vBChat v2.3

NOTCE: ALL SUPPORT SHALL NOW BE ANSWERED HERE

This is a php/mySQL powered chat system, just brought into production. It's features for v1.0.0 are wide but more are to follow i future versions, this version has the following features:

Key:

• White Text - Original Features
• ColorA Text - v1.0.1 Features
• ColorB Text - v1.1.0 Features
• ColorC Text - v1.1.1 Features

• vBChat Page
  • Shows All Messages
  • Shows Users Currently In The Chat
  • Click usersname to auto add /msg [username] into post field
  • Ability To Post A Message
  • "/me" is also available to be used
  • "/msg [USERNAME] msg here" command added
  • Auto scrolling to bottom of page (If msg's set to latest at bottom)
• vBChat User Preferences Page
  • Ability to choose desired font color when posting in the chat
  • Ability to choose desired font face when posting in the chat
  • Ability to ignore as many user's as desired in the chat
    • Ignore users will not display any messages by those users specified on the vBChat page
    • The inputs for ignoring users are "Auto Creating", baisically when you have filled all the inputs in, 2 more will automatically create to allow the user to input more users without having to submit and reload the page, the inputs are added aslong as the rest are filled in. This requires javascript to be enabled, but it is compatible in IE/FireFox/Netscape
• Admin Controls
  • vBChat Options
    • Turn the chat system on/offline
    • Allow users to enter bbcode
    • Ban specific usergroups from accessing the vBChat system
    • Ban specific members from accessing the vBChat system
    • Choose which way msg's are displayed, newest at top or newest at bottom
  • vBChat Prune Options
    • Prune By Days - Prunes messages older than number of days inputted
    • Prune By Member - Prunes all messages by member inputted
    • Pune By Private MSG's Sent By User - Prunes All Private MSG's sent by user
    • Pune By Private MSG's Recieved By User - Prunes All Private MSG's recieved by user
    • Complete Prune - Removes All Messages
• v1.0.1 FEATURES
• Smilie Box - Smilies Are displayed above the chat input
  • Additional Features
  • ACP - Select if the smilies are displayed
  • ACP - Select amount of smilies shown
  • Query Reduction - No extra queries are required for the smilies to be loaded
  
  
• User Status - User status is displayed in the vBChat Page (in replace of time/date)
  • Additonal Features
  • User can edit there user status in the vBChat User Preferences page
  
  
• User Auto Responder - User can choose to have an auto message auto sent to anyone that Private MSG's them on vBChat
  • Additional Features
  • User can input a message that will be displayed with the auto responder
  • User can select if the auto responder is on or off
  
  
• Private MSG Link Updated (When you press people's names at the side on vBChat, the command to private msg them pop's into the input box)
  • Additional Features
  • If using internet explorer, the text "<Your Private MSG Here>" will automatically be highlighted
  
  
• Admin/SMod Ban/Unban Abilities - Type in /ban [Username] or /unban [Username] to ban/unban members
  • Additonal Features
  • ACP - Choose if unban/ban tags are operational
  
  
• Chat Rooms
  • Additonal Features
  • ACP - Edit/Remove Chat Rooms
  • ACP - Delete "All" Inactive Rooms
  • ACP - Set max number of rooms that can be open at the same time
  • Optional Password Protection
  
  
• Display Users In Chat On Forum Index Page
  • Additional Features
  • None

New v1.1.1 Features:

• Ability to change smilie information to DB Call to stop Red X's (Optional because setting it to yes will cause 1 extra query, and should only be set to yes if you have the Red X's problem)
• vBChat Auto Pruning - Ability to turn auto pruning on, and set how many days old messages that will be deleted to be

Version 2.0 Features
- Iframe Refresh Abolished
--- The system now uses hidden iframes to gather data, then uses Javascript to transport the HTML to the display iframe, which never reloads, and never flashes white when recieving chat messages or posting, just like any of chat system like MSN etc...

- Users Currently In vBChat Reformatted
--- The display of users is now more formal, showing the there chat status here, also displaying a link to send a private message instead of clicking there username

- Timestamp in messages
--- The timestamp has been put back, it was removed in an earlier release due to the user chat status, however this has been moved to Users Currently In vBChat Display

- vBChat Preferences Redesigned
--- The vBChat Preferences form has been re-designed to be a more neater and easier to use form.

