Java and IRC

Making a Java IRC Bot With

The PircBot Framework

Copyright Paul Mutton, http://www.jibble.org/pircbot.php 1

What Is IRC?
 IRC stands for “Internet Relay Chat”
 Created by Jarkko Oikarinen in 1988
and still growing in popularity
 An IRC server allows people to chat in
channels (rooms or groups), or
privately
 People from all over the world can use
it
 IRC servers can be joined together to
provide vast networks with thousands
Copyright Paul Mutton, http://www.jibble.org/pircbot.php 2
Using IRC
 A user runs a client program to
connect to the IRC server
 The client program allows you to send
and receive messages to and from
other users
 Some popular IRC clients are: -
 mIRC
 BitchX
 xchat
Copyright Paul Mutton, http://www.jibble.org/pircbot.php 3
Nicks, Channels and
Operators
 Each user must have a unique
nickname
 Commonly referred to as a “nick”
 Must not contain certain characters, e.g.
spaces
 Channel names must start with # or &
 Some users may be channel operators
 Can kick other users out of their channel
 Can “op” and “deop” other users in the
channel Copyright Paul Mutton, http://www.jibble.org/pircbot.php 4
IRC Protocol
 The IRC protocol is text-based
 RFC 1459 defines how messages are
sent from client to server and server to
client
 TCP sockets are used for connecting
 Some IRC servers will support extra
commands that are not in RFC 1459
 The protocol is asynchronous in nature

Copyright Paul Mutton, http://www.jibble.org/pircbot.php 5

What Is an IRC Bot?
 Bot is short for “robot”
 An IRC Bot is a special type of IRC client
 Does not require a human user
 Often responds automatically to certain
events
 One analogy is to think of an IRC Bot as
a normal IRC client, but where the
human user has been replaced by a
program!
Copyright Paul Mutton, http://www.jibble.org/pircbot.php 6
What Can IRC Bots Do?
 Tell people what the time is
 Pass messages on to other users
 Display information from TV listings
 Perform simple mathematics
 Send and receive files
 Monitor channels to generate statistics
 ... anything you want!

Copyright Paul Mutton, http://www.jibble.org/pircbot.php 7

Using Bots Sensibly
 Never annoy other users with your Bot
 Only place your Bot in channels where
it may be of use or amusement
 Bots should only speak when spoken
to!
 Make the purpose of your Bot clear
 Make it clear that you own your Bot
 Never try to pretend that it’s not a Bot!

Copyright Paul Mutton, http://www.jibble.org/pircbot.php 8

What is PircBot?
 A framework for writing IRC Bots with
Java
 Simplifies the task of writing an IRC Bot
 No need to worry about the underlying
protocol
 Very simple Bots can be written within
minutes!
 Event-driven architecture
 Can make a Bot that responds to certain
events
Copyright Paul Mutton, http://www.jibble.org/pircbot.php 9
Where Can I Download
PircBot?
 The PircBot homepage
 http://www.jibble.org/pircbot.php
• Documentation
• changelog
• PircBot FAQ
• Examples of some Bots that use PircBot
 Download the zip file
 Contains a file named pircbot.jar
 Also contains a directory full of
documentation
Copyright Paul Mutton, http://www.jibble.org/pircbot.php 10
Extending PircBot
 To use PircBot, you must import its
package
 import org.jibble.pircbot.*;
 PircBot is an abstract class
 You cannot instantiate it
 You must extend it and inherit its
functionality
 You can override some of the methods in
the PircBot class to respond to certain
events
Copyright Paul Mutton, http://www.jibble.org/pircbot.php 11
An Example: SimpleBot

import org.jibble.pircbot.*;

public class SimpleBot extends PircBot {

public SimpleBot() {
setName(“SimpleBot”);
}
}

Copyright Paul Mutton, http://www.jibble.org/pircbot.php 12

Connecting To an IRC Server
public static void main(String[] args) {
SimpleBot bot = new SimpleBot();
bot.setVerbose(true);
try {
bot.connect(“compsoc1.ukc.ac.uk”);
}
catch (Exception e) {
System.out.println(“Can’t connect: ” + e);
return;
}
bot.joinChannel(“#bots”);
}

Copyright Paul Mutton, http://www.jibble.org/pircbot.php 13

Some Notes About SimpleBot
 SimpleBot.java
 The setName method is inherited from the
PircBot class and sets the nick that will be
used when the Bot joins an IRC server
 Connecting to an IRC server
 setVerbose(true) causes everything to be
printed out as it arrives from the IRC server
 Each method in the PircBot class is fully
described in the provided API
documentation
Copyright Paul Mutton, http://www.jibble.org/pircbot.php 14
Making SimpleBot Tell the
Time
 In your SimpleBot class, override the
onMessage method: -
public void onMessage(String channel, String sender,
String login, String hostname,
String message) {

if (message.equalsIgnoreCase(“time”)) {
String time = new java.util.Date().toString();
sendMessage(channel, sender + “: ” + time);
}

Copyright Paul Mutton, http://www.jibble.org/pircbot.php 15

Running Your IRC Bot
 pircbot.jar contains the classes for
PircBot
 Add this file to your classpath when you
compile or run your IRC Bot manually,
e.g.

