP3), the posting of the weather, the wire monitoring RSS, etc a plugin called MBot also makes it possible Miranda to interpret scripts (the library php5ts.dll requires).

In addition, of many sets of icons, of emoticons, skins and others allow to personalize the appearance of Miranda.

With the proviso of not being charged with too many plugins, Miranda is sufficiently light to be stored on a diskette.

The part let us addons official site of Miranda reference all the existing plugins .

Versions

Only while basing oneself on the versions proposed by the developers, one distinguishes six versions different of Miranda IM to which Pack FR proposed by the French-speaking community is added.

Unicode or Ansi

The first selection criterion of its version of Miranda relates to the coding of the characters. The Unicode system is most recent and most complete because it makes it possible to deal with the special characters like the nonLatin alphabets such as Arabic or Hebrew. But the choice also depends on the version of Windows on which Miranda will be installed:

Ansi: Windows 95, 98, Me
Unicode: Windows 2000, XP, Vista

In addition to the choice of the installation, it will be important to take care of choosing the good version of the associated plugins well. By defect, Miranda can read the plugins Ansi with all the versions (Ansi and Unicode) but it is impossible for him to manage plugins Unicodes with a core Ansi. Finally certain versions known as are combined: they can be used indifferently on both cores (Ansi and Unicode).

Stable or Nightly build

In margin of the stable version, the developers propose a version of test or nightly build. This version of test makes it possible to gradually establish the new functionalities envisaged by the roadmap. The number of builds published successively depends on the bug and other problems encountered by its users as well as installation of the new functionalities. Once these last installed and the solved major bug, the builds pass in Preview Release (PR). It is then a question of correcting the residual bug before proposing the stable version of Miranda IM. There too the number of PR depends on the capacity on the developers to solve the problems.

Attention: as a version of test, the nightly builds and Preview Release are versions which can prove to be unstable, it is thus advised to safeguard the repertory Miranda.

Achievable or files

The achievable one is the format by defect in which the stable version of Miranda is proposed. It offers a simple solution of installation for the beginner. The module of installation makes it possible moreover to choose the native protocols which one wishes to install as well as the short cuts that one wants. The file with the format .zip is on the contrary a fast solution of installation since it is enough to dézipper the file to install Miranda. This solution proves also practical updated in the case of.

Pack FR

Distributed initially in English, Miranda can be translated by means of a langpack. Thus a French-speaking version is distributed. It is about a préconfiguré pack gathering plugins selected for their utility and their interest for a public wanting to leave the official customers. He is proposed in version .exe and .zip. The file langpack_francais can however be downloaded independently since the site addons.miranda and it is possible to contribute to the translation on the French-speaking forum.

Plugins

The great force of Miranda lies in its plugins which makes it possible to extend its capacities. They are appeared as files .dll which one places in the file Miranda IM \ plugins. Some of them require dependences to be used like secondary files or skins, of other finally are necessary to the good performance of Miranda (it is the case of the plugins core).
As indicated previously, the plugins can be proposed in 2 forms Ansi and Unicode, it is thus important to choose its version well. Some times the version unicode do not exist, there is then necessary to be folded back on the Ansi version but certain versions are known as compounds: they can be used indifferently on both cores. It is important to take care that two plugins with the identical functions are not activated: either the core automatically carries out the desactivation of the one of them is the entry is duplicated.

Plugins of service

These plugins is useful only as a complement for other plugins. It is the case for some plugins core like avs.dll (management of the misadventures), advaimg.dll (management of images png) or cat (management of the cats). Others plugins known as of “service” make it possible to better manage Miranda IM:

CrashReport publishes a .txt file after a crash landing of Miranda IM which indicates the plugins causes
Database Editor++ of it makes it possible to reach and to modify the database (profil.dat)
Updater (Ansi and Unicode) manages the automatic setting of the plugins except those of the core and achievable the
VersionInfo makes it possible to gather in one to card-index txt the list of the plugins and additional information on the core

Database

The entirety of the history, the conversations and the parameters of configurations are recorded in the profile (file .dat) which is used as a basis of data. The reading and the writing of this file are carried out via a dedicated plugin, it exists two alternatives about it: dbx_3x ( Miranda database driver ) and dbx_mmap ( Miranda mmap database driver ), currently the latter is privileged in the core builds 0.7.0 because the faster and more fiable.
By defect the plugin is present in the core but it is possible to replace it by mods including the autosaving of the profile and its encryption.

Contact list

The posting of Clist depends on a plugin of which there exist four alternatives:

clist_classic ( Classic contact list ): the plugin initial of Miranda IM is largely replaced today. It does not manage the misadventures and the transparency but one can define an image for the background.
clist_modern ( Modern Contact List )
clist_nicer ( CList Nicer+ )
clist_mv ( MultiWindow Contact List )

Fenestrate conversation

With the image of Clist, the window of conversation profits from a notable evolution of the plugins with step less than three different versions:

SRMM is a basic version not supporting the management of the miters, nor the posting of the misadventures.
TabSRMM offers a large range of possibility thanks to its wealth of options. It supports moreover the adequate customization via skin (to modify the contents but also the containers) or of the plugin IEView. Finally the plugin supports the notifications by popups.
Scriver is a compromise between the principal functionalities of tabSRMM (management of the miters, of the misadventures, support of IEView) and the facility of use thanks to a menu of options more stripped.

Popups

A system of notification of events in the form of popups was creates to make it possible the user to be informed events related to the behaviors of its contacts (changes of state…) or of the plugins. There exist two plugins: Popup More and YAPP. The first is an evolution of plugin original Popup, it manages the skins and offer advanced functions while the second wants to be simpler of use by reducing the number of options moreover it does not support the skins. For some time now, the developers are discussed it to harmonize the API ones and to simplify the use of the popups by the others plugins. Indeed these plugins nativement manages only information of connection to the protocols. For the remainder of information (email, message, change of state of a contact…), the plugins of popups behave like plugins of service while being used as support to post information.

Information-bubbles

In addition to the popups, it is possible to obtain information on the contact via information-bubbles which appear with the overflight of the mouse on the contact in Clist or the miters of the window of conversation. These bubbles are also by a plugin (Tipper, mToolTip and soon ToolTip Plus). The configuration of the information-bubbles requires to control the syntax of the plugin which changes between the three solutions: mToolTip, oldest, is simplest of use but the absence of management of the misadventures in png tends to make it replace by Tipper more customisable but also more complex in syntax. Finally a third plugin is in preparation, it is characterized by a syntax close to that to Foobar2000 and supports the skins for Popup.

Protocols

Miranda can be connected to a great number of free protocols or owners. The latter are managed by plugins which are distinguished from the others plugins by the fact that they can be duplicated to be able to manage several accounts on the same protocol. The most used protocols are present by defect in the official builds as well as Pack france For the other protocols, it will be necessary to recover them on the page addons for example. This configuration thus makes it possible to preserve only the protocols used and to reduce its configuration.

With regard to the protocols owners, the latter developed additional functionalities but they are not established or are managed by complementary plugins. Here below a table of the functions dealt with or not by protocol:

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