By anithegregorian on

Ive browsed every module on Drupal modules but could not find any single one for Live Chat support even based on some open source PHP chat engines like PHPFreeChat.

Actually its quite diminishing that such an insanely powerful CMS doesnt have atleast one satifying module for a live chat ?

I mean I've seen Zencart, Joomla, PHPNuke as well and I believe that a lot of them have now integrated Live Chat Support either via a Plugin, Modules or an Extension interface? Why not in Drupal?

Edited by: VeryMisunderstood; Tagged thread for Drupal version installed

⋅ Categories: Drupal 6.x

Comments

vm’s picture

vm commented

did you even do a search before you decied to complain ?

http://drupal.org/project/phpfreechat
http://drupal.org/project/chatroom

anithegregorian’s picture

anithegregorian commented

Id have no offense to what you say! But aint that for version 5. And as Im quite new to Drupal and I think I should be working with the latest version ie. Im working with Drupal 6 and im not sure whether this will work with the latest version?

vm’s picture

vm commented

Had you tagged your thread correctly, or mentioned the version in use you wouldn't have received incorrect information. (I've edited the version tag in the original post to reflect the version in use)

Drupal 5.x modules will not work with Drupal 6.x

If you are working with Drupal 6, you have 3 choices.

1) pay someone to update the modules for you
2) wait for someone to contrib a port to Drupal 6
3) provide a patch on your own that updates the modules to drupal 6

mambaza’s picture

mambaza commented

Both of these now have version 6 updates, although Chatroom has posted that it contains bugs. Haven't tried them yet, going to put phpfreechat on my test site tomorrow.

nekobul’s picture

nekobul commented

What I did in order to get Live Support type of functionality in Drupal was to use Crafty Syntax standard code, included in a block. This solution works for any Drupal version supporting blocks.

Time to include Live Support: 5 mins

harishu’s picture

harishu commented

hi

would you like to tell us noobies how to use crafty in drupal ?

thanks

nekobul’s picture

nekobul commented

1. Install Node As Block module in Drupal.
2. Install Crafty.
3. Create Department in Crafty and GENERATE HTML for it.
4. Create a new Drupal node and select the option to have block for it. Paste the generated Crafty code in the node content.
5. Setup your newly created block to appear in the location you desire.

Live happily after ;)

DoctorMike’s picture

DoctorMike commented

Node as a Block is not ready for Version 6 at this time, so what would you suggest for now if you use Drupal 6???

nekobul’s picture

nekobul commented

Mike,

What I would suggest is to stick to Drupal 5, until it makes sense to upgrade to the next version. I have spent about a month trying to fix many modules here and there to make them work on Drupal 6, only to find that many other important modules are still not available. I don't mind fixing modules, but I don't have infinite time to fix all modules that I need. So take my advise and make your site work on Drupal 5. You don't have too much to gain by moving to Drupal 6 or at least I haven't seen it.

tallship’s picture

tallship commented

It frustrates me when people here in the Drupal forums say that something is simple, and give a vague mention as to how one might go about accomplishing a task - especially when the person asking says, "Hey I'm a n00b!".

This thread isn't really that bad, all things considered, although there are a couple of non-answers contained herein. For the most part folks seemed to try and give enough info to accomplish the task, however.

Anyway, it wan't enough, IMO, for the average schmoe to install CraftySyntax LiveHelp in Drupal, so hopefully I'll be able to do that now and alleviate the pain I'm seeing in a few posts....

Here's how you do it:

The first thing you need to do is generate the custom code for your site from within the Crafty Syntax Admin panel - select the *department* tab, and generate your custom code - you will later need to paste this code into your Drupal installation, so it's not a bad time to copy all of this text that you will be pasting in a couple of minutes ;)

Now let's go to our Drupal site and login as the site administrator.

Under *site configuration*, choose *input formats*, and then *add a new input format*

Under the name of the new input format type you need to provide a name, *cslhjavascript* will suffice, but feel free to choose whatever name you want. Next you need to uncheck all of the boxes for the *roles* and *filters* - this will ensure that only administrators have access (This is what you want).

Click *Save Configuration* and then go back to *site building ==> blocks* (http://yoursite.sld.tld/admin/build/block) and create a new block by clicking *add block*.

In the block description put something into the field like, "CSLH", "CraftySyntax", or "Live Help". Something that will be obvious to you and describes the role of the block you're creating :)

Leave the *block title* Blank. You're going to place a graphic in this block which obviates the need to have a title for the block.

In the *block body* text box, paste the code that you generated from within Crafty Syntax for this site (You generated this custom code from the admin panel inside of CraftySyntax under the *department* tab.

scrolling down you'll see the input formats. you may need to expand *input format*, and make sure you check the radio button for the input type you created just a minute ago - You probably called it *cslhjavascript* if you were following my suggestions.

