Babble: Real Time Chat

[CodingJungle]

You can give moderators/admins the ability to set a "chat notification" for pertinent information (as i imagine not everything a moderator/admin says is important ) 

In version 3, there will be ways to style, thru CSS rules for a members primary group, on the message rows. 

I'm always open for custom work, but ATM i have quite a backlog so it will be available after the release of version 3.

[Hezeber]

Will this run on forums on the IPS cloud?

[John Wiehn]

I too would like to know before I purchase if this runs on the IPS cloud. 

[CodingJungle]

On 2/15/2017 at 1:51 PM, Hezeber said:

Will this run on forums on the IPS cloud?

 

9 hours ago, John Wiehn said:

I too would like to know before I purchase if this runs on the IPS cloud. 

I have a trial service i am running right now, so yes it does on the trial service. When version 3 is launched, the service will be official and there will be a service package and a self hosted package that can be chosen. (self hosted will only be available in the IPS market, where the service package will be available thru my store, as it will require registration). 

[Sea Witch]

I tried to open a support request on your site, and was not allowed to.  As I just purchased this less than two weeks ago, this is not helpful to me at all.

[PrettyPixels]

@CodingJungle - I'm interested in Babble and have a couple pre-sales questions for you.

1) Let's say the admin uses the "Sign In" function to sign in as another member (from the admin cp) then visits the chat. Does the chatter name show up as the admin, or as the other user?

The reason I ask this is because we have a role playing forum that uses this function, so it's important members can chat as their characters.

2) Is it possible to define different chat rooms in different widgets? Example:

- In my support forum, I have a Babble widget that displays my "support" chat room.

- In my general discussion forum, I have a Babble widget that displays the "general" chat room.

I appreciate any information you can provide.

[CodingJungle]

Hello @PrettyPixels

On 3/31/2017 at 1:52 PM, PrettyPixels said:

1) Let's say the admin uses the "Sign In" function to sign in as another member (from the admin cp) then visits the chat. Does the chatter name show up as the admin, or as the other user?

The reason I ask this is because we have a role playing forum that uses this function, so it's important members can chat as their characters.

if they use the sign in as feature, and go to babble, they will chat as the person they are signed is as.

On 3/31/2017 at 1:52 PM, PrettyPixels said:

2) Is it possible to define different chat rooms in different widgets? Example:

- In my support forum, I have a Babble widget that displays my "support" chat room.

- In my general discussion forum, I have a Babble widget that displays the "general" chat room.

you can assign different rooms in the widget, but currently how the widgets work in IPS by controller. so if you put it in the forum's, it will be whatever room you initially set. there currently isn't a way in babble to alter this behavior.

 

[Cyboman]

Hi and happy easter!  

As IPS retires their chat, I'm interested in a most integrated application for chat. I think Babble could meet my requirements, but I'm a bit confused about versions/development/feature descriptions/upgrade possibilities.

I have several questions and suggestions to the latest/new Babble version.

Questions:

1.       I understood: "There must be 2 default rooms, babble and the widget room." This formulation is a little bit misunderstanding: It’s ok for me to have these 2 must-have rooms, but I require to rename ALL ROOMS / at least the “babble” room into anything else. Possible? Or is it a “MUST” to have it named babble?

2.       Is it possible to deactivate whispers or at least reserve this feature for premium groups?

3.       Are chats and whispers logged to file, f.e. 30 days, so my moderators can follow up ALL of the conversations? Are logs searchable?

4.       Is it possible to give premium members the permission, to start or close public or private rooms by themselves? I mean for additional rooms, not for the default ones. Or are rooms only configured via the ACP with predefined settings?

5.       What about copyright removal? Can I purchase this. I need my community to be without other copyright informations and links.

6.   Where can I download the trial version (self hosted) to see if it works on my setup?

7.   When I purchase the actual version, will I be able to upgrade v2 -> v3? And will it be possible to switch between self hosted and service?

Suggestions:

1.       Monitoring of bad words or phrases. There should be an auto-reporting feature to staff groups, if users chat about forbidden stuff, other company names or links. And a warning should be presented to the user, that he is reported for indicated bad words. Maybe this function could use the IPS native functions profanity filter/allowed-forbidden links…

2.       Who is chatting widget (online chat users) like in IPS chat

Thanks.

