WormNet Snooper
Copyright © 1999 Team17 Software Ltd
Release V1.01
Documentation V1.1

So what is it, exactly?

WormNet Snooper is a cool utility to allow Worms Armageddon users to check who is online on WormNet at the current moment in time. It also allows you to message these users and launch the game. 

You can also set up the program to alert you when a particular user is online, email users and much more besides.

What do I need to run it?

You need an installed Worms Armageddon and an Internet connection.

That's cool, so how does it work?

When the program is run, it installs itself into the system tools tray on the bottom right of your Windows95/98 display (you can see that it's connected and working since the eyes will be looking around). 

Double click the icon and a view of WormNet current players will be displayed. You can send mail/messages to any of the users but you cannot view any of the normal channel chat, this must be done on WormNet itself (it also saves bandwidth on the server).

1.	Overview & Program Menu

Snooper Tray Icon
You will notice that your system tray (bottom right) has an icon that resembles a Worms face. When WormNet Snooper is connected to WormNet, the Worm’s eyes will be looking left and right. A Worm wearing shades indicates that WormNet Snooper is not currently connected to WormNet. 

Connecting to WormNet
After you have entered your nickname, WormNet Snooper will attempt to connect to WormNet. If this does not occur correctly, ensure that you have the game and ActiveX installed. (ActiveX is a part of Microsoft's DirectX Media and is installed when you install Worms Armageddon).

Opening the WormNet Snooper window
If you double click on the WormNet Snooper icon in the system tray, it will open-up the WormNet Snooper display, showing the current users online. See the Main Snooper Window section for more information.

Program Menu
If you right click on the WormNet Snooper icon in the system tray (or the menu bar of the WormNet Snooper display if viewing WormNet), it will offer you the program menu options. The following options are available: -

View WormNet - This is the same as double clicking the WormNet Snooper icon. This menu option is disabled if WormNet Snooper is not connected to WormNet. See the Main Snooper Window section for more information.

Address Book - This will display the Address Book window. See the Address Book section for more information.

Launch Worms Armageddon - This will launch Worms Armageddon. This option will be disabled if Worms Armageddon is not installed on your machine.

Note: While Worms Armageddon is running on your machine, WormNet Snooper will automatically disconnect from WormNet and reconnect when you exit Worms Armageddon.

Snooper Mail - This will display the Snooper Mail window. See the Snooper Mail section for more information.

Alert Mode - This will display another menu that will allow you to set the current Alert Mode. See the Alerts section for more information.

Preferences - This will display the Preferences window. See the Preferences section for more information.

About WormNet Snooper - This will display version number, copyright information etc. about WormNet Snooper.

Exit - This will close down and exit WormNet Snooper.

Always on top - This option will appear when you activate the menu by right clicking in the title bar of the main WormNet Snooper window. Activating this option means that the window will always appear on top of all other windows.

2.	Main Snooper Window
When in the player-list you are able to see all the players on WormNet and also those who are snooping (i.e. using WormNet Snooper to see who's around).

This window has a Snooper title bar. Right clicking on this bar will cause the main menu to appear. Clicking on the button at the right end of the title bar will close the Main Snooper Window, not the program itself which is done by selecting EXIT on the main menu.

The information bar displays the following information: -

Time - The current local time. (Holding the cursor over this will show the current 	GMT time)

Players - Displays the total number of players currently online.

Snoopers - Displays the total number of snoopers currently online.

Below the information bar is the main panel that displays a list of players or rooms depending on the currently display mode. There are three display modes, which give the following information: -

Player Mode - This mode displays the players and snoopers that are currently on WormNet. Snoopers are displayed in yellow whilst players are displayed in blue. The table columns display the following information: -

Flag - The flag of each player’s country is displayed in this column.

Rank - The icon of each player’s rank is displayed in this column.

Player Name - The WormNet nickname of each player is displayed in this column.

Channel - The channel that each player is in (or Lobby) is displayed in this column.

If you place the mouse cursor over a table entry, an ‘information tip’ will appear after a couple of seconds. This contains information about the player’s current rank and country of origin.

Note: WormNet Snooper must be activated (i.e. the current task) in order for an ‘information tip’ to appear.

If you right click on a table entry, you can perform the following actions on that player: -

Chat - This option will open a chat window to that player. For more information, see the Chat Window section.

Send Wait Message - This option will send a Wait message to the player telling him that you are about to join WormNet as a player. The Wait message is set in the Preferences window.

Send <Custom Message> - The Preferences window allows you set messages that you can quickly send to other players. Click one of the messages to send that message.

