Configuring and running

There is a skype-bot project at github. It is written in Java and has support for simple functionality. You can clone it via:

git clone https://github.com/toomasr/skype-bot.git

The project is maven based and once you import the project into your favourite IDE that has maven support it should compile out of the box. Before we can actually run the project we need to make couple of adjustments. First make a copy of the project.properties file and make it personal.properties. Then change the username, password and pemfile attributes in the file. Make sure that the folder that has the pem file also has a der file that has the same name (except the extension of course).

Next lets build the project. It is sufficient to just issue a mvn install command. You will end up with a skype-bot-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar in the target folder. Before we can run that we need to start the runtime. See Running the Runtime from the previous post.

Now we are ready to start the bot. Issue a java -jar target/skype-bot-0.0.1-SNAPSHOT.jar. Now expecting that the Runtime is still running and that you updated the credentials in the personal.properties file you should see your need friend come online and you can start a chat.

The bot has the commands that he reacts to defined in the org.zeroturnaround.commands package. But for starters you can tell him “bot: time” and it will tell you the time.

Web Server

The bot also launches a web server on port 2500 that has defined handler on the url http://0.0.0.0:2500/post. You can send a POST message there with the parameters message=? and group=?. This will instruct the bot to issue the message to the group. The group is looked up from the bot’s list of groups that matches the Conversation.PROPERTY.displayname.

So what can we do with this? Most of the todays services have webhooks. For example GitHub has Service Hooks, FogBugz have Web Hooks and others have similar services. This means that you can register a web hook and when an event happens the bot will tell you over Skype (in a group chat for example).

What next?

This is up to you, hopefully you have a friendly bot. Make him tell you important information that you care about and don’t let him waste your time. Check back to the original article if I’ve added anything to the series.

Join the Skype Developer Program

A lot of necessary documentation and also software is behind a login screen at Skype Developer Program. You will need to join the program to continue and log in. This will cost you 10$. I personally don’t like the monetary fee for documentation and a SDK but I’m happy this is not 100$.

Now the biggest challenge has been conquered and you can also open up Skype’s own Getting Started Guide. That guide will go into more details with some of the next steps, so if you get stuck here be sure to check their documentation also.

Create a new project at Skype

Lets create a new project at the developer page. Navigate to My Projects submenu.There you can choose between multiple projects to create.

Right now you need to choose SkypeKit for Desktop. You can name the project something along the lines of chat-bot-demo and fill the rest of the form how ever you like (or they require). Now we have a project in place and we can move on.

Download the SDK and the Runtime

Navigate to your just created project and lets get the SDK and Runtime. SDK is the library (com.skype.*) that you will use to talk to the runtime (headless Skype client). The SDK you can download right away but for the Runtime you need to put in a request and it can take up to several hours to get the download link (usually just 5-10 minutes).

Build a sid-java-wrapper.jar file

The SDK comes in source format only, before we can continue we need to get this into a single JAR file and also install it in your local maven repository. To build it we need ANT to be installed (I presume you do). Issue the following commands now:

toomasr@cigar:~/$ cd skypekit-sdk_sdk/interfaces/skype/java/api/
toomasr@cigar:~/skypekit-sdk_sdk/interfaces/skype/java/api$ ant
Buildfile: ~/skypekit-sdk_sdk/interfaces/skype/java/api/build.xml
 
clean:
   [delete] Deleting directory ~/skypekit-sdk_sdk/interfaces/skype/java/api/bin
 
compile:
    [mkdir] Created dir: ~/skypekit-sdk_sdk/interfaces/skype/java/api/bin
    [javac] Compiling 36 source files to ~/skypekit-sdk_sdk/interfaces/skype/java/api/bin
 
jar:
      [jar] Building jar: ~/skypekit-sdk_sdk/interfaces/skype/java/api/sid-java-wrapper.jar
 
clean-build:
 
main:
 
BUILD SUCCESSFUL
Total time: 3 seconds

We have the sid-java-wrapper.jar file now in that api folder. For easier project setup we will be using maven (and probably for some of you shoot you in the foot as an added bonus). We will need to install the JAR file into our local repository. I will use com.skype as the groupId and skype-sdk as the artifactId. Issue the following command to do the same.

toomasr@cigar:~/$ cd ~/skypekit-sdk_sdk/interfaces/skype/java/api/
mvn install:install-file -Dfile=sid-java-wrapper.jar -DgroupId=com.skype -DartifactId=skype-sdk -Dversion=1.0 -Dpackaging=jar

Run the runtime

Just to check if the runtime starts lets unpack and start the binary. If everything goes successfully you should see something similar. On a Linux machine I had to download couple of different binaries before I got a client that did not die (at least on EC2).

toomasr@cigar:~/downloadss/mac-x86-skypekit-novideo_3.5.1.1041_493734/bin/mac-x86$ ./mac-x86-skypekit-novideo 
SkypeRuntime Copyright (C) 2003-2011 Skype Technologies S.A.
SkypeRuntime Version: 3.4.1/mac-x86-skypekit-novideo_3.5.1.1041_493734
Proprietary and confidential, do not share this application.

Development keypair

Next we need a development keypair. It is a signed RSA private key that you need to request from the Skype developer website. See the screenshot.

Once you have the file downloaded lets convert it to a format that is used by the Skype SDK. This is the openssl command for this. Be smarter than me and don’t accidentally overwrite the downloaded PEM file because they let you download it only once. The keypair is valid for 60 days!

openssl pkcs8 -topk8 -in download-pair.pem -outform DER -out downloaded-pair.der -nocrypt

Create a Skype account for the bot

Go to skype.com and create an account for you bot. Also add this bot to your friend list and log in once with the bot and accept the request.

