Who's in chat on forumhome.. (No eggdrop)

I don't know if any of you will find this useful but its something that I've wanted for a while. For me, the problem with all of the other "who's in chat" hacks is that most of them require something crazy to work (I have no idea what an eggdrop is). Anyway, this one is php/mysql based and should be easy to install.

Description: This will add a new section to your "What's going on?" block which will display a list of users who are currently chatting or viewing the included chat.php page (see screenshot). The list of current chatters is updated every 60 seconds by an auto-refreshing (hidden) iframe in the chat page.

This hack should work with any embedded (web based) IRC chat.

Installation overview:
*Files to edit: (1) -index.php
*Files to upload: (2) -chat.php & icon_chat.gif
*Templates to edit: (1) -FORUMHOME
*Templates to add: (3) -chat_main, chat_chatters, & chat_chatbit
*Queries to run: (1) Adds the chatters table.

After that you simply add the html code to embed your chat applet in the chat_chatbit template. You can then view your chatroom by going to yoursite.com/forums/chat.php.

Note: The list of chatters is updated every 60 seconds, so usernames will still be listed in the "who's in chat" box for up to a minute after they leave the chat page.

Credits: The idea for refreshing the iframe to update the chattime came from John's "extend session" feature in his V3Arcade hack. So thanks John.

[Zelda-King]

I just tested something. It's early days to say for sure but this may be related to a personal online modification I did for Who's Online. Or at least I tried this once with a template reverted and then I could see myself. Does this refer to Who's Online? It's just I noticed people in the chat show in Who's Online as being in the 'Chat' but I have it so I'm untrackable.

[EvilLS1]

Well, this shouldn't have any effect on whos online. vBulletin has chat.php defined by default so thats why you see them listed as in chat even though you haven't added that location.

[Zelda-King]

Yeah, it turned out it's made no difference. I'm having trouble pinpointing the condition under which it works in Firefox for me or not. I think I'll get some staff/users in on helping me run further tests.

[Fender963]

Question for you,

I first installed the vbxIrc hack and that worked fine. Now how do I go about getting that to work with this hack? When in the chat_chatbit template is says:
************* Add Chat Code Here ****************

What code do I add? I'm really confised. I think alot might be screwed up because I have vbxirc installed in /forums/chat/ where as this is supposed to go just in /forums/

Kyle

[EvilLS1]

Kyle,
I wish I could help but I have no idea what it would take to integrate this hack with the other one b/c I don't use vbxirc.

************* Add Chat Code Here **************** should be replaced with the code for the chat applet (params etc). But since this hack wasn't designed to work with the other one I'm not sure what else would need to be done.

Dewayne

[Erwin]

You can always embed your java chat applet into the forumdisplay template of a custom style, and make that style only appear for a particular forum - that way, you know how many people are viewing that forum - ie. chat - and you can even lift that information up to Who's Online of forumhome easily.

[EvilLS1]

Originally Posted by Erwin

You can always embed your java chat applet into the forumdisplay template of a custom style, and make that style only appear for a particular forum - that way, you know how many people are viewing that forum - ie. chat - and you can even lift that information up to Who's Online of forumhome easily.

I actually had it set up like that when I used vb2 but removed it because it didn't work very well. Theres a few problems with doing it that way:
1) If the user remains in chat longer than the session timeout (15 min in my case) he will no longer be listed as chatting or even online b/c he is not actively browsing the site.
2) If the user who is chatting opens a new window and continues browsing your site, he is no longer shown as 'in chat'. Instead, his most recent location is shown.
3) If a user enters the chat page and then leaves the site, his name will still be listed as chatting for another 15 minutes or whatever the session timeout is.

With this hack the "whos in chat" list is updated every 60 seconds and users will be shown regardless if they're browsing other pages while chatting.

[Fender963]

Hey EvilLs1,

Okay for some reason something just isn't working. When viewing the forum index even if there isn't anyone in the chat the Who's Chatting: is still supposed to display "No users are chatting." Correct?

Well not even this is showing up for me..... Can you please help me. Do I need to post some of my code for you to help me? I have gone through the instructions many times and it still isn't working.

Thank you,
Kyle

[Loxias]

Just wanted to say thanks. Used this mini-mod and changed the permission check to allow our subscription members access to the chat room. Working great!

[EvilLS1]

Loxias,
Glad you like it.

Kyle,
Can post the last chunk of code that you added to index.php? It acts as if that code is missing. It shoud show "No users are chatting" when nobody is chatting. Anyway, I gotta hit the sack right now but I'll help you figure it out tomorrow.