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

[FASherman]

Suggestions to add:

Prune all when room is empty (via cron)
On Join message
Room title
Built in responsebot

[PKRWUD]

Originally Posted by KPalicz

Does anyone have a chat set up somewhere I can try out before I decide to install this?

Have the bugs all been fixed?

You can check it out on my site. I have it set up so there is only one room, and it works great, but I would like to know how to review the days posts. For some reason, as of today, when I post in there, the text and the user name aren't lined up properly. Probably just my browser. Really, though, this Chat program is much better than any of the others I've tried, which is most of them.

http://www.ricehatersclub.com/vbulletin/vBChat.php?

You can log in as: Guest One
Password: one

Or as: Guest Two
Password: two

[Eagle Creek]

chat seems nice

[sv1cec]

Well, for one reason or another, I decided to give it a try. I installed it last night and it works OK. Some minor issues with IE (it spreads the first lines over the whole table, trying to space them out evenly over the whole height of the table), but these were not significant.

Some of the complaints I've read here, and which I've managed to fix are:

- Show the number of users in chat in FORUMHOME.
- Make the users column, show the right users, not users who are gone, for hours. This requires a "Logout" button of some sort, that the users have to press instead of just closing the browser window, when done (yes, I open a new window for the chat). This removes their session in the chat from the database, so they no longer show up on the list. At the moment, I am trying to figure out how to prevent them from pressing the X at the top right corner, instead of the log out button, that would need some more searching.
- I didn't exactly like the way the members could create new rooms and then leave them there for the admin to erase. That looked stupid to me, so I changed the hack to delete these rooms, when the last member in them logs out.
- with some changes in the cron job, I made the hack erase the posts which are older than a few minutes. I changed the autoprune parameter to specify minutes instead of days, and I have the cron job running every 15 minutes.
- I also didn't like the way the hack acted when you created a new room, or asked to join a room. If you go to the Select a room to join screen and you select a room, you are immediately transfered to that room. If you ask to create a new room, as soon as you create it, you are transfered to the Select a room to join.

If someone is interested in my changes, I could post them here. But do not take it for granted I'll provide support, in place of ZT.

Rgds

[Big Kahuna]

Well I like the way it was implimented on the Rice Haters club and sure could use it -- but I don't know if I'm willing to take the plunge in something that appears to have been abandon. I've seldom required any support on any of the many hacks I've installed -- but I am concerned when a hack or addin gets abandon.

If you don't mind posting your changes -- I might give it a shot on my test board.

[guydogg]

Is there a way to refresh the user list? I have 6 people in chat, but i know that only two are there, and the others havent been there in awhile.

Thanks in advance.

[sv1cec]

The only way to have a correct user list, is if you force your users to log out, from the chat session. If they do not, they session stays in the list (I think there is a time limit, after that the session is erased). Until it gets erased, you see them in the list.

I added a log out button in my forms, so that the users can log out. In the vBChat.php file, you need to add something like this:

Find:

PHP Code:

// ---------------------------------------------------
// Start Page Output
// --------------------------------------------------- 


Above that, add:

PHP Code:


    // ---------------------------------------------------
    // Start Logout
    // ---------------------------------------------------

    if($_GET['do']=="logout")
    {
        $DB->query("delete from ".TABLE_PREFIX."session WHERE userid=$bbuserinfo[userid] AND location like '%vBChat.php%'");
        eval('print_output("' . fetch_template('chat_close') . '");');
        exit;
    } 


The template chat_close can be something like:

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript"><!--
function winClose() { 
    setTimeout('self.close()',8000);
}
//--></SCRIPT>
<title>$vboptions[bbtitle] - $pagetitle</title>
$headinclude
</HEAD>

<BODY>
$header
<br><br><br><br>
<table class="tborder" cellpadding="$stylevar[cellpadding]" cellspacing="$stylevar[cellspacing]" border="0" width="100%" align="center">
<tr>
	<td class="tcat" colspan="3"><center>Thank you for using our Chat</center></td>
</tr>
<tr>
	<td class="alt1"><CENTER>This window will now close.<br>Please come back at your convenience.</center></td>
</tr>
</table>

<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="JavaScript"><!--

//and at the end of the page place this call
 
winClose() 

//--></SCRIPT>
</BODY>
</HTML>

I do that, because I have the chat open in a new window, which I want it to close after the user logs out.

As for the log out link, in your chat_main template, find:

<b>Post Message:</b>
<input type='text' name='message' class='button' size='70'> <input type='submit' value=' Post ' class='button'>
</td>

Below that, add:

<td align='right' class='tfoot'><a href='vBChat.php?$session[sessionurl]do=logout&amp;u=$bbuserinfo[userid]'>
<input type="submit" class="button" name="logout" value="Log Out" accesskey="l" onClick="window.location='vBChat.php?$session[sessionurl]do=logout&amp;u=$bbuserinfo[userid]'">
</a>
</td>

[marster37]

When more messages are added they disappear from the box message area. I get about 14 one line messages before it starts with the new message. Any way to have all the messages stay on the screen. When I scroll up there isnt anything more than 14 messages at a time

[sv1cec]

Originally Posted by marster37

When more messages are added they disappear from the box message area. I get about 14 one line messages before it starts with the new message. Any way to have all the messages stay on the screen. When I scroll up there isnt anything more than 14 messages at a time

In vBChat.php find:

PHP Code:

$chat_page .= "<table height='100%' border='0'>";

        // Get All Chat Messege's If Any
        $Get_Chat_MSG = $DB->query("select m.*,u.* from ".TABLE_PREFIX."vbchat_store m
        left join ".TABLE_PREFIX."user u on (u.userid = m.s_postby) where m.s_forroom = '{$bbuserinfo['vbchat_pref_in_room']}' order by m.s_postime desc limit 0,15"); 


The last number there, at the last line, that 15, is the number of messages that it shows you. I changed that to 30 in my site. If you want all messages to show, remove the " limit 0,15" part. But it's useless, if you scroll up to read the previous messages, and the screen refreshes, you will be thrown back at the bottom again, so I do not see it very useful.

Rgds

[Eagle Creek]

Are these nice alternatives:

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthrea...highlight=chat

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthrea...ight=Flashchat

?