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IPS Chat Discontinued

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The developers of our forum platform have discontinued their chat service. It has never been especially popular at OO.com, but I know there are a few power users. Those who would like to see a chat remain on this forum, feel free to research an option that is possible to (easily) integrate into IPS forum software, post below, and I'll try to make it happen.

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https://rocket.chat/

Someone wrote: "It's possible [to integrate Rocket.Chat with IPS4] with Oauth plugin from Marketplace. A friend of mine already did it and it looks stunning."

Another person: "I have it integrated in my site. Pretty easy with this free plugin"

https://invisionpower.com/forums/topic/429968-oauth-server/#comment-2638024

Here's how to configure the OAuth Server application to integrate IPS4 with Rocket.Chat.

Rocket.Chat

  1. Install and setup Rocket.Chat. A walkthrough is beyond the scope of this guide.
  2. Create an initial administrator user and password, then login as that administrator.
  3. Administration > OAuth > Add Custom OAuth button (at the very bottom). Enter a unique identifier for this integration (ex: ips4)
  4. Find the Custom OAuth: <IPS4> section and expand it. Make a note of the Callback URL, e.g. https://your.rocketchat.com/_oauth/ips4 

IPS4 Site

  1. ACP > Community > OAuth Server > Applications > Add Application.
  2. Enter a unique name for the integration (e.g. Rocket.Chat) and the Callback URL you obtained from Rocket.Chat above.
  3. Click Save.
  4. Select the user groups you wish to be able to authenticate against IPS4 for this integration. Do not select Guest! :lol:
  5. Click Save.
  6. Click on the Edit pencil again and take note of the Client ID, Client Secret, and 3 integration URLs.

Rocket.Chat

  1. Change the following settings:
    Enabled: True
    URL: Top-level URL for your IPS4 site, such as https://your.ips4.com/. If your site is not installed at the root of the webserver, include any subdirectory here, such as https://mysite.com/ips4.
    Token Path: applications/oauth2server/interface/token.php
    Identity Path: applications/oauth2server/interface/me.php
    Authorization Path: applications/oauth2server/interface/authorize.php
    Token sent via: Payload or Header both work, it doesn't matter.
    ID: your Client ID from IPS4 here
    Secret: your Client Secret from IPS4 here
    Login Style: I recommend Popup
    Button settings as you wish.
  2. You may have to restart the Rocket.Chat server at this point. I had to, but I cannot guarantee that is is mandatory.
  3. Logout as Administrator and use the new button to log in as an IPS4 user.
  4. Log back in as the Administrator user and give admin access to your IPS4 user (#general chat > people icon on the right > click on user > MAKE ADMIN).
  5. (Optional) Disable username/password login for Rocket.Chat: Administration > Accounts > Show Form-based Login set to False. WARNING: Do not do this until you have made at least one IPS4 user an administrator or you will lose admin access to your Rocket.Chat server! :(

 

Edited by epistemologue
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Those instructions are good for integrating the chat with IPS. But, Rocket Chat first requires a host, which the chat company will provide and configure for $50/month. Otherwise, we would need to set that up ourselves, and besides needing to figure out how to do so, it would require double the resources currently purchased monthly to host the main forum through Digital Ocean.

It's probably going to be hard to beat the $10/mo IPS was charging for their chat client.

Edited by JASKN
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9 minutes ago, JASKN said:

Those instructions are good for integrating the chat with IPS. But, Rocket Chat first requires a host, which the chat company will provide and configure for $50/month. Otherwise, we would need to set that up ourselves, and besides needing to figure out how to do so, it would require double the resources currently purchased monthly to host the main forum through Digital Ocean.

It's probably going to be hard to beat the $10/mo IPS was charging for their chat client.

ah I see. I'll look for another option.

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"It has never been especially popular at OO.com"
Hey now, that's not true. D: It was really popular early on in my time here. There were times so many of us were in there at once that we crashed the program. I hope the chat gets restored somehow. I haven't used it much lately mostly because there just wasn't much of anybody else around.

