README

Playing around with Skype D-Bus API bindings for PHP. Useful for Skype auto-reminders, spamming group chats with jokes or random content, etc :)

Description

This "project" uses Skype D-Bus API, which is, unfortunately, already deprecated. Instead, developers are encouraged to use Desktop API. Despite of above fact, DBUS API can be still used in version 4.X of Skype, which is latest available on Linux. Probably that is why Skype DBUS documentation is no longer officially published. I had to dig through the web to find it, PDF document is here. See credits section as well.

Basic usage is very simple, just open your skype client, and open chat window with someone. Then, run from console:

php activechats.php

You should return chat ID of currently active chat window, something like:

CHAT #myskypeid/$friends.skype.id;cc5250703ad99efb FRIENDLYNAME My Friend Name

To send message, just type:

php send.php '#myskypeid/$friends.skype.id;cc5250703ad99efb' Your message here

Check your skype window, you've just sent message to your contact.

News

• It can now list existing chats and connect to any picked one.
• Error handling
• Generated docs: use phpdoc/phpdocumentor, with following command:

phpdoc -t docs -f "src/Skypebot/*.php" -e dbus --title SkypeBot --sourcecode -p --parseprivate --validate

• Stub class for some code completion

TODO

• Create chat contacts as objects (and objects collection for multiple contacts)
• Prepare PHAR archive with parameters
• Finish stub class for code completion
• more...

Limitations

I do not currently plan implementing voice calls handling. Only chats support. I also haven't tested it with Skype against with statically compiled Qt (like, for instance, in PC-BSD packages)

Bugs

• When chat title contains regional (UTF-8?) characters, chat title returned is empty, with error message: ERROR 105 Invalid chat name

Requirements

• Linux OS (*-BSD probably also will be supported, as long as DBUS and Skype works there. No guarantee yet
• Skype for Linux (version 4.X).
• php >= 5.4
• php-dbus extension After some problems fetching it from PEAR and SVN, I've created unofficial repository for this extension.
• composer. Some subscripts also utilise fabpot/goutte, but it's not mandatory to communicate with Skype

Credits

Below list is ordered chronologically (ascending - those whom work I use most recently, are being added to the list). Kirils is mentioned second, because when I started this project, Skype DBUS API documentation was officially available.

• Derick Rethans for php-dbus bindings
• Kirils Solovjovs for SkypeSDK.pdf