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This is an excellent module! But it has a little bug, easily fixed. Just follow these instrucitons to do it...

For the problem showing text in the wrong (UTF-8) character set, you can make some changes in the file /modules/mod_shoutbox.php.

Search for "function jal_addData(" and after " $jal_user_text = substr($jal_user_text,0,500);
" add this:

$jal_user_text = mb_convert_encoding($jal_user_text, "ISO-8859-1", "UTF-8");

if your encoding is ISO-8859-1 or change it according to yours.

well easy to install for sure its a bit small but ha that is ok.I also saw some one saying it would not work had to add code mine nothing just worked.

I just started using Joomla! 2 days ago, and this is the 2nd mod that I've installed (the first was a rss parser)..


The install went perfectly, as did the setup. The time from Download to having it live on the site was less than 5 minutes, including a quick css edit.. NICE!!

Many thanks for sharing this.. All The Best! ...... Tommy

This is just another great way to get people active at your sites.

an excellent shoutbox, but need a little tweeking'

i got the german specialchars (like ö,ä,ü etc ) working by patching the mod_shoutbox.php... (on NON UTF-8 Pages!! )

edit line 172 - 178 to look like :
-----
function jal_special_chars ($s) {
$s = htmlentities( utf8_decode($s), ENT_COMPAT , _JAL_ISO );

// if ( strtolower ( _JAL_ISO ) != 'utf-8' )
// $s = utf8_decode ( $s );
return str_replace("---","−-−",$s);
}

----

next :
uncomment line 234 so that it looks like :
----
$jal_user_text = jal_special_chars(trim($jal_user_text));
----

and finally :
line 316 :
----
echo 'time ).'">'.stripslashes($url).' : '.convert_smilies(" ".stripslashes(html_entity_decode($r->text))).'
----

maybe just a dirty hack, but on my 4 joomla pages it worked....
havn't set up a pure utf-8 page yet, maybe it try next week

I just installed AJAX Shoutbox and it works GREAT! I think this is the best shoutbox.

Just one comment....how do I use it with ASIAN LANGUAGE?

I just installed it via the install procedure of Joomla and did not change any thing else. I use a pre-defined webpage free from Joomla and published the shoutbox on the right side of the page and it worked straight away. Very easy and nice.
Thanks

Thanx a lot. This stuff is easy to install and functions great by the time I write this review since I never make much configuration. :)

btw.. clean job

this is the first mod that i've added to my website having just downloaded Joomla yesterday. It was a breeze without any hangups yet.

I gave the shoutbox a 4 star rating because although it's good, it does seem to lack a couple of features that I would like.

1. it doesn't appear to fully support a transparent theme. the area which you type your shout does, but where the shout appears above is a solid color background making it stand out significantly. Even though you can change the color, it's not exactly what i'm looking for.

2. it looks great on the side, but i would like it across the center. It doesn't seem streamlined enough out of the box. below the box it uses one line of text to tell me my username (which i already know since i only allow registered users to use it). Another line of text says nothing but "message." another line to enter the text. another 2 lines for smilies (which aren't collapsable in my version 1.2 :( ), and then another line to enter the shout. All of this could fit in just one line if your shoutbox is displayed horizontally. but instead it takes up too much valuable realestate. :)

3. preferably, i'd like to see more admin features. some have been mentioned, but i'd also like to be able to ban certain user names from posting in the shoutblock - since i only allow registered users to use it, anonymous shouting is not a problem.

Overall, I do like the shoutbox, but I hope there are some improvements in the future.

This is the best shoutbox module I have tried: just does what is needed.

I made it working also in Joomla 1.5 RC, with some code editing, because of module subdir and other mods...

the fact that within 1 day of installing it. Mind you, it's working perfectly. Absolutely no problem at all with the shoutbox.

Except the fact that I got a few messages fairly quick from some kind of bot, spamming me with porn commercial.


Other than that, great!

I installed this component and modul. I think that this component have very nice effects.
But I have a problem because turkish characters. When I'm using like "_,ç,,ü, etc.", its are changing and writings are not reading.
I think this cause ajax and I try a lot of different way, and I'm not fixed this problem...

I absolutely love this Module, I am the creator of http://www.NetworkingLive.com and have mostly mastered Joomla in the creation of many sites with my focus on this one.

I was extremely excited to see Shoutbox especially with the new Bot where you can track logins, friend requests, and more showing them live...

The only issue I ran into however, is that it freezes Safari MAC users :(

If there is any way this bug can be fixed, please let me know....

Had some trouble with accentuation (for brazilian portuguese), I suggest modifying the parts of the code where text is retrieved from the database and using the utf8_decode function (worked for me). The only reason I don't send the already modified files is I screwed it up somewhat (removed the url display code before realizing there's an option for that)...

I've also noticed that it's easy to mess with the page layout by entering very long words, a fix would be nice.

Other than that, thanks for this excellent extension!

This shoutbox does exactly what it promises - nice and clean. Easily customisable in the css-file.
I had to install it twice because it interfered with some other module, but I got it working with not too many problems.
One question though: How do I changed the displayed username to full name?

Thanks,
Frank

I absolutely love this little shoutbox, and I use it on several sites. However, it conflicts with several other applications, such as some moo effects, and the JCE editor. If you have a problem with IE6 and get a "cannot be displayed" error, it is most likely this shoutbox in conflict with something else on the page. In my case, I love the shoutbox enough that I just turn it off on those pages. The code is easy to read and easy to modify.

Found another possible stumbling block for those who "hit send button, but nothing happens." Posted a possible fix for you on the author's website under "how to install shoutbox".

best of luck to you all.

Only two issues for me:

1. Whenever someone posts a message, my BlastChat module that shows online user resets and all the user names disappear. A browser refresh fixes it, but it's still annoying.

2. Anyone know how to add the date and time next to the user's name so that you can tell when each shout was posted? I have the Shout Box in my content area, so I've got enough horizontal space.

This is an excellent little addition to the Joomla community.

I have found that a shoutbox really help to develop small online communities and this one is a good example of how to do it.

One problem though. The Shoutbox will only show the last 10 shouts. Ok in most circumstances probably but I (and others) often want a bit more.

fwhilton found the problem and submitted a fix in the joomla forums.
File: mod_shoutbox.php Line: 282 reads
$sql = "SELECT * FROM #__liveshoutbox ORDER BY id DESC LIMIT 10";
Now while the file does include the variable "$jal_number_of_comments = 35;" that seems to be ignored in favour of the hardcoded value of 10. His suggestion. Edit the line to read:
$sql = "SELECT * FROM #__liveshoutbox ORDER BY id DESC LIMIT 200";

Tested on my sites and it works just fine.

when people input some "loooooooooooooooooooonnnnngggg" word, the shoutbox was expended to right. So left panel becomes wider in ie6,7. It's ok with firefox.

fuzi