- Smilies Animation Problem
--- Before when clicking to insert an emoticon, the animation of any current ones would come to a complete pause, this has been fixed, you can click on them continually and the animations will continue to play onwards.

- Improved Users In vbChat
--- The users in vbchat display is now more correct, and works towards your forums session cut-off time, where as before it may of displayed a user offline, but still showed them within vBChat, this is no longer a case, improving accuracy more

- Chat Now In Pop Up Window
--- The chat will be displayed as a pop now instead of a normal page, allowing users to chat & browse at the same time

- Inactive Rooms Auto Pruned
--- This is admin controllable, you may set if rooms with inactivity will be auto pruned, you can select from 1 to 24 hours, if rooms havn't had any inactivity in the last x hours, they will automatically be removed.

- Permanent Rooms
--- When admins/smods create a chat room, they have the option to make it permanent, doing this will stop the room from been pruned due to inactivity, the only way to remove it then is via the ACP.

- What Room Are You In
--- The main chat page will now display which room you're chatting within

- Total Users
--- The main chat page will now display the total amount of users currently within that chat room

- User Joining Rooms
--- Upon first joining vBChat, the chat will display: "[user] Joins Room"

- User Changing Rooms
--- Upon changing rooms, the previous room you were in will display "[user] Leaves Room" and the new room will display "[user] Joins Room"

- Exit vBChat Link
--- Upon clicking, chat automatically closes and a message is left in the room saying "[user] Leaves Room"

- /status Command
--- Change your vBChat Status by typing: "/status YOUR STATUS HERE"

- /exit Command
--- Same as the Exit vBChat link, only you may type it in as a command

- vBChat Help
--- Displays all chat commands, descriptions and examples of using them

- Close Chat Window
--- Upon closing the chat window, the system recognizes this and displays a message in the chat saying you have left: "[user] Leaves Room"


Version 2.1 Updates:

- Uncached template "chat_iframe_blank" has now been cached
- Clicking smilies will now enter the code into the post field
- Upon exiting vBChat, your session will be deleted so other users will instantly see you removed from "Users Currently In vBChat"
- Internet Explorer may delete your message half way through typing, this has been fixed

vBChat v2.2 Updates:

- Bug Fix: Window too large upon opening
- Bug Fix: Other vBChat Links Didn't Open Pop Up For vBChat
- Admin CP interface for Usergroup & User banning completely re-designed, no more manual inputting of id's, the system will use a new format to add/remove banned usergroups/users to make it even easier.
- Usergroup Permissions
--- Group Can Create Custom Rooms (Yes/No)
--- Group Can Join Custom Rooms (Yes/No)
--- Group Can Join Permanent Rooms (Yes/No
--- Permissions removed if usergroup is banned
- Upon changing room you are redirected straight to vBChat instead of been stuck at the room select page
- Upon deleting chat rooms (via ACP or Auto Prune) all chat messages inside are deleted for good
- When editing a chat room via ACP you may choose if it is a permanent room or not

vBChat v2.3 Updates:
- Now only 1 refreshing iframe, eliminating a minimum of 8 queries per page refresh, cutting the system resources needed by nearly half!
- Several queries have been optomized, selecting data which wasn't required.
Note: This was a maintenance update, to optomize the system, no new features have been made.

Installation Update For v2.3
You may install v2.3 fresh
You may upgrade from v2.2 -> 2.3

(Archived versions included for those who missed updates!)


The install has an automatic script to add templates and database modifcations.

Previews are available below showing the vBChat system and admin controls.

Branding Free Option
Should you wish to have the visible copyright removed from vBChat, please send me a private message here on vbulletin.org, the price is $30. If you require any other details on this, please make sure all enquiries are put into a PM, and not the thread itself. Note: Payment method must be via PayPal

Donations
All donations great or small are appreciated to the greatest extent, wether it's for the modification itself or just a little incentive for myself, if you would like to donate then you can do so via PayPal, my email to send to is: webmaster@gzevolution.net
Thanks to all those who have currently donated for this modification!

Enjoy

- Zero Tolerance

[Mechanical Mind]

Fresh Install of Version 2.2

About 15 minutes into the conversation with a member, it started to post every word or letter on it's own.

Like 1 word per line. This bug is still in Version 2.2. Just wanted to let you know.

