Chat Modifications - MGC Chatbox (with AJAX)

Last version - MGC Chatbox Evo available : here

Description

When I had left the vBulletin world, I was in the past the co-author of a little chatbox (shoutbox), very well known in the vBulletin world.
This chatbox had been developed by Svaliotti (known as Poseidon on vb.org) for vB2 in the past and I had made the porterage (with is authorisation as we were both members of the same french non-official support forum) and the improvement for vB3.

It is thus normal that in my return in the vBulletin world, I begin by getting down to this hack. Even if several versions of chatbox are already present in the vBulletin world, I said to myself that it would be a good thing to make a made in France.

Naturally, I don't deal with a "copy" version of the other chatbox, I have any coded at the beginning (it was preferable because the front code wasn't so clean any more), and I integrated a good quantity of very interesting features.

New version features

The new version contains all the features from the previous version. Description of these versions can be found in Sofia's post hereabove (https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost.php?p=1257510&postcount=3).

Modifications from previous version are the following :

• 1.5 :
  • Fixed bugs :
    • Chatbox is shown two times in full page mode when the Display on all pages under the navbar option is selected.
    • "Fermer" is not in a sentence.
    • Overflow problem with Netscape.
    • Uppercase transformed to lowercase in the PM channel.
    • The ban cron debans user indefinitly banned.
    • Chatbox continuously loading on some forums.
    • Inactivity and guests problem.
    • Team icon blinking is not working properly.
    • Coma error in the who is online.
    • 2 spaces instead of one between the date and the time.
  • New functionnalities :
    • Option to deactivate the random smilies.
    • Option to deactivate the automatic PM sending when banning a user.
    • New permission to allow or not the downloading of shouts.
    • Option to specify the name under which unregistered users shouts appear.
    • Syntax change for the /ban, /ignore, /del, /pm commands : Possibility to use them with the username or the userid (For more information about the new syntax, check the help button in the chatbox).
  • Removed functionnalities :
    • vBAdvanced integration [TEMPORARLY] => See this for integration with this version https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=163628

This hack is very light in term of queries : only one for every recharging / refreshment of the chatbox and 5 for the statistics in the load of the page if you actiate them. If you don't activate advanced options of course as stated aside each in the acp

Installation

Read the file "Installation" in the pack.

Once the installation is ended, go in usergroups and edit permissions to see the Chatbox.

By default, no group has access to the chatbox.

Screenshots

The screenshots are in french as I have made it on an online website which is in french. Don't hesitate to give me new one if you want in english

They are up to date of 1.3 version.

See the following post : https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showpost.php?p=1292136&postcount=559

User manual

Coming soon ...

Copyright

This hack is under copyright MGC (Mtor&Grog Corporation) 2007-forever and was developed for vBulletin-Resources.com & vb-hacks.org. Its redistribution on another forum that vbulletin-ressources.com, vb-hacks.org or vbulletin.org are prohibited without aggreement of the authors!

Evolutions and improvements

This sixth version of the chatbox is already very complete, but like each product, its evolution depends on all. Then don't hesitate especially to share your ideas of improvements so that we can improve even more this chatbox.

Languages

Actually available :

1. French
2. English
3. Arabic [Translator : alessai]
4. German [Translator : captainslater]
5. Vietnamese [Translator : Anhyeu12000]
6. Turkish [Translator : neutralizer and bocek]
7. Spanish [Translator : obmob] [TO BE UPDATED FOR 1.5]

To be available [Translation in progress] :

1. Bosnian [Translator : Benjaminbih]

[FONT='Calibri','sans-serif']For the translators : phrases with version number 1.5 in the English language file are the one that have been modified or added in the new version so you should probably find the modification for your language file easily.[/font]

Contact me if you want to participate and add your own country language file

Support

Several possible problems are explained in the file "Read Me"
Chatbox in iBProarcade and vBadvanced CMPS

See the readme file for iBProarcade.

For vbadvanced, a module is available here : https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=163628.

FAQ

Q: I installed the chatbox but it doesn't display
R: Check if you have allowed users (permissions in usergroups)

Q: I see shouts but in the collapsed chatbox
R: You can specify number of shouts in the collapsed chatbox. If you don't want to see it, put "0" for this option.

Q: The chatbox doesn't display below or in the top of one of the pages while in the other position it displays
R: You use a style and it's possible that variables used in templates aren't present. (Read the file "Read Me")

Q: I have a problem with accents in the Chatbox
R: Read the file "Read Me"

Q: How to change the value of color for date and for command /me?
R: When you add additionnal CSS for each style, you can change color in class CSS.

Thanks to Sofia for her earlier help on the chatbox.

You can donate if you want to show your support

Last version - MGC Chatbox Evo available : here

[da420]

Firefox 2.0.

[1337_macro]

Woot man this is a fantastic shoutbox...i have a large forum with 300 people on and all other shotboxes lagged with such use...not this one and its fantastic on server load. Thanks

[VBDev]

Originally Posted by da420

Firefox 2.0.

Really strange, it should work, I have tested it with firefox 2.0 and there is no problem at all.

Is this just when page loads and people enter chat during the page load that the problem occurs ? What if they wait for the loading end ?

[da420]

You will be typing, and when the shout box loads the text will freeze up for a second till it's done loading. Sometimes, it works fine without hanging, but sometimes it will. It's not terrible, but it is a bit annoying.

[VBDev]

You mean when the shouts have not been retrieved ? During the chatbox first refresh ?

[da420]

No the shouts retrieve fine. Some of our users will be typing in the box replying in the shout box. While they are in the text box, and I have it set to refresh every 15 seconds, so when it refreshes and they are typing at the same time it will freeze up. Like you will be typing, but no letters are being typed even though I am still typing. This isn't just in the text box, it's also in the quick reply box it slows down when it loads. Also seems to slow down some users cursor in the browser. It's not so bad on mine, but some of my users make it seem like it's pretty bad for them, and it almost sounds intermittently.

[VBDev]

If this is the same problem in the quick reply, then it is maybe of problem with your user's computer that may not support ajax or something like that I think.

You have tested it with Firefox 2.0 do you get the same problem ?

[da420]

Anyways, I am going to give it a try, and see what my users say about it.

I'll give it a try. It was my other admin that was complaining as I enabled it for the admins only, and he was on his old laptop, so that might have had something to do with it. It was happening to me, but I opened my task manager and am seeing something majorly wrong with Firefox as it was using 450MB of RAM. So, I closed and reopened, so we will see what the other users say.

This is a really great product as it stands, and seems to be working flawlessly on others boards.
I do have some suggestions though.

• Idle function - after a set amount of time the user goes idle so the shouts stop refreshing. Then when the user comes back and he sees he's idle (message at the top of the shout box) he can hit a button that says "I'm back." and all will refresh again.
• Users to have the option to disable the shout box all together from their user cp.
• Active Users in The Shoutbox
• Add a PM function (ex. /pm username;message)
• Ignore feature to ignore users (ie. /ignore username then /unignore username to disable the ignore on that user)
• Add an announcement that you can add from the shout box (ex. /announcement messagehere)
• Change descending to ascending mode and editor position from top to bottom.

Would really love to see these features add. Especially the first two.

Thanks and nominated for Mod Of The Month. :up:

[1337_macro]

Maybe make it where the color you choose will become default untill you switch? that would be killer.

Thanks and nominated for Mod Of The Month.

[da420]

Originally Posted by 1337_macro

Maybe make it where the color you choose will become default untill you switch? that would be killer.



Thanks and nominated for Mod Of The Month.

You can do this in your User CP. But, it could be cookie or database set when you choose it I imagine?