Introduction

Thanks for taking an interest in DMDirc. This document will explain how to get DMDirc 0.1 up and running, how to use it, and what we plan to do in future versions. If you run into any problems, the authors can all be found in #DMDirc on quakenet (irc.quakenet.org).

Getting Started

To start using DMDirc 0.1, you will need to download and decompress the zip file available from the downloads page. As DMDirc is written in Java, you will also need a Java Runtime Environment (JRE), which can be downloaded from http://www.java.com. DMDirc requires that you have the 1.5.0 JRE or newer (also known as 5.0).

Once you have Java installed, and have extracted the DMDirc files from their zip file, you can start the client by executing the bash or shell script in the main directory (Windows users: double click on the batch file, Linux/Unix users: run the .sh script from a terminal). You can also run DMDirc from the command line, by issuing the command java -jar DMDirc.jar. The main DMDirc window should now be open.

Connecting to a server

To connect to a server, click on the File menu, and select 'New server'. Here you can enter a server name (or IP) and port, along with a password if the IRC server requires it. The default settings should connect you to a Quakenet IRC server - feel free to stop by #DMDirc and say hello to us!

When you click on OK, two windows will open - a server window, and a raw window. The server window will display messages from the server (such as the message of the day) in future versions, but at present it just tells you that you are connecting. The raw window shows the raw text that is being sent and received by the client. This allows advanced users to see messages or other data that is being received but not yet handled by the client.

Commands and Configuration

You may issue commands to DMDirc from any server, raw or channel window. Commands by default start with a / character. To view a list of commands that are applicable to the current window, you can type /help. To join a channel, you can issue the /join command in a server or raw window (or another channel window, if you have one open), for example /join #DMDirc will join the #DMDirc channel. Because there is an obvious shortage in commands in this initial release, you can also send commands directly to the server by typing them in the server or raw windows without the initial '/'. For example, to issue a whois for a user, you could type WHOIS MD87, or to change a channel topic, TOPIC #DMDirc :this is the new topic.

The DMDirc's configuration is stored in a file called dmdirc.xml, located in the '.DMDirc' directory in your home dir (for Linux users: /home/yourusername/ by default, and Windows XP users: C:\Documents and Settings\yourusername\ - note this is not the same folder as "My Documents", it is the parent folder). The XML format should be fairly easy to understand. The most useful option for this version is the general.defaultnick property, which specifies the nickname to try to use when connecting to an IRC server. In the future this will be replaced by a more robust identity manager.

Future versions

We have many plans for future releases of DMDirc. Version 0.2 will mainly focus on user interface upgrades - adding tab completion, support for coloured messages and log files, and a proper way to switch between windows. 0.2 will also feature proper support for Queries (private messages to a user), as well as support for more commands.

Beyond version 0.2, we have plans to integrate plugins, allowing additional functionality to be implemented seperate from the client, an identity manager, allowing you to specify different client settings for each server or network, support for 'Actions' - a way of "scripting" the client without actually having to write a script, and many more features.

You can see some of our plans on the issues page. If you have any suggestions, or ideas of your own, please feel free to join the #DMDirc channel on Quakenet to discuss them with us.