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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Ichat Autostart

timrand - Mar 22, 2005 - 3:10 pm

I would like to have iChat active when I login (I use Fast User Switching) but not start the iChat application. I see that the InstantMessage.Framework/iChatAgent runs but it doesn't automatically activate iChat.

Certainly I could write an AppleScript to launch and then quit iChat, but that's an ugly solution as well.

Thanks

bobw - Mar 22, 2005 - 3:28 pm

Hi Tim

You want iChat active, but not have iChat running? If iChat was active, it would be running. If you want it to start then quit, you would need an Applescript.

You can put iChat in your Startup items to launch it.

Bob Wood
http://www.macosx.com

timrand - Mar 22, 2005 - 3:50 pm

That's not quite my question.

When you have the iChat bubble in your menu bar, you can select it and activate your iChat account without actually starting the iChat application. (see iChat Preferences, "Show Status in Menu Bar")

This activates your account. Others see you active and your system can accept chats, etc. However, activating your account does NOT start the iChat application. It isn't "triangled" in the dock, you can't CMD-TAB to it, etc. Yet, others can IM you. When they do, THEN the iChat application starts up.

My goal is to activate iChat in this manner (that is without starting the iChat application) upon my login to the machine.

bobw - Mar 22, 2005 - 4:18 pm

Tim

Now I see what you mean.

If you set the Preferences to show the bubble, quit iChat and restart or log out and back in, the bubble will be in the Menu Bar, and iChat won't be running.

I just tried it on a 10.3.8 system and it works for me.

Bob Wood
http://www.macosx.com

timrand - Mar 22, 2005 - 4:49 pm

Bob,

Thanks for your dilligent followup, however I must be miscommunicating here. A bit more detail might help.

I desire to login and have myself automagically attached to the IM network, without iChat starting.

I want the bubble to be "black" indicating that I have logged in to the IM network (AIM or .MAC, whatever). I don't want to pick it and select that I want it active. I don't want to start iChat only to quit it (an ugly mechanism that would do this).

I tried setting /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/InstantMessage.Framework/iChatAgent as a startup item, but that didn't do it.

I tried looking at plist files for iChatAgent but can't see anything there.

Thanks

bobw - Mar 22, 2005 - 5:29 pm

Tim

I doug around in iChat's package and preference and haven't seen any way of doing this.

I also did a bit of Googling to see if I could find anything.

I'll put this back in New Questions so other techs can look at it.

Bob Wood
http://www.macosx.com

timrand - Mar 22, 2005 - 5:54 pm

Thanks. I had already done the googling and reviewed the packages before I posted the Q. Perhaps someone else can help.

jimed - Mar 22, 2005 - 8:36 pm

Hello Tim,

The only way I could find to this this was the "ugly" way you mentioned with Apple Script.

tell application "iChat"
activate
quit
end tell

As you said it is a bit ugly but it does seem to work.

timrand - Mar 23, 2005 - 9:35 am

Thanks Jimed E.

I had already done that, but its ugly, slow and not entirely reliable. It may be a timing thing, but it doesn't seem to work at login every time... and the application switches on login are bothersome.

Not the solution I seek.

jimed - Mar 23, 2005 - 9:48 am

Tim,

I believe what you are attempting is not as easy as launching the iChatAgent. In my test, the Agent did launch if it is in the startup items but the status did not change to online. (Just using the iChat 'bubble' menu seemed to start the iChatAgent.) It appears to me that iChat is changing the status to available not iChatAgent so this is a two step process.

I also can not locate a way to tell the iChatAgent to go online with AppleScript. The only way I could accomplish what I believe you are after is the previous AppleScript, complied as an application and selected as a startup item or, iChat as a startup item and hidden.

I'm sorry we have not found a simple way to accomplish your objective, would you like me to put this back in the open items and let someone else try?

Hope this helped,

Jim

timrand - Mar 23, 2005 - 10:29 am

Thanks Jim... Yes, lets try to put it back in open items.

By the way... I even went so far as to see if iChatAgent had an AppleScript dictionary which would let me program it... but no such luck.

jimed - Mar 23, 2005 - 10:37 am

You have an interesting question here and I hopefully someone else can jump in here and educate both of us.

ScottW - Mar 25, 2005 - 1:26 am

Tim,

I spent quite awhile yesterday researching this issue for you. I even downloaded some utilties that claim to do what you request, but they didn't work for me. Since no one has responded to this issue nor appears they will, I decided to offer what I found out.

It appears there is not way to force iChatAgent into doing what you want to do. One application ($7 shareware fee) is a system preferences panel that allows you to say, LOG ME IN when you login. I downloaded it, and it didn't work. But I got to thinking later, I didn't reboot, so maybe that was the case.

StatusQuo: http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/25757

Give that a try and see if it works for you. $7 isn't bad, although the author appears to be having a conflict of his own with charging a fee.

There were some other various scripts and what not that might have done the same trick, but I didn't go that far, cause I know you where trying to stay away from scripts.


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Scott - MacOSX.com Tech Support

timrand - Mar 28, 2005 - 9:38 am

Thanks Scott,

I was on a long Easter weekend vacation or I would have responded earlier. Your research parallels mine. This is an interesting problem. Perhaps Apple will pick it up and make a new Preference item to make it work the way we want.

Tim