Installation and basic usage

Install the fbs.user.js file using your userscript manager. The Facebook Batch Sender console can then be opened using the Ctrl + ~ key combination at https://www.facebook.com/messages/*. A newline character can be inserted into the console using Ctrl + Enter. The input can be executed using Enter and the history can be cycled through via the Up and Down arrow keys.

Input format

Message1/(Command1) Message2/(Command2) … MessageN/(CommandN)(;)
Message1/(Command1) Message2/(Command2) … MessageN/(CommandN)(;)
                                        …
Message1/(Command1) Message2/(Command2) … MessageN/(CommandN)

The entire input is called a superbatch. Each of the sections of a superbatch delimited by (;) is processed in parallel to others and is called a batch. Each batch can comprise messages, commands, comments and substitutions. Batches can be instantiated several times and run in parallel using the clone() function. Example scripts can be found inside the scripts directory.

Core concepts

Tokenization

The input tokenization is performed in three steps (see function tokenize()):

In the first step, the superbatch is split into batches delimited by (;). For each batch: 1. Split the batch into comments and non-comments. Discard the comments. 2. Split non-comments into strong substitutions, commands and messages. 3. Concatenate adjoining strong substitutions and messages into compound messages. 4. Execute the resulting array of messages and commands.

Execution

Take the first token in the array.
If the token is a command, it is performed.
If the token is a message, then: 1. If the message contains a strong substitution, it is performed, the resulting string is retokenized as if it were a batch, the tokens are put in place of the original token and the token array is executed.
- Note: Since the result of the strong substitution is retokenized as if it were a batch (see Tokenization §1.1), the (;) separator has no meaning and will be interpreted as plain text. 2. Otherwise:
1. If the message contains a weak substitution, it is performed.
2. The resulting string is trimmed, transformed based on the value of settings.newlines and sent to the current recipient or logged to the console depending on the current state of the batch instance (see commands (v) and (^).
Pop the token from the array and repeat the process until the array is empty.

Name locking

Each input you execute is locked to the name of the current recipient. Input execution will be paused each time you switch to another user. Fbsrc and fbs scripts loaded via reflection are exempt from this rule. This behaviour can be overriden using the (lock) and (unlock) commands.

Freezing

The execution of all batches can be paused using the (freeze) and (unfreeze) commands.

Note: Although the effect is similar to that of name locking, fbsrc and fbs scripts loaded via reflection are NOT exempt from freezing.

Runtime Configuration (fbsrc)

You can store a superbatch in localStorage.fbsrc. This superbatch will be automatically executed (without name locking) each time the userscript is loaded.

Comments

A comment is either (/ … ), (/ …, (// … //), (// … or (/// ….

Note: When inlining JavaScript calls such as string.test(/regexp/), make sure to put a space after the opening bracket as follows string.test( /regexp/ ) in order to prevent misinterpretation as a comment.

Commands

Responding to actions

(seen) – Wait until the previous message has been marked as seen.
(replied) – Wait until the recipient has replied to you.
- Gets consumed, when you're not the sender of the last message.
(posted) – Wait until the recipient has posted a message.
- Gets consumed, when a new message is received.
(changed) – Wait until the last message in the chat has changed.
- Gets consumed, when a new message appears in the chat.
(typing) – Wait until the recipient has started typing to you.
(typing!) – Wait until the recipient has started typing to you or posted a message.
(any) – Wait until the recipient has seen the previous message, started typing to you or posted a message.
(switched) – Wait until a switch between users has occured. If name locking is in effect, this command blocks indefinitely.

Responding to states

(online) – Wait until the recipient has gone online.
(!online) – Wait until the recipient is no longer online.
(mobile) – Wait until the recipient has gone mobile.
(!mobile) – Wait until the recipient is no longer mobile.
(offline) – Wait until the recipient has gone offline.
(!offline) – Wait until the recipient is no longer offline.

User events

Sending events

Synchronous

(^EVENT) or (^EVENT^) – Emit an event named EVENT in the current window passing "undefined" as the message. Blocks until captured.
(^EVENT^DATA^) – Emit an event named EVENT in the current window passing String(eval("DATA")) as the message. Blocks until captured.
(^^EVENT) or (^^EVENT^^) – Emit an event named EVENT in all open windows passing "undefined" as the message. Blocks until captured.
(^^EVENT^^DATA^^) – Emit an event named EVENT in all open windows passing String(eval("DATA")) as the message. Blocks until captured.