[CodingJungle]

2 hours ago, Cyboman said:

1.       I understood: "There must be 2 default rooms, babble and the widget room." This formulation is a little bit misunderstanding: It’s ok for me to have these 2 must-have rooms, but I require to rename ALL ROOMS / at least the “babble” room into anything else. Possible? Or is it a “MUST” to have it named babble?

they all can be renamed.

2 hours ago, Cyboman said:

2.       Is it possible to deactivate whispers or at least reserve this feature for premium groups?

 

yes

2 hours ago, Cyboman said:

3.       Are chats and whispers logged to file, f.e. 30 days, so my moderators can follow up ALL of the conversations? Are logs searchable?

 

regular chat inside the rooms has an archive and can be searched. whispers do not appear in this (and before you ask, i will not give this as an option. there is a reason they are called "whispers").

2 hours ago, Cyboman said:

4.       Is it possible to give premium members the permission, to start or close public or private rooms by themselves? I mean for additional rooms, not for the default ones. Or are rooms only configured via the ACP with predefined settin

they can only be defined in the ACP by a member who has access to the ACP and to that section of babble. in version 3, members will have the ability to create "group whispers" which act like rooms, but they will not be publicly listed.

2 hours ago, Cyboman said:

5.       What about copyright removal? Can I purchase this. I need my community to be without other copyright informations and links.

 

I offer this on my site, it cost $50.

 

2 hours ago, Cyboman said:

6.   Where can I download the trial version (self hosted) to see if it works on my setup?

 

at this time i do not offer a "trial version" for testing purposes. if you are able to setup node.js on your server and the ability to open up ports, you should be able to run babble. the IPS side of things is in php and html, and installs/works like any other app in IPS.

 

2 hours ago, Cyboman said:

7.   When I purchase the actual version, will I be able to upgrade v2 -> v3? And will it be possible to switch between self hosted and service?

when i release v3 and introduce the service as well, they will be treated as different packages. all clients who have purchased babble up to the date of the service launch will have the option to "sidegrade" to the service, after this however if you purchase the self hosted, you will not have access to the service and vice versa.

2 hours ago, Cyboman said:

Suggestions:

1.       Monitoring of bad words or phrases. There should be an auto-reporting feature to staff groups, if users chat about forbidden stuff, other company names or links. And a warning should be presented to the user, that he is reported for indicated bad words. Maybe this function could use the IPS native functions profanity filter/allowed-forbidden links…

2.       Who is chatting widget (online chat users) like in IPS chat

Thanks.

1. it does use the IPS profanity filter, but it doesn't report any one for using a bad word.

2. it has a room widget, but a who's online widget for it isn't currently available.

 

[Cyboman]

Thanks for your answers. There are a few open question for me:

• When you release the version 3 of Babble (as a service), will only the new Babble service be the v3, or also the local, standalone version (=v3, too)?
• Is there a new release date for v3? I mean if I could buy the standalone node.js version now but the service only later, it might be reasonable to wait a couple of weeks until both are released and decide by then...?
• I'm using cloudflare. Are any user experiences known about the problems that could arise? I have a professional system operator, but I don't know a lot about the cloudflare configuration problems that were mentioned..

Thanks.

[CodingJungle]

2 hours ago, Cyboman said:

When you release the version 3 of Babble (as a service), will only the new Babble service be the v3, or also the local, standalone version (=v3, too)?

Version 3 will be available for both the service and the self hosted version.

2 hours ago, Cyboman said:

Is there a new release date for v3? I mean if I could buy the standalone node.js version now but the service only later, it might be reasonable to wait a couple of weeks until both are released and decide by then...?

I was hoping to have it out by now, but i fell very ill early this year and have been playing catch up ever since, so i am not comfortable at this time to give it a release date, and then miss it again  

2 hours ago, Cyboman said:

I'm using cloudflare. Are any user experiences known about the problems that could arise? I have a professional system operator, but I don't know a lot about the cloudflare configuration problems that were mentioned..

