Can the window size be auto-adjusted in Lion?

Hi,

Kent Sutherland that write Chax has a Contact link on the Chax Page (top right).

It is worthwhile asking him if he is writing an update. (I have heard that he often responds to people who email him)

I know of no other Add-ons that will do this.

9:15 PM Sunday; September 25, 2011

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb( 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

Hi,

It is unusual for him not to respond.

Having said that in previous versions Updates to work with the latest OS have been released not long after the actual OS Upgrade and, based on that, he would seem to be running late as it were.

I am not sure that there is anything to suggest.

You could try AppleScript.

9:53 PM Sunday; September 25, 2011

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb( 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

Hi,

I opened Applescript Editor and then the Dictionary (File Menu) for iChat.

I can see various things about the windows that AppleScript is supposed to be able to manipulate.

At this point I don't know enough about AppleScript to proceed.

3:48 PM Monday; September 26, 2011

Please, if posting Logs, do not post any Log info after the line "Binary Images for iChat"

 G4/1GhzDual MDD (Leopard 10.5.8)
 MacBookPro 2Gb( 10.6.8)
 Mac OS X (10.6.8),
"Limit the Logs to the Bits above Binary Images."  No, Seriously

you can do this with AppleScript and login/logout events in the preferences window of iChat.

tell application "iChat"

set zoomed of window "iChat Buddies" to true

end tell

You may need to add a delay, and it may slow down iChat.

I stumbled upon the exact same problem and went on to write a script.

I published it here:

http://tiagodovale.deviantart.com/art/Chax-alternative-for-iChat-Growl-and-Auto- Resize-284084652

You'll have to edit the script and repeat (once for every service) it so it mentions all of your Buddy List windows by name.

While at that, you can specify the fixed width you'd like (I've set it at 190, the minimum). 🙂

Finally, of course, you'll have to assign the script to the "Buddy Became Available" and "Buddy Became Unavailable" events, on the "Alerts" tab of iChat's preferences.

The script is quite commented, I think you'll manage well.

I placed there a version with Growl notificarions, too.

Cheers!!

Those are great news 🙂 Thanks!!

(If you went for the "x2" it should adjust the width of the window to the largest of your buddy's names and status messages combiantion, but only if it excedes those 190 pixel of width -iChat's minimum.)

I wrote a script that did just this before this thread was created - I called it iChat+. My script automatically calculates the windows width before it resizes so the width remains the same after a resize... none of the funky variable addition stuff, becuase in my opinion it should "just work". Please, feel free to take a look at the code on pastebin, use it at your will to modify or roll your own solution. The code is not well commented, and does not come with any documentation. (Although the variable names should be fairly self explanitory)

PLEASE NOTE: There is a reason I never released this code - it doesn't "just work".

To elaborate, I use iChat's Jabber feature to connect with Facebook chat. This is the only thing I use iChat for. It appears that Facebook's chat solution sends login and logout status updates at regular intervals, meaning that when Facebook pushes this info to iChat you will get multiple buddies logging in and out simulatenously. When the script executes, AppleScript will hijack iChat and will not allow you to execute other functions while the AppleScript is executing. In short, you cannot send messages (or perform any other function) momentarily while buddies are logging in or out.

This issue is less visible when only one buddy logs in or out at a time.

This is not a problem with the script, it is an issue with Apple's implemenation of AppleScript within iChat and Facebook's use of Jabber. I have no doubt that this error will also occur with the script @tiagofromcoimbra posted above.

I'll look into it 🙂 Thanks!

Keep on checking that link: I'll be uploading updated versions always there's a fix or an upgrade!

Hi Joeyhoer!

I took a loot at your script: it's junny to see how we approched the same problem with a similar strategy and wrote it in such a different way 🙂 I'm quite fond of how you worked those bounds: I'm gonna try it myself and see how it pans out!

A big part of the problem you mentioned is the delay we both set for when a buddy became available: it will be 0.4 seconds multiplied by how many contacts you have, in your case. I'm working with 0.1 seconds: this makes that sporadic thing with facebook hardly noticeable.

Right now I'm testing no delay at all: I can't notice any effect, for now...

Can't get rid of the "unavailable" delay, though (unless we'd turn off the animations).

You could add an "if" so that it doesn't try to zoom an already zoomed window (it would "unzoom" it): this happens a lot with meta contacts: there's a logout event but the buddy stays online on any of its other services, for instance).