DigiChat Integration V2.0

DigiChat Integration Version 2.0

This hack is no longer supported. I have released DigiChat Integration 3.0.3.

The new hack can be found HERE

This is my update for VBulletin 3.0.x. Sorry for the delay but it took me some time to upgrade to vb3.0.0 and integrate all other hacks + develop my new upgrade hack. :nervous:

What is this hack ?
This hack is a complete integration of the Chatsoftware DigiChat ( which is NOT freeware ) into the latest version of VBulletin 3.0.x. :devious:

What does this hack do ?
This hack provides the ability to offer a complete front-end to the DigiChat software. So if you are running your own DigiChat server or your chat is hosted somewhere else, this hack will provide you for each member a specific profile, settings and whos in chat functionality.

For Admins and Chatmasters i am providing an extra Admin/Chatmaster login depending on their userstatus in your forum and they will get the extra tool to trace IPs from chatusers. Normal users will just see the names of the users in chat and a link to their forum profile. :devious:

Are there many changes to be done ?
No, i try to keep my changes to a minimum and if it is possible not to touch any databases for obvious reasons. So this hack exists of:

- 8 new templates
- 2 template modifications
- 6 file uploads
- 1 php file modification

Do i need version 1.0 or version 1.1 for this hack ?
No. I am providing both. An upgrade path from previous versions and also a new install path for complete new installations.

How long does it take to install this hack ?
If you are familiar with VBulletin and DigiChat it will take about 10 minutes to upgrade and 15 minutes for a new install.

Is there any support for this hack ?
Yes, from me but i will change the way of giving support now. I my previous version i posted my email address and the amount of emails was amazing. The bad thing was that no one shared this information in the thread. Due to this i will ONLY give support to people in THIS thread and ONLY if they clicked on the "INSTALL" button. I am sorry, but my time is limited and answering the same question 5 times via email is not very efficient. I hope you understand this.

Are there screenshots available for this hack ?
Yes. I have included them into the zip file and i will add them in this thread.

How to manage this Chat environment ?
This version 2.0 has one config file which you have to edit before you go live. In the future updates i will add one table to the database which can be edited through the admin panel. This is not really important because the security will not change so often for chats but just in case someone wants to edit this configfile via the Admin CP i will offer this in the next version.

Whos in Chat function does not work ?
Please make sure that you have the appropriate rights and the commander function enabled which produces the output file every x minutes who is in chat. You have to have a license from DigiChat to be able to do that. :tired:

Some words are in german ?
This should not be the case. I developed this on my domain and in german. I translated all the frontend but you never know. If there are parts still in german please tell me so i can translate them.

So enjoy this hack and happy chatting. After installing please click on this install link or on the install button at the top.

UPDATE 2.0.1
I am very sorry, but i forgot to put one file into the zip file. The missing file is the chatlauncer.php for the javascript pop-up to log into the chats. So if you realized that you can only log into the chat with the extra option, then you know why. Again apologize for this. I have uploaded the new zip file and updated the install.html.

For those of you who installed it already just download the zip file and copy the chatlauncher.php into your forum root directory.

UPDATE 2.0.2
I added some bugfixing for the guest template and the chatlauncher.php. Thanks to Randomlove for pointing that out.

For those of you who installed it already just download the zip file and copy the chatlauncher.php into your forum root directory. After this open the template chat_start_guest and copy the text from the install.html file into your template.

Cheers,

[Pseudomizer]

Now you have to do the following on your machine:

Create a new directory called stats in your $CHAT_WEBSERVER_ROOT/DigiChat/DigiClasses/Resources/$CHATNAME/ directory.

