New AVChat November build 1880 has arrived

Hello, another hard working month has passed  and we were able to implement and add a lot of new features and improvements to AVChat.

Here are the major changes we did in this build:

1. We have reworked the whole genders mechanism, now the genders are imported from an external .xml file (genders.xml). This way anyone can add the genders they want to be available in the login area. AVChat now comes with a couple of predefined genders, but all these can be edited or removed, and others can be added. As explained in the XML file, the only thing that should not be changed are the ID’s of the male, admin and hidden genders, but other attributes of these genders can be changed such as the iconUrl or the sortPriority. To add a new gender, simply add a new line in the XML file specifying all the attributes like so:

<gender id="female" label="Girl" iconUrl="gender_icons/girl.png" adminOnly="false" sortPriority="c"/>

2. AVChat now has a new and more customizable login screen. The login area has two main screens, which can be activated using the tab at the top (Guest Login, Register & Sign in). The default selected tab can be set using the setting in avc_settings.xxx selectedTabInLoginScreen. Also if the setting showLoginError is enabled the Guest Login tab is disabled altogether. The Guest Login tab contains the text field for the username, the gender selection that is customizable, the connect button and a new zone that allows the use of other existing accounts such as Facebook, for the authentification of users. This zone can also be enabled/disabled with enableOtherAccountOptions from avc_settings.xxx. The Register & Sign In tab contains the register and sign in buttons that redirect the users to the respective areas of the site.

3. We have added Facebook authentification for users who want to login into the chat using their facebook account. For more details on how to configure Facebook login check the documentation.
4. We’ve added the ability to configure the dropInRoom setting so that the chat automatically drops the user in multiple rooms at once when he logs in. Check the documentation for more information
5. We’ve added a new setting in avc_settings.xxx showAdminsOnTop that determines if the admins/moderators should be shown on top of the users list or not.
6. We’ve updated the user interface with better looking buttons. We’ve also made the most important buttons ( connect button, send button) green.

Other improvements:

1. Optimized Wowza code to avoid any memory leaks.
2. We’ve added a new blinking animation to the the unread tabs so that they are more noticeable.
3. The message that the user gets if the username is already taken is now translatable.

Here’s what’s fixed:

• The setting adminCanJoinPrivateRoomsWithoutPermission now works properly on all media servers.
• Fixed links for the thumbnails that appear when a users uploads an image.
• Hidden admins don’t trigger anymore a „has left from room” message on Wowza.
• Fixed issue with user ips not showing in the external users list if includeIPSInUsersListInfo and includeIPSInTextChatMessages were set to false.
• Ghost users are no longer added to the external users list.
• Fixed a bug that caused users that just joined the chat to appear in the search results of the users list even though they did not match the search criteria.
• Fixed a bug present only build 1877 related to the new gender implementation that caused the default selection of the gender to be the male gender even if the avc_settings.xxx specified otherwise.

And a lot of other various small issues were fixed as well

 

How to download and upgrade?

You can download this new build of AVChat from your client area. As a trial user you do not yet have access to this build.

Steps to upgrade an old installation:

1. overwrite all old client side files (You can keep your old language files. The missing phrases will default to English until you add them to your existing language XML file.)
2. overwrite the media server files and restart the media server

If you have issues with it after upgrading make sure you clear your browser’s cache. If you still have issues after doing that send us an email at support@avchathq.com.

If you want us to upgrade your AVChat installation for you you can purchase our additional AVChat Installation Service from here: http://avchat.net/buy-now#services .  Once you make the purchase just email us at support@avchathq.com .

What’s next?

We are working on a new build for December. We are also focusing more and more on Ipad and Iphone compatibility.