Multi line Chat
'Multi-line Chat' refers to the ability within TabbyChat to compose a chat message significantly longer than what the vanilla Minecraft client would normally allow. Since limits on message length are also imposed server-side, TabbyChat will check if a chat message exceeds the default limitation and, if so, break the chat message up into multiple components to be sent one-after-another such that each component does not exceed the limitation.
TabbyChat will dynamically grow the height of the chat input box as necessary, allowing up to three full lines of text to be entered. The width of these lines is constrained to the Client's window size. So, a larger Minecraft window will allow more text entry. The input box will also contain a gray number displayed in the upper-right hand corner. This number indicates how many components the resulting message will need to be split into, with each component sent to the server separately.
Many servers have automated spam-checking that prohibit users from sending multiple messages in a very short period of time. To prevent TabbyChat from causing this issue, a configurable time-delay exists between each transmission. This option can be found on the Advanced Settings screen.
Based on the explanation provided thus far, one may be concerned with the user of server commands. It would certainly be undesirable to try sending a long private message to another player with a /msg Player command, only to have the message split into two components with the second component visible to everyone. There are several ways TabbyChat attempts to prevent this.
If only a single tab is currently active, and that tab has a defined command prefix which occurs at the beginning of the message, TabbyChat will include that same prefix at the beginning of each component sent to the server.
If this is not the case, TabbyChat will check the beginning of the entire message for a /, indicating a server command. If the beginning of the message is found to contain /msg, TabbyChat will assume the /msg Player command is intended, and will include both /msg as well as the word following it at the beginning of each component sent to the server. If the beginning of the message contains / but not /msg, TabbyChat will assume it's a simple /single-word command, and will include the / as well as the word directly after at the beginning of each component.
Due to the complication involved in growing the input box, the user will not be able to drag-select across multiple lines. Clicking inside various lines, however, will place the cursor at that location as one would expect.
In the vanilla client, pressing the Up/Down keys inside the input box will travel backwards/forwards through the send history. When using TabbyChat, in situations where the input box has expanded, pressing these keys will move the cursor Up/Down a line in the input area. If the cursor is already at the top/bottom of the input area, then it will iterate through the send history like normal. Alternatively, if you wish to access the send history without having to wait for the cursor to reach the end of the input box, holding down the Control key while pressing Up/Down will bypass the cursor movement and directly iterate through the send history.