Save this new block by clicking on *save block*.

That was easy wasn't it? And the good news is that the hard part is over!

Now, you should be back at *site building ==> blocks* (http://yoursite.sld.tld/admin/build/block) and if you named this block CSLH then scroll down to locate this block and select the location where you want it to appear - "sidebar first", "sidebar last", "footer", etc. I can't choose this part for you. It's just important to know that you have choices and once you pick a location you can exit out and you're all done.

The one thing I would mention, is that not all locations are always shown on all pages, depending on how you set up your drupal site. For example, the locations of the menus, the header, and the footer is usually shown on all drupal pages, and if you want the option for CraftySyntax to be available to your visitors on all pages, then you need to pick a block location that will be present at all times.

With the new CSLH version 4.x.x you'll note that there are two code generation tools for the departments - the HTML (Classic or Standard), and the "Insite Chat". If you pick the latter, then you want to pick *footer* for placement in a block.

But relax :) It's done now so all you have to concern yourself is where and when you want this block to be present.

The instructions here work with Drupal 6 - no need to install any modules or take a class in rocket science just to figure out whether they work or not ;)

I hope that helps!

Kindest regards,

.

ragavendra_bn’s picture

ragavendra_bn commented

thanks for Crafty setup help..........crafty helped again......:).........

sam.e2’s picture

sam.e2 commented

I can confirm that crafty syntax integration into drupal works very well and is easy to set up.

The only possible problem that I have found is that crafty syntax is not themed to the rest of your drupal site as it is a separate application with its own CSS.

I believe that you can theme the crafty syntax chat windows to match your theme however, if you are so inclined.

Crafty Syntax works very well. Seeing as it uses pop up browser windows for customers to chat in, it does not cause problems by navigating away from your drupal site. Your drupal site remains in the background in the main browser window whilst your visitor chats. There are plenty of reviews of Crafty Syntax - see its dedicated page on hotscripts.

If you need a live help solution, just use this method, it works.

jefflane’s picture

jefflane commented

Really a great tool. Integrates very nicely with Drupal 6. Thanks for the tip!

It took me a little longer to setup, but the documentation is very helpful.

twcast’s picture

twcast commented

The only problem I am having with Crafty Syntax is that the Invite feature will not work with Drupal.
Has anyone seen this working?

tallship’s picture

tallship commented

Not to worry though, I posted the actual step by step method above, which works in Drupal 6 core w/o any additional modules that are even more vague as to their usage or buggy, broken, and otherwise inadequate. Not that you might not find a module that totally rocks, but rather... why bother if you can do it by following my step by step tutorial above ;)

Yes there's plenty of theming possibilities, and the new CSLH version 4, as I point out above, has a "Facebook" style chat bar you can place at the bottom of the page (The *Insite Chat* method).

Anyway, after all of the vague posts in this thread and posts that ASSUME that a self-professed *n00b* can glean what needs to be done w/o any sort of procedural guide, we have just such a step by step guide :)

I hope that helps!

Kindest regards,

.

adam_b’s picture

adam_b commented

http://drupal.org/project/im is still under development, but looks promising

Lloyd’s picture

Lloyd commented

Have there been any updates or additions to Drupal live chat possibilities. I like Crafty been as far as I know you cannot theme it. The developer is planning on adding that functionality in the next release perhaps after June, but I don't believe you can do anything now. Are there any other good, live chat options that we can customize the look?

adam_b’s picture

adam_b commented

I'm doing some testing with clients at the moment. For our purposes, http://drupal.org/project/tribune looks best so far. I tried working with http://drupal.org/project/chatroom but although it's easy to set up, the performance and reliability left a lot to be desired.

You can customise the look of either of these in the theme.

bolchowka’s picture

bolchowka commented

LiveChat plugin for Drupal can be downloaded here:

http://www.livechatinc.com/en/addons_and_extras/drupal/

It is currently under review in the Drupal CVS, once approved I will point the URL to Drupal LiveChat module website.

3hope’s picture

3hope commented

I am new to drupal and need help understanding the pros and cons of. upgradeability responsiveness, support, HTML5. and why one is better than the other which is the best and why. And is Bootstrap 3 best if my site has a lot of custom functionality and code

Zen, Omega, Adaptive, Bootstrap3, Foundation, Bartik

iwant2fly’s picture

iwant2fly commented

You will get a much better response to your question if you post it in a relevant thread. This thread is 5+ years old and on a completely different topic. You have already asked the same question in another thread that is much more on topic.

To mods reading this I am reporting as spam since I feel it should be removed from this thread.