The PLAN

[20 Ton Squirrel]

Okay, let's get this project defined now that we have some idea of who is doing what. This is what I have in mind for the project definition, loosely based off of a wireframe spec that Vile provided me. As people recommend changes I will edit this post to reflect. Anyone who needs current tasks need only look here.

Project: Actionscripts Live Chat Forum
Description:
The goal of this project is to build a chat client in Flash that allows registered members of the forum to meet and answer questions live or discuss issues related to actionscripts.org. Forums within the chat environment will be defined as they are on the existing actionscripts.org site.

This is a community project, thus, any registered members who wish to contribute their skills are welcome. Due to the vast number of registered members, availability for participation is not guaranteed. The project will be composed of two elements: a Chat Client and the Chat Engine.

The Chat Client will be a popup browser window that houses a single Flash object. This Flash object will allow the user to connect to the Chat Engine and participate in the environment.

The Chat Engine will be built off the Genesis database driver, originally engineered by Greg Hudson. This server-side application will parse all incoming connections and will house the environment in which users interact.

Upon completion, the project in its entirety shall be the intellectual property of actionscripts.org, all decisions pretaining to this project shall be left up to the site's owners: Jesse Stratford and Evgueni Strok.

Participants and Roles:
Jesse - Producer
Jesse have final word on any aspect of the project's design or function.
20 Ton Squirrel - Director of Engine Operation Team
Squirrel shall have the burden of coding the Chat Engine. Any commands that need to be coded server-side will be handled by him. Since no one else has volunteered for this role, he stands alone in the face of adversity.
Vilehelm - Director of Client Design Team
Vilehelm shall have the pleasure of heading up the design team for the Chat Client interface. He will be the guiding influence and overall tormentor of the oppressed fools who decide to work with him.
Red Penguin - Director of Client Operation Team
Red Penguin lead his team in an effort to build the Flash-side code that will interact with the Chat Engine. The Client Operation Team will work closely with the Client Design Team and the Engine Operation Team to bridge the gap between client and server.
Ricod - Director of Beta-Testing Team
Rico will be in charge of finding a trust-worthy team of ten to twenty folks that will explore every nook & cranny of the project. Any bugs or weird happenings will be documented and revised by the Beta-Testing Team and sent to the appropriate Director for fixing.

[20 Ton Squirrel]

Anyone wishing to participate that wasn't listed should contact the appropriate director or sound off on the Participation thread on this forum. If anyone would like to add anything or change something on the document, feel free to buzz me. Right, I'm off to lunch.

[red penguin]

Okay, now that that has been established, I would like to ask the above mentioned to forward everyone their respective email addresses...I believe they will be needed in the future, yeah? I have put you all on my buddy list and you should get a PM shortly.

And let's just say, I'm excited!

[vilehelm]

vilehelm@yahoo.com

yahooIM handle: vilehelm (i only have this running at work)

also by the way I'm in Atlanta, GA so that's eastern standard time zone

Ok first action for me. Squirrel would it be helpful for us to create a log-in scenario? Are we going to use the dynamic from the gMUD or is that going to be altered?

If so i can go ahead and map that out on Visio. Then we can discuss...???

Also what is the login dynamic as it stands now? (i can only remember the tute)

[20 Ton Squirrel]

You can reach me at grimslayde@lonewolfe.net any time... note the trend? Let a flaming death of ouchie painful doomy-doom rain down on those who use my address to ask questions that should be put in the forum. I POKE YO EYES!

Ummm yeah. I'd like the login to be as unnoticeable as possible. Since the forum already uses cookies I thought that we might try using those. Of course, the password is encrypted so I'll have to remember how to UN-encrypt it over on the engine.

There will be cases where the user doesn't use cookies or it just doesn't exist, so we will need a log in screen or popup of some kind. If nothing else we can have the engine parse out the log in, asking for user name, then password. I'd rather have it done in Flash, though. Whatever you fellas on the Client team decide is fine with me.

By the by, I'm nearly done with the initial object setup for accepting connections. Woot, woot, woot.

[vilehelm]

Well actually i was thinking about the initial log-in for a newbie. Are we going to just use the profile generated in vBulletin? I can't remember the process there but are we sure that we can tie the forum and the chat together? If we can that's great we can use that across everything. I just wasn't sure if we had another initial login and profile that we needed to go through...I guess Jesse might be able to answer this.

