Forum OpenACS Q&A: chat module for OpenACS 4.5

I would be more than happy to help an effort already in progress --
for something original, or as a front end to either Jabber or IRC. If
there isn't any such effort, then I may simply do a quick-and-dirty
port of the 3.x chat module into 4.x."

by Reuven Lerner
(https://openacs.org/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=00010c)

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello Reueven,

I put your recent post to an old thread into a new one. Hope you don't
mind!

Are you talking about html + javascript chat of 3.2.5 or the Java chat
that was ported by Rocael to 3.2.5?

You have several options:

1. Port 3.2.5 html chat to 4.5

I don't think that it's ported yet...

2. Port 3.2.5 Java chat to 4.5

The Java chat is a port by Rocael from ACS 4.x to OACS 3.2.5 with some
enhancements. It shouldn't be too hard to port it back to OACS 4.5. I
think that Rocael wanted to do this, but realized that Jabber might be
the better way to go. Don't know if he changed his mind though.

https://openacs.org/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=0004FH

3. See what Berklee is doing. They need a chat solution for their
deadline. (I *think* August 1st)

https://openacs.org/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=0004ij

There are some thoughts on a chat module based on jabber in this thread.

4. Get in touch with Malte. He integrated Jabber into OACS. They are
using the java applet.

https://openacs.org/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=0003Ub

Hope this helps!

I really like the idea of using Jabber on the back end. But based on reviewing the thread on that subject, it seems like there's a long way to go before that'll happen.

The jabber module I wrote can do this, I already wrote a groupchat recording bot. It only took a few hours, so it isn't a big deal. You can use any jabber client to post, and anyone without a jabber client could post through a web form and follow the discussion just like ACS chat, that is with javascript refresh.

If you want to look into it yourself, I think all my files are under http://zmbh.com/nsjabber/ .

To be clear, my module turns AOLserver into a jabber client. Anything a jabber client can do works. The easy part is that you can program whatever application you want to in tcl. With a little more effort, you could have AOLserver act as a jabber component, which would be the best situation. If you wanted to maintain persistent connections to AOLserver from a web browser, you could probably easily have the thing work without refresh. One thread could setup and maintain a connection to the jabber server sending the browser each new message. A different window would be used for responding.

It would really be nice to see it running with oacs!

Here is a quick FAQ on NFC:

http://research.lyrisoft.com/fom/cache/1.html

It is talking about internationalization, database integration and database authentification.

There should be more on their project page:

http://nfcchat.sourceforge.net/

I just installed NFC and I could get the awt-client running with Tomcat and standalone. I didn't manage to work out your thin java client. I therefore have couple questions...

#1 Do you use httptunneling? If yes: how did you set it up?

#2 Do you use Tomcat? If yes: How can I use nfc.tcl with Tomcat, as I had to copy the client code to ~/webapps

#3 the procedures ad_group_id and replace are not part of oacs 3.2.5 but are being used by your code

#4 db_1row in ncf.tcl is not part of oacs 3.2.5

#5 the applet tag in nfc.tcl should have "archive=chatclient_cb.jar" instead of "archive=Client-nopackage"?!

#6 Is "code=Client.class" correct in nfc.tcl?

#7 Whenever I want to open your applet through nfc.tcl I get the following error: Exception: java.lang.ClassFormatError: Client(Bad magic Number)

Thanks

I still have some problems...

#1 Could you maybe post the code for ad_group_id

#2 In order to use the awt chatclient I followed the instructions and moved the entire web folder to my oacs 3.2.5 under /web/myserver/www/chat/web/. I have client.html chatclient_awt.jar and the folders "resoucres" and "WEB-INF" in there. The only files that would load your applet are nfc.tcl and chatclient_cb.jar which are alos located in the web folder. What 4 files are you talking about and how can I compile them? Any docs? Do you have a precompiled chatclient_cb.jar that I could test? Strangely everything works fine whenever I am using the regular awt chatclient. Well almost everything. The embedded version doesn't work. And thats what I kinda want... an easy embedded version for my users...

Thanks

My applet code looks like this:

  <applet code=Client.class archive=Client-nopackage.jar width=100% height=100%>
    <param name=port value=7777>
    <param name=user value=\"test\">
    <param name=password value=\"test\">
    <param name=channel value=carnage>
  </applet>