BramusICQ

This project is outdated and no longer updated (see various reasons below) and is merely kept here for archiving purposes. No support will be given whatsoever. You should check out my most recent projects on Github

Overview

BramusICQ – Scalable Mobility

BramusICQ is a script created by Bramus! which lets you control your ICQ client from your phone which are interconnected by floAt’s Mobile Agent (fMA).

BramusICQ - Scalable Mobility
BramusICQ relies on a technology underneath named BramusICQWrapper (BiW), also created by Bramus!

BramusICQ – How it works

BramusICQ was made for use with fMA (with it’s own scripting framework installed next to it) and gives the user the possibility to control his ICQ Pro Client from his cellphone.

BramusICQ, which merely is a script, relies on an underlying technology named BramusICQWrapper (BiW). This wrapper passes on calls made to it to the ICQ API, which then passes on the commands to the ICQ Pro Client (ICQ Versions 98b up to 2003b — ICQ Lite and ICQ5 are NOT supported).

This can easily be visualized by the scheme beneath:

BramusICQ ConnectionBoth BramusICQ and BramusICQWrapper are created by Bramus!

BramusICQ – Caution! – The (Old) ICQ API

Before ICQ5 came out, ICQ.Com offered a piece of technology named the ICQ API. This API allowed programmers to send commands to the ICQ Clients that this API supported.

The ICQ API was written somewhere in 1999 for use with ICQ 98/99 and hasn’t been updated since! Therefore some functions of the API don’t work (or partially work) with clients older than ICQ99

Since ICQ5 (first dubbed “ICQ Lite”) was a total rewrite of the original ICQ Pro client, the API doesn’t support these newer clients.

The ICQ API used to be available for download at ICQ.Com, but it has been removed. I have mirrored this old version and offer it for download.

BramusICQ – Screenshots

Since BramusICQ is a script there exist no screenshots of it. However, some screendumps of how BramusICQ looks on your Mobile Phone can be viewed at the usermanual.

BramusICQ – Download

BramusICQ comes with FMA Scripting Framework, as does the ICQ API.
Single download will/might follow somewhere in the future

BramusICQ – Installation Manual

[ Soon! (too lame to place this content right here at this very moment ]

BramusICQ – User Manual

BramusICQ – User Manual – Prenote

Make sure the following requirements are met:

  • fMA is installed
  • the scripting framework is installed
  • fMA is configured to use the scripting framework as its main script
  • ICQ Pro ( _not_ a clone like qip, trillian, etc. ) is installed
  • ICQ Pro must be set to message mode and not the default chat mode for sending messages
  • BramusICQ is correctly installed

If you don’t know where you can find the fMA menu then I suggest you do some reading at the fMA site on how to use fma scripts with your phone.

BramusICQ – User Manual – The Main Menu

The main menu consists out of 2 items:

  • Change Status: change your ICQ Status
  • Contactlist: view your contactlist

BramusICQ – User Manual – The Status Menu

As said before this menu lets you change your ICQ status. This is done by selecting the wanted status from the list.

NOTE: By default, ICQ shows a warning when entering Invisible, NA and Occupied modes. To solve this you must make sure that you have entered all states at least once before using bramusICQ and checked the "Do not show this warning again" option.

BramusICQ – User Manual – The Contactlist and Contact Menu

In this item you can see your ICQ contactlist. For each contact you can see his nickname and his uin between brackets.

By selecting a user, you’ll see the contact menu,
which has the following items:

  • Send message
  • Send URL

As you can see the contact it’s name is set as a title at the top so that no mistakes can be made 🙂

BramusICQ – User Manual – Sending Messages

To send a message, select Send message from the contact menu.
An inputbox will appear on your phone where you can enter the message.

When the message is entered, select OK and you will see ICQ on your computer sending a message.

After the message has been sent you’ll see a dialog on your phone saying that the message has been sent to the contact.

BramusICQ – User Manual – Sending URLs

Sending URLs is like sending messages, select Send URL from the contact menu.

An inputbox will appear on your phone where you can enter the URL.
For your convenience, the http:// prefix already is placed 🙂

When the URL is entered, select OK and you will see ICQ on your computer sending an URL.


After the URL has been sent you’ll see a dialog on your phone saying that the URL has been sent to the contact.
Unfortunately, the ICQ API doesn’t allow you to enter a description for an URL.

BramusICQ – FAQ

  • What is BramusICQWrapper (BiW)?

    BiW is a custom made dll which enables one to communicate with the ICQ API by creating an instance of it. BiW accepts incoming commands and then passes them on the ICQ API.
  • What is BramusICQ?

    Did you actually read this page?
  • What versions of ICQ are supported?

    ICQ98 up to ICQ2003b are supported. ICQ Lite and ICQ5 are NOT supported.
  • Is this a full ICQ client to work on my phone?

    No, it is not a program which runs on your phone. It merely is a link to your ICQ from within a script or a program.
  • Does it cost money to use it?

    Since it does not connect from your phone to the icq server it doesn’t cost you a thing.
    It connects from your phone to your PC with fma running. fma then implements a script which then sends commands to your ICQ Client which must be running.
  • Can I use BiW (the dll) for my application/script?

    If you properly credit me then it’s no problem.
    Feel free to inform me by e-mail if you are using my Wrapper DLL.
  • Who made the ICQ API?

    The authors of ICQ (ICQ, inc (formerly Mirabilis)) made the API.
    The API could be freely downloaded from the ICQ Site, but the download was removed.
    A mirror of this old download is available right here at this site
    Please note that this API was made for ICQ versions 98/99 and hasn’t been updated since it was released.
    This means that some functions of the API won’t work, or will work improperly (like the sending message function)
  • I get an API not installed error when trying to access bramusICQ with my phone

    As described in the installation manual you must copy ICQMAPI.dll from the plugins directory to ( eg. C:\Windows\System32\ )
  • The sending of messages won’t work!

    To be able to send messages, instant messageing must be set (in ICQ) to Message Mode, not Chat Mode
    Again this is due the outdated ICQ API…
  • The sending of messages still won’t work! The send message window just stays there…

    This bug doesn’t appear all the time, but sometimes it does.
    Solution: don’t have any window active. You can do this by pressing the Windows key and M at the same time (all windows will minimize)
  • Can I receive messages on my phone?

    Nope, impossible…
    Again this is due the outdated ICQ API…
  • When changeing my status, it shows me a warning and ICQ won’t go in that state.

    By default, ICQ shows a warning when entering Invisible, NA and Occupied modes.
    Solution: Make sure that you have entered all states at least once before using the remote (thus your phone and my script) and checked the “Do not show this warning again” option.
  • When going to offline state, ICQ goes offline, but the old statusicon remains in the tray…

    Yet again, this is due the outdated API…

Join the Conversation

4 Comments

  1. bramus thats awesome but I was wonderign if you still had that patch to remove ads in icq 2002 because i prefer that version over newer ones. thanks man.

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