MOSpjirc: MOS implementation of the pjirc Java IRC client

[Gayle]

MOSpjirc v1.0 is now available for download here (test it here).

MOSpjirc is a Mambo integration of the pjirc Java IRC client. Currently in the MOS admin backend you can specify a list of servers to offer your users. If you want to restrict your users to only those servers then you must disable the /server command (read the pjirc manual for how to do this and edit components/com_mospjirc/mospjirc.html./php. If there is demand this will be integrated into the admin page in future releases).

There is extensive information on the various applet params available in components/com_mospjirc/pjirc/readme.txt, if you want to change any of them (apart from nick/alternate nick/server/port) then you need to edit the params in components/com_mospjirc/mospjirc.html./php. This is easy enough to do as long as you understand how the parameters work.

If you do not see a textbox for user entry at the bottom of the applet then you are probably using the MS JVM. Please download the real one from www.java.com and disable the MS bugfest

Any comments and feedback gratefully received as always, if this is popular enough I'll implement an admin backend for configuration as well as the current serverlist.

Damn, I just realised I should have made the nick default to the MOS username if logged in. Oh well, something for tomorrow (if anyone cares!).

[stangster]

Hey the Mambers are so amazing...!
They waste not too much words ;-)
It's like: hey do you need this?

*** Pause ***

Here you are...

Thank you for the Component Galye, I try it imidiately, if I get through this weird IRC command stuff :-)

s t a n g s t e r

Damn, I just realised I should have made the nick default to the MOS username if logged in. Oh well, something for tomorrow (if anyone cares!).

This would be the cream on top ;-)

[Gayle]

Originally Posted by stangster

This would be the cream on top ;-)

Expect it tonight then, going to bed now.

This is one of those things that as it stands works fine, if people are interested I'll make it fancier and with more options. Specifically...

• Option to restrict the client to selected servers (done!)
  Option to restrict the client to selected channels (done!)
  Option to force autojoin to a channel (done!)
  Option to disallow channel part/join (done!)
  Option to allow user selected server/port (any server not just those in a dropdown).
  Option to specify on-connect command for each server (done!)
  Option for registered users to store their IRC registered nick and password.
  Option for registered users to specify autojoin channels for themselves.

If there is the interest I'll get all that done. It's kind of a break from PHPlist which is driving me crazy! After this one and PHPlist comes MOSbot, a MOS controlled PHP IRC bot

Oh, forgot to mention, MOSpjirc probably won't work if your MOS is hosted on Windows. As (no doubt) one or two people have noticed I don't develop for Windows, not because I have a deep seated hatred of MS (I don't) but because I have no Windows test server.

[pixelsoul]

w00t gonna try it in the afternoon this looks great been wating for an integrated chat nicely done

[stangster]

Option to restrict the client to selected servers.
Option to restrict the client to selected channels.
Option to force autojoin to a channel.
Option for registered users to store their IRC registered nick and password.

This will be very, very useful for a integrated Site Chat, where the Users don't know much about IRC... just click and chat, the easy way

[Gayle]

Originally Posted by stangster

This will be very, very useful for a integrated Site Chat, where the Users don't know much about IRC... just click and chat, the easy way

Dead easy

Although I may look at other java IRC clients when I'm finished. Changing the client is extremely trivial and pjirc (while it appears to be the best) does seem to like up to date systems and up to date Java. Possibly something a little more widely compatable will end up being the final client but as I said, changing the entire client is a 5 minute job

[Gayle]

Ok, new version that fixes a showstopper and has several new features

First and most important, many people were getting problems with the applet not downloading. This should now be resolved in all cases (verified in at least one instance) and was caused by a missing global declaration.

Second, if a user is logged into MOS then their MOS username will be presented as the default IRC nick.

Third, the admin backend now has a configuration section for the major pjirc options. This allows setting of authorised channels to join, authorised channels to part, authorised commands, quit message, multiserver support on/off, identserver on/off, autoconnect on/off.

Using these options it is now possible to configure MOSpjirc to only allow connection to a specific server and channel(s).

The next revision will probably include a server by server configuration allowing you to specify autojoin channels for each server.

Download from the same place as before.

[stangster]

nice work, fast service

hey, whats about a module to display current users in a given channel... I thought i've seen a irc class hotscripts.com wich can manage that...

maybe i check this... think it's time to get used to this dev stuff

[Gayle]

Originally Posted by stangster

hey, whats about a module to display current users in a given channel... I thought i've seen a irc class hotscripts.com wich can manage that...

maybe i check this... think it's time to get used to this dev stuff

There are 2 PEAR classes (I've used both) that would allow this, the problem lies in having to wait for the MOS server to connect to the IRC server and extract the user list. If the ident server is firewalled (fairly normal for a website) you could be looking at a 30 second wait!

