Currently, add-ons are disconnected when ChatProtocol::Shutdown() is
called, which the add-on can do by itself― but there is no standard way
for add-ons to notify the app about their Shutdown. Because of this,
they tend to not call Shutdown()― instead (as in the case of the Jabber
add-on), they display a BAlert (IM_ERROR) notifying the user of the
connection error, but the account is considered active by Cardie (and
its threads are still existant, including its ProtocolLooper).
Zombies are bad, so this is redesigned somewhat with this commit:
Protocols should no longer call ChatProtocol::Shutdown() themselves,
they must send an IM_MESSAGE of IM_PROTOCOL_DISABLE to the app.
This will delete its ProtocolLooper, which in turn will send a
notification to the user and delete the ChatProtocol, and so
calling ChatProtocol::Shutdown().
In the included protocols, an IM_ERROR is sent right before
IM_PROTOCOL_DISABLE is sent if due to a connection error. This is not
required, but it is courteous to inform your user about the "why." :)
Now the purple add-on's starting to come together with a clear
structure:
* Add-on sends IM_MESSAGES etc to the server for processing
* Server sends all (reply/etc) messages to add-on, which sends
to app
It's worth noting that on the add-on's side, no looper or handler is
used for receiving messages, it's all through sending serialized
BMessages to the add-on's connect_thread buffer.
PurpleAccounts are now reliably associated with Cardie's account names
and the thread ID of their respective connect_thread.
The GLib main-loop is gone over regularly thanks to a message runner.
Now, the add-on can log into/create accounts, connect to them, and send
the IM_PROTOCOL_READY notification to Cardie as appropriate.
The libpurple add-on has been split into two parts― a background process
that will actually interface with libpurple, and an add-on that acts as
intermediary between Cardie and the process. This helps prevent
redundancy, and is giving me a lot less trouble that directly loading
libpurple.
The protocol amount and names are now returned by the add-on (through
protocol_count() and protocol_at() respectively)― you can see them in
Preferences' protocol list.
Jaidyn Ann