Cloudflare does support websockets, you will need to change the port used in babble.js to use one of the ports that cloudflare has opened for websockets.

[GrooveOnBeat]

I can't wait to test version 3!  

[David..]

I'm planning on buying this. But now that v3 is in the works, maybe I can wait a bit longer.

[skibaboo]

I bought Babble version 2.2.4 as I need an alternative to IP.Chat asap. I waited as long as possible to have it up and running by May 1st.

I followed the tutorial, I've installed but it's not working as it's not connected to node.js and the port info is not filled out or the key because I don't know what any of this is, what I need to do or where/how to input anything to the server, as there is no access anymore. My site is a package hosted by invision, cloud community. 

I've posted on codingjungles site asking for help and got nothing back, asked invision for assistance to be blown off. 

Looks like I'm going to be requesting a refund which is a real shame. After being a loyal customer to invision for over 5 years I am seriously considering an alternative. Retire IP.Chat but offer zero support and assistance to their customers to transition to an alternative, not cool. Yes, maybe chat rooms are not as popular as they used to be but a lot of people do still use them, and rely on them. Babble would have been perfect. 

[Simon Woods]

@skibaboo There is a version of this app coming for IPS cloud.

[skibaboo]

8 minutes ago, Simon Woods said:

@skibaboo There is a version of this app coming for IPS cloud.

Oh ok, thank you. 

As I paid for 2.2.4 will I be able to upgrade do you know?

[Simon Woods]

4 minutes ago, skibaboo said:

Oh ok, thank you. 

As I paid for 2.2.4 will I be able to upgrade do you know?

I assume so but different devs treat upgrades differently. There's a chance @CodingJungle already answered that in this topic but I can't remember for sure.

[skibaboo]

Just now, Simon Woods said:

I assume so but different devs treat upgrades differently. There's a chance @CodingJungle already answered that in this topic but I can't remember for sure.

Cheers mate! 

[InsideEdge]

@skibaboo

A few posts up this page @CodingJungle stated this:

On 4/18/2017 at 11:48 AM, CodingJungle said:

when i release v3 and introduce the service as well, they will be treated as different packages. all clients who have purchased babble up to the date of the service launch will have the option to "sidegrade" to the service, after this however if you purchase the self hosted, you will not have access to the service and vice versa.

 

If you have posted a question on his site you will likely get an answer within a few days

 

[skibaboo]

1 minute ago, InsideEdge said:

@skibaboo

A few posts up this page @CodingJungle stated this:

If you have posted a question on his site you will likely get an answer within a few days

 

Ok that sounds good, thank you. My site is for mental health support I have people panicking about the chat room and bugging me for answers and I have nothing to tell them they can understand. I feel a bit more at ease so thanks very much guys. 

[Cyboman]

Hi,

I bought Babble as well as the copyright protection removal. Now, I'm just trying to configure babble.

I installed the application in the ACP and also checked to have my private key and port 3000 matched in babble.js. (Step 1-3 in the installation guide)

On ‎19‎.‎04‎.‎2017 at 7:49 PM, CodingJungle said:

 

On ‎19‎.‎04‎.‎2017 at 5:11 PM, Cyboman said:

I'm using cloudflare. Are any user experiences known about the problems that could arise? I have a professional system operator, but I don't know a lot about the cloudflare configuration problems that were mentioned..

Cloudflare does support websockets, you will need to change the port used in babble.js to use one of the ports that cloudflare has opened for websockets.

Q1. Which port is it I have to open to work with cloudflare? What port number?

Concerning starting node.js up (step 4 in the Babble installation guide) it says:

Quote

I will make the init script available

Q2. Where can I download the init script? There is no link in it.

And it is advised to use "forever" for continuous service management, in case node.js/babble stops working?

My sysadmin wrote, that node.js is preinstalled and should work.

Q3. Does this usually happen very often, that a restart is required or can I forget about an init script?

Concerning SSL you write in the installation guide:

Quote

if you are running SSL (HTTPS), you will need to setup a reverse proxy in your vhost (apache) or config file (nginx).

But on the product description page you write:

Quote

If you are running a reverse proxy in nginx or a tunneling proxy for Apache, you can now remove these, as babble.js now supports SSL.

