AVChat Software Product Blog

Hello all, as promised the May build is here and it has some great new features some of which the client requested and some that we thought would come in handy for you. We have also fixed in this version some reported bugs and some unreported ones.

There are a few new key features in this build such as the possibility of  leaving  the last room when a user has joined only one room).This is an important feature because, in the past, when an admin would try to kick an user(from a room, not from the entire chat) that joined only a room it had no effect because the user couldn’t leave that room.

Another  important feature is the persistent block. This feature was requested by many of our clients. Now, when you block an user and reload the chat,  the block will still be there.

Here’s the entire list of what’s new:

• Rotating text messages can be inserted in the text chat every X seconds (period controlled by the new  rotatingMessageTime in avc_settings.xxx). The script responsible with feeding the text messages is set through rotatingMessageUrl (setting in avc_settings.xxx). A count parameter is sent through GET to the script telling the script the number of times the script has been called ( this way you can set different frequency of appearance for different messages ).
• You can now can leave the last room you are in and get back to the Rooms panel.
• We’ve finally added persistent blocking (refreshes don’t kill the blocking list anymore) .
  
• You can now redirect all links posted in the chat to a local link verifying script that checks the link and allows the browser to take the user or not to that link. This is achieved through checkLinkUrl setting in avc_settings.xxx .
• dragEnabled setting added to avc_settings.xxx to control whether or not the items of the interface can be moved around (webcams are always draggable) .
• showOnlineTime setting in avc_settings.xxx to control whether to show or not to show the user the online time period in the upper menu .
  
• You can control weather or not to transform the urls into links in the text area through interpretLinks setting in avc_settings.xxx .
• Custom error messages are thrown if any of the xml’s (such as badwords.xml, etc.) loaded during the “Loading Settings…” phase fails to load .
• You can now disable the echo cancellation filter applied to Speex audio streams in the chat (useEchoCancelation setting added to avc_settings.xxx) .

Here’s what’s fixed:

• fixed the problem where admins couldn’t view the private cams after implementing the new mechanism for private cams
• fixed the consistency problems (duplicates and so on) with the en.xml translation file
• the silence screen now disappears automatically after X seconds
• fixed some errors on Wowza
• the eye icon misalignment  problem
• fixed an error thrown when resizing the interface during the “Loading Setting…” screen
• fixed the  position of the elements from the login screen when being resized vertically

How to get the new build:

The new build is available in your private client/trial areas.

How to upgrade an existing build:

You need to overwrite your existing AVChat files (both client side and server side) and clear your browser cache(this is very important because if you use a cached version on AVChat the application will not run corectly).

Forum thread:

There’s a forum thread regarding this build available here.

Next day update(build 1506):

Build 1506 is now available for download now and it fixes a few issues reported in the forum with build 1505:

• The users list disappearing sometimes when closing a room (Wowza only)
• The time shown in the text chat for each message was not correct when using US type time (like 5:32 pm)
• When denying a private webcam access request the request wasn’t disappearing

Second day update (build 1510)

Due to some critical bugs reported in our forum we’ve came up with a new version that fixes the following:

• the persistent block had no effect (introduced in 1506 build)
• admin could view the private cams even though they were not allowed
• inserting emoticons in the text chat area caused the text  formatting  to break

Hello and hope you had a great Easter. But we didn’t rest to much these days and updated the AVChat3 Integration Kit for Joomla! 1.6-2.5 (build 1486). We brought minor updates and bug fixes to the integration kit, and here there are:

• We’ve updated the AVChat Admin Interface page to tell you when the admin.swf file is missing or the installation of the integration kit was not performed properly.
• Changed the minimum Flash Player version necessary to run our software from 10.0 to 10.3 because of new AVChat requirement introduced in build 1461.
• Improved “room dropping” from “Who’s chatting module” in order to perform the “drop” action correctly.
• Resolved issue with popup dimensions not being taken into account when you set it from the AVChat Admin Interface options page.
• Now the integration detects the browser default language site’s current language and tries to use the appropriate language from the translation folder . In the translation folder you should put the desired language file in the following format (suppose the default browser language is German): de-DE.xml  . If it does not find the requested file, the language file will be defaulted to the language file found in avc_settings.php , under avchat["languagefile"].

Hope this update resolves some of your problems and we will continue to update the Integration Kit until there will be close to perfect.

Download will be available from your private client/trial management area .

Update instructions:  Just like a normal extension of Joomla! .

1. Go to Joomla! administration area -> Extensions -> Extension Manager.
2. Click on Browse from Upload Package File (Under Install tab).
3. Locate the com_avchat3.zip archive from the joomla1.6.x_1.7.x_2.5.x_component folder
4. Click Upload & Install
5. Done
   

For further information or new installation , follow this link: http://avchat.net/support/documentation/joomla#123

Hello all,

This is the first build with the new dedicated team for AVChat (more on that in a future blog post) and we’ve tried to implement some of the requests that you’ve asked for but also fix some of the bugs reported and unreported.

