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

[maidos]

thanks for the upgrade

also like i said on the other msg the longer name u have the further the msg will will become... if u have long name the msg will placed on right side

http://img367.imageshack.us/img367/4093/issueel3.jpg


also can i click on the canal links it moves the page top of it, it seems if click te button refresh, reset, ok or canal it moves the page to the top...

[VBDev]

Originally Posted by alessai

VBDev the visitors still cant see the chatbox please help

Have you set the permissions for unregistered users ??

Originally Posted by ltd

working great.

can we make bbcode and smilies to show by default and not by clicking them ?

What do you mean exactly ? I don't understand.

Originally Posted by Pottsy

Correction to above - WOL works on the full page chatbox, but not using the chatbox inserted in another page (like forumhome).

This is working perfectly on the forumhome of the two forums I follows. Which browser do you use ?

When you say it's not working, could you give me more details of what's not working plz ?

Originally Posted by wizardan

Mmmm... I have my "What's Going On" box at the top of my Forumhome.
I was able to position the ChatBox below it in version 1.2
In 1.3, it seems to have reverted to just below the navbar?
What am I forgetting?

Great update!

You have to do the process explained in the Readme file for the styles problem and put the $chatbox_forumhome var under the stat var I think.

Originally Posted by nebu

yeah nice one!
works great

but i have one wish....
is it possible to add a soudn notification for new posts in the MGC chatbox?
a little click/beep would be nice!

As I already said before, verifying that new messages are present would need probably to add a query at each chatbox messages retrieving which is something I don't want !

Anyway, maybe there could be a solution so I'll have look, will put that in the todo list.

[VBDev]

Originally Posted by Tulsa

I am still experiencing this issue. I have the oldest at the top and the text bar at the bottom.

Edit: I changed the "hide refreshing display" to "yes" and it appears to be working.

You're still experiencing it ??? I have tested that many times, it was working perfectly

What is your browser ? Are you sure that they were no unmodified chatbox templates ?

Originally Posted by Karabaja

Great work vbdev. Everything fine.
Just couple of small suggestions, to have alt text of channel and wol icons in english like "canal team" to "team channel", but I'll change that in xml before installing. I only tried it on test board.
Any maybe to have 0 posts requirement by default in usergroup permissions or something smaller, people are unlikely to leave it at 100 posts. I mean I don't have problem changing that to what I like but it should save some time for everyone to install this in future.

edit: I just noticed something while writing this, same thing as Tulsa mentioned, when set to oldest shouts first, after new shout is made it is not actually seen, untill I scroll down. Hope there is a work around for scroll bar to move automatically.

For the 0 posts, yes I could have it set to 0, anyway when upgrading if I put 0 in the next version it will not overwrite the existing value. I'll put that in todo list.

For the scrolling, it was supposed to be fixed

Originally Posted by furst

Whoa, this newest version is pretty buggy.

It lags something awful.

It "jumps" every once in a while. I think this may be because I have new shouts appearing at the bottom.

When I click a smilie it scrolls the entire page down to the very bottom, for some reason.

Animated smilies sometimes freeze.

People aren't showing up in WOL.

Also, when I have the inactivity mode enabled, SOME users only see "Idle" in the chatbox regardless of what they do.

How do I revert back to the older version? Just upload the files and import one of the products again?

Before being that aggressive, you could at least say a little thanks ... And it is perfectly working on a number of forums so don't say it's laggy before at least having found with me where the problem lies...

When you means jumps, it means that the browser is jumping where ? At the top of the chatbox ?

If this is the case then it should be normal (before it was jumping to the very top of the page). Which browser do you use ?

When does animated smilies freezes ? (during the refresh ?)

Peoples aren't showing in the whosonline ? Are those people chatting, if you have activated the inactive mode thing and they are inactive, they won't be shown in the whosonline. What's shwoning in the chatbox instead ?

For the idle thing, did they clicked on the refresh button ?

If you want me to find out what's wrong maybe we should investigate a little bit more before you definitely reverse ?

If you still want to reverse, just uninstall it and then install the last version.

Originally Posted by Karabaja

I changed auto refresh and hide refreshing display options and eventually returned them to original values I had this problem with(both to yes) and it is working fine now.

You mean that there are no problem of scrolling anymore ?

Originally Posted by Quantnet.org

I put it on top of $footer, where should i put it ?

As there might not be a stats variable in the cyb stats, check out in the plugin code where the author puts the stats. IF this is under the navbar then you should put the var under the $navbar one in the forumhome template.

[VBDev]

Originally Posted by nureeves

• Which line at mgc_chatbox template that i have to edit, to change background color of chatbox?
• How to resize the height of chatbox?

Height can be modified through acp options

For the mgc_chatbox template, try removing the class thing in the tr of that piece of code, and adding your bgcolor thing.

    <tr class="alt2">
      <td width="100%" colspan="2">
     <table width="100%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2">
    <tr>
      <if condition="($can_use_team && $vboptions[mgc_cb_deux_canaux]) || ($can_use_wol)">

Originally Posted by matDDH

just upgraded from 1.2 and there are a couple of questions that if answerd would make this the best chat box ever for my users.

