NWC24 API and Wii Message Board

Introduction

The Wii Message Board is an application installed on the Wii console as a standard feature of the Wii Menu.
This mechanism enables the exchange of messages between family members or with a friend's Wii and has been implemented using the WiiConnect24 feature.
In addition, messages sent from an application can be posted to the Wii Message Board.
This method is described below.

How to Post a Message to the Wii Message Board Using NWC24

There are two major patterns for posting a message to the Wii Message Board, using the NWC24 library.

• Post to the user's own Wii console Wii Message Board locally

  Use the NWC24 library to create and send a message that has only the user's own Wii number specified in the To: address field.
  Specify NWC24_MSGTYPE_WII_MENU as the message type.
  This feature can be used even if the user has not enabled WiiConnect24.

• Send a message to a Wii friend, and post it to the friend's console Wii Message Board

  Using the NWC24 library to create and send a message to the Wii friend(s). This is possible only when WiiConnect24 message sending and receiving is enabled. Specify NWC24_MSGTYPE_WII_MENU or NWC24_MSGTYPE_WII_MENU_SHARED as the message type. (These two differ only in whether or not the contents can be read when the application receives the message.)

Format of the Message

Messages must satisfy the following conditions to be displayed on the Wii Message Board:

Body

• Specify the text to be displayed as the body text.
• Use UTF-16BE as the character encoding. Use LF (0x000A) in UTF-16 encoding as the linefeed code.
• The maximum number of characters that can be displayed is 3000. All codes are treated as UTF-16, so a half-width character and a full-width character are each counted as one character.
• Specify 8-bit (NWC24_ENC_8BIT) as the encoding type specified by NWC24SetMsgText() when pasting the message to the user's own Wii console, or use base64 (NWC24_ENC_BASE64) when sending it to another Wii.

Subject

• The content of the Subject field is not reflected in the display on the Wii Message Board, so leave this field blank.
  (However, messages received from an external e-mail address will have the content of the Subject field added to the beginning of the text.)

Attached file

• You can specify the background image of the message displayed on the Wii Message Board as letterform data by attaching binary data in the NWC24_APP_WII_MSGBOARD format to the message. (For details, see the Letterform Template explanation.)
• The default stationery is used if no stationery data is attached.
• In addition to the letterform template, one static JPEG image can be attached. This data is attached in the NWC24_IMG_JPEG format.
• The Wii Message Board handles static images using the dimensions 512x456. If an image is any larger, it will be automatically scaled down to this size. Thumbnails will also be automatically created.

When the Message is Processed by the Wii Message Board

The Wii Message Board is implemented as a part of the Wii Menu.
When the Wii Menu starts, the message box is searched and messages of type MENU are then selected and registered in the Wii Message Board database.
Internal or external messages received while an application is running will be displayed on the Wii Message Board upon returning to the Wii Menu.

Cautions when Posting Messages from an Application to the Wii Message Board

Using AltName (a substitute nickname)

The specifications call for the sender's player nickname (defined in the console friend roster) to be displayed in the From: field in the message displayed on the Wii Message Board. Therefore, even the items automatically sent from an application will use the primary nickname of the sender's Wii console in the From: field when the latter is displayed. The From: field will be empty when items are sent locally on a single Wii console.

To prevent this situation, a mechanism to set a different name (the game name or the name of a character in the game) is provided. Use the NWC24SetMsgAltName() function to define a name in the same format as that used for the nicknames in the friend roster on the Wii. This name will be displayed on the Wii Message Board with a higher priority than the other names set on the friend roster. The other names specified here (the alternate nicknames) must fully satisfy the following conditions:

• Character code is UTF-16BE format.
• Maximum of 35 characters.
• String includes 0x0000 as the termination character (this is counted in the total number of characters).
• Up to one linefeed, using the UTF-16BE LF code (0x000A). (This is also counted in the total number of characters.)
• A maximum of 17 characters that can be displayed on a single line. (If no linefeed is used, the string will be wrapped automatically at 17 characters, and it may not display properly, depending on the character width.)

Configuring the reply-disable flag

Messages that are sent from the application and are automatically posted to the Wii Message Board must have the reply feature turned off to prevent the user from creating a reply message. Use NWC24SetMsgMBNoReply() in this case. This disables displaying of Reply button during message display on the Wii Message Board.

Cautions when Sending Game Data for an Application when Posting to the Wii Message Board with a Message Indicating that the Data Has Been Sent

This situation sends two messages: one to the Wii Message Board and another between applications. The message sent to the Wii Message Board consists of the text (and the stationery data). The messages between applications are sent with the application data attached (no body text).

Detailed Control Features on the Wii Message Board

With the NWC24SetMsgMBRegDate() function, you can specify to what date location (whether future or past) a message is registered in the Wii Message Board calendar. This function only specifies the registration location; it does not necessarily mean that the message will be hidden until a certain date.

You can use the NWC24SetMsgMBDelay() function to specify (in units of hours) how long to wait after sending the message before actually displaying the message to users on the Wii Message Board. (However, there are a number of restrictions to this.)

With the NWC24SetMsgLedPattern function, the Wii console's slot illumination can be configured to turn on when a message is received. This slot illumination can be configured to turn on only for messages sent to the Wii Message Board.

Revision History

2008/01/28 Added a description of attached static images.
2007/12/21 Added a description of the slot illumination feature and made other minor revisions.
2007/07/18 Limited descriptions to current conditions.
2007/04/03 Added a link to an explanation of the Letterform Template and made other minor revisions.
2007/01/22 Established a limit on the character count for the Wii Message Board and made other minor revisions.
2006/11/17 Made some small revisions.
2006/10/06 Initial version.

CONFIDENTIAL