About
HexPaste is a Python 3 plugin for HexChat that pastes files line by line on IRC, with a specific delay between lines. I wrote it for a channel where it's customary to paste poetry. It's similar to the mIRC /play command.
Installation and usage
To install, just put the script in the HexChat addons folder. You'll need HexChat 2.9.6+ with the Python 3 plugin. After installing you should see the following messages on startup:
Python interface loaded
HexPaste 2016.02.02 loadedThe usage is simple:
-
/hexpaste file path/to/file [speed]will paste the lines of that file in the current active channel/query. The default speed is 2500 milliseconds. -
/hexpaste stopwill stop pasting to the current active channel/query. After stopping, you can resume pasting with/hexpaste resume. -
/hexpaste helpwill show all the available parameters and a description.
That's it. Commands always refer to the current active window. HexPaste supports concurrent pastes to different channels/queries (even at different speeds). You can pause one and keep others pasting, etc... Information messages will be displayed on each operation, such as:
HexPaste: resumed pasting (N pending lines) to: channel - network.
When the original window that started the paste is no longer reachable, HexPaste
will auto-stop pasting lines. This makes it possible to continue pasting after
a network problem by joining the channel again and typing the command:
/hexpaste resume.
Portability and notes
All input/output is done using UTF-8. HexPaste accepts input files with a BOM signature (e.g. those created with the Windows notepad).
When pasting to multiple channels at once or using a small delay between lines
the timer may not be exact. This is due to network latency and to the net_throttle
setting in HexChat being active. Trying to paste faster would cause a disconnection
with an "Excess Flood" quit message.
Information and error messages are written to the current active window, regardless of the paste channel. Rationale: notice which pastes complete, even when talking in another channel/query.
Files are read entirely before pasting. Rationale: make sure pasting won't be interrupted with decoding or IO errors.
HexPaste is tested on Windows 7 and 8 and on Debian (both x86 and x86-64) using Python 3.3+ and HexChat 2.9.6+. Python 2.x is not supported.
Status
This program is finished!
HexPaste is feature-complete and has no known bugs. Unless issues are reported I plan no further development on it other than maintenance.
License
Like all my hobby projects, this is Free Software. See the Documentation folder for more information. No warranty though.