Add to Address Book… - This option allows you to add this player to your Snooper Address Book. If this player is already in your Address Book this option will appear as ‘View Address Book Entry…’ See the Address Book section for more information.

Channel Mode - This mode displays the channels that are currently available on WormNet. The table columns display the following information: -

Type - The icon of each channel is displayed in this column.

Channel - The name of each channel is displayed in this column.

Player # - The number of players in each channel is displayed in this column.

Log Mode - WormNet Snooper keeps a log of all the people that have appeared on WormNet. This mode displays the log entries. People that are currently connected to WormNet are displayed in green whilst those who are not currently connected are displayed in blue. The table columns display the following information: -

Flag - The flag of each player’s country is displayed in this column.

Rank - The icon of each player’s rank is displayed in this column.

Player Name - The WormNet nickname of each player is displayed in this column.

Time Logged - The last time each player appeared on WormNet is displayed in this column.

Note: Since WormNet Snooper does not dynamically refresh (i.e. it refreshes its list every so often to keep server access speedy) it is possible that some users are not listed in the log. 

Note: The log keeps a list of unique users and not copies of them, but will update the time as each user connects to WormNet.

If you place the mouse cursor over a table entry, an ‘information tip’ will appear after a couple of seconds. This contains information about the players current rank and country of origin.

Note: WormNet Snooper must be activated (i.e. the current task) in order for an ‘information tip’ to appear.

If you right click on a table entry, you can perform the following actions on that player: -

Chat - This option will open a chat window to that player. For more information, see the Chat Window section.

Send Wait Message - This option will send a Wait message to the player telling him that you are about to join WormNet as a player. The Wait message is set in the Preferences window. This option will be disabled if the user is not currently connected to WormNet. 

Send <Custom Message> - The Preferences window allows you set messages that you can quickly send to other players. Click one of the messages to send that message. These options will be disabled if the user is not currently connected to WormNet,

Add to Address Book… - This option allows you to add this player to your Snooper Address Book. If this player is already in your Address Book this option will appear as ‘View Address Book Entry…’ See the Address Book section for more information.

Clear Log - This option will clear the contents of the log.

Statistics… - This option will display information about the contents of the log such as the number of players from each country and of each rank that appear in the log.

Column Headers
Clicking on any of the column headers in any of the modes will cause the table to be sorted by that column. Clicking on the same header again will reverse the order in which the table is sorted. For instance, in Player Mode, you can sort the table in order of rank by clicking on the rank column header. Clicking on the same header again will sort by rank in reverse order.

Below the main panel is a set of buttons used to change the panel display. They are: -

Players - This button changes the display to Player Mode.

Channels - This button changes the display to Channel Mode.

Log - This button changes the display to Log Mode.

Refresh - WormNet Snooper automatically updates the display at regular periods. This button allows you to manually update the display. After this button has been pressed it will become disabled for a few seconds. This is to limit the amount of demand made on WormNet.

3.	Address Book
The address book contains a list of contacts that you have collected. It allows you to configure WormNet Snooper so that it will alert you when your contacts are on-line. You can configure WormNet Snooper to automatically accept or reject requests to chat from your contacts. The address book will also keep a track of when your contacts were last seen on WormNet.

Each contact has an alert icon and a sound effect that will be played when you are alerted that the player is on WormNet or you receive a request to chat from them. The address book window allows you to choose an icon and sound effect for each player.

The main display shows the contact list panel on the left and contact details on the right. 

The contact list panel allows you to add and remove contacts as well as create folders to organise your contacts into groups. You can drag and drop a contact from folder to folder using the mouse. The main functions of the contact list are accessed by right clicking on the panel, which will produce a popup menu. The functions on the popup menu are as follows: -

New Entry - Select this to create a new contact in your address book.

New Folder - Select this to create a new folder in your address book.
	
Open/Close - This option will only appear if you have right clicked on a folder to produce the popup menu. Selecting this option will open or close the folder, depending on whether it is currently open or closed.

Rename - This option will allow you to rename a folder or a contact.

Delete - This option will allow you to delete a folder or a contact.

Each entry in the address book stores the details of a contact. The following details are stored for each contact: -

Contact Name - This is the name of your contact and is displayed in the contact list window as well as in the title bar when you have a contact selected.

E-mail Address - The contact’s e-mail address. See the Snooper E-mail section for more information about the e-mail facility.

Notes - This entry allows you to make notes on each contact, such as game style or preferred strategies.

