Ok, this is something I doubt anyone would want (my code is sloppy), but it does work and I thought maybe someone would be inspired to make it better.

I basically just created a widget that displays images (which I made on southparkstudios.com) based on my contacts status. The black and white means Offline, eyes closed is away, and the other is Online. I wrote a little bash script to swap the images:

#!/bin/bash
#Image change script

basefolder=/home/kris/spchat
status="dcop kopete default contactsStatus"

#start with all offline
cp -f $basefolder/offline/* $basefolder

#main loop (if kopete is running)

while [ `dcop |grep -c kopete` != 0 ]

do

statuslist="`$status`"

while read contact
do
if
[ `echo $statuslist |grep -c "$contact (Online)"` != 0 ]
then cp -f $basefolder/online/"$contact"* $basefolder

elif
[ `echo $statuslist |grep -c "$contact (Away)"` != 0 ]
then cp -f $basefolder/away/"$contact"* $basefolder

elif
[ `echo $statuslist |grep -c "$contact (Offline)"` != 0 ]
then cp -f $basefolder/offline/"$contact"* $basefolder
fi


done < $basefolder/contacts.txt

sleep 30;

done
________

so, the widget displays whatever image is in the basefolder and the script copies the appropriate image to that folder (from the away, online, and offline subfolders).

Anyway, I thought it turned out looking ok (although, I might change the widget background

Also, I'll eventually add more dcop functions so i can drag n drop files, or start a chat.. maybe grab the incoming message and use convert to place it on top of a cartoon text balloon and draw that next to the appropriate avatar.

Comments? Too much??