Have a nice night.

[Zero Tolerance]

Originally Posted by Megareus Rex

The fix for the "Whos online" box worked perfectly.

But, the other problem still persists. I increased it to 350, 380, 400, then to 425, and it still partially cuts it off.

Here's a pic of it at 425:

Oh, and also, my members complain about the chat constantly refreshing and stuff. How can I stop that?

Seems your rows are exanding with it, so let's set a 1% height, that should resolve it hopefully, make this edit for all of these templates: chat_row, chat_row_bot, chat_row_me, chat_row_special_recieved, chat_row_special_sent

Find:

<td nowrap="nowrap"

Replace With:

<td nowrap="nowrap" height="1%"

Constant refreshing cannot be stopped, hidden iframe's get the newest data, otherwise the chat wouldn't be dynamically changing.

I have set up version 2.2 so that only my "sponsoring members" which is a secondary usergroup are allowed to have private chat rooms. This does not seem to work. Even though I have enabled their usergroup in the vbchat setup for this capability it says "thier user group does not have the rights to do this", when they try. I suspect it is a secondary/primary usergroup issue.

The code works off Primary user groups only i'm afraid, however i'll try add secondary usergroup support in a future release

Also I still get an X for at least one of my smilies even after changing one of the smiles url and changing it back to try and refresh the cache.

I'm not sure what is causing it then i am afraid, for now turn show smilies off, untill this is resolved

I have now installed the vb chat on my public forum and it works wonderfully. Everything uploaded correctly
The question I have now is this. How do I get the chat to work with a second style I have available for my forum ? It works great with the default vb style but so with a style I have tweaked the colors and a few minor style changes.

Jaye

The templates need to be copied over to your other style, and dont worry, i made a modification to copy templates from 1 style to others, located here: https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthrea...threadid=72288, it will save you a lot of trouble of manually doing this

- Zero Tolerance

[wacnstac]

Another feature suggestion would be to not allow users to log onto vBChat if the server load is over YYY.

[Zero Tolerance]

Originally Posted by wacnstac

Another feature suggestion would be to not allow users to log onto vBChat if the server load is over YYY.

There's a vBulletin setting to disallow new members/visitors to get onto the site if server load is over XXX, also, the chat system doesn't use much resources, so i don't see why it has to be ruled out

- Zero Tolerance

[oldengine]

Originally Posted by Mechanical Mind

Fresh Install of Version 2.2
About 15 minutes into the conversation with a member, it started to post every word or letter on it's own. Like 1 word per line. This bug is still in Version 2.2. Just wanted to let you know.

Same here as it happened a few times here tonight. It definitely follows the use of an apostrophe in the previous line.

[wacnstac]

Originally Posted by Zero Tolerance

There's a vBulletin setting to disallow new members/visitors to get onto the site if server load is over XXX, also, the chat system doesn't use much resources, so i don't see why it has to be ruled out

- Zero Tolerance

I'm not so sure about this. It seems as though when I get near or upwards of 10 users my load really bogs down.

[Zero Tolerance]

Originally Posted by oldengine

Same here as it happened a few times here tonight. It definitely follows the use of an apostrophe in the previous line.

Well i'm still unable to re-create this error for myself, so im still none the wiser as to how it is happening.

I'm not so sure about this. It seems as though when I get near or upwards of 10 users my load really bogs down.

Really? That's surprising, i've had over 50 users in at one time and it didn't affect my server load one bit .. hmm.

- Zero Tolerance

[oldengine]

Originally Posted by Zero Tolerance

Well i'm still unable to re-create this error for myself, so im still none the wiser as to how it is happening.

It will only happen with another user on line with you and I suspect that it's the opposite user that gets messed up than the one who sends the '.

Also, a request is in for a longer scroll down buffer.

[Zero Tolerance]

Yeah i'm testing it while my other members are in the chat, lol.

As for the longer scroll down buffer, care to be a little more explicit? Sorry, 3:51 am here..

- Zero Tolerance

[oldengine]

Originally Posted by Zero Tolerance

As for the longer scroll down buffer, care to be a little more explicit? Sorry, 3:51 am here..

Ha! We all spend too much time at this!

My new lines go on the top of the chat screen. The folks who join in late would like to be able to scroll down further to see what has already gone by the chat window.