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AVChat Component for Joomla! 1.6 - 2.5
Documentation covering the AVChat component for Joomla! 1.6 - 2.5.
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Quick Overview

The AVChat Integration Kit for Joomla! handles the integration between your Joomla! web site and the AVChat 3 video chat software.

End of life

**Joomla 2.5!** support ended on December 31, 2014. If you are looking to start a new Joomla! website, you should use a newer Joomla! version instead.

Joomla! is the first CMS with which AVChat was ever integrated, and, to this day, it's the one we devote the most time to. If you like our AVChat Integration Kits for Joomla! don't forget to rate them and review them in the [Joomla! Extensions Directory](http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/extension/communication/chat/avchat-video-chat-integration-kit).

If you cannot find the answer you’re looking for here, we encourage you to try our forums. There's also more documentation regarding AVChat in the documentation area for the main standalone version.

All the specific documentation regarding Joomla! is on this page so if you're looking for something specific just hit Ctrl+F on your browser.

Installation instructions

Download & Extract archives

First, you will need the two archives downloaded from [your client area](http://nusofthq.com/c/):
  • AVChat 3.0 Build xxxx.zip (contains media server files for Red5/FMIS/Wowza and AVChat Standalone)
  • avchat3_joomla_integrationKits_UNZIPFIRST.zip (contains 4 components for Joomla! 1.6-2.5)

Save and extract the archives somewhere on your computer.

Setting up the media server application

Once we've downloaded & unzipped everything the next thing we need to do is to setup the media server app to which AVChat will connect to.

AVChat uses a media server to send all the audio video and text data between users. AVChat supports the 3 major media servers:

  • Red5
  • Adobe Media Server
  • Wowza

Here's how to install the avchat30 app on each one of them: {% include media-server-app.md %}

Component installation

To install the component, you will need to be logged in as admin on your website. Once logged in:

Go to Extensions > Manage

Press Choose File and locate the com_avchat3.zip archive in the joomla 1.6.x-2.5.x > joomla1.6.x_1.7.x_2.5.x_component folder.

Press Upload & Install and wait for the installation to finish. You should see the success message:

In the Joomla! administration area go to Components > Avchat 3. There is a warning about permissions and settings not being set. Click the Options button then click Save & Close:

We'll get back to that a little bit later.

You should now see a message informing you that the AVChat files are missing, because we installed the component but not the chat client files.

You will need to connect to your server using FTP (or SFTP) in order to upload the files. Go ahead and open up your favorite FTP Client:

Upload the files from the Files to upload to your website folder to components > com_avchat3 > chat

Make sure you change the permissions on the tokens and uploadedFiles folders to 777:

Complete installation

Connect AVChat to the media server app

Go to **Components** > **Avchat 3** and press the Options button.

In the RTMP Connection String field insert the connection string for your media server. The connection string has the following form:

rtmp://your_media_server_ip/avchat30/_definst_

Press Save & Close.

Enter the chat, connect and insert the license key

Press Enter Chat and AVChat will ask you for the license key. You can get your license key from your client area:

The installation is complete and you should be able to see the admin chat interface in Joomla!'s backend

Embedding the chat in a page

In order for your users to access the chat, it must be accessible from a page on your website. To add AVChat to the main menu:
  1. Go to Menus > Main Menu > Add New Menu Item
  2. In the Menu Item Type field, click Select
  3. Find AVChat 3 in the list and select it:
4. Add a **Title** to your menu item by filling the **Menu Title** field. 5. From the **Access** list select the desired access level. 6. Press Save and close.

AVChat can now be accessed from the page you just created:

Component Features

User roles and permissions

Joomla! comes with 8 default user groups and the possibility to add more.

  • Public
  • Manager
  • Administrator
  • Registered
  • Author
  • Editor
  • Publisher
  • Super Users

To limit powers for a certain user group you need to edit the permissions for the user group in the Components > AVChat 3 > Options > Permissions Tab:

If you change a setting, it will apply to the active group and all child groups. If you're editing a child group the permissions set in the parent group might affect the permissions in the child group. The calculated final permission is in the "Calculated Setting" column. Here are the possible values for each setting and how they pass on to child groups:

  • Inherited means that the permissions from the parent group will be used.
  • Denied means that no matter what the parent group's setting is, the group being edited cannot take this action.
  • Allowed means that the group being edited will be able to take this action (but if this is in conflict with the parent group it will have no impact; a conflict will be indicated by Not Allowed (Locked) under Calculated Settings).

For example, if we want web site users part of the Registered user group (and all its child groups) to not be able to create rooms:

  1. Login as administrator
  2. Go to Components > AVChat 3 -> Options -> Permissions
  3. Select the Registered user group
  4. For the Allow users to create rooms permission, select Denied
  5. Click Save

Or if we want to allow visitors into the chat in Joomla! you have to:

  1. Login as a administrator
  2. Go to Components > AVChat 3 -> Options -> Permissions
  3. Select the Public user group
  4. Set Allow Access to the Chat's User Interface to Allowed
  5. Set Allow Users to Join Other Rooms to Allowed
  6. Set Allow Users to Send Messages in Text Chat Area to Allowed
  7. Click Save

Admin access

The AVChat admin area can be accessed in both the Joomla! backend (**Components** > **AVChat 3**) and in the front-end (**Main Menu** > **Video Chat**) by users belonging to groups that have permission to access it.

