36 replies to this topic

[Chris]

Hi folks,

AddonChat Integration with Drupal 6 is now available:

Some of the features include:

• Automatic setup: Enter your account number and password and the we'll handle the gory details.
  
• Remote Authentication, with full support for AddonChat v9.0
  
• Option for Popup or Embedded Link Option (Block)
  
• Integrated Who's Chatting System with intelligent, fast updates (Block)
  
• User Permissions for every AddonChat user group privilege
  
• Advanced Settings options
  
• Fast installation, no prerequisite modules required, all defaults set during installation.

Simply click the link below to download. Unzip the file, and open the included INSTALL.txt file for installation instructions.

Download Available at: http://drupal.org/project/addonchat

Current version: 6.x-1.5

Edited by Chris, 10 August 2011 - 02:11 PM.
Update: AddonChat v9.0 support

[Tally]

I tried out the module on my Drupal test site. :w00t: It was easy to install and set up.

I like the option to have the chat window be either a popup window or a Drupal page. My preference is the popup because it is easy to surf while chatting.

If it automatically logged in authenticated users it would be perfect! The way it is now is fine for anonymous users. I just want to make it easier for those who have already logged onto my site to access chat with a single click.

It has a Who's chatting block that can be positioned in the theme. There is also a Chat link block, but it is not necessary because the link can be added to a page or menu.

[Chris]

I thought there was an option for automatic log-in in this script - will have to look again! :) Thank you for your comments here, Tally, as well as the (very) detailed response via e-mail.

Right now I'm focusing development efforts on VB4; but will come back to Drupal 6 immediately thereafter to address your concerns :)

[jhedstrom]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for this module. I am in the process of testing it, but here is some initial feedback.

1) I would encourage you to release this on drupal.org sooner rather than later. I had a hard time finding it here, and had almost given up.

2) Regarding the 2 php files that must be moved into the root drupal directory: is there a reason these can't be hooked into Drupal via the hook_menu system instead of being separate files? This would make installation much more straight-forward.

3) Prior to release on d.o., the module should be updated to follow d.o. coding standards for quicker acceptance, and easier interpretation by developers trying to evaluate the module: http://drupal.org/coding-standards

Thanks again. I'll post more feedback as I progress through the evaluation.

[Chris]

Thank you!

re: 2. One of the files, specific to remote authentication, does need to be placed in the root folder as it requires a custom Drupal "boot sequence" to run properly. Or, at least, we have yet to find a work around to make this script run properly within the hook system. The other, IIRC, is a redirect (or a JavaScript close window command) file, which likely could be placed elsewhere though may be confusing to the end user as a custom navigation hook.

re: 1,3. We really were hoping to get a bit more feedback before publishing this first-release module at drupal.org and wanted to rush a "beta" to our customer base to ensure there weren't any critical issues that needed to be resolved first. Frankly, I was hoping for at least one cycle, at which point we do indeed need to clean up the code to comply with Drupal's coding standards.

I'm anxious to hear your feedback, including any potential bugs or feature suggestions. The quicker we get the module tested on additional platforms and rule out any "major" issues, the more comfortable I'll be releasing the software.

[jhedstrom]

Hi Chris,

I've had a bit more time to test this, and here is some more feedback:

- The configuration section was a bit confusing since all the sub items were defined as MENU_NORMAL_ITEM (which inserts them into the menu system, but in an admin theme w/o a menu block on the side, makes them inaccessible). Attached is a patch that switches these to MENU_LOCAL_TASK such that they appear as tabs and are accessible directly from the admin landing page.

- Not critical, but I was a little surprised that the install created 3 additional roles. This is nice for getting people up and running with sensible permissions, but the downside is that when installing on a site with many existing roles, it is an extra step to remove the 3 roles installed by this module.

I'll keep the feedback coming.

Cheers,

Jonathan

[jhedstrom]

EDIT: This is most likely a result of my development box not being reachable by addonchat. I didn't realize that addonchat_auth.php was being polled by the service.

Regarding the automatic login, I may be missing something, but it doesn't appear to be working as I expected. When I create a new user, is there a way that, if permissions are configured to do so, this data can be pushed into addonchat such that they automatically login? The applet is being properly embedded with the autologin, username and password params, but for new users, this won't work until the addonchat service knows about them.

If this is something the addonchat API is capable of, then using hook_user (http://api.drupal.or...ion/hook_user/6) to send the data would most likely be the way to go. I'd be happy to help out on coding this, I just need guidance on the addonchat API side of things.

-Jonathan

Edited by jhedstrom, 31 December 2009 - 05:04 PM.

[jhedstrom]

The chat block was appearing for users without permissions to chat, so I wrapped the block with the same access as the chat callback.