I'm a bit confused about this as I never did this before...

Q4. What can I do?

I will also ask my sysadmin again, but he already mentioned, that support for these issues belong to the developer... Who can I ask about what to do?

Thanks.

[CodingJungle]

10 hours ago, skibaboo said:

I bought Babble version 2.2.4 as I need an alternative to IP.Chat asap. I waited as long as possible to have it up and running by May 1st.

I followed the tutorial, I've installed but it's not working as it's not connected to node.js and the port info is not filled out or the key because I don't know what any of this is, what I need to do or where/how to input anything to the server, as there is no access anymore. My site is a package hosted by invision, cloud community. 

I've posted on codingjungles site asking for help and got nothing back, asked invision for assistance to be blown off. 

Looks like I'm going to be requesting a refund which is a real shame. After being a loyal customer to invision for over 5 years I am seriously considering an alternative. Retire IP.Chat but offer zero support and assistance to their customers to transition to an alternative, not cool. Yes, maybe chat rooms are not as popular as they used to be but a lot of people do still use them, and rely on them. Babble would have been perfect. 

9 hours ago, skibaboo said:

Ok that sounds good, thank you. My site is for mental health support I have people panicking about the chat room and bugging me for answers and I have nothing to tell them they can understand. I feel a bit more at ease so thanks very much guys. 

I use to have it posted that it could take me up to 72 hours to respond to a bug/ticket/post on my site (some times longer, if it is like a few weeks ago when i was ill). I saw the topic over on my site this morning, but early in the week i am typically busy with my regular job, and i try to respond if and when i can and as fast as i can. 

Babble requires a Nodejs server of some kind, either being on the same server as the site or on a remote location. I do have a service in the works, but it isn't fully "public" yet. I'll send you a PM to let you know the terms of the service and get the required information i need from you to get you into it, as the CIC will not support babble directly out of the box due to the added requirement of needing nodejs to handle the websocket nature of babble.

9 hours ago, Simon Woods said:

I assume so but different devs treat upgrades differently. There's a chance @CodingJungle already answered that in this topic but I can't remember for sure.

 

when i officially come out with version 3, which will also be the debut of the service version Each person who has purchased the self hosted version of babble (before the release of version 3) will have the option to upgrade to the service version as long as they agree to the terms. after a x amount of time (probably a month or 2) any one who had previously bought the self hosted who wishes to transfer, will need to "subscribe" to the service, which will have its own fee and TOS conditions, and the two will no longer be interchangeable, if  you buy the self hosted, you wont have access to the service, you will have to subscribe to the service version and vice versa, you would need to buy the self hosted (similar to how IPS handles IPS, if you are in the cloud and want to go self hosted you need to buy the self hosted and if you want to go into the cloud, you need to subscribe to a cloud package). 

1 hour ago, Cyboman said:

Q1. Which port is it I have to open to work with cloudflare? What port number?

https://support.cloudflare.com/hc/en-us/articles/200169156-Which-ports-will-Cloudflare-work-with- you can try one of these ports or contact clouflare for further support. I don't personallyl use cloudflare and know very little about it. 

 

1 hour ago, Cyboman said:

Q2. Where can I download the init script? There is no link in it.

https://codingjungle.com/tracker/babble/init-file-r187/?do=findComment&comment=1403 forgot to roll it over to a tutorial, this is for systemd.

1 hour ago, Cyboman said:

And it is advised to use "forever" for continuous service management, in case node.js/babble stops working?

My sysadmin wrote, that node.js is preinstalled and should work.

Q3. Does this usually happen very often, that a restart is required or can I forget about an init script?

forever is a nodejs app that can be install via NPM, something like "npm -g install forever", forever monitors the nodejs script to make sure it is running and if not, starts it back up. starting node via something like "node babble.js" will only keep that instance of node running as long as the connection is maintained, as soon as the connection is closed on ssh or the terminal is disconnected, it will shut down the node instance. it is why i suggested using forever.

the above mentioned init script is for systemd and the other instructions are for ubuntu (if you using a different distro you will need to adapt for that distro or if it uses another init system, as some might still use sysv or upstart, which i have no plans on writing init scripts for as they are pretty much replaced with systemd in most newer versions of most distro's). the init script is mainly there to keep the process up and running and to start it in the even the server is ever restarted. i can't say the frequency you might do this, my server has only been restarted in a few times over the years, but it is nice to have things start up with it.