On Unix create a crontab job and let it every x minutes execute the following script:

Script getchatusers.sh

PHP Code:

/$PATH_TO_JAVA/bin/java -classpath /usr/local/DigiChat/Commander.zip com.diginet.digichat.commander.Commander users siteID $SITEID host $CHATHOST password $PASSWORD &> /$CHAT_WEBSERVER_ROOT/DigiChat/DigiClasses/Resources/$CHATNAME/stats/digiakt$SITEID.txt 


Please replace the following variables above with your input:
$PATH_TO_JAVA = e.g. /usr/bin/java1.4.2/bin/java
$SITEID = e.g. 1000
$CHATNAME = e.g Default or your given name like MyCHAT
$CHATHOST = IP or URL
$PASSWORD = Commander password which you have to set
$CHAT_WEBSERVER_ROOT = /www/htdocs/domain/
digiakt$SITEID.txt = e.g. digiakt1000.txt

On Windows create a getchatusers.bat file instead of the getchatusers.sh with the same script source from above and replaced variables and create an AT job which runs every x minutes.

Then you can specify the path to this outputfile which is created every x minutes in my hack.

ALL SET ALL DONE !!!

P.S.: If you wish to block all users from reading this file without permission you can create an .htaccess file in the stats directory and enter the IP of your server and deny all others. I would recommend this.

Cheers,

[Jimmy D. Giles]

Okay, please excuse the dumb question. I currently run vBulletin Version 3.0.1. I am strongly considering purchasing DigiChat 5.0. I spoke with the DigiChat rep and he told me about the ability to integrate the two programs. He said that DigiChat would enhance the 'stickiness' of my board. Okay fair enough.

I first came across DigiChat here http://www.itshappening.com/chat/hchat.htm

THE THING I liked most about this interface was the brainless aspect. IOW, it's idiot proof. My concern is that if I integrate vBulletin and DigiChat, it will not be as idiot proof. I am correct in assuming http://www.itshappening.com/index.php (vBulletin forum) is NOT integrated with DigiChat, right?

To integrate or not?

Please advise.

Footnote: I get a fair amount of visitation to my forum but membership is less than I would like. My forum is highly controversial, politically speaking and so I want users to be able to chat with as few impediments as possible and who will later join my forum.

[Pseudomizer]

Originally Posted by Jimmy D. Giles

Okay, please excuse the dumb question. I currently run vBulletin Version 3.0.1. I am strongly considering purchasing DigiChat 5.0. I spoke with the DigiChat rep and he told me about the ability to integrate the two programs. He said that DigiChat would enhance the 'stickiness' of my board. Okay fair enough.

I first came across DigiChat here http://www.itshappening.com/chat/hchat.htm

THE THING I liked most about this interface was the brainless aspect. IOW, it's idiot proof. My concern is that if I integrate vBulletin and DigiChat, it will not be as idiot proof. I am correct in assuming http://www.itshappening.com/index.php (vBulletin forum) is NOT integrated with DigiChat, right?

To integrate or not?

Please advise.

Footnote: I get a fair amount of visitation to my forum but membership is less than I would like. My forum is highly controversial, politically speaking and so I want users to be able to chat with as few impediments as possible and who will later join my forum.

Hi,

i tried to have a look at your example but i received this answer:

"The server is too busy at the moment. Please try again later."

Please tell me when your example is ready for review. I would highly recommend not to put the chat onto the same server if you already reach your limit with vbulletin load ?

Cheers,

[Jimmy D. Giles]

Both are coming up for me now.

[Pseudomizer]

Originally Posted by Jimmy D. Giles

Both are coming up for me now.

Hi,

the example to which you are referring to is not integrated into VBulletin. It is the standard guest login for DigiChat.

Advantages:
- Very easy to use for non-members
- everyone can choose a name he likes to connect to the chat
- this is just one plain HTML file in a template to offer a DigiChat guest login.

Disadvantages:
- your members have to type in their name to log into the chat even if they are registered users.
- your members have to select an icon every time after logging into the chat even if they are registered users.
- your members do not have any exit message
- your members do not have any comments in their chat profile
- your members have no link to their forum profile or their homepage
- ALL of your members can be faked by other guest users

Summary:
The solution you showed me is just a copy and paste of the guest access into a vb template. This is the easiest way to offer a chatlogin. But there is integration between vb and DigiChat. Your example is ONLY idiot proof for guest and that's it. Your registered members have no reason to register on your page if they are no forum posters and if they are only chatter.

