Chat Modifications - Envolve Chat Integration Module

About the Envolve Chat Plugin
This module will connect your vBulletin forum to Envolve chat. Envolve is a chat toolbar similar to Facebook's chat bar that allows your users to have group and one-on-one chats with each other while browsing your forums.

This mod requires an API key from Envolve in order to function. Visit http://www.envolve.com to get one. A free version is available that provides a full feature set for up to 25 concurrent users. Higher numbers of chatters require a paid account.

This mod integrates your forum's account system with Envolve so that when users are logged into your vBulletin site it also logs them into the chat. In addition, it integrates your profile pictures / avatars and profile information. With the 2.0 release of the mod, other users can now view your profile information and get a link to your profile simply by placing their mouse over your name.

The Envolve chat system is a rich solution for community chat. Some of its features include group chat (both public and private), one-on-one chat, the ability to pop chats out into their own windows, moderation controls (boot / block / ban / timed ban), chat message translation, resizable chat windows, chat sharing, and drag-and-drop chat invitations. As a hosted solution, all chat traffic is handled by Envolve's servers and will not place any additional load on your server.

Installation:
Detailed installation instructions can be found here:
https://www.envolve.com/docs/vbulletin-chat-plugin.html. They are also provided in the Readme.txt file.
You can see and try out the chat at http://www.envolve.com.

This version of the mod will work for both vBulletin 4.x and vBulletin 3.8.x.

Screenshots:
Here the "People List" can be seen open in the lower right hand corner of the page. This shows all users who are currently viewing the forum. This site owner has chosen to only allow logged-in users to chat.


Here a public group chat has been opened, and the user has moused-over another user to see his profile information.


Here a user is creating a new group chat that will be shown to the other users on the site. He has also "popped-out" the "General" chat into its own window.

[andrew.lee]

OneHost: The chat windows are resizeable (just drag to resize in the upper left corner). You can also pop the chats out into a separate window if you want them even bigger.

You can get an API Key at www.envolve.com. Just click the big green "Try it for free". It should be pretty straightforward. The "Settings" tab is in your vBulletin Admin Control Panel. It should be the top button on the sidebar on the left. The "Options" button will appear directly below that when you click on Settings. Here's what it looks like:


Hope that helps!

[8thos]

The single install idea is awesome but there should be a template edits option for us more advanced users that way we can choose which skin we want to use the Envolve Chat Module. For instance, I have Meebo in one of my forum skins. I'd put Envolve in another skin. Hold up... $49 a month? NVM.

[ProFifaLeagues]

What sort of usage will this cause on the server using the free system?

[andrew.lee]

It's a completely hosted chat solution, so it will have no impact on your server at all. All traffic is routed through the Envolve servers. This is true of all the version, including the free and paid versions.

[ProFifaLeagues]

Cheers Andrew for the Quick reply!

[rajubd]

if a user log in my forum they able to see other friend online or not?

[andrew.lee]

Of course! You should give it a try! I think you'll really like it. I'm new to the vBulletin community, but we've been working on this chat for more than a year-and-a-half. I think we've got something pretty slick here! If you want to play with it it's running live on our website.

[andrew.lee]

@rajubd - We don't have a "friends list" at the moment. We actually show all the users who are active in chat to everyone. So yes they'll be able to see their friends, but they won't see only their friends. We've built this with a special focus on group conversations (though it does private 1-on-1 chats well too).

[oedipean]

It is exactly what I was looking for, but unfortunately it hosted in your site .

[andrew.lee]

So there was a long discussion thread here about other chat systems such as Comet Chat, Arrow Chat, and some others that you can install yourself. https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=176924

The Envolve chat is hosted because we can provide better service for large sites this way (apache + php doesn't do real-time stuff very well), and because this way we can update everyone immediately when we fix bugs / add features / etc. Did you try it out? Any feedback other than the hosting issue? Why is us hosting the service a negative for you?