$Id: INSTALL.txt,v 1.4.2.4 2008/12/26 04:26:30 permutations Exp $

phpFreeChat module

This module adds free, simple, fast and customizable chat to your Drupal site, using the open source phpFreeChat
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Before installing a new version of this module, you must: 

- Fully uninstall any previous versions. 

- Recreate any nodes with chatboxes. Otherwise the phpfreechat table won't contain the node data. Editing the node with the chatbox isn't sufficient - you must recreate it. 

- Delete your browser's cache files (temporary files), close the browser, and restart it. This is necessary to clear out the previous JavaScript code. 

Contact: http://drupal.org/user/35498/contact

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Requirements
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* phpFreeChat 1.2 
  
Installation
------------

1.  Extract the phpFreeChat module with all its files to:
    * modules/phpfreechat or
    * sites/[yoursite]/modules/phpfreechat
    on your web server.

2.  Download phpFreeChat from http://www.phpfreechat.net/
	or http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=158880
    
3.  Extract phpFreeChat with all its files to a folder named phpfreechat in the same folder you put this module in,
    for example:
    * modules/phpfreechat/phpfreechat or
    * sites/[yoursite]/modules/phpfreechat/phpfreechat
    on your web server. You do not need to follow the instructions from the phpFreeChat INSTALL file - the module handles all the configuration and creation of chats.

4.  Enable the phpFreeChat module in administer >> modules

5.  Configure phpFreeChat access rights in administer >> access rights

6.	Check the module settings in 
	administer >> settings >> phpfreechat.
	Note, that almost all the settings should work fine left at their defaults. Changing some settings (especially advanced settings) could stop phpFreeChat functioning. Only change these if you know what you are doing!

7.  You must then enable one or more node types to be used with phpFreeChat. You can do this by going to administer >> content >> configure >> content types and selecting a node type from the list.
	If the phpFreeChat module is installed properly you should see a section called 'phpFreeChat Settings' with three options below it:
	* None: Nodes of this content type can never have a chat room.
	* Always: Nodes of this content type will always have a chat room.
	* Per Node: Nodes of this content type can choose to have a chat room if desired.
	You also have the opportunity to select the title and channel for this content type.
	If you do not want to have chats on a core node type (like story or blog) it is recommended that you install CCK or flexinode module and create chat content types for this purpose,
	
8.  Chat channels are like chat rooms, and are independent of nodes - so users can be on different pages and still chat in the same channel.
	Channels operate as follows:
		* Each node can be it's own chat channel (the default)
		* The whole site can have a single channel (so users can chat in a single 'space' whatever page they are on)
		* Channels can be set on a content-type level, so - for example - all users looking at blogs can participate in a single chat
		* Channels can be overriden at the node level, so the admin can group several nodes into a single chat space by giving them the same channel name

9. To get an idea of what phpFreeChat is capable of (i.e. what you can do using the settings page above, and the phpFreeChat theme system) browse to:
	/modules/phpfreechat/phpfreechat/demo/
	or /sites/[yoursite]/modules/phpfreechat/phpfreechat/demo/

Problem Solving
---------------

Caching issues:
* Try deleting files/phpfreechat
* Try clearing your cookies

Path issues:
* Try turning on 'Debug Parameters' and check that all the things it is looking for are in the right place

Reporting Bugs
--------------

Please add all bugs to the projects issue queue!
With your bug report please include your server and client OS/version and browser, module and phpFreeChat version, together with the output of 'Debug Parameters'
