The Chatbox

What is a ChatBox?

A ChatBox, is one of many ways of communicating, chatting with the members of your forum. ChatBox is to some extent, a software of instant communication (Msn Messenger) integrated into your forum. The ChatBox present on your forum, uses AJAX "technologies" (Asynchronous JavaScript And XML).

Activate the ChatBox

"Administration Panel / Modules / Chatbox / Configuration" () >> Activate the Chatbox: YES

Deactivate the ChatBox

"Administration Panel / Modules / Chatbox / Configuration" () >> Activate the Chatbox: NO


Locations of the ChatBox

In the configuration of the ChatBox, you have the choice of several places where you can have your ChatBox: do not display, Top of the home page, Bottom of the home page.

Do not Dsiplay:
Your ChatBox wil be availiable in the Who's Online area under a link/pop-up

*No matter where the ChatBox is located, this will be also available under a link/popup in the Who's online, like on this screen above

Top of the Home Page:
Your ChatBox will be availiable on the top of your home page

Bottom of the Home Page:
Your ChatBox will be availiable at the bottom of your Home Page. Under the Who's Online block and on top of the Legends

On the Portal:
First of all you must activate the ChatBox (Whether you choose you display it or not, it doesn't change anything) so you will have it in your existing modules in the portal. Then :

"Administration Panel / Modules / Portal Management / Structure" () Adding of existing modules select the "ChatBox" module Select its location Add the module

Alternatively, you can simply drag and drop the chatbox widget.

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Configuration of the location

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ChatBox on the portal

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Commands of the ChatBox

These following commands must be typed in the "message" field, as if you were posting a message :

Erase messages:
You simply have to write

Code:
/clear
or

Code:
/cls

A confirmation message should appear:


Ban a User: (from the ChatBox)
You simply have to write

Code:
/ban USER
You have to change USER by the name of the user.
The user will then not see the ChatBox, like guests. (The ChatBox is reserved for members)

A confirmation message should appear:

(sorry onii-chan )

Unban a User: (from the ChatBox)
You simply have to write

Code:
/unban USER
You have to replace USER by the users name

A confirmation message should appear:

(here, onii-chan forgives me ^^)

It is also possible to unban users from the ChatBox via this path:
"Administration Panel / Modules / Chatbox / Banned Users"


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It is also possible to unban a list of banned users (see below)

* Users banned from the ChatBox are not banned from your forum

Making a member a moderator of the Chatbox
You simply have to write

Code:
/mod USER
You have to replace USER by the users name

A confirmation message should appear:

(onii-chan is happy )

Removing the moderator rights from a member of the Chatbox
You simply have to write

Code:
/unmod USER
You have to replace USER by the users name

A confirmation message should appear:

(onii-chan is angry now )

It is also possible to give moderation rights to a member via :

"Administration Panel / Modules / Chatbox / Moderators" ()

You will find the username of the members who have moderation rights on the ChatBox, a button leading to their profile, a button to send them a private message (PM), and finally a checkbox to tick to remove the moderation rights from them.


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Users having the moderation rights on your forum do NOT automatically have them for the chatbox and vice versa
Admins are automatically mods of the chatbox and cannot have their rights withdrawn

Access to the banlist
You simply have to type

Code:
/banlist

This following popup window will open



Then it will be possible to :
look at the member's profile
Unban a banned member

Writing a message to the 3rd person
You simply have to write

Code:
/me message

A confirmation message should appear:


Kicking a member from the chatbox
You simply write

Code:
/kick USER
You have to replace USER by the users name

Then the member will be immediately disconnected from the CharBox. Take notice that he can log-in back after. If the member tends to not respect the rules, use the ban command.

[12:04:32]Max--- has been kicked by Ishimaru Chiaki

Leaving the ChatBox

This feature can be used only by members. It has the same effect than the /kick command. This means that this will log you out. Take notice that you can also use the "Log out" link on top of the chatbox page.

