Support: AVChat Documentation

vBulletin 3.8 and 4

The AVChat Video Chat Product for vBulletin integrates AVChat with your existing vBulletin web site and users database:

Username integration: users will have the same username and gender in the web site and in the video chat.
Avatar integration: the avatar pictures are automatically used inside the video chat.
Direct access to the admin area for Administrators, Moderators and Super Moderators. They have access to the admin area of AVChat 3 from where you can do all sorts of powerful things like kick and ban.
Different permissions for different usergroups, You can control the video chat features independently for each usergroup. You can also control to what admin features (kick,ban,etc...) do Administrators, Moderators and Super Moderators have access to.
Access user profiles directly from the video chat: you can access the profiles of users directly from the video chat.
Simple install, it installs as any other vBulletin Product.
One click away from users, a link to the video chat is placed in the main menu in the user area.
Full design/colors control, you can change the color and design of the video chat to better fit with your forum looks!

If you cannot find the answer you’re looking for here, we encourage you to try our FAQ or forums. There's also more documentation regarding AVChat in the documentation area for the main standalone version.

All the specific documentation regarding vBulletin is on this page so if you're looking for something specific just hit Ctrl+F on your browser.

Here are the vBulletin related topics we will cover on this page:

1. Installing AVChat Product for vBulletin 3.8 and 4
- 1.1 Setting up the avchat30 app on the media server
- 1.2 Installing the AVChat Product for vBulletin
2. Accessing the AVChat admin interface in vBulletin
3. Location of AVChat files in a vBulletin installation
4. Opening up the video chat in a pop up instead of in line in the web site
5. Placing ads around the video chat
6. vBulletin's user roles and limiting features for specific user roles
7. Allowing visitors to join the video chat
8. Changing the looks of AVChat to better fit your vBulletin web site

1. Installing AVChat integration kit for vBulletin 3.8 and 4.0

First you have to download 2 archives from the client/trial area on avchathq.com to your computer. These 2 archives are:

AVChat 3.0.zip (contains media server files for Red5/FMIS/Wowza and AVChat Standalone)

avchat3_vbulletin_38x_and_4x_product.zip (contains the AVChat Product for vBulletin)

Extract the 2 archives somewhere on your computer to have all the files handy! We will use files from both archives!

After installation, the first time you will log in the video chat you will be asked or a license key, it's in your client/trial area.

1.1 Setting up the avchat30 application on the media server

First you need to install the avchat30 app on your media server. If you don't know what a media server is check out the requirements. If you already have a media server (Red5, FMIS, FMIS hosting, Wowza) here's what you need to do:

Red5 0.8 installed on a dedicated or VPS server	Wowza installed on a dedicated or VPS server
1. Upload the avchat30 folder from the AVChat 3.0.zip/Files to upload to your media server (Red5 0.8) folder to the webapps folder of your Red5 0.8 installation (C:\Program Files\Red5\webapps on Win, /opt/red5/webapps/ on Linux). 2. Linux only: Chmod the new avchat30 folder to 777. 3. Restart the Red5 server You're done, move to Part 1.2 below	1. Upload the applications, lib and conf folders from the AVChat 3.0.zip/Files to upload to your media server (Wowza) folder to the root folder of your Wowza Media Server installation (C:\Program Files\Wowza Media Systems\Wowza Media Server Pro 1.7.2\ on Windows). 2. Restart the Wowza server You're done, move to Part 1.2 below
FMIS installed on a dedicated or VPS server	FMIS hosting from http://influxis.com
1. Upload the avchat30 folder from the AVChat 3.0.zip/Files to upload to your media server (FMS) folder to the applications folder of your FMIS installation (C:\Program Files\Macromedia\Flash Media Server\applications on Windows, /opt/macromedia/fms/applications/ on Linux). 2. Linux only: Chmod the new avchat30 folder to 777. You're done, move to Part 1.2 below	While logged in your Influxis.com account: 1) Go to File Manager: 2) Click the root folder 3) Click the folder icon at the top labeed New Folder 4) Give the new folder the name avchat30 and click OK 5) click the avchat30 folder in the list to the left 6) At the top click the red arrow labeled Upload 7) In the empty list that shows up add main.ase, settings.asc and Application.xml from the AVChat 3.0.zip\Files to upload to your media server (FMS) 8) Cick Upload Done. Your connection string used in Part 2 will look like: rtmp://123.rtmphost.com/avchat30/_definst_ where 123.rtmphost.com is shown at the top of your Influxis.com account.

Now that we've got that out of the way, let's move on to installing the AVChat Product for vBulletin.

