AVChat Software Product Blog

2 weeks ago we did an update that solved a lot of the issues and bugs that had shown up on IE and other browsers.

Today we’re back in “new features” mode with an update that among others ads the ability to limit the  IM features for each member or member level in particular. This will allow you webmasters out there use the IM as an incentive for free members to upgrade to a paying plan (GOLD Membership for example).

We’re introducing 2 member level limits today with more on the way:

1. Ability to block the reading and sending of text messages

When a member has this limit applied he is not able to

• open the IM window to read his incoming messages
• open the IM window to send text messages to other users.

When such a member:

• clicks the REPLY BUTTON in the Conversations tab
• clicks the SEND IM BUTTON that shows up on member profiles

a Java Script function is called. You can edit that function to add your own UPGRADE message, action or image like we did in the image below:.

Website member being asked to upgrade when clicking the REPLY button.

2. Ability to block initiating video calls

When a member has this limit applied he is not able to initiate video calls. he is able however to receive video calls.

More information about how to enforce these limits is available in your account area on http://avchat.im .

Our AVChat IM integration kits have also been updated expose in the website admin area the ability to turn on/off these features for each user/member level in your website.

The Conversations Tab now contains all messages that have never been replied to

Until now if you sent a message to a user and that user had not replied yet, the one way conversation with that user was not shown in the conversations tab. We’ve just fixed that in this build.

The image above highlights a conversation that holds only one text message sent by me to the other person. These were not shown until now.

We’ve also improved our integration kits

The Joomla!, vldPersonals, Social Engine 3 and 4 and phpFox have all been updated with:

1. New general options:
   • Upgrade URL for when users click on an upgrade link in the IM
   • a way to configure what CHAT image to use for when a user is idle, online or offline (one could have changed these images before this update, right now we’re just exposing the functionality in the admin back end)
     

     General IM Settings for the Social Engine 3 integration kit

2. Ability to allow or not access to some IM features (mentioned at the top) to each user/member level in your website
   

The screenshots above show the new options in the Social Engine 3 integration kit for AVChat IM.

The same options are available for the Social Engine 4, Joomla! and vldPersonals integration kits.

2 weeks ago (Monday 21 November) we did a silent update (update 4) to AVChat IM, here’s what we added at the time:

• You are now notified in the IM window when the other person leaves or enters the room (you can only video chat with someone if he is in the room with you):
  
• New “Don’t tell your password…” message in the IM window:
  
• A camera icon shows up in the CHAT NOW button, in the Conversations Tab and in the IM window besides people who have a web cam:
  
• First branched build, your website members will now get the latest IM right away without the need for their browser cache to expire
• Many user interface bugs fixed, especially on Internet Explorer

It has been a while since we last updated the Video Profiles Module for Social Engine 4 .  Today we’re proud to release the 1st major update to it. As you will see this update brings significant improvements in all areas.

So, without further ado, here’s what’s new:

1. New video player

Until now we’ve used a rather old video player but in this build we’ve added a new one that looks and feels just like the video recorder itself. This new video player brings consistency to the record and view video profile experience.

2. Ability to delete a video profile

We’ve heard you guys and we’ve implemented this much requested feature. Thank you for bumping us about this obvious feature.

3. Wall updates with snapshots, comments and like buttons

Every time someone records a video profile, their wall will now be updated.

There will be a snapshot of the video and others will have the ability to comment and like the wall post.

On top of that, at the same time , every one’s news feed will be updated with info about the new video profile.

These new content items will bring a lot of attention to the video profiles and make them much more popular.

4. Ability for webmasters to control who can record, view and comment on video profiles.

The Video profiles integration kit now allows you to control what member levels can record, view and comment on video profiles. This will help you a lot if you have a website where each member lvel has access to a different set of content. This canb also help you if you don’t want visitors to view the video profiles.

5. [View Video Profile] & [Delete Video Profile] buttons appear only if there is any video profile to view or delete .

When visiting a profile page of a member that does not have a video profile the [View Video Profile] button will now show up anymore. The same is true in the case of the [Delete Video Profile] button on your prsonal profile page.

6. Other improvements:

• Close buttons on all modal windows
• Improved language consistency and explanations in the SE4 admin area

How to get it:

You can download this build from your private client or trial area. When you purchased this product (or requested a trial) you received a link to this area. If you don’t have the link anymore email us at contact@avchathq.com and we’ll send the link again to you.