First I dont see where you can see what users are online in the chat with you. Is this the "WOL" channel (sorry dont know what "WOL" means maybe "whos online"?) WOL chan doesnt seem to do anything right now in any mode for me including full chat mode.

Second; if i am in the regular channel and someone says something in the team channel my icon does not blink... and yes i have turned this option on.

Third; Could you enlighten me on how to change it from saying canal regular / canal team to make it say Regular channel / Team Channel?

Yes this is the wol channel. When you mean it's not doing anything, what do you exactly see ?

For the team blinking icon, it depends of the time perdio you put for that option in the acp, the check is done on page load and by default every 5 min. So this maybe the reason why you don't see it automatically.

For the last one, edit the alt of the corresponding images in the mgc_chatbox template. I'll make them in phrases for the next version.

Originally Posted by nutnut

Not sure if this has been suggested, but I have another chat box that displays a line whenever someone posts a new thread or post in the forums. I really love that so I can hang out on the index and chat and watch for new posts at the same time. Any possibility of adding this? Thanks, great work!

My problem with this functionnality is that it adds queries, and I don't see that as a mandatory thing for the chatbox.

So my actual position is no I won't do that. I will see if this is really intersting but I am actually not really convinced

Originally Posted by gothicuser

Finally did it!!
Using an iframe (I know it's not too tidy) got the chatbox working in vBAdvanced

lol yes this will be cleaner in the addon thing

Originally Posted by maidos

thanks for the upgrade

also like i said on the other msg the longer name u have the further the msg will will become... if u have long name the msg will placed on right side

http://img367.imageshack.us/img367/4093/issueel3.jpg


also can i click on the canal links it moves the page top of it, it seems if click te button refresh, reset, ok or canal it moves the page to the top...

This is because the username and the chat are not placed in the same column of the table, this was made to clean the display but that's right with long username it is strange too, I'll make a poll for that purpose once things calmed done here

Does it moves to the top or to the top of the chatbox ? If this is the top of the chatbox then it's normal, this is the fixed thing for the chatbox being bumped to the very top of the page. (What's your browser anyway ?)

[VBDev]

[high]* VBDev is going to hide himself far far away [/high]

[maidos]

im using internet explorer 6 and firefox
please is it possible to make the msg comes close to the username! since ihave like 150 000 members so icant just tell everyone to make their names shorter... there some that like their names sopleasee

yes it does move top of the shohutbox.. its quite annoying >_<

vbdev is possile can u share some tip how to fix this hugeee space on the shoutbox

[Dream]

2 installs for this to pass my chatbox! *shakes fist*



[high]* Dream shows tongue to VBDev[/high]

[matDDH]

thx for the amazing support you give us VBDEV!!!!!
I just ran a test using other computers and some test accounts i have on my forum and.

in the WOL i dont see anything at all when i click on it... its just an empty chatbbox it doesnt show myself or any of my test accounts i am using. also i do not have the time out function activated.

I ran another test with the team chat with one test account and stayed idle for about 10 mins and nothing.. the icon still does not blink.

for some reason those 2 functions are not working, im not sure what i am doing wrong.

[VBDev]

Originally Posted by maidos

im using internet explorer 6 and firefox
please is it possible to make the msg comes close to the username! since ihave like 150 000 members so icant just tell everyone to make their names shorter... there some that like their names sopleasee

yes it does move top of the shohutbox.. its quite annoying >_<

vbdev is possile can u share some tip how to fix this hugeee space on the shoutbox

Yes I'll provide you a how to for that don't worry I'll try during the lunch break or at most this evening

I know it's quite annoying but as it shall not happen as this is a link with a #chatbox in it returning false. So the link shall not be followed

I'll try to find a fix but this problem burns my head since long time now

Originally Posted by Dream

2 installs for this to pass my chatbox! *shakes fist*



[high]* Dream shows tongue to VBDev[/high]

lol Gna Gna Gna

Originally Posted by matDDH

thx for the amazing support you give us VBDEV!!!!!
I just ran a test using other computers and some test accounts i have on my forum and.

in the WOL i dont see anything at all when i click on it... its just an empty chatbbox it doesnt show myself or any of my test accounts i am using. also i do not have the time out function activated.

I ran another test with the team chat with one test account and stayed idle for about 10 mins and nothing.. the icon still does not blink.

for some reason those 2 functions are not working, im not sure what i am doing wrong.

Have you updated all files on the forum ? Especially the js one in the clientscript folder ?

If you are using ie, does it show you an error at the bottom left of the browser ?

[burntire]

Originally Posted by matDDH

thx for the amazing support you give us VBDEV!!!!!
I just ran a test using other computers and some test accounts i have on my forum and.

in the WOL i dont see anything at all when i click on it... its just an empty chatbbox it doesnt show myself or any of my test accounts i am using. also i do not have the time out function activated.

I ran another test with the team chat with one test account and stayed idle for about 10 mins and nothing.. the icon still does not blink.

for some reason those 2 functions are not working, im not sure what i am doing wrong.

I am experiecing the same issues. I am in the chat with others and we can not see each other in the Chat WOL. Also we do not show up in the VB WOL either when active in the chat.

Other than that the upgrade has some nice new features.

Thanks for the good work.