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PHPFreeChat is probably still an option (googling actually brings up David V.'s 10-year-old implementation), but the exact setup was lost (read: I didn't save it) when we switched to the IPS Chat, which I figured was permanent. :| I'll give it a look as soon as I get a chance.

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PHPFreeChat has two versions at this time. Version 2.1.0 has a feature list, indicated a number of features that have not been implemented yet. Version 1.7 states to be a well tested, full feature chat.

The coming soon list for V2 includes features I'm guessing are probably part of the full featured V1 setup.

  • be able to rename the username (/nick command)
  • be able to create private messages
  • multi-channel management
  • long polling refresh system (to improve reactvity)
  • user's avatars management
  • user's role/rights management (admin, users)
  • user's presence management (away, online)
  • messages with smiley
  • messages with url detection (open in a new window)
  • messages with color, bold, or underline
  • news message notification
  • log message system

Eiuol, epistemologue, I recognize some of these from when I used to roam IRC-land. Does the "tried and true" trump "beta-testing" in this regard?

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  • 2 months later...

Unfortunately, after a lot of finagling it looks like the old framework that ran PHPFreeChat on the forum doesn't translate directly to the updated forum software, and it's not working now.

RocketChat and Chatwee both require money, not to mention time. So, if you can find an option that fixes both of those problems, we can take a look at integration!

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The key issue is the integration of login IDs, and then a "single login" that gets you into Chat once you're logged into the forum. If we relax that requirement, there may be some easy options. 

For instance, ...

1. A completely stand-alone chat that had a link from the forum. A place to chat...but only related in a nebulous way

2. A completely stand-alone chat, but with user-ids granted manually for any forum member requesting it...and everyone else shows up as "Guest". 

These types of options could probably be hosted somewhere in the cloud, not on the forum. 
TL;DR: We could try a non-integrated chat

Edited by softwareNerd
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5 hours ago, softwareNerd said:

The key issue is the integration of login IDs, and then a "single login" that gets you into Chat once you're logged into the forum. If we relax that requirement, there may be some easy options. 

tlk.io was initially a 5 minute integration using the Portal software add-on, currently visible on the righthand side of the main OO.com Forums page. If we relied on Facebook authentication, it would end there. And for now, I've set it to require Facebook or Twitter logins, though it has the public/anonymous option. But, this language: 

If you already have a login for your users, you can use their names for this chat too. In the embed code, add a data-nickname attribute with the user's name. Like data-nickname="somename".

...seems to suggest forum usernames can be pulled. 30 minutes after that 5 minute setup, I still can't figure out how, maybe I'll try again later. I'm not sure if the embed code they use can do it easily, or if a more involved workaround is required:

<div id="tlkio" data-channel="objectivismonlinechat" data-theme="theme--minimal" style="width:100%;height:800px;"></div><script async src="http://tlk.io/embed.js" type="text/javascript"></script>

I'm pretty sure php-something-or-another needs to be used... :D

 

Edited by JASKN
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1 hour ago, JASKN said:

I'm pretty sure php-something-or-another needs to be used... :D

I think they'r referring to the attributes in the "div"... like "data-channel" and "data-theme" in the snippet above. They're suggesting adding another attribute named data-nickname="USERNAME".

The tricky part is: the "right hand side" (i.e. USERNAME)...where to get that from. When a person is logged in, it is showing up in the header, so there must be some variable that can be used. If you like, switch me to Admin and I'll take a look at it.

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Thanks to SoftwareNerd for figuring out how to get our usernames to show up in the chat automatically!

The chat can be found on the main Forums page to the right, and on the Portal page. It's easy to move it around, so if it's annoying or could be in a better spot, just let us know.

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18 hours ago, epistemologue said:

Can a button be added to the top banner like it used to be?

The closest we can get with our version of the forum software is to have the chat show up in something else that already has its own page, such as the Portal area.

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  • 3 weeks later...

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