hotComm User Guide

User Guide
Document number: hc.2.00.000.01
Copyright (c) 2001-2003 1stWorks Corporation. All rights reserved.

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Abbreviations

To define a set of abbreviations that expand automatically, select the AE button from the Middle Toolbar. This opens the Abbreviation Expansion panel.

The abbreviation expansion feature can save you from repeatedly typing, recording, or finding frequently sent phrases and files.

You can create abbreviations that expand into other actions when you post a message containing the abbreviation:

Expand automatically into a full word, phrase, sentence, or other text string.
Include a lineEnder emoticon.
Play an audio message recorded by you. (Note: your microphone must be on in order to record.)
Play a WAV file.
Display a web page (URL) or send a file.
Take a poll of session participants and display results to you privately or to the entire group. See Voting Poll.

For example, an abbreviation might be "G1", which could expand to "Good morning, how can I help you?".

Edit Abbreviation

To create an abbreviation:

Click on <new entry> in the Abbreviation column and enter the abbreviation you want.
Find the new abbreviation in the abbreviation list and highlight it.

In the Expansion area, enter or select the material you want to send.

One abbreviation can include one message, one lineEnder emoticon, one audio recording (recorded message or WAV file) and one URL or file.

Text message

In Message, type the text of your message.

To enter a text expansion that displays on multiple lines, use carriage returns as you type. Or, type \n where you want the line to break (for example: line1/nline2).

To end the message with a lineEnder emoticon, select one from the menu. This is an example message that ends with an emoticon:

Audio Message or WAV File

	To record a message, press the Microphone button and hold it while you record the message. When you are finished recording, release the button.
	To select an audio file, click the WAV file button. Then, navigate to find the file and select it.
	To listen to the sound, click the Sounds button (Ear).
	To remove a sound from the expansion, click the Remove Sounds button (Ear).

Recommendation: always include a text expansion when you create a sound expansion, so that anyone without sound knows that you are trying to send audio to them.

Note: you cannot record, listen to or remove sounds while you are in a hotComm session. However, text string entries can be created and edited during a session.

hotComm saves your audio message as a .AU file. hotComm makes a copy of any audio file you select and saves the copy as a .AU file.

At this time, the only supported audio file format is .WAV.

Website (URL) or File

Website: To display a website, type the address of the website in the URL or File area. Include the entire URL, including the protocol portion, such as "http://". Example: http://www.hotcomm.com

File: To send a file, type the location of the file you want to send, or use the Browse button to find the file on your computer. Note: hotComm stores the file location. If you move or rename the file, it will no longer be available to the abbreviation. Example: C:\Program Files\1stWorks\hotComm\ReadMeFirst.txt

lineEnder Emoticons

To send a lineEnder Emoticon, select one from the lineEnder menu. You can send a lineEnder Emoticon by itself, at the end of a text message, or with audio recordings. You cannot include a lineEnder Emoticon in a Voting Poll.

Voting Poll

See Voting Poll.

Click OK to save.

To modify abbreviations:

To change an abbreviation or expansion, click on it and edit it.
To delete an abbreviation or expansion, click on it and press the Delete key on your keyboard.
To listen to a sound, click the abbreviation or the expansion and then click the Sounds button (Ear).
To remove a sound from an expansion, click the abbreviation or expansion and then click the Remove Sound button (Ear with red X).

Abbreviations (Audio)

Recordings that you create as abbreviations, through the AE window, are stored as .AU files.

Recordings that you want to import into an AE must be .WAV files, in PCM format.

There are several different formats for WAV files. For AE recordings, hotComm Supports PCM WAV format, preferably in 8.0 kHz, 8 bit, Mono.

If the WAV file you want to use is not in PCM format, you can convert it from its current format to PCM.

One way to convert WAV files from one format to another is by using Windows Sound Recorder.

Open Windows Sound Recorder. To open this in Windows XP, select Windows Start menu, then All Programs, then Accessories, then Entertainment, then Sound Recorder.
From the Sound Recorder File menu, open the WAV file that you want to convert, and then select Save As.
In the Save As window, click the Change button. This opens the Sound Selection window.

In the Sound Selection window, select PCM as the format, 8.0 kHz, 8 bit, Mono as the attributes, and click OK.
In the Save As window, enter a name for the file that you are about to saave, and click Save.

If Windows Sound Recorder is not available, see 1stWorks Support for alternatives.

Use Abbreviations

To use a text string or audio file abbreviation, type the abbreviation as a word into your Message Entry Panel. To use a recorded audio message abbreviation, make sure that your microphone is on, and then type the abbreviation into the Message Entry Panel.

Examples

Some examples of abbreviations and expansions are:

Use	Abbreviation	Expansion
Shortcut	xc	except
Spelling error	teh	the
Message code	G1	Good morning. How may I assist you?
Multi-line message code	S1	J. SalesRep /n 1stWorks Corporation This displays as: J. Salesrep 1stWorks Corporation
Recorded message	Tnx	(text display) Thank you for calling!

Standard AEs

These abbreviations appear when certain events occur.

Joining Events These events occur when peers join a session or Room. To use them, add them to your AE list with your own messages. Note: If there are multiple Panel Peers with ttjoin messages in a Room, multiple messages are sent.
AE	Event
ttfull	Someone attempts to join a Content Relay Room that is full (maximum number of connections has been reached.)
ttjoinh	Welcome message to hotComm clients
ttjoinj	Welcome message to Java clients
ttjoinl	Welcome message to hotComm Lite clients
Clock count down events These events are used in Pay-Per-View applications. The default text is shown. You can replace the quoted string with your own AE message. nMin is the number of minutes. mm/dd/yy hh:mm:ss is the date and time stamp.
AE	Default message
tt0	mm/dd/yy hh:mm:ssPM - nMin "Minute(s) remaining..."
tt1	mm/dd/yy hh:mm:ssPM - "Sorry, your time has expired!"
tt2	mm/dd/yy hh:mm:ssPM - nMin "Minute(s) remaining when Clock is started...\n"
tt3	mm/dd/yy hh:mm:ssPM - nMin "Minute(s) remaining when Clock is stopped..."
tt4	mm/dd/yy hh:mm:ssPM - nMin "Free minute(s) added to the clock!"
tt5	mm/dd/yy hh:mm:ssPM - "1 Minute Tip received - Thank You!"

Abbreviation files

The abbreviation files are:

Filename	Folder	Description
ABBREXP.HCA	hotComm/USR	Abbreviations and text string expansions. All abbreviations are included, regardless of the type of expansions.
<abbreviation>.hcv	hotComm/USR	Recorded audio messages and audio files in proprietary hotComm format, where <abbreviation> is the abbreviation with which the message is associated. hotComm uses the .hcv format when sending sounds to other hotComm peers.
<abbreviation>.AU	hotComm/WEB/AU	Recorded audio messages and audio files in standard .WAV file format, where <abbreviation> is the abbreviation with which the message is associated. hotComm uses the .AU (WAV) format when sending sounds to IM-Live Java peers. Because the .AU files are in standard .WAV format, you can play them directly with Windows Media Player or other sound playback programs.

Note: The abbreviation files can be copied from one installation to another.