phpFreeChat in Drupal

If you’re running Drupal on a Web site and want to integrate chat software, check out the phpFreeChat module, which integrates the standalone phpFreeChat program into Drupal 5.x. I’m the current maintainer of this module, and just uploaded v1.3.

There’s a copy of the phpFreeChat module on my own Web site because I shared it from there while I figured out CVS, and don’t want to break the link. There’s also a phpFreeChat-compatible theme on my site that I haven’t uploaded to Drupal yet.

phpFreeChat is a great program (I added an “away” feature in the Drupal version), but has a limitation that may be a problem for some people: it conflicts with jquery if it’s on the same page. For most people this isn’t an issue, but if it is for you, you can use FlashChat – another feature-rich chat. I figured out how to integrate this with Drupal 5.x, and will post the configuration file and instructions shortly.

10 thoughts on “phpFreeChat in Drupal

  1. hi
    thanks but can you tell us how to config phpfreechat ob drupal …

    I did

    1. Extract the phpFreeChat module with all its files to:
    * modules/phpfreechat or
    * sites/[yoursite]/modules/phpfreechat
    on your web server.

    2. Download phpFreeChat from http://www.phpfreechat.net/
    or http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=158880

    3. Extract phpFreeChat with all its files to a folder named phpfreechat in the same folder you put this module in,
    for example:
    * modules/phpfreechat/phpfreechat or
    * sites/[yoursite]/modules/phpfreechat/phpfreechat
    on your web server. You do not need to follow the instructions from the phpFreeChat INSTALL file – the module handles all the configuration and creation of chats.

    4. Enable the phpFreeChat module in administer >> modules

    5. Configure phpFreeChat access rights in administer >> access rights

    6. Check the module settings in
    administer >> settings >> phpfreechat.
    Note, that almost all the settings should work fine left at their defaults. Changing some settings (especially advanced settings) could stop phpFreeChat functioning. Only change these if you know what you are doing!

    7. You must then enable one or more node types to be used with phpFreeChat. You can do this by going to administer >> content >> configure >> content types and selecting a node type from the list.
    If the phpFreeChat module is installed properly you should see a section called ‘phpFreeChat Settings’ with three options below it:
    * None: Nodes of this content type can never have a chat room.
    * Always: Nodes of this content type will always have a chat room.
    * Per Node: Nodes of this content type can choose to have a chat room if desired.
    You also have the opportunity to select the title and channel for this content type.
    If you do not want to have chats on a core node type (like story or blog) it is recommended that you install CCK or flexinode module and create chat content types for this purpose,

    8. Chat channels are like chat rooms, and are independent of nodes – so users can be on different pages and still chat in the same channel.
    Channels operate as follows:
    * Each node can be it’s own chat channel (the default)
    * The whole site can have a single channel (so users can chat in a single ‘space’ whatever page they are on)
    * Channels can be set on a content-type level, so – for example – all users looking at blogs can participate in a single chat
    * Channels can be overriden at the node level, so the admin can group several nodes into a single chat space by giving them the same channel name

    9. To get an idea of what phpFreeChat is capable of (i.e. what you can do using the settings page above, and the phpFreeChat theme system) browse to:
    /modules/phpfreechat/phpfreechat/demo/
    or /sites/[yoursite]/modules/phpfreechat/phpfreechat/demo/

    but not done yet

  2. I did the same but chat room not appear at selected node, if i check (/sites/[yoursite]/modules/phpfreechat/phpfreechat/demo/) it’s working fine but with drupal module is not working pls advice

    thanks
    kinza

  3. Yes I too did the same but chat room not appear at selected node, if i check (/sites/[yoursite]/modules/phpfreechat/phpfreechat/demo/) it’s working fine but with drupal module is not working
    pls help us …

    tks.

  4. I did the same but chat room not appear at selected node, if i check (/sites/[yoursite]/modules/phpfreechat/phpfreechat/demo/) it’s working fine but with drupal module is not working
    pls help us

  5. Okay I have solved all your problems!

    I like many of you had a lot of trouble with this module. To start, READ THE DOCUMENTATION. You need to download phpfreechat (not the module) from sourceforge and rename the phpfreechat-1.x to phpfreechat. this folder goes in /sites/all/modules/phpfreechat/ (it will look like, /sites/all/modules/phpfreechat/phpfreechat).

    No for the JQuery business, after three days of exhaustive testing I determined there was a problem with JQuery, I could not figure out what it was and then I found this page, and sure enough I read at the top that this module conflicts with JQuery.

    So, the fix…

    (function($){
    $(document).ready(function() {
    // Do awesome stuff…
    });
    })(jQuery);

    and now it works flawlessly. I still need to integrate it into the rest of my site but at least I have a reference to work from.

    credit goes to:

    http://patrickmjones.com/blog/2010/03/28/jquery-noconflict-multiple-javascript-libraries/

    Thanks!

  6. Hello

    I have a serious issue on site while using phpfreechat.
    When I load the phpfreechat, it shows “Chat loading, please wait.” and not loading chat window.
    Before a few days ago, It worked successfully.
    But now I’m getting this error unfortunately.
    Please help me quickly. I have many online users to this site.

    Thanks for any advice.
    Kevin

  7. Kevin,

    Delete all the cache files. You have to go in with an ftp program and delete the entire cache file directory to reset it. That will fix this.

    When you have problems like this, go over to the phpfreechat site for support. They know about this and can give you details if you can’t follow my quick description. The problem is with phpfreechat itself, not my Drupal module.

    – Sheryl

  8. The Startup Type is set to Manual but it is greyed out and I can’t change it. What do I do now?

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