SkinnyBot Plugins :: The Wonderful World Of Skinnybrown

SkinnyBot is designed to be easily customisable, with it's dynamic plugin structure. Although you can download plugins from this website, you still won't have a truly unique bot, as anybody can download the same plugins. If you want your bot to have it's own unique personality, then you should have a go at writing your own plugns.

What you need

SkinnyBot installed and configured. Instructions can be found on the main SkinnyBot page
JDK 1.4 or above. You can find this at java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.1/download.html. Remember, you must have the JDK (or SDK, they are the same thing) in order to write plugins, the JRE doesn't have the tools that you will need.
A text editor or a Java IDE (I recommend BlueJ)
A basic knowlegdge of Java. Please note that I said "Java" and not "JavaScript". The only similarities between Java and JavaScript are the first four letters of their names.

This tutorial assumes that you understand the basics of Java syntax, and how to compile classes. It is also assumed that you have access to an IRC client and server.

You may find it helpful to refer to the SkinnyBot API, particularly the Plugin class in the skinnybot.plugin package. If you would rather use a local copy of the documentation, you will find it in the docs subdirectory of your SkinnyBot install.

Before we start

You have two choices; you can either work in the SkinnyBot directories, or work in your own directory somewhere else. If you choose to work in the SkinnyBot directories, things are simpler, but you have to make sure you don't accidentally delete something you shouldn't. If you choose to work somewhere else, you will have to add the SkinnyBot directories to your classpath, and you will have to copy your plugins over every time you want to test them. This is a little more effort, but gives you some peace of mind that you won't interfere with what's already there. It's up to you.

If you are working in the SkinnyBot directories, then you should save and compile your .java files in the "skinnybot\plugin" directory.

If you are working in your own directory, then you need to add the directory that contains the "skinnybot" directory to your classpath. For example, if you have installed SkinnyBot to "C:\SkinnyBot", then "C:\SkinnyBot" will contain a directory called "skinnybot" which contains directories called "plugin", "resources" and "gui". You must add the directory that contains "skinnybot" to you classpath. In this case you want to add "C:\SkinnyBot". If you are unsure how to do this, then have a look at Modifiying your Classpath. Once you have compiled a plugin and wish to test it, you need to copy the .class file to the plugn directory, which in the above example is "C:\SkinnyBot\skinnybot\plugin".

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