Greetings by time

[MattBrancher]

Hello ! I would like to know if it is possible to remove greetings by time... I kinda don't want my bot saying those greetings. [:p] So if anyone can help that would be great ! []

[vonsmith]

MattBrancher,
There are two sorts of greetings that Hal uses. One is when you first start Hal and he gives you a greeting, sometimes with date and time. That one can be edited or eliminated by going to Hal's Main menu selecting "General Options" and going to the "Startup" tab. You will see those options there.

The second sort of greeting is when you say "good morning" or "good bye" to Hal and he replies back. That greeting can be disabled by editing the brain slightly or by renaming a couple of brain files in the DefBrain directory.

I don't suggest doing the following unless you really want to eliminate all greetings.

In the original brain you would rename:
hellodetect.brn to hellodetect.brn!
byedetect.brn to byedetect.brn!

In the XTF Brain you would rename:
XTF_SYS_Hellodetect.brn to XTF_SYS_Hellodetect.brn!
XTF_SYS_Byedetect.brn to XTF_SYS_Byedetect.brn!

Out of curiousity why do you want to disable the greeting? I turned of the first type because I didn't need the date, time or Hal talking while my computer was finishing boot up. The second type makes Hal appear more human and polite.


=vonsmith=

[MattBrancher]

I don't want to disable ALL greetings just the one that goes by time... here is an example
Hello Matthew. Aren't you tired? It's going on three in the morning.

Those kind of greetings... I can't seem to be able to disable them or edit them.

There is a different type of greeting wich is not based on time wich I would like Hal to use all the time...

[vonsmith]

MattBrancher,
The greetings you refer to reside in the "hello1.brn" file. The only practical way to disable it would be to edit the brain script slightly. I don't know how familiar you are with Hal's brain. The part that has to change depends on which brain you use and which version.

Before you attempt any brain edit, back up the brain file before editing.

If you search for the following code fragment in Hal's brain you will find the section that needs editing.

LetterChoice = "A"

This script fragment is in the Hal Brain that you are using. The original brain is the "hal5.uhp" file in Hal's "Ultra Hal Assistant 5" directory. I don't know which brain you have selected. The brain files can be edited with Hal's built in Brain Editor. Assuming you are using the original brain, go to the Main menu select "Brain Editor", select "Load Existing Project", "hal5.uhp <Ultra Hal 5.0 Default Brain>". Press Ctrl+F and search for "LetterChoice = "A"" to find the right section. I can't tell you what to edit from that point without knowing the brain version you are using.

If you are a little familiar with programming you should see how you can replace the "Rnd" function with a number to prevent the LetterChoice A or B from being selected.

Any questions, just check back here.


=vonsmith=