The Chat feature (information valid for older releases) is designed to allow users to enter "chat rooms" and hold real time conversations (via instant message) with other users who are logged in to the same room. Chat is not a heavily used or heavily developed feature, it is simple but it works. The feature requires extra server power, and may not be suitable for budget hosting arrangements.

Chat Admin
Chat User

Chat allows for multiple "rooms", and multiple users per room.

• Users can move between rooms
• Rooms with different update times seem to operate at the correct update rates.

The general method for using chat is to select a room, enter the room, and send messages by typing them in a text box. All recent messages for the room are displayed and updated periodically (period set by chat administration).

Review of 1.9.4 Chat Operation

• Things that work:
  • Rooms:
    • Users can move between rooms
    • Rooms with different update times seem to operate at the correct update rates.
  • Messages
    • Basic messages post on posting users screen in blue
    • Basic messages post on non-posting users screens in black
    • Private messages do not display on posting users screen
    • Private messages display on the recipient's screen in red
    • Private messages do not display on non-recipient's screen
  • Purging messages
    • If the purge time is set down from 1440 to something small for testing (15min), the purging seems to work properly
  • Browsers
    • Internet Explorer seems to work
    • Firefox seems to work
• Things that are questionable
  • Private messages stay at the bottom of the screen - not chronological with non-private messages.
    • This may be considered a feature - not sure what is typically done with private messages on chatrooms.
      • I don't like this functioning this way. Another box would probably be better, or leave the private messages in line with the others if possible.
  • The messages are currently cleared on a 1440 minute basis - with note to change to preference setting
  • Not sure what criteria is being used to update screens - how many messages? how old?
    • It seems that all messages for a given room are displayed to users that enter the room. (last 24hrs with current purge setting of 1440)
    • It appears that there was an attempt at some logic to only send messages since lastmessage. Not sure how this was supposed to work. This may have required the javascript coding that appears to have been abandoned in favor of direct print statements.
  • Users display
    • Current users in room does not always seem to be correct.
      • This needs checked with multiple machines - I'm using multiple browser windows on one machine to test.
• Things that could be added:
  • Timestamps on messages
  • Room entry notifications when new users enter rooms.
  • Room exit notifications when users exit rooms.
  • block out users selectively
  • assign colors to users
  • Logging - there are references to this in the code, but I don't think it is functional.
• Very Strange
  • Clicking on a username in the active users causes the whole tiki site to try to display in the user pane - on the user's information screen. (Firefox, IE)
  • Notice: Undefined index: lastMessage in /var/www/html/tikiwiki-1.9.2/tiki-chat_loader.php on line 83
    • I think there may be some problem with the lastMessage logic that should be used to determine which messages to display for each user session. This message appears the first time a user logs in to a room. As soon as the chatroom updates once the message goes away. maybe lastMessage is not properly initialized.

See the current developers notes on this feature. Chat

• Module minichat
• PluginJabber
• PluginSkype
• Mod phpfreechat
• IRC