Posts: 14932
Threads: 684
Joined: August 25, 2008
Reputation:
143
RE: Chat room indicator
April 18, 2010 at 11:05 am
Assuming the flag is set when you enter the chatroom, and then you leave it, how is it set off? What if someone enters the chatroom (flag=ON) and then opens up a new page of the site in a new tab (flag=OFF). Then you've got someone in the chatroom and nobody knows.
On the other hand, if someone goes to the chatroom (flag=ON) and then decides to go to bed and leave the site, the site is still reporting him in the chatroom even though he isn't there.
Posts: 2080
Threads: 52
Joined: April 11, 2010
Reputation:
47
RE: Chat room indicator
April 18, 2010 at 11:15 am
(This post was last modified: April 18, 2010 at 11:16 am by Paul the Human.)
I have been a member at a number of forum communities (most of them for amateur writing, but that's beside the point). I am not a coder, so I don't know how it works, but most of the indicators seemed to work like this...
Someone enters: (flag=ON)
Now it monitors that flag. If the person does not take action (e.g., type something) within a predetermined amount of time, (flag=OFF). That way, it does not count the lurkers, only the actively chatting people.
Posts: 14259
Threads: 48
Joined: March 1, 2009
Reputation:
80
RE: Chat room indicator
April 18, 2010 at 3:44 pm
I was thinking that the flag would be set by opening the page, and then set to 'off' when the user closed the page : that is, it had it's own flag rather than use the sitewide flag.
But then perhaps this is cosmetic now.
Posts: 15755
Threads: 194
Joined: May 15, 2009
Reputation:
145
RE: Chat room indicator
April 18, 2010 at 5:22 pm
I like paul's idea, no idea how it would work though :S
Please give me a home where cloud buffalo roam
Where the dear and the strangers can play
Where sometimes is heard a discouraging word
But the skies are not stormy all day
Posts: 6191
Threads: 124
Joined: November 13, 2009
Reputation:
70
RE: Chat room indicator
April 18, 2010 at 9:43 pm
(This post was last modified: April 28, 2010 at 7:03 pm by Autumnlicious.)
It seems annoying to me that my original idea is indeed either misinterpreted or too cryptic.
The setup:
A datasource (on AF) via TinyChat API queries the chatroom in question and enumerates the current roster.
A dummy page called roster is setup to periodically poll the data source (every 5 mins) and change it's content.
The default AF header displays a number from the dummy page in the position on the mockup.
An Asynchronous HTTP and HTML (AHAH) or AJAX request just refreshes the element with a new number through querying every minute or so...
EDIT: It has been noted that a form of this suggestion has been implemented after the switch from TinyChat.
