[Tutorial] Toggling Chat ON/OFF for a player

[Tutorial] Toggling Chat ON/OFF for a player - Printable Version

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+---- Thread: [Tutorial] Toggling Chat ON/OFF for a player (/showthread.php?tid=403893)

Toggling Chat ON/OFF for a player - deffo - 01.01.2013

Hello,

This is my second tutorial in samp forum, to explain about toggling chat for a player.

Tutorial Level: Beginner

Important points (Basics):
(If you know scripting basics, no need to read this part)

Most of you already know that by returning 0 in the OnPlayerText native callback, the player is not able to say anything on the chat.
It can be done by:
pawn Code:
```
public OnPlayerText(playerid, text[])
{
    return 0;
}
```

The above thing will disable the chat for all players, however we wanna make the chat toggle-able for all players. So now the second thing I would like to mention is about player parameter. You can have any player parameter to use in this toggle chat system. You can use either a parameter declared in enum or a bool: playerchatoff array (playerchatoff[MAX_PLAYERS]) or any other method of your choice, here I am using the bool method.
pawn Code:
```
new Bool:playerchatoff[MAX_PLAYERS];
```
If it is set true for a particular "playerid" , then it means the chat for that player is OFF else if it is set to false then it means the player has turned ON his chat.
Note: This would be a global variable.

By default we wanna make the chat on for all players. So simply we can add this in the OnPlayerConnect callback.

pawn Code:

public OnPlayerConnect(playerid)
{
    playerchatoff[playerid]=false;  //This means the player has his chat enabled.
    return 1;
}

Accordingly we will modify our OnPlayerText callback to make it work with our player parameter as follows.

pawn Code:

public OnPlayerText(playerid, text[])
{
    if(!playerchatoff[playerid])
    {
        return 1; //Now we are returning 1, which means the chat is on for players with playerchatoff=false
    }
    else
    {
        return 0;  //Now we are returning 0, which means the chat is off for players with playerchatoff=true
    }
}

Implementation:

Now comes main part, i.e. implementing this on your script. Wherever you are sending a message on the chat using any of the functions such as SendClientMessage, SendPlayerMessageToPlayer, SendClientMessageToAll, etc. you will need to add a condition before them like this,
pawn Code:
```
if(!playerchatoff[playerid])
    SendClientMessage(playerid,color,message);
```
This will ensure that the message is only sent if the player has toggled his player chat on.
Note:You will have to add that if condition everywhere in your code where ever you are sending a message on the chat.

Now when the player types only a "/" or an invalid command, it will show him message "Server unknown command" on the mainchat, hence to disable that, simply add the else condition under OnPlayerCommandText callback function (native).
Example:
pawn Code:
```
public OnPlayerCommandText(playerid, cmdtext[])
{
        if (strcmp("/command1", cmdtext, true) == 0)
    {
        //whatever
        return 1;
    }
    else
    {
        if(!playerchatoff[playerid])
        SendClientMessage(playerid,-1,"Server unknown command");
        return 1;
    }
}
```
The else condition will ensure that the message "Server unknown command" is only sent to those players who have the playerchatoff parameter as false (or in other words the player who has his chat as enabled).

Now after doing the above, the player who has disabled the chat, will still be able to see the messages from other players who have enabled the chat. So now we have to modify out OnPlayerText callback once again as follows (See the pawn code below).

pawn Code:

public OnPlayerText(playerid, text[])
{
    if(!playerchatoff[playerid])  //We have to ensure such that all message go via function SendClientMessage.
    {
        new msg[155],pName[25];
        //We will need to format the message so that it can be seen who typed the message.
        GetPlayerName(playerid,pName,25);
        format(msg,sizeof(msg),"%s (%d): %s",pName,playerid,text);
        for(new i=0;i<MAX_PLAYERS;i++)  //We will loop the message to all online players and send message to everyone with some if conditions as mentioned.
        if(IsPlayerConnected(i))
        if(!playerchatoff[playerid])  //This condition will ensure that the message is displayed only to players who have there player chat as enabled.
        SendClientMessage(i,-1,msg);
    }
    return 0;  //We will return 0 for all players because we will now send message through SendClientMessage function.
}

By the above code, the player who has turned off his mainchat, will not be able to send any message on the chat, nor any message will be displayed to him.

Command:

Command to script the above can be used along with clear chat as follows,

pawn Code:

public OnPlayerCommandText(playerid, cmdtext[])
{
    if (strcmp("/togglechat", cmdtext, true) == 0)
    {
        if(!playerchatoff[playerid])
        {
            for(new i=0;i<20;i++)
            SendClientMessage(playerid,-1," ");  //Clears the chat for the player, this is inside a loop (for loop)
            playerchatoff[playerid]=true; //If the player has turned the chat ON, then turn OFF.
        }
        else
        playerchatoff[playerid]=false; //If the player has turned the chat OFF then turn ON.
        return 1;
    }
}

Drawbacks:

The default maximum length of a message is 128 characters in samp, however this will decrease the maximum length as per characters in the players name along with 5 characters.
Note:The maximum length can decrease upto a limit of 100 characters, not beyond that if the player name is of 20 characters and ID is in 100s.

That is all!
thankyou

Re: Toggling Chat ON/OFF for a player - [HK]Ryder[AN] - 01.01.2013

Too Easy but well explained for beginners..Anyways +rep

Re: Toggling Chat ON/OFF for a player - [DOG]irinel1996 - 02.01.2013

pawn Code:

public OnPlayerText(playerid, text[]) {
    if (playerchatoff[playerid]) return SendClientMessage(playerid, -1, "Shut up man!");
    return 1;
}

Great tutorial for beginners.

Re: Toggling Chat ON/OFF for a player - gtakillerIV - 06.01.2013

Good job.

Re: Toggling Chat ON/OFF for a player - RedCrossER - 07.01.2013

Good well explainer for beginners