[jhedstrom]

We had a bit of an incident involving this module over the weekend. My testing on Thursday was performed on a development server, but the very act of authenticating from that server forced the production chat (previously pointing at a different server) authentication endpoint to be switched to the development server. I don't know if this is something that can be fixed at the module level, or if this goes higher up into the application stack.

[Chris]

jhedstrom -

Thank you for all of your input. Just wanted to drop a line and say I definitely have not forgotten about this module, but alas the VB4 module took precedence following my recent absence :)

Tomorrow and through the weekend I plan in cleaning up this script and preparing it for final distribution. I'll take a look at your suggested patches and will likely add them. If you'd like, please let me know how you'd like me to attribute your contributions.

addonchat_auth.php is indeed "polled" from our servers. The script is called, when remote authentication is enabled, immediately after a user attempts to log in. The purpose of the script is simply provide our servers with the privilege set to be granted to the user requesting log-in/authentication. Since the script is called from our WAN-facing servers, there is no way for it to access your LAN host/IP - assuming your dev box is not on the Internet I'd advise using an alternative remote authentication URL or disabling it (Settings -> Site Integration -> Remote Authentication from your AddonChat control panel)

I'm not entirely pleased with the solution of adding additional roles; however for most of the customers I've spoken with who use Drupal, this seems to be the best option for them to get up and running without spending an hour or two setting custom options. Frankly, I'm not entirely impressed with Drupal's permission/"usergroup" system in comparison with other popular apps I've worked with. As always, alternative suggestions are welcome. For advanced users, with multiple roles already configured, it shouldn't be too difficult to remove these added roles.

[Chris]

The Drupal 6 AddonChat module is now available for general use and is no longer in Beta. We're currently in the process of applying for a CVS account with Drupal and with any luck the module will be available at drupal.org very soon. My thanks to all of you who've contributed your suggestions :)

@Jonathan - Thank you again for your contributions. I've applied both of your patches. Good eye! The code has also been cleaned up to conform with Drupal's coding standards and validated using the 'Coder' module and supplied code style perl script.

The updated module can be downloaded at: http://support.addon...p?FLIB=1&id=109

Edited by Chris, 25 January 2010 - 12:39 AM.
Download Link Corrected

[sarmi]

The download link is not working for me. It says I am not logged in.

[Greg]

sarmi said:

The download link is not working for me. It says I am not logged in.

That may be a wrong link. Hopefully this one has the right download. :)
http://support.addon...brary&folder=59

[pdxjoe]

Installed the drupal module. ticked the box to enable username integration.

When a user clicks the "click here to chat" link the add on chat box appears with a login box pre-populated with the person's username. They then must click login to continue. The user is able to enter any username they desire and the login will be successful.

I would prefer that the user click on the 'click here to chat' link and not be faced with the username login button. Can this be accomplished?

Joe

[Chris]

Hi Joe,

Can you verify that the following setting is checked, please?

From your Drupal CMS:

Administer -> Site configuration -> AddonChat -> Integration Settings -> Automatic User Login

If it is not checked, be sure to check it and save your settings for that page.

If it is checked and you're still encountering the problem, please e-mail support@addonchat.com with your account number and reference this thread and we'll be happy to look into it. We'll likely need (at least) a direct link to your online Drupal site to try and determine where the issue is.

[pdxjoe]

Hello,

The functionality is now working. I did not change anything, so I can't explain why the issue was occurring.

Would it be possible to run the chat in the right hand side of the site as a site 'block'? I would like to have the chat window displayed alongside other content in the my drupal site.

Joe

[jhedstrom]

Hey Chris,

I've made another change locally to use the Drupal theme system for the output of the applet (this allows themes to override the function w/o hacking the module itself, to, for example, output some custom text above the applet). The patch, against the new version you released above, is attached.

[Chris]

Just an update:

@Jonathan: Thank you. I've saved the patch to disk, and like it. I'm hesitant to make any updates while we await CVS approval from Drupal. I wasn't expecting the process to take this long. Based on their queue, I'm hoping we'll get a response in a week or so. http://drupal.org/node/686806

@Joe: This is not recommended with a Java applet; the reason being that our software maintains a stateful, real-time socket connection for best performance. As such any user clicking away from that page would lose the connection. I recommend using the popup link option provided in the Drupal integration script so that your users can chat in real-time while they continue to browse your site.

[Chris]

Still awaiting CVS approval from Drupal :)

My thanks to jhedstrom for chiming in at http://drupal.org/node/686806 - anyone else using this module who wishes to comment at that thread may help Drupal's maintainers in knowing the module is functional and stable and hopefully help us get approved a bit faster so we can move ahead with submitted suggestions.

[Chris]

Cheers, Tally!! :)