Please test our new chat!

[nilsjohan]

I need some interested members to try out our chat that I am setting up.
It should work fine now but I need you to try it out and let me know what you think.

We can set up a few different rooms so let me know if you have any ideas about titles/subjects for those.

Any kind of comments and questions are welcome!

Click the link to enter:
https://www.pianoforum.net/smf/chat/flashchat.php

(You must be logged in.)

[janice]

well, I'm there now!  I love it!!!!!!!!!  Athykay was in here but left before I could figure out where to type my message--lol.  Someone else please come in and chat with me!  This is awesome!!  Thanks Nils!!!!!!!!

(PS--the only problem is that it takes forever for the text to enter the room.  But I like all the color choices)

(also, is there a filter for the text so that we don't get alot of obscenities?  Also, can we block a person so that they can't see what we write or we can't see what they write?  Like if someone comes and is rude or obscene, can we block them?)

Someone else just came in, but left without saying anything.  Must be my deodorant!

Also, explain the difference between "The Lounge" and "Piano Room".

[donjuan]

What a great idea, nils.  I have a few problems- yes, as Janice said, there is an annoying lag time between the time I push the enter key and the time I see what I wrote appear on the chat. 

I also kept having a recurring problem- when the space in the chat area gets filled, it should move down naturally, however, it doesnt happen - the scrolling feature fails and locks frequently and I cant see what anyone else is writing.  I have to log out and back again so the messages start at the top once more.  And then, when it gets to the bottom of the screen, the page doesnt scroll down just like before and it's time for me to log out and in again.  Has anyone else had this problem other than me?

Just a few bugs nils, but I really appreciate what you have made for us.  I think it could be a really cool addition to the forum! Thanks a bunch.

donjuan

[ted]

Seemed to work all right for me just now. Looks good.

[kilini]

Does it require the flash plugin?

[Bob]

Cool.   

Maybe a button off to the side on the main page would be appropriate for chat.

[Tash]

it's COOL!! the smileys are really cool. i'm having no problems
oh god i'm gonna procrastinate so much now!!

[edouard]

Tried and approved very much!
excellent effort!
I seem to have no lag time
Only problem is that at this time no one seems to be there yet - this is going to be fun :)edouard

[Tash]

oh nils i forgot to mention because i was just too blown away, janice tinks the next step to wonderising this forum would be to have a dating service!!! mwhahaha there i asked janice
and one other thing- is it possible to change my original name- tanasha- to tash as what everyone knows me around here?

[Bob]

A few problems I'm having...

The chat page pops up in front of other webpages I have open when people post it seems.  It's not consistent. 

Sometimes I have to hit enter twice.   This isn't consistent.

I got an error message.  Something about the "mega" something.  I don't remember exactly.  Something about running out of script maybe.  Said my computer might be slowed if I didn't abort.  I didn't abort and everything seems like it was before.



Argh!  The chat page keeps popping up.  It's getting very annoying.



Still cool to have the chat room though Nils.  Thanks!




hmmm..... I got that error message twice.  It boots me from the room and I have to log in again.

Here's the error message


A script in this movie is causing Macromedia Flash Player 7 to run slowly.  If it continues to run, your computer may become unresponsive.  Do you want to abort the script?



I always said No to this message.

[pianomann1984]

i get that quite alot too.  Very cool addition though - thanks nils!

[allthumbs]

Greetings Nilsjohan

Just had a look at the new site. I really like the setup. Good job.
(Sorry, I sent a message to you using the report to moderator button)oops

Cheers

[Dazzer]

bob, that message you get is because the flash script that gets the data from the server hasn't received a response.

just a basic rundown of how it works (geeks unite)

the script goes something like this

1 - get the data from the server
2 - wait awhile (and don't let anything else happen)
3 - check to see whether it has the data
4 - if not, go back to 2 and wait again. if yes, update the data, and go back to 1.

so now, if you have internet troubles, and the chat decides it can't find the data, it doesn't actually stop looking for it... it just keeps waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting (and all this while i won't let anything elsehappen). so what you get is a freeze (or more theoretically, an infinite loop). So Flash has a built in anti-freeze. It'll stop any scripts that it thinks are causing problems. (so its not really an ERROR. Its actually there to help you) So you could exit the script, but then you'd have to restart the chat. or just wait for the thing to actually work by pressing No.

Now it probably boots you out of the room because the room has a timeout feature. So if you're not "active" for a period of time, it thinks you're out of the room, so it just kicks you out. So, with the above, if you're not establishing a connection to the server in the first place, then the server thinks you're gone, so it just boots you.

