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SIMPLE MACHINES FORUM INTEGRATION FOR FLASHCHAT
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This file describes the steps required to integrate FlashChat into a Simple Machines (henceforth referred as SMF) installation. 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 "smfCMS.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');
//include_once(INC_DIR . 'cmses/wowCMS.php');
//include_once(INC_DIR . 'cmses/moodleCMS.php');
include_once(INC_DIR . 'cmses/smfCMS.php');

Thus, "//" appears before all the CMS references EXCEPT for the smfCMS.php 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 SMF directory (the directory that contains SMF'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 SMF directory, and within the "FlashChat" directory you have the 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. You may change this file's permissions to a read-only format after installation.


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 SMF 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 SMF folder on your web server

Go to 'Themes/default' directory.

Open index.template.php, and find the following text:


    else
        echo '
            <a href="', $scripturl, '?action=logout;sesc=', $context['session_id'], '">', ($settings['use_image_buttons'] ? '<img src="' . $settings['images_url'] . '/' . $context['user']['language'] . '/logout.gif" alt="' . $txt[108] . '" style="margin: 2px 0;" border="0" />' : $txt[108]), '</a>';

            
Replace it with:

    else
    {
            echo '
                 <a href="', $GLOBALS['boardurl'], '/FlashChat/flashchat.php">', ($settings['use_image_buttons'] ? '<img src="' . $settings['images_url'] . '/chat_icon.gif" alt="FlashChat" style="margin: 2px 0;" border="0" />' : "FlashChat"),'</a>';
    
            echo '
                 <a href="', $scripturl, '?action=logout;sesc=', $context['session_id'], '">', ($settings['use_image_buttons'] ? '<img src="' . $settings['images_url'] . '/' . $context['user']['language'] . '/logout.gif" alt="' . $txt[108] . '" style="margin: 2px 0;" border="0" />' : $txt[108]), '</a>';
    }



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 SMF setup to stop running. Be sure to get both of the curly braces, too! { and }


STEP 5:
Go to the 'Themes/default/images' directory, and upload the provided 'chat_icon.gif' file (this is in the FlashChat distribution, and has been designed to looks like other icons in the SMF default template).

Note: Steps 4 and 5 apply ONLY to the 'default' theme. The procedure for other themes should be very similar. The chat_icon.gif file has only been created for the default template, so you may need to use an image editor like Photoshop to create the 'chat' icon for other templates.


STEP 6:
Close all instances of your web browser.

Then, restart your browser, and open the SMF main page - upon logging in, you'll see the FlashChat link in the button bar, next to the "Profile" button. Logging in as a standard SMF user will now auto-login to FlashChat, and logging into SMF as an admin or moderator will auto-login to FlashChat as a chat moderator.


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

Thank you for using FlashChat!