feat: Update LAN chat messages and emotes for consistency with WOL

[tintinhamans]

This pull request introduces a new method for handling LAN chat messages, specifically adding support for /me emote commands in LAN chat, consistent with WOL behavior.

It also tweaks UI code to rename the chat button from buttonEmote to buttonChat for clarity across multiple menus. The chat message handling logic is updated in all relevant places to use the new method, ensuring consistent emote and normal chat processing.

Closes #1443

[xezon]

The button is named "buttonEmoteID". Maybe EMOTE type is intentional? What is the difference?

[tintinhamans]

LANCHAT_EMOTE (first line in screenshot) is used when you press the button that looks like an Enter symbol, LANCHAT_NORMAL (second line in screenshot) is used when you press Enter on your keyboard.

Emote feels like a feature that was never completed, I essentially did the same as what was done for this in the LanLobbyMenu:

GeneralsGameCode/GeneralsMD/Code/GameEngine/Source/GameClient/GUI/GUICallbacks/Menus/LanLobbyMenu.cpp

Lines 823 to 825 in db3416b

	if (!txtInput.isEmpty()) {
	// TheLAN->RequestChat(txtInput, LANAPIInterface::LANCHAT_EMOTE);
	TheLAN->RequestChat(txtInput, LANAPIInterface::LANCHAT_NORMAL);

[xezon]

How will the EMOTE be used without the button?

[Skyaero42]

I think we should introduce a /me command that would trigger the Emote formatting.

Emote is also used in the score screen chat and may need evaluation there too.

[xezon]

That is how it is done in GameSpy code:

Bool handleGameSetupSlashCommands(UnicodeString uText)
{
...
	else if (token == "me" && uText.getLength()>4)
	{
		TheGameSpyInfo->sendChat(UnicodeString(uText.str()+4), TRUE, NULL); // <---- second argument "isAction" makes emote chat
		return TRUE; // was a slash command
	}
...

Ok.

So the action items here are:

1. Change all lobby emote lobby buttons to send normal chat (Game Room, Score Screen)
2. Rename the "emote" buttons to "chat" buttons
3. Implement /me command for Network chat (ideally /me command still works when clicking the button too)

[xezon]

@tintinhamans Will you make another pass on this or should someone else pick this up?

[greptile-apps]

Greptile Summary

This PR adds /me emote command support for LAN chat via the new LANAPIInterface::processChatMessage helper, and renames the C++ variables buttonEmote → buttonChat for clarity across all LAN/WOL lobby and setup menus in both the Generals and Zero Hour codebases. WOL menus receive only the variable rename — their chat paths continue routing through TheGameSpyInfo->sendChat() unchanged.

Key observations:

• processChatMessage is implemented cleanly as a concrete method on LANAPIInterface, correctly dispatching to the pure-virtual RequestChat through the vtable — no issues with the class hierarchy.
• The method intentionally matches WOL behavior: unknown slash commands (e.g., /help, /kick) fall through to LANCHAT_NORMAL and are forwarded as-is, maintaining consistent chat handling between the two networks.
• The TODO comments at the .wnd key lookup sites (ButtonEmote → ButtonChat) correctly track the follow-up UI file renames that could not be done in this PR.
• The ScoreScreen adoption is safely guarded by if(TheLAN), so the WOL post-game score screen is unaffected.
• All new comments carry a 08/03/2026 date tag, which is compliant with the current-year annotation policy.

Confidence Score: 5/5

• Safe to merge; core logic is correct and well-contained with no blockers or defects.
• The implementation is sound: processChatMessage is a non-virtual helper that cleanly delegates to the polymorphic RequestChat, the emote offset arithmetic is correct, all callers are properly guarded, WOL paths are untouched, and the behavior intentionally matches WOL for consistency. No files require special attention.
• No files require special attention.

Sequence Diagram

sequenceDiagram
    participant User
    participant Menu as LAN Menu<br/>(LanLobbyMenu / LanGameOptionsMenu / ScoreScreen)
    participant LANAPI as LANAPIInterface::processChatMessage
    participant RequestChat as LANAPI::RequestChat

    User->>Menu: Types message & presses Enter / Chat button
    Menu->>Menu: txtInput.trim() / strip leading whitespace
    alt txtInput is not empty
        Menu->>LANAPI: processChatMessage(txtInput)
        LANAPI->>LANAPI: ascii.translate(message)
        alt ascii starts with '/'
            LANAPI->>LANAPI: nextToken → token.toLower()
            alt token == "me" && length > 4
                LANAPI->>RequestChat: RequestChat(message.str()+4, LANCHAT_EMOTE)
            else unknown slash command
                LANAPI->>RequestChat: RequestChat(message, LANCHAT_NORMAL)
            end
        else no leading slash
            LANAPI->>RequestChat: RequestChat(message, LANCHAT_NORMAL)
        end
    end

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_{Last reviewed commit: 7ed2490}