The main new feature in this build is the Silence feature which allows admins to block users from doing anything in a chat room for 30 seconds (period can be changed). Here’s how it looks when you’re silenced:

So, here’s everything that’s new:

• Silence option for admins that offers to an admin the option to silence an user for an amount of time controlled from avc_settings.xxx (silenceDuration). There is also a setting (adminCanSilenceOtherAdmins) to control whether an admin can silence other admins and another setting (adminCanSilenceFromRoom) for the state of the silence button. At this time this option silences an user by using his IP address so any user using the silenced IP will be affected.

• Block Buzz Sounds button added in the toolbar under the text chat area
• Erase All Screens button for admins in the toolbar under the text chat area. This will currently erase the screens of all rooms (weather or not the admin is logged in them) for all users. This feature helps the admin remove unwanted stuff (like spam links or images or videos) from the text chat.
• showNumberOfCamsAndMics setting in avc_settings.xxx that controls whether the number of cams and mics are shown to admins in the users list
• Error messages in the client area are now selectable so that they can be copied and pasted.

Here’s what’s fixed:

• Misalignment of the text errors and login/register buttons when resizing the AVChat area
• Fixed issue with some YouTube links that were not properly formatted
• Fixed issue with link on avc_settings.xxx related error messages not working

That wraps it up for the Easter build. A new build will be released at the beginning of May in which we will implement more feature requests.

How to get the new build:

The new build is available in your private client/trial areas.

How to upgrade an existing build:

You need to overwrite your existing AVChat files (both client side and server side) and clear your browser cache.

Forum thread:

There’s a forum thread regarding this build available here: http://avchathq.com/forum/index.php?/topic/1561-new-avchat3-build-1477-easter-build-available/

Hello and may I wish you a wonderful year!

We have the pleasure to begin this year with an update to the AVChat Integration Kits for Joomla! This update adds 2 new features and fixes some reported bugs.

Here is a quick list of what we’ve added:

1. When available, the age is added to username in the user’s list (only for JomSocial). As an  administrator you can also change this option from the AVChat General Settings page.
2. You can add a custom image/badge to users by setting the path to the image in the AVChat General Settings page. You can also control what user groups (Premium/Gold/Paid) inherit the badge.
   
3. You can now turn off the ability for certain user levels to watch video streams in AVChat permissions page.
4. We’ve checked and improved the automatic room login from the Who’s Chatting Module.

We hope that this solves a part of your requests and we gladly invite you to send us feedback for this update through this blog, through our forum or contact us at contact@avchathq.com .

Pricing and purchase:

If you currently own a license for AVChat 3 and the  Joomla! 1.0 , 1.5 and 1.6 integration kits, you will automatically have access to the new Joomla! 1.7 integration kit update.

To update or make a new installation just download the Joomla! archive again from your private  client/trial area and install it as shown in the instructions page).

If you are planning to purchase it, the price will be the same as for all other integrations: $49 and it will come together with the Joomla 1.0 and 1.5 integration kits. You can buy it from here .

Sincerely,

Stefan

We are pleased to announce that the integration kit between phpFox 3 (released last week)  and AVChat 3 is ready.

The integration has momentarily the same great features as the integration kit for phpFox 2. We will work on improving this module in the future so please send us your feedback and desired features.

Features in the new phpFox 3 module:

• automatic user name, gender and profile picture integration
• independent permissions control for each user group (in admin control panel)
• user profiles integration
• automatic integration with the user and admin menus
• it installs as any other phpFox 3 module
• compatible with SEO friendly URL’s in phpFox

The price for the integration kits for phpFox is $49 (includes the plugin for phpFox 1.6 and the modules for phpFox 2.0 and 3.0) and its available when you buy AVChat 3.

To buy the AVChat 3 Video Chat Module for your phpFox 3 website go to the purchase page and select a AVChat 3 license + the phpFox Integration Kit.

To install the AVChat 3 Video Chat Module for your phpFox 3 website go to the documentation page and follow the instructions.

For more details and screenshots visit the AVChat 3 Video Chat Module for phpFox 3.0 page.

We’re doing a small new build today of AVChat in an attempt to fix some of the issues that have popped up since our last build, here they are in no certain order:

• fixed issue with showWhoisInfoIntextChatArea in avc_settings.xxx not working
• silent ban was not working on Wowza
• profileCountryFlag in avc_settings.xxx was not working on Wowza
• added protections against several errors reported on Wowza
• fixed issue with the number of unread messages not showing up in tabs inside AVChat
• fixed issue with bans not showing up in admin.swf when used with Red5 (admin.swf increased to 600kbytes )
• empty connection string in avc_settings.asp

We’ve also added a few new features here and there:

• duration GET variable in seconds is now added automatically at the end of the banURL opened by AVChat when you get banned (this will allow you to save the ban in a separate database as well, banURL can be specified in avc_settings.xxx)
• weather or not web cam areas should show FPS info can be controlled trough the showVideoFpsInfo variable in avc_settings.xxx
• you can now control the columns that show in the rooms panel trough the columnsInRoomsPanel variable in avc_settings.xxx
• beta auto create rooms feature now available on FMS (check the end of settings.asc)

As usual the new build is available for download from your client/trial area.