[20 Ton Squirrel]

I'm already on top of that, comrade. I sent a mail to Strok and Jesse to see if I can peek into the user database of the forum. There are some major security issues here, so I'm gonna be patient about it.

I'd suggest that you move forward in the design of a sign-up. Maybe we can have it work both ways, ya know? If you sign up on the chat then it automatically creates a profile for you on the site. OR, alternatively, we can have it to where if you don't have a profile on the site you simply can't log in to the chat... maybe have it direct you to registering.

[vilehelm]

Well, hmmm, it seems there will be a few extra options that we have to cover for chat...i'll start with an independent sign in scenario, it might be easier admin wise that way. maybe we can use the forum profile to autofill some fields...???

[20 Ton Squirrel]

If we can get the client to load up the AS cookie that has the user name, then we just populate the text field variable with that. Since the password is encrypted I may not be able to use it. My server uses a different salt than this one, thus we may have no choice but to force the user to at LEAST type in the password.

[20 Ton Squirrel]

I'd suggest everyone subscribe to this forum so that we're aware of any postings outside a thread we've written on. Try clicking on this link here (http://www.actionscripts.org/forums/member2.php3?action=addsubscription&forumid=12) to subscribe... I dunno if it will work.

If it doesn't just go to the parent to this thread, scroll to the bottom, and click on Subscribe to this Forum.

I'll be making another thread called Progress. This is where we will post updates on our progress (duh).

I encourage folks to use our e-mail or log into the engine to discuss stuff. Or PM. Just keep the lines of communication open.

[vilehelm]

This project is gonna blow everybody's post # through the roof

[red penguin]

I encourage folks to use our e-mail or log into the engine to discuss stuff. Or PM. Just keep the lines of communication open.
Yes, yes, yes...

Also, I am on a different schedule than those Directors in the States...but, I am also an advocate of using the engine for discussions...Been busy these past two days finalizing things, but look forward to getting into a situation where we can all be on the engine at the same time...

[Jesse]

Comments:

Client doesn't have to be popup does it? I'm anti that.
I think we should use the existing vBulletin DB strcute for logins. That prevents users registerring as someone else and spamming, et al. It also gives us a well structured DB with 4300 uers already enterred. I'll look into how the usernames and passes are stored today.
We keeping this forum open to the public?
I think it's wise to use any existing cookie to populate the Name filed of a login and even if we could decrypt the passes with athe correct salt I would still be an advocate of typing them in manually. I like to keep passwords manual. Automation is one more security hole.

[Ricod]

I need the e-mailadresses of Red Penguin and Jesse for my adresbook. Else everything will be pm-ed. (sorry red, accidently removed your previous e-mail :( )

[pinkaboo]

I thought that is you suscribed to the forum that you got an alert if someone added to any thread within it, well I tried subscribing and it ain't happening :o(
what's going on - any suggestions?

K

ps have tried subscribing using both Mr Squirrels link above and the button in the main FCProject forum index.

[20 Ton Squirrel]

Yeah, I noticed the same thing. I didn't get a mail about Vile's new post on the Login... something odd afoot, methinks.

[farafiro]

I'm with Jesse In


The cookies must be on
The passes should be added every time the user log on


But I think also we should allow anyone to log on as a GUEST

[Ricod]

exactly how graphical is this baby gonna be ? Did danyone ever saw that chat prog with the penguins ? (now what was that url again ? )(for those who didn't, everybody got a 3-d modeld penguin and then could walk around and chat with people, or shout to the entire room) Wan't really handy for lotsa text though, but maybe nice as a lounge ?

[pinkaboo]

aww, those penguins sound great.

hmm I just did a quick google search and if this is the correct site:

experimental penguins (http://www.rocketsnail.com/games/penguins/)

then the original penguins seem to have demised, however there was a link to this chat on that page:

penguin chat (http://www.contactmusic.com/new/home.nsf/webpages/chat#)

Is that the chat you meant Rico?

Kay

no red penguins, but there is one with a 'fro!

