New users don\'t see past messages

[bcc]

I just installed beta6 and noticed that sometimes, when you join the chat, you don't see the messages that were posted before you joined.
Is that a bug or a feature?

[phpfreechat]

It's a feature, now when a last user quit a channel then the channels data are deleted in order to save disk space.

[bcc]

Is there a way to disable it?

[phpfreechat]

no but if too many guy disagree with this feature I will rollback this modification or I will add a parameter to disable it.

[bcc]

It's a nice feature, but it would be ever nicer if there was a parameter that would let us disable it.

Otherwise, when the first person (after a break) joins the chat, the window looks empty and the person leaves.

As a side question: how much space does it actually take on the disk to keep 20 or so lines of the buffer?

[bcc]

Here is an example of a post I just got:

"‹guest12255› Hello, what happened to all the chats that I had been enjoying reading? Everything is gone."

Apparently, in my niche, people read the buffer as if it were a message board.

[bcc]

Also, is there a way to hide the connect/disconnect button?

Some people seem to hit it wihtout knowing what it does.

[bcc]

Also, just noticed that people disappear from the user list.
I see posts by one person who is not listed there.

[nishil]

I storngly recommed that atleast the last few messages be seen , when the user reconncts.

[phpfreechat]

What do you think if I add this admin command :

Code: Select all

/clear history

Then by default I leave the history data on each channels.

[bcc]

Oh right, channels I didn't think of that.
If you have hundreds of abandoned channels that no one re-joins then disk space might become a problem.

How about clearing all channels that are not listed in $params["channels"]?

Or maybe a separate parameter with a list of channels that should not be cleared?

In any case, it would be nice to have an option that controls this behavior.

In the mean time, could you please point me to a location where I can disable this feature for now in beta 6?

[bcc]

I commented out the stuff after "if the user is the last one to quit this room" in src/pfccontainer.class.php. That will do the trick for now.

Also, I want to make sure the smiley images are not preloaded because it takes an extra 20 or so hits and it makes the user wait until they all load.
In src/client/pfcgui.js, I still had to load at least one smiley to keep the height of the div that contains them (even when invisible) to make sure the chat window scrolls to the very bottom at the start.

For now, I just did
if(sl.length>0){
var i=0;
...

in the loadSmileyBox, but something is not right with the layout if a wrong height in one container affect another.

[theBart]

I agree with several of the above comments:

- Only clear channels that are not listed in $params["channels"]
- New admin command: /clear history (on a per channel basis)
- A parameter to enable/disable this feature

And here's another suggestion:
Clear history on empty channels if no users join back in during a certain period of time. For example, if no users joins a channel in 48 hours, then clear history. The time period should be configurable via a parameter.

kerphi: Thanks for making such a great chat application!

Bart

[phpfreechat]

It's done :
- Only clear channels that are not listed in $params["channels"]

I didn't add other options to enable/disable this feature.

[theBart]

Nice! Thank you

Will this be available in the next beta, or is there a patch available?

Bart