How to install it:

1. New installation:

Detailed installation instructions for both the Video profile Module and HDFVR are found in the documentation area on hdfvr.com, here’s the direct link: http://hdfvr.com/documentationse4#1 .

2. Update existing installation:

If you want to update your existing Social Engine Integration Kit please contact us at contact@avchathq.com . Because of the major new features, the update process is complicated and need to be done manually by our integration expert.

Note:

• Social Engine has a caching mechanism.
• By default, it is set to 5 minutes.
• This caching applies to the  “View Video Profile” and “Delete Video Profile” from the front end menu.
• That’s why it might take up to 5 minutes for the Video Profile related menu items to show up.
• To change the maximum caching time or disable it altogether you can go to  your admin area and then in the Settings menu go to Performance & Caching and set up the desired items.

Today we’re releasing a small update to our AVConference software, an update that finally implements some of the low hanging features we’ve had on our plate:

1. We’ve added a way to specify which language files AVConference should use ( languageCode option in avc_settings.xxx ) . This will allow webmasters to keep 2 or more AVConference translations available at the same time.

2. We’ve added the ability to change the color of the windows and of the send text button (windowsColor and sendColor options in avc_settings.xxx).

3. We’ve removed the small keyboard icon that was annoyingly showing up above the text chat input area.

AVConference screenshot showing changed colors and no more keyboard icon

Where to get the update:

The new AVConference archive (build 46) is now available for download from your private clients/trial area.

How to update an existing installation:

Only the .swf files and the avc_settings.xxx files have been changed so is is enough to overwrite the old ones with the new ones (also clear your browser cache in the process).

Today we’ve made 2 small updates to our audio recording and video recording software, here they are:

FLVAR build 124:

• added the ability to specify the name of the recorded file trough the streamName variable in avc_settings.xxx

HDFVR build 440:

• fixed issue with snapshots showing white bands sometimes
• I situations where HDFVR asks from a webcam a resolution that the webcam does not support:
  • the displayed video stream is not distorted
  • snapshots now are the size of the actual stream resolution and not the size of the resolution configured in HDFVR
• new onPlaybackComplete RAD JS API cal
• Continue and Cancel buttons from the settings window can be translated

How to update:

You can download these new builds from your client/trial area.

Only the client side files have changed, so just overwrite those with the new client files.

If it’s one thing we heard again again from webmasters using AVChat IM is that they need video chat, and last week we finally delivered that feature the third AVChat IM update which went live last week.

All about the new video chat feature

We’ve tried to make the video chat as seamless and as simple as possible:

• There’s a new Video Call button which enables itself only when both persons are in the room.  Clicking it brings up the video windows interface and reduces the text chat area.
• We’ve positioned the video windows in perspective as to give the impression that the 2 persons having a call are opposite of each other.
• The video chat is peer to peer so that the latency is as low as possible.
• We made sure the video chat works as expected when someone refreshes the IM window

What’s next

As you can see a lot of thought has gone into this feature and we’re not stopping here, we already have a huge list of improvements for the video chat feature that we will implement in the next builds. Things like full screen video chat, being notified about when a user comes in the room, improved echo cancellation and more.

How to update your AVChat IM

Existing webmasters running AVChat IM on their websites don’t have to do anything. The video chat feature should already have shown in their IM windows.

Webmasters who are new to AVChat IM and want to install it on their websites need to follow these the steps:

1. Sign up for an account on http://avchat.im/m/c…ts/registratio
2. Verify your email address
3. Sign in http://avchat.im/m/clients/login with your email/password.
4. Add the website you want to use the IM on to your account on http://avchat.im
5. Download and install the provided Modules/Components or use the custom embed codes.

Today we’re releasing an update for our photo booth software: ZuzuBooth.

We’ve received some great feedback since launching it and we want to thank you guys for that. Today we’re updating it with some frequently requested and well deserved features.

So, without further ado, here’s what’s new:

New WRITE JS API and updated READ JS API

Updated READ JS API:

Until now ZuzuBooth Standalone came with a pretty good READ JS API. Today we’re updating it with a new function called onFlashReady that is executed whenever ZuzuBooth has initialized and is ready to receive calls via it’s new WRITE JS API. This function also gives you the number of webcams (0, 1 or more) the user has on his computer so that you can disable ZuzuBooth alltogether (if 0 cams) or disable the Settings button (only 1 cam).

