\"Chosen nickname is not allowed\" and other problems

[vespito]

Hello,
I have been using PFC for a couple of years, but I keep having some recurrent problems.
First, the data:
PFC Version: 1.3
PHP Version: 5.2.17
Shared or Dedicated Hosting: dedicated (virtual server on pair.com)
Link to your website: Sorry, you need a login to enter
Are you able to reproduce the issue on the official demo: No
Parameters:
require_once dirname(__FILE__)."/src/phpfreechat.class.php";
$params = array();
$params["serverid"] = md5(__FILE__.$grupo); // calculate a unique id for this chat
$params["nick"] = iconv("ISO-8859-1", "UTF-8", $nick);
$params["max_nick_len"] = 35;
$params["title"] = "My own Chat";
// $params["frozen_nick"] = false;
$params["height"] = "323px";
$params["language"] = 'es_ES';
// $params["timeout"] = 1000*60*120;
if($nick=='Carlo Andreoli') $params['isadmin']=true;
$params['admins'] = array('Carlo' => 'pass_here');
$params["max_msg"] = 20;
$params["quit_on_closedwindow"] = true;
$params['output_encoding'] = 'ISO-8859-1';
$params["container_type"] = 'mysql';
$params["container_cfg_mysql_host"] = 'localhost';
$params["container_cfg_mysql_database"] = 'something_here';
$params["container_cfg_mysql_table"] = 'phpfreechat';
$params["container_cfg_mysql_username"] = 'user_32';
$params["container_cfg_mysql_password"] = 'dbpsw';
$chat = new phpFreeChat( $params );

1) First problem is that if someone exits or goes down, then he can't go into the chat again, because he gets the "Chosen nickname is not allowed" message. The others in the chat can see his nick in the list, as if he never left, and the admin can't even kick him. Is there anything that can be done to solve this situation, even as late as when it happens? Is there any parameter telling me if a nickname is already in use, so that if someone with the same nick tries to login I can modify by code his nick?

2) *Sometimes* people goes into the room and does not see the others, nor the others can see them. I verified that $params["serverid"] is the same for everybody.

3) In IE 8, the list of nicknames of people in the room doesn't show on the right like in FF, but it's on a layer on the left, over the nickname of the user. My screen is set at 1024x768.

4) Is the whole conversation logged anywhere? In the leafvalue field in the phpfreechat table I can find only some of the messages sent and some of the events that happened.

5) Why in the official demo there are so many emoticons and I have so few of them and so little?

6) I used the pre-index page trick to set a variable $_SESSION['grupo']=$_GET['grupo']. Then I put a header('location:index.php'); But then, in the index $_SESSION['grupo'] is empty (!) while the session elements set before are correct. Any idea what I do wrong?

Thank you in advance for your help and any hint you can give me. Regards;

Carlo.

[radionow]

Regarding the person when they exit, there should be a "timeout" set. The default timeout is 35, or 35 seconds. So if someone leaves chat and dont come back for 35 seconds they should disappear.

People who don't see other people I don't know why, maybe they are not connected and joined in the correct channel?

Are you running phpfreechat 1.3? If not you are suggested to upgrade it fixes the problem with IE8 not showing the chat users.

The chat logs are in a file in the /data/private folder if I'm not mistaken.

If you want more emoticons there are "themes" you can change (eg. change your theme to MSN) using the theme parameter. There are other methods to using your own chat emoticons. Search the forums you'll find them i'm sure

Question 6 i dont know how to answer.

[re*s.t.a.r.s.*2]

vespito,

you need to start the session on index.php thats why the session['grupo']; is empty..

at the top of the index.php, put this code <?php session_start();?>

regards.

[vespito]

Unfortunately and obviously, I do!

[re*s.t.a.r.s.*2]

Well obviously,

if the session comes out empty, you aren't setting your session well or You forgot to start the session at index.php..
else it wouldn't be empty.
beside at the top of the page you got the little snipe of code, that tells me that you haven't started it.
also the only require you have its the default of PFC, and also $params["serverid"] = md5(__FILE__.$grupo);
where is $grupo set? if you need people to help you be more nicer and also copy paste the full code , we aren't wizard to understand what you are doing with your code...
regards.

[OldWolf]

I'd suggest adding an echo to the get value on the first page and halting, see if that's even getting the value correctly. Then do the same thing with the session on the first page, then the session on the second page... see where it stops holding it.

[landor]

How can I restrict the nicknames?
So I mean I want only allow a few specific nick name.