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INVISION POWER BOARD (IPB) INTEGRATION FOR FLASHCHAT
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This file describes the steps required to integrate FlashChat into an Invision Power Board Forum.

The normal installation procedure, as described in the FlashChat readme.txt file, does NOT apply in this case.

YOU MUST FOLLOW THESE STEPS PRECISELY!


STEP 1:
Open the "common.php" file within the "inc" folder of your FlashChat distribution, and make sure that "ipbCMS.php" is the ONLY uncommented line relating to CMS integration. I recommend that you use TextPad (www.textpad.com) as your plain text editor - NOT Windows Notepad or WordPad.

Thus, the common.php file will have something similar to this:

//include_once(INC_DIR . 'cmses/defaultCMS.php');
//include_once(INC_DIR . 'cmses/statelessCMS.php');
//include_once(INC_DIR . 'cmses/phpNukeCMS.php');
//include_once(INC_DIR . 'cmses/postNukeCMS.php');
//include_once(INC_DIR . 'cmses/xoopsCMS.php');
//include_once(INC_DIR . 'cmses/vbulletinCMS.php');
//include_once(INC_DIR . 'cmses/xmbCMS.php');
include_once(INC_DIR . 'cmses/ipbCMS.php');

Thus, "//" appears before all the CMS references EXCEPT for the IPB reference. Double slashes are how programmers "comment-out" a line, thus deactivating it.


STEP 2:
On your web server, create a new folder called "FlashChat" as a sub-folder of the IPB directory (the directory that contains IPB's index.php file). Copy all of the files in the "chat" folder from your FlashChat download to the newly-created FlashChat directory.

In other words, you should now have a folder called "FlashChat" which resides in the "upload" directory of IPB, and within the "FlashChat" directory you have that actual FlashChat files... for example:

.../upload/FlashChat/index.php
.../upload/FlashChat/install.php
.../upload/FlashChat/inc/
.../upload/FlashChat/sql/
.../upload/FlashChat/templates/
...etc for other files in the "chat" folder of your FlashChat distribution.

CHMOD the /FlashChat/inc/config.srv.php file to a world-writable format, like 777. This will ensure that the FlashChat installer can write configuration data to the config.srv.php file. If you are unsure of how to do this, please contact your website administrator.


STEP 3:
Using your web browser, open the .../FlashChat/install.php file, and accept the provided values. These values will probably look familiar to you since they should draw from your current IPB configuration. If the values do not look familiar, then go back to steps 1-3 and make sure that you have done those steps correctly.

If the values are correct, submit the form to create database tables that are required for FlashChat.


STEP 4:
Go back to the the IPB folder on your web server, and open Skin/s#/skin_global.php. Where # = 1, 2, 3 ...

NOTE: You may need to repeat STEP 4 if you have installed more than one skin!

Locate the text "function Member_bar". That's the definition of the 'Member_bar' function.

Then, locate the following text:

 <b><a href='{$ibforums->base_url}act=UserCP&amp;CODE=00' title='{$ibforums->lang['cp_tool_tip']}'>{$ibforums->lang['your_cp']}</a></b> &middot;

Add the following INMEDIATELY AFTER THAT:

<a href="{$GLOBALS[INFO][board_url]}/FlashChat/flashchat.php">FlashChat</a> &middot;
 
Be very careful that you paste this text correctly, since this is a very easy place to introduce PHP syntax errors, which could make your IPB forum stop running.

Finally, save skin_global back to your web server.


STEP 5:
Login to the IPB Administration Center, and go to:

"Skins & Templates -> Manage Skin Sets: HTML Templates -> Template Tools:
 Resynchronise the database templates FROM the PHP skin files"

Run that command for every template that you have edited in STEP 4.


STEP 6:
Close all instances of your web browser.

Then, restart your browser, and open the IPB main page - upon logging in, you'll see the FlashChat link in the main Member Bar. Logging in as a standard IPB user will now auto-login to FlashChat, and logging into IPB as an Administrator will auto-login to FlashChat as a chat moderator. Integration complete!

NOTE regarding conf_global.php - Some users have reported that ipbCMS.php cannot find /uploads/conf_global.php while doing these steps, although some other users have reported that these integration steps work perfectly. So, if you receive this error, try copying conf_global.php into the IPB /uploads folder.

WHO'S IN THE CHAT? If you're looking for a "who's chatting" module for IPB, please see this post: http://tufat.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1060

If you notice any errors in these steps, or have any suggestions for improvement, please post a message on the TUFaT.com forum, located at http://www.tufat.com

Thank you for using FlashChat!