New WRITE JS API:

As of today, ZuzuBooth also comes with a new JS WRITE API. You can use this API to control ZuzuBooth from Java Script. There are 4 calls that you can make:

• takePhoto()
• takeAnotherPhoto()
• savePhoto()
• openSettings()

Sample code provided:

The provided ZuzuBooth.html file contains both the JS READ and the JS WRITE API’s and further documentation for each function. The provdied code is also a vrey good implementation of the API’s and it shows how they can be  together:

Take photos of any size and quality

This new ZuzuBooth version allows you to specify the width, height and JPEG quality of photos taken trough the new width, height and jpegquality flashvars in the embed code:

Altough the actual size of ZuzuBooth has remained fixed at 400×400, the video area inside ZuzuBooth will adjust itself to the ratio of the desired picture and the actual picture will have the desired size.

Here’s ZuzuBooth taking a portrait type snapshot:

Other updates:

• the Initializing webcam… text is now part of the language file
• the way ZuzuBooth scales when resized (default size is 400×400) has been changed to exact fit (every element in ZuzuBooth will scale  together with the ZuzuBooth size)

How to update existing installations:

You can download the new version from your client/trial account area.

Only the ZuzuBooth.swf, ZuzuBooth.html and translations/en.xml have been changed so make sure you overwrite those files.

But now it’s back up for members, and in a few days we will make it available for visitors again too.

For security reasons we hat to delete all the accounts up to 1 October with 0 posts.

When we first started the forum we did not realize how much maintenance it needs, but it does , alot of it. On of the issues that require a lot of attention is security. There are a huge number of spam bots and spam companies out there that can make your life very miserable, and they did it for us last week.

We woke up on Monday morning with a call from the hosting company saying the forum server is comming under immense load and they’re taking it down. This was not a good time. Between the work going into AVChat to fix the infamous dissappearing bans issue, the ongoing work at the IM to support video chat, the new guy’s 1st days at the office (we’ve hired a new developer to help us out more on that soon) and a few other things we have going on, we had no time to deal with the forum. On top of that, to put it back online we also had to sync up with the guys from the hosting company.

But one entire Friday of researching Ip.Board and forums security later we felt confident we could put it back up. So here we are 1 week later  doing just that.

I hope it being down has not caused any major troubles for anyone. We’ve learned a lot from this experience and with the new security measures in place it should be much more harder for anyone to take it down.

We’ve made a new build of AVChat today that fixes some of the issues that were reported in the last build.

Fixed issues:

• fixed issue with bans now showing up in the list of bans when using Red5
• fixed issues with some connection attempts failing right after the key had been inserted when using Red5
• fixed issue with missing ) at the end of the description in the rooms list window
• fixed issue with lock icon going over the eye icon

Since we’ve worked a lot on the ban system we’ve also made the layout of the Ban Panel more obvious and easier to use and we’ve added the ability to ban any username at any time (you can also do that trough the badnicks.xml file).

Here’s the new ban panel:

If you’re using build 1370 or 1365 only the 2 swf’s, the language file and the Red5 server side .class files have been changed so if you’re upgrading from one of those 2 builds you can replace only those files and restart the media server (well Red5). If youre using Red5 you might also want to delete the old  red5/webapps/avchat30/persistence folder.

If you’re upgrading from a previous build just replace all the files and restart the media server.

Last summer we made a small  silent build of the SE4 AVChat Module with a lot of focus o usability and understanding of features. We spent a lot of time  going over 1) what webmasters would need and 2) the copy.

Today we’re taking this work even further with the following updates:

• automated update procedure from earlier module versions to current one (yeeeessssss finally) with proper version numbering to match the build numbers from your client area.
• even better descriptions of AVChat 3 permissions in the SE4 admin area
• removed unused permissions
• better AVChat 3 global settings
• bug fixes for the module and for the Who’s Chatting widget

To update your AVChat 3 module for Social Engine 4:

1. go to your client page ( provided after the purchase ),
2. download the latest AVChat 3 Plugin for SocialEngine 3 and 4 build (1384),
3. unpack avchat3_socialengineall_UNZIPFIRST.zip,
4. install the new package (module-avchat3-1384.tar) on your social engine community just like as you would do it for the first time,
5. during the installation you will be prompted to upgrade (and not to install),
6. the rest of the process will be automated.

IMPORTANT: The AVChat 3 permissions will be updated only for the default user levels. The AVChat 3 permissions for custom user levels have to be set manually in SE4 Admin >> Manage >> AVChat 3 Permissions.

To update the Who’s Chatting widget, do the same.

To install the module for the 1st time just follow the AVChat 3 module for Social Engine 4 installation instructions.

If you have any questions, drop us an email at contact@avchathq.com .