I have spend a good amount of time developing this Actionscript 3, XML based Flash Chat framework. I have tried to meet the demand for a solid developer kit for everyone who always wanted to create their own Flash Chat.
I believe after a good 1000 hours of work, I have suceeded in creating one of the best documented, easiest and most customizable chat components around. :smoov:
To check out a demo of the chat click on the link bellow:
demo chat >>
I look forward to all your comments.
No comments at all from anybody?
That's a pretty solid chat system you got there MindprobeSven. I like some of the added details like the rollover scrollbar and timer for online time.
Couple things I noticed.
There is a slight lag after you send your message which could be server related and not program. Probably not a problem, however feels a little odd when compared to using other chat thing like msn etc.
I'd try and capture the mouse wheel as well for scrolling the chat up/down.
Down the road would be nice to add upgrades to it, where you can upload an avatar or fill out some info about yourself. Adding some features like emoticons or the fun stuff people like to do like "Mctittles is combing his hair" with slash commands or something.
All in all looks nice and seems to be very stable.
As far as comments, I think these sections are just slow. Might have better luck posting to a non-developer forum if you are active in any other communities.
Oh, also noticed the copy chat messages to clipboard on right click. Nice.
Another thing you would probably want to add would be a way to turn the sound on/off. Although I did like the sound effects.
Well, had the browser window open while I was doing something else and an error came up (flash error). So used to dismissing these, not sure what it was. It still seemed to work though and would only be visible to people running a developer version of flash player.
Another kind of bug though is when you refresh the page it still shows your user in the chat room, but asks for a name. Might want to check session variables or something on page load to fix that.
@Mctittles: Sounds can be turned ON and OFF via the chat command /sounds
Sometimes, the server hosting the chat demo is kinda slow at around 1am Spain time for a few hours. I don't know why, but this is what causes the minimal lag when sending messages.
When you refreshed the page, you saw your name still connected in the chatroom because the auto-kick takes 20 seconds to remove dead users. You simply did not wait long enough.
Flashcomponents.net just reviewed Flash Chat v1.5 Deluxe and they totally love it!
You can read the review here: http://www.flashxml.com/2009/09/flash_chat_delux/
Quoted from the words of the Flashcomponents.net team
"Not only is this file amazing..."
"...this is by far the best there is..."
Yes, I understand what causes some of the problems, but that does not make it any more convenient for the user. I mention those things because anyone viewing the product would notice them...
There are no inconveniences.
The chat works perfectly fine. It has now sold more than 250 times and all customers are so happy they flip out and write me fan mail :)
Like I said, either at the time you tested the chat the web server was slow or your connection was slow.
It is technically impossible to have the messages send and receive real time like in MSN or Skype when you use XML files for saving data. Sending a message in my chat will take no longer than 0.5-1 second before the other party receives it. I think that's damn good for a chat that works with Actionscript 3 and XML and installs simply by uploading to the FTP server without having to configure one single thing.
There is no other chat on the entire web that can do this. All other chats either suck horribly, don't come with source code, are not customizable or are super difficult to setup and install with MySQL or Flash media servers.
By the way, there is now a free trial version available at http://www.flashchatdeluxe.com. You can download and test it on your own server.