javac –classpath pircbot.jar;. *.java

java –classpath pircbot.jar;. SimpleBot

 Note: Unix users should use “:” instead16

Copyright Paul Mutton, http://www.jibble.org/pircbot.php
Other Built-in PircBot
Features
 DCC send/receive files
 DCC chat
 Coloured messages
 Maintain lists of joined channels and
users
 List all channels on a server
 Many event-driven methods that may
be overridden
 onConnect, onDisconnect, onJoin, onOp,
etc. Copyright Paul Mutton, http://www.jibble.org/pircbot.php 17
Rejoining a Channel When
Kicked
public void onKick(String channel, String kickerNick,
String login, String hostname,
String recipientNick, String reason) {

if (recipientNick.equalsIgnoreCase(getNick())) {
joinChannel(channel);
}

}
 Note that we only attempt to rejoin the
channel if it was us that was kicked

Copyright Paul Mutton, http://www.jibble.org/pircbot.php 18

Reconnecting to an IRC
Server
public void onDisconnect() {

while (!isConnected()) {
try {
reconnect();
}
catch (Exception e) {
// Couldn’t reconnect.
// Pause for a short while before retrying?
}
}

}
Copyright Paul Mutton, http://www.jibble.org/pircbot.php 19
PircBot Ident Server
 Some IRC servers require you to
connect from a machine that runs an
Ident Server
 PircBot can emulate the functionality of
an Ident Server if you do not already
run one
 Provides the IRC server with your Bot’s
login when it asks for it

bot.startIdentServer();
Copyright Paul Mutton, http://www.jibble.org/pircbot.php 20
PircBot Flood Protection
 Some IRC servers disconnect clients
that send too many messages too
quickly.
 PircBot queues most outgoing
messages.
 Queued messages are sent with a small
delay between them to prevent
“flooding”
 You can get the current size of this
queue by calling the 21
Copyright Paul Mutton, http://www.jibble.org/pircbot.php
Colors and Formatting
Examples
String chan = “#bots”;

sendMessage(chan, Colors.BOLD + “Hello!”);

Hello!

sendMessage(chan, Colors.RED + “Red text”);

Red text

sendMessage(chan, Colors.BLUE + “Blue text”);

Blue text

Copyright Paul Mutton, http://www.jibble.org/pircbot.php 22

Further Text Formatting

sendMessage(chan, Colors.BOLD + Colors.RED +

“Bold and red”);
Bold and red

sendMessage(chan, Colors.BLUE + “Blue “ +

Colors.NORMAL + “normal”);
Blue normal

Copyright Paul Mutton, http://www.jibble.org/pircbot.php 23

DCC Send File
File file = new File(“c:/stuff/elvis.mp3”);
String nick = “Dave”;
int timeout = 120000;

dccSendFile(file, nick, timeout);

 Target client must be able to establish

a TCP connection to your Bot to receive
the file

Copyright Paul Mutton, http://www.jibble.org/pircbot.php 24

User List Example
 onUserList is called after we join a
channel
 This example overrides the onUserList
method and simply prints out each nick

public void onUserList(String channel, User[] users) {

for (int i = 0; i < users.length; i++) {
User user = users[i];
String nick = user.getNick();
System.out.println(nick);
}
} Copyright Paul Mutton, http://www.jibble.org/pircbot.php 25
Multiple Server Support in
PircBot
 An individual instance of a subclass of
PircBot can only join one IRC server at a
time
 Multiple server support can be achieved
by creating multiple instances
 Create a class to control a Collection of
PircBot objects and allow them to interact

Copyright Paul Mutton, http://www.jibble.org/pircbot.php 26

IRC Bots Based On PircBot (1)
 ComicBot
 Creates comic strips out of things that
people say

Copyright Paul Mutton, http://www.jibble.org/pircbot.php 27

IRC Bots Based On PircBot (2)
 Monty
 The first ever PircBot!
 ‘Learns’ from what it sees other people
saying
 Dictionary and thesaurus lookup feature
 Can remind people to do things after a set
time
 Shows TV schedule listings
 Performs google searches
 Calculates results of mathematical
28
expressions
Copyright Paul Mutton, http://www.jibble.org/pircbot.php
IRC Bots Based On PircBot (3)
 SocialNetworkBot
 Attempts to produce graphical
representations of “who talks to who” on
IRC channels

Copyright Paul Mutton, http://www.jibble.org/pircbot.php 29

An IRC Client Based On
PircBot
 ScreenIRC
 IRC client with a Swing GUI
 Can be ‘detached’ from a server and
reconnected without appearing to have
ever left

Copyright Paul Mutton, http://www.jibble.org/pircbot.php 30

Final Words...
 If you want to make your own IRC Bot
that uses PircBot, then remember that
these slides only provide a briefest
glimpse into what you may need to
know
 Refer to the API documentation that is
included inside the zip file
 A good starting place is to read the
documentation for the PircBot class
Copyright Paul Mutton, http://www.jibble.org/pircbot.php 31