You simply write

Code:
/exit

A confirmation message should appear:
[12:04:32] You are disconnected.[/b]

Mark yourself as Away:
You simply have to write

Code:
/away
or

Code:
/abs

This command will transfer you in the Away users block and a confirmation message should appear:
[i][12:02:09] Ishimaru Chiaki is away

You can also leave a message while putting yourslef on "Absent"
You simply have to write

Code:
/away message
or

Code:
/abs message

A confirmation message should appear:
[12:03:36] Ishimaru Chiaki is away : My cat stole my clothes !

To get back to the "Online" members block, you just have to type one of the previous commands, click on "Refresh" or type a message.

The Buttons of the ChatBox


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1. The refresh button allows you to manually refresh the ChatBox
2. The checkbox Auto-refresh allows you to have the ChatBox automatically refreshed.
3. The archives button allows you to see older posts (unless the messages have been cleared)
4. The log-in/logout buttons is used to log-in or log-out from the ChatBox
5. The button B allows you to put your text in bold format
6. The button I allows you to put your text in italic format
7. The button U allows you to underline your text
8. The button S allows you to strike your text
9. This button allows you to change the color of your text
10. This button allows you to insert smilies in your texts.
11. This is where you post the contents of your message
12. This button allows you to change the height of your Chatbox.

To type a complicated username

Have you already encontered this situation when you had to talk to a specific member, but you fainted at the idea to type his super-complicated username ? In this case, it's possible to do a copy-paste of the username, but there's a way which is even simpler. You just have to click on the username, in the Online/Absent column and/or where the messages are displayed.

The right-click

Right-clicking a member's username allows you to access to a few features :

View the member's profile
Send a PM to this member
Show yourself as Away (a popup window will ass you to give a reason, it's up to you to fill in this field or not)
Leave the ChatBox (a popup wiindow will ask you to give a reason, it's up to you to fill in this field or not)
Kick a member (depends on the permissions)
Ban a member (depends on the permissions)
Give him the moderationi status (depends on the permissions)


Mini-FAQ

Who are the members with the @ ? These are members who can use the ChatBox moderation commands.

Which are the rights of the Chatbox moderators ? the moderator members can clear the messages, kick and ban members from the CharBox. The Administrators can use these commands mentioned above, but they can also give and withdraw moderation status to a member.

What is the ChatBox's capacity ? The ChatBox can store up to about 195 messages maximum

I can't ban a member ? In most cases, it comes from the fact that the member to ban has moderation rights on the ChatBox. Remove them from this member then try again.

The ChatBox is invisible/ There is a white frame / I don't see the ChatBox ? This comes from a Javascript cache memory problem. Just a Ctrl+F5 and/or a cleanup of the cache memory should solve the problem

[url=LINK TO INSERT]Clear the cache memory and modifications not done[/url]

I don't see some infos in the ChatBox such as logins/logoffs, kicks and bans of members this problem comes from the fact that you are viewing your ChatBox's archives. To have access to these infos, you just have to click on the "Without archives" link which is next to "Refresh", "Auto-refresh", etc.

My parameters (bold, colors, etc.) aren't saved. These parameters are saved using Cookies, so make sure your browser accepts Cookies.

Are the Chatbox ads disabled when I pay to have the ads removed on my forum? Yes, disabling the ads via the points management will also disable the ads in your ChatBox.

Why am I disconnected after a refresh (F5) / Why aren't we automatically connected ?


A technician wrote:
This process is necessary. Otherwise, a person who comes on the homepage without wanting to use the ChatBox will see his page being regularly refreshed for nothing... This makes the servers, your machine, etc. work for nothing.

Only the chatbox is refreshed, but this is using some database and then, sends requests, so this consumes server loading uselessly for some cases.

So, when you access the homepage (or portal), the chatbox stays (and will stay) logged off.
Notice from Katt : I'm not sure about the accuracy of this quote translation, so you can PM me for corrections.