Multi-line Popups

There are two ways of creating multi-line popups. 

The first is to create them directly in your Popups which would place them in one of the 
three popup files (Popup.irc, Servpop.irc or Chanpop.irc) [As of this writing you cannot play files out of  the Private Message/DCC Chat so it is left off the discussion. When the update is made this document will be updated].
Creating them directly in the popup window has one great advantage and one looming disadvantage. The Advantage is the the popup is readily available for you to change as conditions warrant. Such as, adding new features and colors lengthening or shortening. The disadvantage is that after you start accumulating Popups you may soon reach the 64k limit for text type files which the popups are. In any event, I will start with a few examples of multi-line popups that could be placed in one of the panes on the popup menu and then proceed with those that use external file.

Type One: This is an action type(/me). You place it all on one line prefacing it with 
/me and the text will wrap from line to line on its own. Unless you add different color or
text characteristics it will all be in the color specified by the viewer for Actions (the
default color is blue).

Example: Note I have split it here but it should all be on one line in your popup

.Newbie Def:/me says "1. New-bie (noun): a person who is new. 2. a person who doesn't know 
anything about WaReZ  3: see Lamer for more details. example of a Newbie: $$1 :)


Also with this type you cannot change any of the color or text attributes until after
the /me. If you do so before it will not run.

An example of a multi-line popup that is made up of 3 separate action lines but has 
changed color attributes is below:


You and Me:/me hugs  $$1 \-3 4  * * * * * * * * * * *(`'.(`'..').') * * * * * * * * * * *  |/me hugs $$1  (( \-3 4  $+ \-3 12 (( \-3 4  \-3 12 (( \-31  YOU AND ME  \-31 \-3 12 $+ )) \-3 4  \-3 12 )) \-3 4  \-3 12 )) | /me hugs $$1 \-3 4 * * * * * * * * * * *(_.'(_.'`'._)`'._) * * * * * * * * * * *

Again, this one will all be placed on one line. Please notice the |'s (refered to as pipes)
at the beginning of the second and third lines. This is what forces a new line. But in this
instance the new lines start off in the Action color (default blue) because they were
started wit a "/me", and then change color because the attributes are added.

Type Two: This is a non-action type. You can start this one off using different color
and text characteristics. Here is an example:


Tea:. \-3 1      \-3 12   ) )    
| .     \-3 6   \ \-31 T E A \-31 \-3 6 /_} 
| .    \-3 6   _\____/__ for \-2 \-3 2  $$1 \-3  2 \-2 to \-2 \-3 10 enjoy

Again, this will all be placed on one line but you use |  , the pipes, to force a new line.

In summary, all popups placed in the popup menu must be typed on one line. But you use
the Action (/me) method to make it word wrap onto more than one line, or you use  |'s , pipes,
to force a new line. Any combination of color and text can be made but when using the Action 
method the change cannot be placed before the /me.

Using Text Files

You can also use text files to to display a popup. You simply create a text file, I use 
Notepad.exe containg as much of the popup as necessary and then use it in conjunction with 
your popup. There are two ways of doing this. 

The first:

Hug:/execread  -L1 C:\Pirch32\Rabbit.txt | /execread  -L2 C:\Pirch32\rabbit.txt | etc.

Will make you type an entry for everyline (-L1 C:\Pirch32\hug.txt) that is to be displayed.
I do not use it. To me is no different than having the popup there.

The second method, and the one I use, employs the Playfile command. An example:

Rabbit:The Pirch Rabbit  hands \-2 \-22  $$1 \-22 \-2  | /playfile # C:\pirch32\rabbit.txt 1
.                            (Y)
.                           (-)
. 4a Red Rose --()-,-()--4<{@
.                         (_)-(_)  

In this instance I only have to make reference to the file once and it will play out faster.
The number 1 on the end is the delay rate. It can be from 0-5. 0 may cause you to flood
yourself off and 4 or 5 may not let you see it for a half hour when the severs are busy.
Please notice that there are none of the numbers associated with the text characteristics here.
Using a text file they must be embedded and represented by the black rectangles to appear.
These must be copied from the screen. You can either borrow someone else's popup and put it
in your text file, or tediously do it yourself using the numbers and then display it on
the screen and then copy it to a text file (use a private channel to do this so you are not
disturbed)

Now that the colors are expanded, and can includes backgrounds the use of text files will become more important. Below please find the vase of flowers that can be put riright into a text file and run:

.                   4@13*
.                    4@ 3I 4@ 13*
.                   3\ 4@ 3I8* 4@ 3I/
.                    4@ 13*3I 4@@ 8*11* 4@
.                    13*3I 4@ 3\I/ 4@@ 13**
.                    13* 2~~~~~~~ 13*
.                    2)(
.                    2(4  2)
.                    2()
.                    2) (
.                    2(_____)
.                    4IRC FTD!!
.   12 Especially for you ! ! ! For_EVERYONE

Several things to consider:

1. Different fonts will display differently. Most people are using Arial or Times New
Roman you may want to consider what your audience is using and configure your popups to
look their best with the proper font.
2. Notice the period that I use to begin each line with. Pirch will start each line right
after your name, ignoring any spaces you have, unless you do one of two things. The first
would be to use Alt-0160 for the first and every subsequent space you want until your first
character, after it the spacebar works. Or, you can start off with a . (period) or other not
noticeable character and use the spacebar throughout.
3. A generally excepted rule is that popups should not be more than 4-5 lines. People start
to consider it flooding after that. Also if you are using a large resolution what may only be
5 lines to you may be 10 to someone using 640-480.



One last thing, if you want to reference someone's name using $$1, or any other characteristic
like, $time, #, $Date, etc., in these type of multi-line popups, it must be done in the first 
line like in the Rabbit example. Anything like that displaed from the text file will not 
be converted.

Have fun making those multiline popups. A source I use for popups, other than "borrowing"
them is to go to http://home.sol.no/kseide/Ascii/index.html. That site and its threads 
are a good source of native ASCII files that can be colorized.

Here are the attributes codes:
\-2 = BOLD or use ctrl-b;
\-22 = Italics or use ctrl-i;
\-31 = Underlined or use ctrl-u; (if no color is specified this will be medium blue)
\-3 = Color or use ctrk-k;
\-17 = is for Pitched Fix Font (Courier) or use Ctrl-F
\-18 = is for the Symbol Font or use Ctrl-S 

The color codes are as follows:

0=White, 1=Black, 2=Navy, 3=Green, 4=Red, 5=Maroon, 6=Purple, 7=Olive, 8=Yellow, 9=Lime,
10=Teal, 11=Aqua, 12=Blue, 13=Fuchsia, 1=Gray, and 15=Silver.

And They  Can Be Combined !!!

The latter is for at the command line which is how you will have to do it to put in Text Files.

You may also give a popup a background by doing \-3 color number comma color number (\-3 10,8) then a message. The first number is for the letter and the second is for the background.
