Chat doesn't load

Also, I know it's not my browser. I can load other parachats, and I can even get parachat to load on a page of my site by inserting the html code. But there is an error (U825) when I do it this way with the module enabled and settings provided.

can you post the html source of the applet code? just mask out your personal account info.

Hi, the standard room code is:

applet codebase="http://host7.parachat.com/pchat/applet"
archive=papplet.jar code=pclient.main.ChatClient.class HEIGHT=400 WIDTH=600>
param name="cabbase" value="papplet.cab"
param name="Net.Site" value="*****"
param name="Net.Room" value="Lobby"
If you see this message you do not have a Java enabled browser.
Visit a href="http://www.parachat.com/faq/java.html">ParaChat Support
for more information on how to upgrade your browser!
applet

I tried puting the host7 line in the service administration part of the Parachat settings page instead of the service page, but no luck. I noticed the papplet.cab line is out of order in the module code, but I don't think that matters?

note: erased the <>

Ok, so I went into the module code and edited the server.parachat.com/pchat/applet to host7.parachat.com/pchat/applet, and now it shows up on the Member Chat page!!!
But unfortunately there is still an error in the actual Chat room: User Auth Config Error. Code AU574.
I'm sorta stumped as to what to try next. Thanks for your help.

ok, i should strip out http:// when someone submits that, in case people do it again.

did you set it up with external_db enabled? if so, did you follow the instructions on the 'site homepage' carefully to make sure parachat was configured correctly?

the more details, the better.

Hi

I have had similar problems getting the chat box to work. First i had to go to the url

www.example.com/chat/auth

To get the chat box to appear (i believe this step, while basic perhaps, is missing from the instructions)

Next once there, having followed the instructions in the documentation for the module, I get the same problem as noted above with the error message AU574.

I figured that this was a problem with the External DB connections / settings.

I was able to fix it by

1) Changing the settings on parachat "Use HTTP User Authentication" to disabled,
2) Changing the parachat settings on drupal site "External DB Authentication:" to No,
3) Changing settings in Site-Wide Limits on parachat - "Require Valid User Name and Password" to No

Now my chat room appears at the /chat/auth url and seems to work well, you can only use the chat rooms if you are logged into the drupal site and the chat room recognises your username correctly.

If you are not logged in the following message appears in the chatroom and as an unauthenticated user on the site I cannot reconnect

"Error CF539: No user name. Click here to reconnect."

I was surprised that it worked given I had disabled External DB settings.

A couple of questions

1) How does parachat recognise usernames, i.e it seems to be connected to the drupal site somehow but I'm not sure how this works
2) How much have I compromised on security? - can I continue to use the chat room safely using these settings?
3) Why does embedding the parachat applet code not work at all, why do I need to go to the url /chat/auth to see the chat room?

Thanks for your help, great module by the way

Thomas

Thanks for the info Thomas. Can you confirm you are using version 5.x-1.0? or are you on 6.x? I'm going to have to load up a fresh copy and try to re-produce this. Your chatroom should be on: http://example.com/chat . The other url (/chat/auth) should be just a web service provided for Parachat behind the scenes.

Answers:

1) Parachat allows you to add a Username embedded in the applet code. If you view source, you will see the username as an applet parameter.

2) Since the username can be embedded in the client side code, it could probably be compromised and perhaps one user could masquerade as another. By using external db, the drupal module sends a hashed code to Parachat, then before the user is logged into chat, Parachat sends that code back to the Drupal site to make sure the user id and the hash match. This provides the server-side security to assure the Parachat user name is definitely the same as the Drupal user.

3) What do you mean by "Why does embedding the parachat applet code not work at all"

Either way, sounds like a bug, I'm looking into it.

I found the issue in 5.x which was causing /chat/auth to not work correctly. Download the latest 5.x-dev version and see if it works as you would expect. /chat/auth should just show something like RESULT=SUCCESS, .. not a full Drupal page.

Hi mmilano,

thanks that seems to have worked well. The chat now appears at /chat and works when

2) Changing the parachat settings on drupal site "External DB Authentication:" to Yes

thank you so much, it looks like Drupal now has a chat plugin that is easy and simple to integrate.

Thomas

Hi mmilano,

Sorry this isn't quite fixed. I thought it was but in fact it's not.

We followed your instructions on your blog to the letter but the applet won't appear.

If we go to /chat/auth - we get Result:Error
If we go to /chat - the Applet doesn't appear and we get the message at the bottom of our browser that says: Applet pclient.main.Chatclient notinited

If we change the Drupal Parachat setting to External DB Authentication: No

If we go to /chat/auth - we get Result:Success
If we go to /chat - the Applet doesn't appear as above.

However, we did get the chat to work by fiddling with the settings of the evaluation version as follows:

Drupal Parachat settings
External DB Authentication: Yes

Parachat Settings - Site Wide Limits:
Require valid Username and Password - Disabled

Parachat Settings - External Database Connection:
Use HTTP User Authentication - Disabled

If we go to /chat/auth - we get: Result:Error
If we go to /chat - we get the chat room working with usernames. If you aren't logged in you get an error message in the chat box: Error CF539: No user name. Click here to reconnect.

So it works with the parachat side settings disabled. However, it gets stranger.

We then added the module to another site after purchasing a Professional Parachat account. We first tried following your blog again, but the Applet didn't appear...then we put on exactly the same settings as seemed to work with the evaluation version but the applet doesn't appear this time.

so I'm very confused. The main thing is though that without disabling Drupal Parachat database settings we couldn't get a Result:Success and without disabling Parachat side database settings we couldn't get the Applet to appear. And we only managed to make that work on one of the sites not the other - so it gets more confusing

sorry to bombard you with this but any thoughts?

Hi there,

Just to say I think it's the Drupal 5 version. I just downloaded and installed the Drupal 6 version on another site with the same evaluation version and it worked fine. I'll quickly test it with the new purchased Professional Parachat too.

thanks

thomas

Sorry the saga continues.

I noticed that when you sign up for Professional Parachat you get a Service Administration Page that has a https:// at the beginning rather than a http://.

By removing that s from the Drupal Parachat settings I have now managed to get Parachat working on our Drupal 5 installation with the purchased Professional Parachat. However, it only works with External DB Authentication switched off. The usernames etc still work, but if I switch on authentication the Applet doesn't appear.

thanks

Thomas

'https', good find!

I've fixed the other issue with version 5.x not working with external db. I'll go ahead and add support for https too .. tonight or tomorrow.

fixed in 5 and 6 dev snapshots

Automatically closed -- issue fixed for two weeks with no activity.

its not working...