To grant access to other groups follow these steps:

  1. Login as a Super User
  2. Go to Components > AVChat 3 > Options > Permissions
  3. Click on the user group you want to grant access to
  4. Set to Allow the following permission Allow access to the Chat's Admin Interface
  5. Press Save
  6. Now the Calculated Setting on the right should be set to Allowed
Notes:

  • Only users part of the Super Users can edit the AVChat permissions as instructed above.

  • Even if the Super User gives permission for a user group to enter the Joomla! backend, that user group will not gain access to the AVChat admin interface. Such access can be given to him from the AVChat Component's Options menu by Super Users.

  • If you give a certain user group permission to access the admin area of AVChat, then he can access that through front-end and backend as well (if he has permissions to backend, of course)

  • By default Managers and Administrators do not have access to the Components part of the backend so if given permission to access the AVChat admin area they need to access it trough the front-end OR they must be given permissions to access the Components area in the backend.

Here is how to allow Managers and Administrators to access the Components area in the Joomla! backend and thus have access to the AVChat Component:

  1. Login as a Super User in the Joomla! backend area
  2. Go to System > Global Configuration > Permissions
  3. Click the Manager user group and set the Access Administration Interface permission to Allowed.
  4. The Administrators user group will automatically inherit the permission.
  5. Click Save

Now Managers and Administrators will have access to the AVChat Component in the Joomla! backend.

AVChat files

All the files are in the `/components/com_avchat3/` folder.

Opening method

You can also open the chat in a pop-up window instead of embedding it in a page.
  1. Log in the administrator area of Joomla!.
  2. Go to Components > AVChat 3 > Options
  3. Go to the AVChat 3 Open Method tab.
  4. Select Popup in the Open Method list.
  5. You can change the size of the pop-up window by changing the values from the Popup Height and Popup Width fields.
  6. Click Save.

AVChat will now open in a pop-up window.

Placing ads around the video chat

Placing ads around the video chat is simple. The video chat itself is actually a Flash .swf file embedded in a HTML file. In that HTML file you can place anything: links, images, AdWords ads, banners, etc. .

In order to place ads around the chat, you will have to edit the file that embeds it in page. The file is components/com_avchat3/views/avchat3/tmpl/default.php.

The chat is embedded in the div element with id myContent.

Add the code to the page and save the file on your server.

Customizing the looks

Changing the size

If you're using the Popup opening method, the size of the popup window can be changed from **Components** > **AVChat 3** > **Options** > **AVChat 3 Open Method**.

If you're embedding the chat in a page, to change the size of the chat interface:

  1. Open components/com_avchat3/views/avchat3/tmpl/default.php in a text editor

  2. Search for the line that starts with swfobject.embedSWF:

    swfobject.embedSWF("%3C%3Fphp echo $chat_path."/".$swf; %3F%3E", "myContent", "100%", "600", "11.1.0", "", flashvars, params, attributes);</script>

  3. 100% represents the width (in percentage) of the chat interface

  4. 600 represents the height (in pixels) of the chat interface

  5. Change these values as you need and save the file.

Changing the background color

1. Open `components/com_avchat3/views/avchat3/tmpl/default.php` in a text editor 2. Search for `bgcolor` and enter the color code you want 3. Save the file.

Who's Chatting Module

In the avchat3_joomla_integrationKits_UNZIPFIRST.zip archive, under joomla 1.6.x-2.5.x you will also find a folder named joomla1.6.x_1.7.x_2.5.x_mod_avchat3online. It contains an archive named mod_avchat3online.zip.

It's a module for your Joomla! web site that shows in the side bar a list of the users online in the video chat at that time.

To install it:

  1. Log in the administrator area of Joomla!.
  2. Go to Extensions > Extension Manager.
  3. Press Choose File and locate the mod_avchat3online.zip archive in the joomla 1.6.x-2.5.x folder.
  4. Click Upload & Install.
  5. Now go to Extensions > Module Manager, you should see the Who's online in chat module in the list. Click on it:
6. Enable it by selecting **Published** from the **Status** field 7. Now you have to select the position on page. Press on Select Position and choose from the list where you want the module to be displayed. 8. Choose who you want to have access to it 9. Now scroll down to **Menu Assignment** and choose the pages you want the module to be displayed on. 10. Click Save & Close

Done, now it will show up on your web site:

Updating the component

We make new versions of the AVChat Component independently from the actual AVChat software, that's why it's necessary to update the component and not the AVChat software itself. Here's how to do it:
  1. Log in the administrator area of Joomla!.
  2. Go to Extensions > Extension Manager.
  3. Press Choose File and locate the com_avchat3.zip archive in the joomla 1.6.x-2.5.x > joomla 1.6.x-2.5.x_component folder.
  4. Click on Upload & Install
  5. Go to Components > AVChat 3 > Options
  6. Make sure all your permissions and settings are correct!
  7. Click on Save & Close

AVChat Components for Joomla! and GPL

The AVChat Video Chat Components are licensed under the [GPL v2](http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.txt) in accordance with the [JED requirements](http://community.joomla.org/blogs/leadership/636-jed-to-be-gpl-only-by-july-2009.html). Once you buy the integration kits you can modify them and distribute them as long as you keep it under the GPL.