Asynchronous

(@^EVENT) or (@^EVENT^) – Similar to (^EVENT) or (^EVENT^). This command, however, never blocks.
(@^EVENT^DATA^) – Similar to (^EVENT^DATA^). This command, however, never blocks.
(@^^EVENT) or (@^^EVENT^^) – Similar to (^^EVENT) or (^^EVENT^^). This command, however, never blocks.
(@^^EVENT^^DATA^^) – Similar to (^^EVENT^^DATA^^). This command, however, never blocks.

Capturing events

(:EVENT) – Wait until the event named EVENT has occured in this window and capture it.
- Edge-triggered – Blocks until the event occurs.
(::EVENT) – Wait until the event named EVENT has occured in this window and capture it.
- Level-triggered – Returns immediately, if the event named EVENT has already been captured in the current batch instance.

Timed events

(at #1) – Wait until the specified point in time.
- If isNaN(Date.parse("#1")), then a HH:MM:SS format is assumed (see function parseHMS() for details).
- If isNaN(parseHMS("#1")), then an exception is logged and (at #1) expands to (never).
(<#1><unit1> <#2><unit2> … <#N><unitN>) – Wait the specified period of time, where valid units comprise:
- Y – Years
- M – Months
- d – Days
- h – Hours
- m – Minutes
- s – Seconds
- ms – Milliseconds
(never) – Block indefinitely.

Miscellaneous

(v) – Redirect all following messages to console.log. This command never blocks.
(^) – Redirect all following messages to the current recipient (default). This command never blocks.
(,) – Do nothing. Useful to separate one message into chunks and to prevent the simmultaneous expansion of adjacent strong substitutions. This command never blocks.
(freeze) – Make the next message or the next potentially blocking command in every batch block indefinitely (see freezing).
(unfreeze) – Cancel the effect of the (freeze) command. This command never blocks.
- Note: When executing a batch while in the frozen state, the (unfreeze) command needs to be provided prior to any messages or potentially blocking commands. Otherwise the batch will block indefinitely due to the freeze.
(lock) – From this point onward, enforce name locking.
- This is the default setting for batches other than fbsrc and fbs scripts loaded via reflection.
- This command never blocks.
(unlock) – From this point onward, ignore name locking.
- This is the default setting for fbsrc and fbs scripts loaded via reflection.
- This command never blocks.
(notify) – Notify the user using the Notification API. This command never blocks.
(repeat) – Repeats the current instance of the batch in the form in which it was originally executed. This command never blocks.