All files have changed, so if you upgrade make sure you replace both the client side files on the websrver and the avchat30 application folder on the media server (lib/avchat3.jar if you’re using Wowza).

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.

As you probably know, Joomla! 1.7 was released last week. The second day we tested our Joomla! 1.6 Integration Kit and it worked like a charm with Joomla! 1.7 .

The only problem we found was that JomSocial 2.2 and Community Builder 1.4 are not yet compatible with Joomla! 1.7.

So if you want to use AVChat 3 with Joomla! 1.7 you can use the AVChat 3 Integration Kit for Joomla! 1.6, but without the support for JomSocial and Community Builder.

We will announce here and on our forum (dedicated topic for Joomla! 1.7 Development) when news are coming on the way.

One week from the official integration kit for Joomla! 1.6 release we’re pushing the first official update that includes some awesome new features and a few bug fixes.

There’s a whole new revamped Who’s Online Module, new permissions for user groups and full control over how AVChat opens (in a pop up or embedded).

New, revamped Who’s Chatting Module for Joomla! 1.6:

• Quick info about rooms and users
• Detailed user info: indicators that users have their cam and mic turned on and indicator if a user’s stream is private
• Detailed room info: We added a  rooms list in the module and next to each room you will find how many users are logged into that room. But , the coolest feature is that clicking a room takes you directly into it. Private rooms have indicators and they can be clicked only by admins or moderators.

Here’s how it looks now:

Impressive isn’t it?

New features for the AVChat Component for Joomla! 1.6 :

• Controll weather AVChat will open in a pop up or embedded in a page on your web site:
• Control over the Upgrade button in AVChat directly from the Joomla! admin area (you can specify an upgrade link)
• Control in what rooms users will be dropped directly from the Joomla! admin area (by specifying the room id)
• 2 new permissions for each User Group:
  • Allow users to browse the rooms list (if denied, users will not be able to click rooms in Who’s chatting module also)
  • Allow admins/moderators to login as hidden.

New features for the AVChat Component for Joomla! 1.5 :

• auto detect if the AVChat client files have been installed properly and show proper error (instead of a huge black empty box).

Bug fixes:

• JomSocial gender detection dropped for the moment because the gender is stored in various string formats across websites and might cause conflicts with your websites.
• Fixed online users list height (usefull for websites with a large number of logged in chat users)
• Fixed profile image paths

Pricing and purchase:

If you currently own a license for AVChat 3 and the  Joomla! 1.0 , 1.5 and 1.6 integration kits, you will automatically have access to the new Joomla! 1.6 integration kit update (just download the Joomla! archive again from your client/trial area).

If you are planning to purchase it, the price will be the same as for all other integrations: $49 and it will come together with the Joomla 1.0 and 1.5 integration kits.

Give us feedback:

We love feedback so if you want a feature that is not included yet in the component/modules, you can suggest it in the Joomla! 1.6 forum topic or email it to contact@avchathq.com.

Update packages will keep on coming .

Most of the work this month has gone into developing the AVChat Integration kit for Joomla! 1.6 but we have a few updates regarding AVChat too here they are:

• No more (blue) chrome around the text chat area (was kind of useless)
• Mute all streams button in the status bar at the top
• Different sounds for when receiving:
  • private messages (different beep, sounds/private.mp3)
  • request to view your private webcam (short ring sounds/videorequest.mp3)
• Different icons for the OFF states of some buttons in the text chat area
• Admin can now view the banned usernames list and remove any of them
• When banning ip ranges you can now use spaces betwen the ips and the dash like this: 127.0.0.1 – 127.0.0.255
• Top Status bar now has rounded corners (or not), in line with the rest of the UI, depending on the values in style.css
• Better design integration for the  Joomla!, Drupal, and SocialEngine integration kits. The AVChat background is now transparent, the website colors come trough.

See the attached image for an overview of the changes:

Changes in AVChat build 1245

Also fixed:

• FMS ony: Issue with banning offline users (banning users that have left trough the ban links in the text chat area) not working
• Red5 only: In the rare cases where non-admins try to execute admin functions their ip and the function they were trying to execute are now properly stored in the avchat30 log.
• In the admin login area the ADMIN and HIDDEN gender labels are now properly coloured with the value from style.css
• There were 2 profileUrl vars in avc_settings.aspx.cs and no upgradeUrl

How to upgrade?

You can download the latest build from your client/trial area, to install just overwrite the old files (including the files on the media server: Red5/FMIS/Wowza)