Last Seen - This entry is automatically filled in by Snooper and it records when this contact was last seen on WormNet.

Chat - This option allows you to set-up an automated response to a chat request from this contact. See the Chat Alert section for more information. The options are: -
Always Accept - A chat request from this contact is always accepted.

Always Reject - A chat request from this contact is always rejected.

Ask - Ask whether you wish to chat to this contact. This is the default option.

Alert - This option controls how WormNet Snooper will react to this contact appearing on WormNet. Depending on which option you set, it will inform you if this contact is on WormNet. See the Contact Alert section for more information. The options are: -

Always - Always alert when this contact is on WormNet.

Snooping - Alert if this player is on WormNet using WormNet Snooper.

WormNet - Alert if this player is on WormNet using Worms Armageddon.

Never - Never use an alert for this contact.

To the right of the address book window there is a panel that allows you to set an icon and sound effect for each contact. Clicking on the icon button produces a selection window that allows you to choose a ‘mugshot’ picture for this contact. 

You can add your own ‘mugshot’ pictures to the MugShots directory. They should be 64x64 pixel Windows .BMP files.

Below the icon button there are two buttons for setting and playing the contact sound effect. The function of these buttons are:-

Play - Play the sound effect.

Browse - Clicking on this button will open a window that will allow you to select a sound effect for this contact.

The sound effect can be any valid Windows .WAV file.

When you modify the details of a contact, the Apply button will become active. The modifications to the contact will not be saved unless you click on this button.

Clicking on the Close button will close the address book.

4.	Alerts
Alerts are the main reason we designed WormNet Snooper. We thought it would be cool to keep track of your favourite players and that it would be really cool if you got a little message when your friends are on-line, to save having to boot up the game every so often or arrange games via email etc.

There are two different types of ALERT: -

Chat Request
When another player wishes to chat with you, a chat request alert will appear on your screen. If the other player is in your address book, the alert will display the ‘mugshot’ picture of that you have chosen for them and it will play the selected sound effect for that contact. You can give one of three responses to a chat request alert by clicking on one of the buttons at the bottom of the alert window. These options are: -

Chat - This will open a chat window with the other player. See the Chat Window section for more information.

Send Away - This will send a message that says, ‘I’m sorry, but I cannot chat at the moment.’, to the other player. You can set your own away message from the Preferences window.

Ignore - Select this option to ignore the request to chat by sending no response back.

There is an automatic countdown on the chat alert that is set to 10 seconds by default (you can set your own value from the Preferences window). When this time has elapsed it will the alert will act as if you pressed the Send Away button and send the other player the ‘away’ message.

Contact On-line
A Contact On-line alert will appear when a contact from your Address Book appears on WormNet. See the Address Book section for more information about setting up alerts for contacts. You can give one of three responses to a contact alert by pressing on of the three buttons at the bottom of the alert window. These options are: -

Chat - This will open a chat window with the other player. See the Chat Window section for more information.

Send Wait - This will send a message that says ‘Please wait whilst I log onto WormNet’ to the other player. You can set your own wait message and make WormNet Snooper automatically launch Worms Armageddon from the Preferences window.

OK - Select this option to ignore the alert.

There is an automatic countdown on the contact alert that is set to 10 seconds by default (you can set your own value from the Preferences window). When this time has elapsed the alert will act as if you pressed the OK button and will ignore the alert.

Alert Mode
You can set three different modes that control the alerts from the main WormNet Snooper menu. These are: -

All Ears
This means you will accept all alerts, ranging from chat messages and mails from people on-line. This is the default setting.

Contacts
Show alerts from people in your Contact Book only. Useful if you want to limit who is alerting you, should you be a popular player.

Away
Ignore all Alerts for the time being. Useful if you are busy. This setting overrides the personal alert settings as depicted in your Address Book.

5.	Chat Window
The chat window appears when you chat to another person on WormNet. At the bottom of the window is a box for you to type in text to say to the other player. If you press the Talk button, this text will displayed in the top of the window indicating that you have spoken this text. It is also displayed on the other player’s chat window in the same way. This way you can speak to each other.

You can chat to anyone on WormNet by right clicking on their name in the main window and selecting chat. When you send your first message to the other player, they will see a chat request appear depending on their current settings. See the Address Book and Alerts section for more information.

You can have a maximum of 16 chat windows open at a time - so you can talk to 16 people, simultaneously.

When either player ends the conversation by pressing the Close button, the chat window will report that the other player has ended the conversation and will wait for you to close the window.