JavaScript execution and substitution

(js) … (js) or (js) … – Execute the enclosed JavaScript code.
- Note: This command always takes precedence during the tokenization, e.g. (js) … (command) … (js) always becomes one (js) … (js) token rather that a (js) … message, (command) and a … ( js) message.
`…` – Execute the enclosed JavaScript code and substitute the command for its return value cast to a String. This substitution is weak.
- Note: If the expression evaluates to undefined, the substitution expands to an empty string rather than to "undefined".
- Weak substitution is only allowed inside messages.
- Weak substitution is non-recursive – its return value is always regarded as a message.
- Examples:
  - Did you know that 1 + 2 = `1 + 2`? ~> Did you know that 1 + 2 = 3?
  - Hey, `getCurrName()`, I am `getMyName()`. ~> Hey, Mootykins, I am Witiko.
  - This command will be printed: `command("never")` ~> This command will be printed: (never)
```…``` – Execute the enclosed JavaScript code and substitute the command for its return value cast to a String. This substitution is strong.
- Note: If the expression evaluates to undefined, the substitution expands to an empty string rather than to "undefined".
- Strong substitution is allowed anywhere.
- Strong substitution is recursive – its return value is always retokenized.
- Examples:
  - You've got five seconds to tell me where I am (```1 + 2```s) and three have just passed.
  - This will get posted.```condition ? "(never)" : ""```And this will conditionally not.
```
  (js)var count = 1; $i.expand = function() {
    return (count++) + "(2s)" + strong("$i.expand()");
  };(js)```$i.expand()``` (/ Will keep on counting ad infinitum
```

JavaScript execution context

The following additional methods and variables are available during JavaScript execution and substitution and during the user event sending:

HTTP requests and reflection

curl(url) – Synchronously downloads the resource at the given url via the GET request and returns its data. You can detect failure by testing for empty string as a return value. If you need more control, use the Greasemonkey GM_xmlhttpRequest function instead.
include(url, lang) – Synchronously loads and executes a script at the given url.
- The language of the script is specified by the value of the lang parameter, which can be either:
  - "js" – JavaScript
  - "fbs" – Facebook Batch Sender
- If no language is specified, it will be guessed from the suffix of the specified file.
- In case of a JavaScript script, a function Export(name, value) is made available for the script to export functions and data.
require(url, lang) – Similar to include(), but ignores the invocation, if the script at the given url has already been loaded.

Chat context data

getCurrName() – The name of the current chat window.
getMyName() – The first name of the sender.
getLastReply() – The last chat message.
getLastReplyName() – The name of the last chat message sender.

Batch control

clone(obj) – Create a new instance of the current batch in the form in which it was originally executed. The $i hash table of the instance is $i = obj || {}.
- If $i doesn't contain the settings property, a deep prototype copy of $b.settings is created as a prototype of an empty object and own properties of $i are then copied to this object.
global – A reference to the userscript scope. Can be used to reference global members using the bracket notation.
$w – A non-persistent window-local hash table.
$s – A non-persistent superbatch-local hash table.
$b – A non-persistent batch-local hash table.
$i – A non-persistent batch-instance-local hash table.

Settings and debugging

settings - The settings object contains the following values:
- freezeOnError (false) – The (freeze) command is executed each time the err() function is called.
- newlines – The newlines object contains the following values:
  - TeXLike (false) – When true:
    - One or more whitespace characters or a newline along with any adjacent whitespace characters are replaced with a single space.
    - Two or more newlines surrounded by newlines and whitespaces are replaced with two newline characters signifying a paragraph.
    - "---" gets replaced with an em-dash ("—") and "--" with an en-dash ("–").
    - "..." gets replaced with an ellipsis ("…") and the leftmost space (" ") directly adjacent to the ellipsis gets replaced with a thin space (" ").
- debug – The debug object contains the following values:
  - warnings (true) – When true, the warn() function prints messages into the console.
  - tokenize (false) – When true, the activity of the tokenizer gets logged into the console.
  - freeze (false) – When true, information regarding freezing get logged into the console.
  - namelock (false) – When true, information regarding name locking get logged into the console.
  - require (false) – When true, information regarding the loading and execution of scripts using reflection get logged into the console.
  - batch (false) – When true, information regarding the contents of the executed batches get logged into the console.
  - time (false) – When true, information concerning timed events get logged into the console.
log(arg1, …) – Log the arguments into the console (a generic message).
warn(arg1, …) – Log the arguments into the console (a warning).
err(arg1, …) – Log the arguments into the console (an error).

The settings can be altered either globally or with varying degrees of locality:

$w.settings – A direct reference to the settings object
$s.settings – A superbatch-local object, which inherits from the $w.settings object.
$b.settings – A batch-local object, which inherits from the $s.settings object.
$i.settings – A batch instance-local object, which inherits from the $b.settings object.
- The values from this object are used by the runtime.

User events

eventData – The data of the last captured user event in this instance of the current batch.

Convenience substitution functions

command(s) – Returns "(" + s + ")".
weak(s) – Returns "`" + s + "`".
js(s) – Returns "(js)" + s + "(js)".
strong(s) – Returns "```" + s + "```".

Miscellaneous

beep() – Lets out a beep (AudioContext API dependent).
notify(body) – Similar to the (notify) command, but the body of the notification can also be specified.

Witiko / fbs

Installation and basic usage

Input format

Core concepts

Tokenization

Execution

Name locking

Freezing

Runtime Configuration (fbsrc)

Comments

Commands

Responding to actions

Responding to states

User events

Sending events

Synchronous

Asynchronous

Capturing events

Timed events

Miscellaneous

JavaScript execution and substitution

JavaScript execution context

HTTP requests and reflection

Chat context data

Batch control

Settings and debugging

User events

Convenience substitution functions

Miscellaneous

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