What i tried to offer here is an integration where you can offer a guest login if you wish ( can be disabled ) and a member login. The guest login is restricted to get a random given name and no permanent chat settings. Your members have all options which are available in DigiChat in their forum profile and they are permanent. So they just set them once and they do not have to think about anything else.

So my offer should be ( to use your words ) idiot proof for guest by just entering the chat without any input or complications and my offer is idiot proof for your members because they have all settings permanent which they can adjust in their forum profile. So you encourage your chat people to register on your page to get the advantage to use all features of DigiChat mananed from the forum profile. And this is what you want to achieve.

I hope this helped you in your decision.

Cheers,

[Jimmy D. Giles]

Originally Posted by Pseudomizer

Hi,

the example to which you are referring to is not integrated into VBulletin. It is the standard guest login for DigiChat.

Advantages:
- Very easy to use for non-members
- everyone can choose a name he likes to connect to the chat
- this is just one plain HTML file in a template to offer a DigiChat guest login.

Disadvantages:
- your members have to type in their name to log into the chat even if they are registered users.
- your members have to select an icon every time after logging into the chat even if they are registered users.
- your members do not have any exit message
- your members do not have any comments in their chat profile
- your members have no link to their forum profile or their homepage
- ALL of your members can be faked by other guest users

Summary:
The solution you showed me is just a copy and paste of the guest access into a vb template. This is the easiest way to offer a chatlogin. But there is integration between vb and DigiChat. Your example is ONLY idiot proof for guest and that's it. Your registered members have no reason to register on your page if they are no forum posters and if they are only chatter.

What i tried to offer here is an integration where you can offer a guest login if you wish ( can be disabled ) and a member login. The guest login is restricted to get a random given name and no permanent chat settings. Your members have all options which are available in DigiChat in their forum profile and they are permanent. So they just set them once and they do not have to think about anything else.

So my offer should be ( to use your words ) idiot proof for guest by just entering the chat without any input or complications and my offer is idiot proof for your members because they have all settings permanent which they can adjust in their forum profile. So you encourage your chat people to register on your page to get the advantage to use all features of DigiChat mananed from the forum profile. And this is what you want to achieve.

I hope this helped you in your decision.

Cheers,

Excellent information. Thank you. Could you please give me an example or examples of vBulletin forums who have integrated. Ideally yours, where I could go and chat with you some more maybe or not. I remember what you said above about not liking to repeat yourself. I don't blame you. I hate repeating myself too. But I would like to see an example of vBulletin and DigiChat integrated. Thanks again!

[Pseudomizer]

Originally Posted by Jimmy D. Giles

Excellent information. Thank you. Could you please give me an example or examples of vBulletin forums who have integrated. Ideally yours, where I could go and chat with you some more maybe or not. I remember what you said above about not liking to repeat yourself. I don't blame you. I hate repeating myself too. But I would like to see an example of vBulletin and DigiChat integrated. Thanks again!

Hi Jimmy,

you can take my first domain in my signature. It is a german site but you can choose the language english in the language options. This is a complete DigiChat Integration.

Cheers,

[Jimmy D. Giles]

Originally Posted by Pseudomizer

Hi Jimmy,

you can take my first domain in my signature. It is a german site but you can choose the language english in the language options. This is a complete DigiChat Integration.

Cheers,

Thank you Pseudo,

I'm looking and don't see the language options?

[Pseudomizer]

Originally Posted by Jimmy D. Giles

Thank you Pseudo,

I'm looking and don't see the language options?

I did this for you. Now you should have the english menu.

Cheers,

[Jimmy D. Giles]

Originally Posted by Pseudomizer

I did this for you. Now you should have the english menu.

Cheers,

Yes, I see it now. I just wanted to look at the layout and it's great. I like the integration. I really can't imagine doing it now without integrating. Now on to getting DigiChat, installing it and then integrating it with vBulletin.

Any tips or suggestions?

Thank you very much.