2 hours ago, Cyboman said:

Quote

if you are running SSL (HTTPS), you will need to setup a reverse proxy in your vhost (apache) or config file (nginx).

But on the product description page you write:

Quote

If you are running a reverse proxy in nginx or a tunneling proxy for Apache, you can now remove these, as babble.js now supports SSL.

I'm a bit confused about this as I never did this before...

there are two ways to handle SSL in babble. if your site is https, you can not make a connection to a non-secured URL, so you need babble either setup to handle ssl or you can setup a reverse proxy in nginx or a tunneling proxy in apache to redirect babble connection request to a internal non-secure URL. I would highly recommend setting up babble to use SSL over a proxy (as they can be slow, especially the apache one, which also requires some extra configuration. in version 3 i will be dropping support for reverse/tunneling proxies, as the script can now be started in ssl mode and with the service more or less removes the need for them).

 

2 hours ago, Cyboman said:

Q4. What can I do?

I will also ask my sysadmin again, but he already mentioned, that support for these issues belong to the developer... Who can I ask about what to do?

Thanks.

configuration of babble is pretty easy, now if you start throwing in the whole ssl/proxy thing, along with cloudflare, you can start to complicate things. I would recommend taking things one at at time:

1. do you run ssl?

no: set it up regularly
yes: decide if you want to invest in configured a proxy for apache or nginx or configure babble to use your ssl certs. again i would configure babble to use the ssl certs.

2. cloudflare

i've never routed traffic websocket traffic thru cloudflare and i don't know any whoever has. i would contact them for the options that you can do, the linked article suggest creating a sub-domain and routing to that and excluding that subdomain from being "cached" by cloudflare. the other way you can use your server IP address in the "node url" in the ACP, this will however expose your IP, but it is one option available to you. there are also inherit problems with the subdomain method, if you do use a SSL and it doesn't cover the subdomains. I will assist to the best of my ability, but i can't promise to make everything work fine with cloudflare (and imho there are far better solutions out there than cloudflare :))

3. sidegrade to the service

the service isn't "official" yet, but it will soon be and i can add more members to the "trial" that i have going. this removes 99% of the problems you are having with the self hosted. I can PM you the details of the service if you like to see if you want to move to that instead of doing a self hosted.

 

again to everyone, I am one man  if its been more than 2 weeks and i haven't responded to you on my site, send me a friendly reminder  

[skibaboo]

13 hours ago, CodingJungle said:

I use to have it posted that it could take me up to 72 hours to respond to a bug/ticket/post on my site (some times longer, if it is like a few weeks ago when i was ill). I saw the topic over on my site this morning, but early in the week i am typically busy with my regular job, and i try to respond if and when i can and as fast as i can. 

Babble requires a Nodejs server of some kind, either being on the same server as the site or on a remote location. I do have a service in the works, but it isn't fully "public" yet. I'll send you a PM to let you know the terms of the service and get the required information i need from you to get you into it, as the CIC will not support babble directly out of the box due to the added requirement of needing nodejs to handle the websocket nature of babble.

again to everyone, I am one man  if its been more than 2 weeks and i haven't responded to you on my site, send me a friendly reminder  

Cheers fella! Sorry if I sounded impatient, appreciate you getting back to me and explaining. 

[GrooveOnBeat]

I've been hearing about this Service. Is it Babble hosting service, similar to IPS Chat?

I'm assuming that v3, for self-hosted sites, will still be fully supported? And that the Service version is not to replace the self-hosted version?

[Simon Woods]

1 hour ago, GrooveOnBeat said:

I've been hearing about this Service. Is it Babble hosting service, similar to IPS Chat?

I'm assuming that v3, for self-hosted sites, will still be fully supported? And that the Service version is not to replace the self-hosted version?

100% true.

I'm looking forward to seeing what the service looks like. The idea of replacing Skype and the like is hugely appealing to me.