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VBULLETIN INTEGRATION FOR FLASHCHAT
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This file describes the steps required to integrate FlashChat into a vBulletin environment. 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 vbulletinCMS.php (in the /inc/cmses folder of FlashChat) in a plain text editor and change 'xxxxxxxx' to your actual vBulletin license number. I recommend that you use TextPad (www.textpad.com) as your plain text editor - NOT Windows Notepad or WordPad.

STEP 2:
Open the "common.php" file within the "inc" folder of your FlashChat distribution, and make sure that "vbulletinCMS.php" is the ONLY uncommented line relating to CMS integration. 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');

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

STEP 3:
On your web server, create a new folder called "FlashChat" as a sub-folder of the vBulletin directory (the directory that contains vBulletin's index.php file and "includes" subdirectory). 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 vBulletin, 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 4:
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 vBulletin 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 5:
Using your web browser, open the vBulletin Admin panel (it is located in admincp subdir of vBulletin system). Go to "Styles & Templates" -> "Style Manager" -> "Templates Options" -> "Edit Templates". Then, open "Navigation / Breadcrumb Templates", click "navbar" template and then the "Edit" button at the right. 

STEP 6:
At this point, you should be able to edit some HTML code directly from within your web browser. Locate this text:

<td class="vbmenu_control"><a href="login.php?$session[sessionurl]do=logout" onclick="return log_out()">$vbphrase[log_out]</a></td>

...and add the following IMMEDIATELY above it:

<td class="vbmenu_control"><a href="FlashChat/flashchat.php" target="flashchat">FlashChat</a></td>

Be very careful that you paste this text correctly, since this is a very easy place to introduce HTML syntax errors, which could prevent the FlashChat link from being correctly displayed.

Finally, press "Save" button.

STEP 7:
Logout of vBulletin and close all instances of your web browser.

Then, restart your browser, and open the vBulletin main page - upon logging in, you'll see the FlashChat link in the main menu. Logging in as a standard vBulletin user will now auto-login to FlashChat, and logging into vBulletin as an administrator will auto-login to FlashChat as a chat moderator.

NOTE: COOKIE PREFIX BUG - Some users have reported that they recieve an error like this during installation: "Notice: Undefined variable: cookieprefix in ...". If this happens (it seems to affect about 1 in 4 users), try changing this line in vbulletinCMS.php:

FROM THIS:
$this->userid = isset($_COOKIE[$cookieprefix . 'userid'])?$_COOKIE $cookieprefix . 'userid']:null; 

TO THIS:
$this->userid = isset($_COOKIE['userid'])?$_COOKIE['userid']:null; 

OR THIS:
$this->userid = isset($_COOKIE[$cookieprefix = 'bb' . 'userid'])?$_COOKIE[$cookieprefix = 'bb' . 'userid']:null; 

If you're wondering why I have to issue all of these little corrections it's because vBulletin, like all PHP scripts, changes something in its architecture with every release, and it's not always clear what they change. So sometimes you just need to play around with it until it works.

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!

(c) 1999-2004 Darren G. Gates

Special Thanks to Andrew Danylchenko for his assistance with the vBulletin integration.