[Ricod]

Last time I checked they only had 1 normal penguin ! It would be great if we could have a little something like that (I just want to 3d model now :) )

people with 3d aps could make (a) model(s) and upload them to the site for implementation (I can already see a giant 20 ton polys big squirrel model walzing over the chatroom screaming something about cashews !)

I'm wondering how the others feel about this ... Then again, it might be handy to get the thing working first, and then later start thinking about more 'graphical' front ends.

[red penguin]

Penguins everywhere! Wahoo! I'll have a look at home. Can't at work...
Pinkaboo...Have you "chatted" there? Opinions if so?

and thanks for posting those links. I urge anyone/everyone to play with the rooms to get a feel with what's out there...Doing so always raises ideas/questions and now is the time for that!

[pinkaboo]

yeah I just wasted some time there, the chat isn't as fulfilling as Mr Squirrel's world but it is entertaining enough. I just had a penguin race and won - hoorah.
strange though, you don't seem to get the penguin you select in the world, seems a bit random.
also the text chat has to be placed on the screen twice cos the text that appears above the penguins heads can get obscured by other penguins.

K

[farafiro]

I'm there now PINK but sounds not popular at all

[Ricod]

Yeah, most people tend to come in, walk around bit and then leave. Oh yeah ... there's also the house perv who starts harassing everybody he identifies as female ...

[20 Ton Squirrel]

I thought about making a graphical interface to this, but I feel the text offers more versatility. It is possible to use the engine to do such a thing, though... it'd just get very hairy with transmitting coordinates. Plus, what happens when you get 20+ users all in the same room? Indecipherable dialog!

I say we stick to what we have for the moment and move on from there.

And as for the token perv... there's a command for people like him. No, TWO commands: @boot and @ban. Feh.

I'll check the penguin chat out later when I have a better connection. Can't get any better than 28.8 at home... stupid dialup.

[Ricod]

The dialog thing could always be solved with a proximity calc. Only chatters in a radius of 'so-many'- pixels receive text ... but I agree thats all in the not-so-near future ...

Just thought of it so I have an actual excuse to delve into 3D again :)

[vilehelm]

Hey i offered the penguinchat a while ago...(nobody listens to me:mad: ) anyway i thought it was cool but it did have one real limitation that you could only have so many penguins on screen at once.

If you had 30 of those suckers going at once ... yeeesh.

I'm just worried about the scalability of something like that. However i do like the game idea. I would think that we get this first one out the door not bare bones but not completely tricked out. Leave it open, leave it modular and the we can grow it.

That's how you build a community. right?

[red penguin]

30 penguins going at once...Sounds like my kinda place...As long as there's ice and vodka...

Open and modular...yes...and yes...I agree there...

[vilehelm]

The smell of sardines would be overwhelming.

[Ricod]

Since yer humor's back I guess you're feeling a bit better Vile !

[vilehelm]

Actually I'm pretty much out of gas now (no jokes please) and since i've covered all of my bases for the day work wise, i'm going home. i'll check in in the pm.

[20 Ton Squirrel]

Don't blame ye one bit. My whole household is stuck with the flu. Come to the engine and I'll give it to you, too. Heheheheh. Man, if I had the days left in my time bank I'd go home. But, alas, I get the pleasure of spreading the contagion at work. Muaahahahaa!

[red penguin]

You said GAS! How can I......okay...

[Jesse]

- I bugerred my arm so I aint been able to contribute to the forums for a while.
- I think the environment should stay like mIRC. Not graphical. We originally conceptualized it as an extension of the forums remember, so there'll be lots of text happenning.
- I think a drawing board, whiteboard kinda thing owuld be cool though. Perhaps they can be established privately. Just a white SWF that you can draw lines on to graphically depict what you're trying to explain to someone or something. Like FlashGuru's chat thingo from a while back.

[Ricod]

Hey ! Thats a great idea ! With buttons that insert some stuff like 'panels in flash' or sumthing !

[vilehelm]

I think it will be pretty much text Jesse. The only graphics will be for a few of the formatting tools and commands much like for the forums we'll have some buttons that cover the whisper, say, shout etc. They'll just autowrite some text for you in the line command.

What is this white board thingy? It sounds like a stand alone entity, maybe someone could develop that to the side of what's going on here??? Any takers???