Forum OpenACS Development: Private Messaging

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1: Private Messaging
Posted by Joe Oldak on 05/11/10 06:02 PM
Hi,

I was wondering if there was any sort of private messaging package in existence. Something that can send private messages between users (a bit like facebook does, etc), and allow users to view/manage/reply/delete their received messages.

The wiki suggests a package "private-message" exists, though I can't find it anywhere.

If not I'll write one from scratch, though if the basics of one already exists it'd probably save lots of time!

(I'm building a new and hopefully great site for someone here in the UK)

Cheers all

Joe

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2: Re: Private Messaging (response to 1)
Posted by Brian Fenton on 05/12/10 04:16 PM
Hi Joe,

this probably isn't what you want, but there is some work being done on Chat functionality https://openacs.org/projects/openacs/packages/chat/

Also I believe XoWiki has Chat functionality too and maybe more? https://openacs.org/xowiki/xowiki

hope this helps
Brian

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3: Re: Private Messaging (response to 1)
Posted by Rodrigo Proença on 05/13/10 04:11 PM
Hi Joe,

maybe this work for you
http://www.openacs.org/xowiki/private-message

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4: Re: Private Messaging (response to 3)
Posted by Joe Oldak on 05/13/10 04:15 PM
It sounds like that would be a great starting point, only I don't seem to be able to find the code anywhere...

Joe

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5: Re: Private Messaging (response to 1)
Posted by Torben Brosten on 05/13/10 10:56 PM
Joe, sorry for the delay.

I just sent you both packages.

We don't have a private messaging service working locally.

You might find it easiest to create a new one instead of basing on these versions.

Here is a strategy I may try, if I ever get a chance to do it:

Add a feature or two to the Forums package. Here's why:

The Forums package currently allows

1. allows for private forum messaging; notifications are sent, but the content is withheld if the message is posted via https.

2. Threads are maintained,

3. the code has been well maintained

4. the package handles multiple parties per forum, if you ever wanted that feature

I'd arrange it so:

each user is automatically subscribed to a private forum associated with their account that is by default closed to new users

modify posting to automatically start with a predefined SIG, if configured

cheers,

Torben

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6: Re: Private Messaging (response to 1)
Posted by Rocael Hernández Rizzardini on 05/14/10 12:10 AM
We have a new package for private messages.
It has some similarities to gmail at the time it shows the messages, and also some features that has facebook email.
We plan to release between may or june.
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7: Re: Private Messaging (response to 6)
Posted by Joe Oldak on 05/14/10 05:35 PM
This sounds very interesting - I'd certainly be keen to base something on this new package (assuming it'll be released under the GPL!)

Is there any chance I could have a preview version of it quite soon (in the next week or two?) so I can see what you're doing. It doesn't have to be finished or bug free, just something to give me a good idea of what it can do.

There are quite a few features I'd like our messaging system to have (e.g., being a destination for standard notifications, and sending alerts to users via email & sms), so it may be that by working together we end up with a more feature rich package.

Thanks!

Joe

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8: Re: Private Messaging (response to 6)
Posted by Malte Sussdorff on 05/16/10 09:06 AM
I would be interested in that package as well, especially for the function of redirecting notifications.

But maybe it would be smarter to add a frontend to the notifications package which allows you to browse the notifications you would have gotten by E-Mail and view them online. There you could
* channel which delivery method you would prefer for what kind of message
* Third party apps like ]project-open[ could channel their project status notifications through there
* A private messaging system could then hook into the same notification package and create a notification for a single user (or a group of users)

Just an idea for a different approach for Joe, maybe the OCT could comment if such a move would could be envisioned (extending notifications to provide an interface for triggered notifications with the *option* of sending an e-mail once triggered) for the toolkit before anyone thinks how this could be achieved.

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9: Re: Private Messaging (response to 1)
Posted by Dave Bauer on 05/17/10 04:13 PM
Malte,

It would be simpler to add a new delivery type of "private message" that would handle the delivery. The notification package itself doesn't need to be "aware" of it other than the service contract implementations.

That said, the UI to manage notifications and deliveries is really inadequate but at this point I think this is something that might make sense to extend or embed so that it could be easily customized.

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10: Re: Private Messaging (response to 1)
Posted by Peter Kreuzinger on 05/18/10 08:44 AM
Hello Joe!
I've built another package, called contact-list, which does what you describe.

You can send messages to other users, search for other users, add them to your contact list, send bulk messages to your contacts, attach tags and notes to your contacts, monitor the visitors of your user profile and delete messages, as well.

When adding contacts or sending messages, email notifications are sent out, but not via the notifications package.

The problem is, the code is half-based on XOTcl and the other half is older code, which I haven't rewritten, yet.

If you're interested, I can send you the code as a starting point, but it's full of deprecated code, which I will be cleaning up, when I have time.

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11: Re: Private Messaging (response to 10)
Posted by Joe Oldak on 05/18/10 12:11 PM
This sounds interesting, and certainly has more features than I'd need! I'd definitely be interested in having a look at it.

We don't currently use xotcl for anything though - so I'd have to get that working first. Which might be more effort than writing a messaging package! 😉

Joe