Lets sum it up

By now we should have the following in place

• Have 10USD less on you bank account
• Skype Developer account
• A project created at Skype Developer page
• Working Skype Runtime
• Skype SDK jar file
• Development Keypair in PEM and DER format
• New contact on your contact list and its username/password

If you are missing any of those or had problems getting them then check out the more in depth documentation at developer.skype.com or post a comment.

Where to go from now? Check out the next part, Getting it Running.

The Plan

Image by Simon Abrams

The Skype bot needs a bit more work than your average IRC bot because of the proprietary nature of Skype. There is much clicking and downloading of certificate stuff to get you started for example. Also I want to show you how to put the bot into action, so we will go beyond just the bot.

Getting started

In this Part I – Getting Started we will go through the steps to get you started with the Skype developer program and download all the necessary software for the bot. The registration process, necessary accounts etc. Once you complete these steps you can develop any other bot out there.

Hacking on the Java part

In this Part II – Getting It Running we will take a Java Skype bot and get it running. It requires a little more than just compile and run so it has its own chapter.

We will also look into how to use this bot to notify about important information to Skype chat rooms.

And maybe something more

If everything went well then you have your own bot running now. There are many ways to go forward and improve the bot and the services. Lets see if we have time to cover those.

Hopefully next time that I have a dumb crazy idea I go have a beer instead.

Furious as we were, we managed to keep our manners and reached out (tried to at least) to the author of of jbrute.info and their hosting provider. Sadly, the only response we ever had other than SMTP MAIL CANNOT BE DELIVERED is a canned email instructing us how to write a formal DMCA takedown notice.

We then turned to starting a blog post and asking your help on what you would do in our shoes. As Karl Marx would put it, “the power of the people is strong”, and before long the community came up with a few nothing-less-than-brilliant ideas. (We are not Communists and are not related to the Tsars in anyway, I promise, even though our operational base in Central Estonia might lead you to think otherwise :P)

In particular, Joe Walnes pointed out that since jbrute.info hotlinks .php files and JavaScript from our website, by “check[ing] the HTTP_REFERER, [we] can conditionally change the contents, and with JavaScript [we] can make the page look however [we] want.”

Sadly, life got busy and almost three months suddenly went by, and this little incident was nearly forgotten. Last week, we stumbled upon JBrute once again… Finally we got around to acting on Joe’s advice and, in the most hackish fashion, decided to take it upon ourselves to deliver a truly custom “DMCA Takedown notice” over two glasses of beer. Here is a screenshot of the finished work :) We encourage you to check out jbrute.info (this time I linked :( ) for yourself.

Just to prove our point, we bring you the pseudo xkcd comic.

I hope you enjoyed our little mischief. We’ll keep you posted on the status of jbrute over the coming days following this post and we’ll follow up next week with the technical details – How to un-hack a website! Keep tuned :)

This is a story of a start-up built around the nerdiest glasses on earth. If you wonder why and how we’re doing it, how exactly will we make millions of dollars off of it then you’re in luck. We’re planning to document and publish everything on our website and we have just released the first in the series, Converting a pair of glasses into fame and fortune.

A spin-off is a new organization or entity formed by a split from a larger one, such as television series based on a pre-existing one, or a new company formed from a university research group or business incubator.

Moving is work, getting stuff into boxes, moving the boxes and getting the stuff out of the boxes. We were able to add a fun factor to the process. The evening before the move our team was having beers at a local bar and one thing lead to another and the next moment we were at the old office with a knife, pillow and 3 eggs and it was 1AM.

So in the middle of the night, at the office, 3 guys with the mentioned equipment and a plan! The plan was simple. Webmedia CEO’s name is Eagle (at least in the Estonian language) and what if we prep his office for a proper leaving. Stage it as birdies leaving the nest, feathers, egg-shells. Awesome plan from just 4 beers!

Pictures follow.

• The sign says ZeroTurnaround guys have left the nest. Thanks!
• Yeah, all the feathers come from a single pillow
• Yes, I’m missing a pillow
• Yes, we had to clean it up (well, just me, because everybody else supposedly had more important tasks at hand).

This year’s dow.ngra.de hoax, Microsoft acquires ZeroTurnaround for undisclosed amount has amused us even months later. Couple of weeks ago we spotted a Chinese article that listed all the acquisitions of Microsoft during the past year. And we made the list!

Today we found the news from a business systems news & analysis page, FSN.

FSN provides finance professionals around the globe with independent news, vital analysis and deep insight about key developments in the world of business and accounting systems. We debunk the technical jargon of the IT world and present leading-edge issues in a way that is accessible and relevant to business decision makers.

We’re in the article Shifting Sands (EDIT: link is dead now) with players like Salesforce, Digita, Google, Oracle, Microsoft and HP :)

A fact taken from a blog post on 1st of April, not confirmed from either parties and presented in an article with vital analysis and deep insight.

Of course there is an easy fix. Either Microsoft acquires the Java productivity tooling company ZeroTurnaround or FSN notices a referrer from this blog and makes changes. I’ll keep you posted on who wins the race.

PHB: Here we have the lines of code in the repository and the total size of the repository shown through time in gigabytes.

HR lady had a puzzled look at the graphs and the numbers.

HR: How much more of those can we fit in the repository?

Two years later when a new developer was about to join our ranks it got me thinking. On the morning of his arrival we placed a video camera in one of the laptop bags opened towards him. We inserted an OpenSolaris Live-CD (was not able to get Plan 9 to boot :( ) to his new PC.

The OS was booted in text mode and a user with his name added so that it would feel warm at ~ home. He was placed in a javarebel folder and a VIM sessions had just ended (in text mode you very often see the old contents of the session). The first 5 minutes at the new office follows.