1.2 Installing the AVChat Product for vBulletin 3.8 and 4.0

Unpack the avchat3_vbulletin_38x_and_4x_product.zip archive.

Copy the videochat and the includes folder into the root of your vBulletin installation.

Edit videochat/avc_settings.php in a text editor and set the value of
$avconfig['connectionstring'] like this:
$avconfig['connectionstring']='rtmp://myFMSserver.com/avchat30/_definst_';

Chmod videochat/uploadedFiles folder to 777(otherwise the upload function might not work).

Create a new folder videochat/tokens and chmod it to 777.

Login into your forum Control Panel and go to Plugins & Products > Manage Products as highlighted below:

On the right frame click [Add/Import Product] as highlighted below:

On the right frame an Import Product form will appear. Modify the "import the XML file from your server" field to ./includes/xml/product-avchat3.xml and click on Import button as shown below:

After the installation, AVChat 3 will appear in products list and it will also appear in the left menu, as shown in the images below (vB 3.8 an 4):

1.2.1 Creating a link to the video chat in the front end (pop up)

This guide will show you how to create a link in the vBuletin menu that will open up AVChat in a pop up window.

This is the recommended way to open AVChat as it's easier for your web site users to visit the web site, user profiles, thrads on the forum, without leaving the video chat.

From the admin area Go to Styles & Templates > Style Manager and choose Edit Templates from the dropdown and hit "Go" button

Scroll the list until you get to Navigation / Breadcrumb Templates and select it. Next click Expand Collapse button.

Scroll the list until you get to Navigation / Breadcrumb Templates > navbar and select it. Next click Edit button.

Add this HTML code to main navigation (I placed the link after Calendar in both vBulletin 3.8.x and 4.0.x) and hit Save:
for vBulletin 3.8.x:
<td class="vbmenu_control"><a href="#" onclick="window.open('videochat/index.php','FlashVideoChat','height=580','width=970');">Flash Video Chat</a></td>
Here's an image of it:
for vBulletin 4.0.x:
<li><a href="#" onclick="window.open('videochat/index.php','FlashVideoChat','height=580','width=970');">Flash Video Chat</a></li>
Here's an image of it:

Go to your forum and you should see the link:
on vBulletin 3.8.x:

on vBulletin 4.0.x:

1.2.2 Creating a link to the video chat in the front end (embedded)

Altough we recommend opening AVChat in a pop-up, the following tutorial will show you how to open it embedded in a HTML page on your web site.

Open the videochat_embedded_3.8.x or videochat_embedded_4.0.x folder (depending on your vBulletin version) from the dowloaded archive.

Upload videochat.php to the root folder of your forum.

Login as admin, go to Styles & Templates > Style Manager, choose Add New Template from the dropdown and hit "Go" button

Open template.txt from the videochat_embedded_3.8.x or videochat_embedded_4.0.x folder (according to your vBulletin version), copy its content and paste it into the Template field. Make sure that the template's name is FlashVideoChat. Click on the "Save" button.

Now you need to add a link to the vBulletin menu that will take users to the new web page with the video chat embedded on it. To do this follow the 1.2.1 Creating a link to the video chat in the front end tutorial and at Step 4 use the following HTML code:

vBulletin 3.8.x:

<td class="vbmenu_control"><a href="videochat.php">Flash Video Chat</a></td>

vBulletin 4.0.x:

<li><a href="videochat.php">Flash Video Chat</a></li>

2. Accessing the AVChat admin interface in vBulletin

Is being written...

3. Location of AVChat files in a vBulletin installation

[your site]/videochat/

4. Opening up the video chat in a pop up

See Creating a link to the video chat in the front end (pop up) above.

5. Placing ads around the video chat

And this one.

6. vBulletin's user roles and limiting features for specific user roles

Login as admin into your forum Contronl Panel and go to Usergroups > Usergroup manager.

Select from the Usergroups list the usergroup you want to edit and click Go. I choosed Administrators

Change permissions (for admins and moderators you have one more set of permissions: AVChat Admin Permissions that are not available for regular users).

Done.

7. Allowing visitors to join the video chat

It's being written.

8. Changing the looks of AVChat to better fit your vBulletin web site

Changing the design & looks of AVChat is explained in detail in the documentation for the standalone version.

When working with the vBulletin Product keep in mind that AVChat is installed in [your site]/videochat/, so all the files you need to edit (like style.css for fonts and colors, avc_settings.php for the background image) are there.

The files that contain the embed codes for the AVChat Flash .swf files (the ones you need to edit in order to change the size or background color of AVChat in vBulletin) are:

When opening AVChat in a pop up:
[your site]/videochat/index.php

When AVChat is embedded in a page on your web site:
[your site]/videochat.php