My next project (MOSbot) would have a permanent connection to the server so it becomes fairly trivial to extract a channel list from the bot and display it in a module. That's not going to happen overnight though, I'm not going to start that until I have my current projects settled as it's likely to be a work in progress for some time

[stangster]

very good to hear... seems that you look further with your projects
are you still stucked with the newsletter component? looks like you want to free your mind a bit from the newsletter stuff :P

[Gayle]

Originally Posted by stangster

are you still stucked with the newsletter component? looks like you want to free your mind a bit from the newsletter stuff :P

It's melting my brain

I keep doing other things to take my mind off it for a while but every time I go back it hasn't got any better

[stangster]

to bad for the newsletter component...

BUT

I keep doing other things to take my mind off it for a while...

If this leads to such quality releases like MOSpjirc, please still keep doing the OTHER things - and the community will thank you

[Gayle]

Originally Posted by stangster

If this leads to such quality releases like MOSpjirc, please still keep doing the OTHER things - and

Like my little SETI@home module? That was 10 minutes work when I needed a break

MOSpjirc has taken a fair few hours though so I can't really call it a distraction any more, especially with what I have planned for tomorrows version!

the community will thank you

There are times I'm tempted to drop the GPL and release things as 'feedback-ware'. The more feedback I get on something the more I'm driven to work on it and improve it. If I get no feedback I forget all about it and do something else

[stangster]

There are times I'm tempted to drop the GPL and release things as 'feedback-ware'. The more feedback I get on something the more I'm driven to work on it and improve it. If I get no feedback I forget all about it and do something else

LOL - very good idea! If you followed a few related threads: That Feedback-Ware will be much more better for the programmers ego than the paypal donation ware

Hey can u imagine that it was the influence of your SETI@home module that I've downloaded SETI the first time yesterday?
I have read so many about it the last years, but I never considered a download of it

s t a n g s t e r

[Gayle]

Originally Posted by stangster

LOL - very good idea! If you followed a few related threads: That Feedback-Ware will be much more better for the programmers ego than the paypal donation ware

Stroking my ego costs users nothing so they are more likely to do it . More importantly though, I need to know about problems. There's nothing more annoying than something that works perfectly OK for me having a bad rep because it works for no-one else but NO-ONE TELLS ME THERE'S A PROBLEM! How can I fix things if people don't tell me they are broken

I'm not adverse to having my ego stroked though

Hey can u imagine that it was the influence of your SETI@home module that I've downloaded SETI the first time yesterday?
I have read so many about it the last years, but I never considered a download of it

s t a n g s t e r

[Pathos]

Gayle,

I really love what you have done with the newsletter-component.....

If i can do something else to help, please let me know. I already told you i would be glad to test or do the dull stuff in ant component like getting the xml-file to work

I will test your irc component when i get at home.

[Gayle]

Yet another release (1.2)!

New features

• Configuration is now individual for each server
  Added autoperform option (single command only unless there is demand for more)
  Modified frontend to use template classes
  Updated readme.txt to include more info about potential problems and how to solve them

This is the last release I plan to do on this (for now at least). Anything else that gets added will be in response to feature requests from users.

Please note that the database tables have changed substantially and yuo will need to drop both pjirc and pjirc_config before installing this release. Sorry if this is inconvenient but I think the changes are more than worth the effort

For those wonderinng about some of the features I was thinking about implementing but haven't, IRC attracts script kiddies like flies around ****. With that in mind, I decided NOT to implement nickserv identification for registered users because the passwords would have to be plaintext in the database. This is not my idea of a good combination so I'm afraid that will not be going in.

Download either from mambo.vd-tools.com or give Arthur a little while to update and the latest version should be at www.mamboportal.com as well.

[Gayle]

Originally Posted by Pathos

If i can do something else to help, please let me know. I already told you i would be glad to test or do the dull stuff in ant component like getting the xml-file to work

I know you did and I'm grateful for the offer

My problem is that I'm digging around deep in the code looking for things I know are there but are very VERY well hidden

I will test your irc component when i get at home.

Would be fab to get some more feedback

I think everything is stable and it should work reliably. If not then the problem lies with pjirc and not me

[willwrk4u]

Anyone have a list of public servers we could point this at?

I'm not running the server, did a quick search, but it's not like looking for free ntp servers because nothing just jumped out at me.

Aaron

[Gayle]

http://www.irchelp.org/irchelp/networks/

Fairly reasonable list of the main IRC nets