Been looking at integrating a simple live chat option in some of my apps. Found some open source irc stuff which I'll probably try and integrate at some point (*gulp), but in the meantime I found a pretty cool and very simple free shoutbox solution. If anyone else is interested, it's at http://www.freeshoutbox.net/ It's just a basic shoutbox. Set it up and manage it on the web, grab the javascript code and paste it where you like. You can also change the size in the code to 100% width, 100% height, so it'll fit great on any sized screen. You can have control of the css if you wish (but they have a lot of templates) and various maintainence and customisation options. It says it's ad supported but I haven't seen any yet. Perhaps they appear after so many days or so many posts? There's also an active forum and support, which is always reassuring.

Awesome !! Thanks for the link! LE: Tested already and works like a charm. LE Update: It does work and it is free, and indeed it inserts ads at the bottom of the page. Another limitation would be the max 20 chat lines allowed on one page.

Nice one Vali! Do you see the ads already? I haven't seen any yet and it's been over a week. The only thing I did was paste the code into notepad, put a mobile header in, save as html and stick it on my server. Perhaps the header has helped stop ads? I dunno..

awesome. i was just sketching out my next app attempt and live chat was one of the things i was about to start researching. again, the BT community just outdoes itself. thanks for the tip!

@raveyd, see here a print screen from the app with the ads below: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10939844/Photo%20Jan%2031%2C%206%2052%2013%20PM.png

Hey for a live chat box, try using this software, iChatbox. You upload it to your server and use a custom url. People can access it from the web and it looks like a standard web chat but in the app it switches to a cool iphone enabled version. I've placed it on my dropbox for you! http://dl.dropbox.com/u/5432778/buzztouch/iChatboxv11.zip

I setup the Shoutbox, copied the url and pasted to Custom URL screen, update by clicking on device's 'Menu' button, app updated. Opened the screen on app, posted message, Voila! It worked. Not ads, maybe that comes later. Thanks for the post. Question: Other than opening app and going to the screen, would / is there a way to be notified someone had posted a message? Fred

Hi @Fred, I don't think there's much you can do about notifications, there's no api or anything, that's why I really want to implement irc directly into the app, but as a quick and basic service, it works quite nicely. @Vali - Honestly, I've used it for a week and set up 6 shoutboxes and I've yet to see an advert, even when viewing them in the regular web. Just out of interest, are you using mobile metadata or just regular web meta? I wonder if it would make a difference for ad serving?

@mitchellapps - that's one I looked at a while ago. It's ok, but there aren't any admin options, like ban user/ip. A busy chat could go wild with no options to control it!

@raveyd first question can that be implemented to 1.4 version? And can there be like a register setup before it goes to a live chat box, for example if I want to give live support or something can I only chat with only one person or it has to be with everyone that logs in?

ill just put my own ads on it

@LocoLopez, could you password protect the screen, have user email or text, you send password, complete chat, then reset password? Fred

thats a good idea, thanks

@mitchellapps When i am uploading it to my server... i get error Warning: mysql_connect() [function.mysql-connect]: Access denied for user 'dbuser'@'localhost' (using password: YES) in /home/a9145567/public_html/config.php on line 29

@LocoLopez, check out their forum, I'm only playing with it, so I haven't looked into anything like that. There are various permission levels and a register option, so it could probably work something like how you want it. And it could definitely be integrated into BTv1.4

@Raoul - Line 29 is database info. Have you entered the correct details into both the config files? ie DB Host, DB Name, DB User and DB Password.

Wait... yes i got that... but now when i tried on my LEGIT domain... it says this http://chat.freeappmonster.com/cgi-sys/defaultwebpage.cgi Can you help me over team viewer or something?

Im still getting an error, i changed all the info in both the files. Can someone please help me? Email me at [email protected] Thanks

This is so cheesy, I love it! Have an app it is perfect for and took 2 seconds, love it! Twisting my melons indeed rayeyd! Good man for a fun link!

how man i put the url mobile ?

I am trying to get a CHATBOX that fills the entire device screen and is very visible to see new messages. Any suggestions other then freeshoutbox.net?

I just sent you a reply on the other thread. height=100% width=100%

any way to turn the web mobile pls and ty

What you mean Loco? The URL will work perfectly in mobile. Did you use the code on other thread? Does it not expand to show full screen in mobile?

yeah i put it on the app and it looks like a desktop page everything to small like to far away how can i change that, and I've already have played with the settings

OK. I'm about to hit the sack so it may be the AM till I post back. You added the shoutbox to a Custom URL - Text scree, yeah? Then edited the HTML so it looks something like this: <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC -//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd> <p> <html> <head> </head> <body></body> </html> </p> <p> <title></title> <noscript>Enable Javascript to get full functionality of this <a href=http://www.freeshoutbox.net/>shoutbox</a><br /></noscript><iframe frameborder=0 height=100% src=http://XXXXXXXX.freeshoutbox.net/ width=100></iframe></p> <p>  </p> <p> <meta content=text/html; charset=UTF-8 http-equiv=Content-Type /> </p> <p>  </p> <p> <meta content=width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0; maximum-scale=2.0; user-scalable=1; name=viewport /> <style type=text/css> html{background-color:transparent;height:100%;width:100%;} body{background-color:transparent;font-size:11pt;font-family:helvetica;} img{border:0px;} </style> </p> Yeah? If so it should fill the whole screen on iPhone and iPad, looking at it now and it does.

Locolopez, try the Custom URL screen. Easy just cut and paste url. Fred