People on WormNet need to use the /msg <USERNAME> command to send a message in return, so be patient. (This is something we may improve in a future WA update - an auto-reply to private message).

6.	Mail Window
One of the features of WormNet Snooper, is the e-mail window. This allows you to send ordinary e-mails from within Snooper to anyone. You can even send e-mails to people from your address book, provided that you have filled out their e-mail address. See the Address Book section for more information.

The main e-mail window has panels for entering the name of the recipients of your e-mail in the standard To and Cc fields. Below these two panels is the Subject: panel in which you should enter the subject of your e-mail. When the e-mail is sent, you subject will start with ‘[Snooper]’ to show that the e-mail came from WormNet Snooper.

Below the subject panel is the main text panel. You should enter the text of your e-mail here.

In the top right of the e-mail window is the send button - with an appropriate Mail Strike! icon. Pressing this will send your e-mail.

The To and Cc have buttons next to them which will cause a contact picker window to open. This window allows you to open up folders in your Address Book and select a contact to be added to each field. You select a contact by either double-clicking in the contact list panel or selecting OK. 

7.	Preferences
	You can set various options for how WormNet Snooper operates in this window.

General Page
This page allows you to configure general options. These are:-

Confirm on deleting contact
Selecting this option will cause an alert box to appear whenever you delete a contact or a folder from your Address Book.

Confirm when launching game
Selecting this option will cause an alert box to appear when you launch Worms Armageddon from within WormNet Snooper.

Confirm on setting ‘Away’ alert mode
Selecting this option will cause an alert box to appear when you select the ‘Away’ alert mode.

Confirm on Exit
Selecting this option will cause an alert box to appear when you exit WormNet Snooper.

Open Snooper window on launch
Selecting this option will cause the main Snooper window to open when you first run WormNet Snooper.

Start-up Alert Mode
This option allows you to set the Alert Mode that WormNet Snooper is in when it is first loaded. See the Alerts section for more information on the Alert Mode.

Auto-Close
This option allows you to set the Alert messages to close automatically after a time delay. The default delay is 10 seconds. You can turn this feature on or off and also set a different time delay. The maximum delay allowed is 60 seconds.

E-mail Page
This page allows you to configure E-mail options. The options are: -

Name
Your name that you wish to make the e-mails from.

Reply Address
Your own e-mail address that you wish reply e-mails to come back to.

Outgoing mail (SMTP)
The is the IP Address of your outgoing mail server, e.g. mailgate.demon.co.uk. It must be an SMTP.

Confirm mail sent
Select this option to display a confirmation alert box when your e-mail has been sent.

Message Page
This page allows you to configure messages that you can quickly send to other players. The options are: -

Wait Message
You can quickly send a message to other players telling them to wait were they are while you start-up Worms Armageddon. You can replace this message with your own version.

Automatically launch game
Select this option to automatically start-up Worms Armageddon when you send a wait message to another player.

Away Message
When you select the ‘Away’ Alert Mode, all requests to chat with you are responded to with a standard message. You can replace this message with your own version

Custom Message 1/2/3
These are messages that you can quickly send to other players. You can replace these messages with your own versions.

Views Page
This page allows you to configure the Player List and Log views in the main Snooper window. For each view, you can select one of the following options: -

Show All
This will show all the players in each view.

Show Contacts only
This will show only the players in each view that are in your Address Book.

Show Players only
This will show only the players that are on WormNet and are not snooping.

Show Snoopers only
This will show only the players that are snooping on WormNet.

8.	Credits
	The following people were responsible for WormNet Snooper: -
	
	Martin Randall		Design & Development
	Sascha Kettler		Network Code Support 
	Phil Carlisle		Network Code Support
	Martyn Brown		Concept, Design & Documentation
	Paul Robinson		Graphics
	Paul Kilburn		Production Support

	WormNet Snooper is Copyright (C)1999 Team17 Software Ltd.
	It is an unsupported FREEWARE release.

9.	Legal Notices
	Whilst WormNet Snooper is a FREEWARE release, the code, concept and design is still	copyright Team17 Software Ltd. There are no distribution restrictions other than the 	program must contain only the files released in the full WormNet Snooper release (see the Team17 web site - worms.team17.com).

10.	Troubleshooting
	There really should not be any problems running WormNet Snooper, here are a few common mistakes and how they can be rectified;

	Connection Problems
	
	Cannot log onto Wormnet

		- The server may be down or not available; Check your net connection.
	
	Not Registered

		- You are not currently registered on Wormnet. Log on using Worms 				Armageddon and register your details.