So it all boils down to the server's connection and the your internet connection.

end of class.

[nilsjohan]

Thanks Dazzer for holding the class while I was away!

That is a very good explanation of how it works (and why it not works...).
Actually, most are expected issues.
For example  leaving the chat open while doing something else (and not setting your status to "away") is cunsuming a lot of bandwith and should be avoided. So I am quite happy with the "chat page keeps popping up" issue and so is the server as well.

The reason for why you are logged out is likely because your internet connection is not stable. I have now increased the time before this happens which should help in some cases.


Let's try this out for a week or two to see if we can live with it. If not I will try a non flash solution.

I have now put a chat button in the top menu for easier entrance!
 

[Egghead]

Nilsjohan,

great effort - looks fine and is fun. There were even a couple of people there!
I have one moron question: found it easy to enter, but how do you leave gracefully? 
Just closing the window probably does the job. Other alternatives?

Sorry if answer is obvious or contained somewhere in this thread.

Egghead.

[Dazzer]

the flash chat itself has its own X button on the top right. that'll log you out

typing

/quit
/logout

will also get you out nicely without closing the window

[Bob]

The "ignore" button doesn't work.  It alerts the person that they are being ignored by me, but doesn't actually block any of their posts.  Maybe I'm using it wrong.

[Bob]

Two times my computer has totally shut off while I was in the chat.  It may be my computer or it could be the chat somehow.

And the pf site seems to be exceptionally slow right now.  Odd.

Could be my computer though.

[raymagini]

btw, everyone, dont ever leave without saying something first.
Janice will get really mad if you do

[pianoforce]

Whenever I go to the chat, all that pops up is a blank white screen.  I'm pretty sure I'm allowing all cookies, and I just installed XP with all the updates, so I don't know what is wrong.  Do you know how to fix it?

[janice]

btw, everyone, dont ever leave without saying something first.
Janice will get really mad if you do

Oh shut up, Ray!!  LOL  j/k

 Bob, I had the same problem today and one other day.  I was talking to tds today  when I just froze up.  I tried to come back about 2 minutes later, and tds was gone!  I'm soooo mad, because he didn't even say 'bye'!!

[nilsjohan]

Whenever I go to the chat, all that pops up is a blank white screen.  I'm pretty sure I'm allowing all cookies, and I just installed XP with all the updates, so I don't know what is wrong.  Do you know how to fix it?

Do you have Macromedia Flash Player installed?
If not:
https://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash&promoid=BIKJ

[pianoforce]

Yes, I just installed it and restarted my computer, but it still doesn't work...

[tds]

 Bob, I had the same problem today and one other day. I was talking to tds today when I just froze up. I tried to come back about 2 minutes later, and tds was gone! I'm soooo mad, because he didn't even say 'bye'!!

tds has the ghetto-est connection of all . he gets booted every too often. sorry, janice, but cant help it. i am sure it will happen again, as it always does. urrrghhh...

ps. here is something for you, jan...*hands janice "bye 100X"*. use one "bye" for everytime i am off, ok? and dont hesitate to tell me when you run out of them ok? i'll give you another bunch. heh.

[pianoforce]

Does anyone know why this isn't working for me?

[mikeyg]

I really want to get this working so I can finally chat real-time with you guys.  Computer Gurus help please...

[Dazzer]

try clearing your cache.

IE: Tools -> Internet Options -> Delete Files -> Delete all Offline Content -> OK
FireFox: Tools -> Options -> Privacy tab -> Cache area-> Clear button

[pianojems]

Is there a link to this chat room from the main paige so that everyone does not have to search for the link....also better advertisement so more people can join?

[mikeyg]

Is there a link to this chat room from the main paige so that everyone does not have to search for the link....also better advertisement so more people can join?

Yes, it is on the top, next to profile and logout 

[nilsjohan]

The chat is upgraded to the latest version. Please report any bugs or mysterious things here!

[Jacey1973]

The chat doesn't work for me anymore, dunno why (it used to then it just stopped working one day). The window comes up but there's an empty box with a littel red cross in the left hand corner.

[Bob]

The "boot" (script error) is still present, although it happens a lot less often. 

This is the text...
A script in this movie is causing Macromedia Flash Player 7 to run slowly.  If it continues to run, your computer may become unresponsive.  Do you want to abort the script?



People have talked about large smileys.  I saw them once, green clovers about the size of your thumb on the screen.

[mikeyg]

The chat has been running much more efficiently since the site changed to piano street.  Thank you very much for this feature nils.

[classicarts]

I think it's a great idea, but I do think we need more rooms.  Maybe categorize it by culture, interest, countries, continents, composures, etc.