Ignite Realtime Blog

Release of Smack 3.2.2

communityadmin@igniterealtime.org — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 17:09:56 GMT

The latest version of Smack is now available for download. There have been several bugfixes related to file transfer and minor improvements in this version.

Barring anything being broken specifically by this release, the next version of Smack will be 3.3, there are no plans for a 3.2.3 version.

Here is a list of issues resolved in this release.

~~SMACK-263~~ - Set file info in all send* methods
~~SMACK-338~~ - IBB filetransfer doesn't work as expected
~~SMACK-346~~ - Bug in return code for rejection handling in FileTransferManager
~~SMACK-349~~ - Smack's IBB sends too much data in a packet
~~SMACK-350~~ - Bytestream is not working in Spark 2.6.3 from XP to W7
~~SMACK-353~~ - Thread leak in the FaultTolerantNegotiator
~~SMACK-354~~ - Provide milliseconds in timestamp colum debugwindow
~~SMACK-322~~ - NPE in XMPPConnection
~~SMACK-324~~ - Investigate SASL issue with jabberd2 servers
~~SMACK-348~~ - Documentation error - broken link
~~SMACK-362~~ - smack throw NoSuchElementException if the muc#roominfo_subject has no values
~~SMACK-343~~ - Make Smack jar an OSGi bundle.

NOTE: The documentation links have not been updated yet, but the jar files are available.

Spark 2.7.0 beta 1

communityadmin@igniterealtime.org — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 19:46:37 GMT

Dear Community,

after some more weeks of testing, debugging and developing, we would like to ask for your support and publish the first beta of Spark 2.7.0. Ultimately, we would like to move Spark to Java 7, but that is currently not implemented via the installers. This will change in January after an update to the lastest version von Install4j provided by ej-Technologies.

You can find the nightly build for Windows here: http://bamboo.igniterealtime.org/browse/SPARK-INSTALL4J-543/artifact/JOB1/Instal l4j

About Java 7: Spark 2.7.0 will run with Java 7. Please interchange the bundled JRE (located at Spark-install-folder\JRE) against a Java 7 JRE or use the installer named spark_2_6_3_12555_online.exe and install Java 7 as default on Windows. Using Java 7 will stop Spark from stealing the focus, when a new message is received.

Important Note: Oracle has introduced a bug in Java 1.6.0 u 25-27 that prevents Spark from closing automatically during the log-off on the Windows plattform. This is not Spark related. This affects all users that install the Spark version without an included JRE.

About file transfer: Spark 2.7.0 beta 1 is fixing an big bug with file transfer. Spark 2.6.x has an programmatic error that was making IBB file transfer very unstable. Tim Jentz deserves a big credit for finding this after weeks of debugging. Great job Tim!!!

Spark 2.7.0 will also move to a standard implementation for IBB file transfer. As a result of moving to the standard IBB implementation, you may have issues with transfer between Spark 2.7.0 and Spark 2.5.8 on IBB. This is an unavoidable result of obeying the standard. IBB is the fall back implementation, if Bytestream is not an option. Hence IBB is not the regular transfer method as it is much slower than Bytestream.

About plugins: There were large scale changes in the way Spark is dealing internally with plugins/extensions. All Plugin developers are kindly ask to review, if their plugins are still working. This applies also to Fastpath. Feedback regarding issues with this are highly appreciated.

About GUI: The Spark developers are only supporting JTattoo Luna. There are several reports that other skins are not working properly. This applies especially to Substance. If you are experiencing any GUI bug, please check if JTattoo Luna is also having this issue and report it.

As a general statement, I would urge all professional users to use the customizing options of Spark to get rid of Substance in corporate environments. The dev team may ultimately decide to remove Substance for 2.7x in a future release.

About Mac and Windows7 64 bit: The next Mac release is NOT secured. We are looking for a developer who can provide a Mac beta release. The integration to Windows7 64 bit is ok, but the flashing notification in the tray may or may not work. A tester and developer (MS C++ Code) for this is also needed.

The change log for this beta is:

~~SPARK-1465~~ Checkboxes appear bigger then normal since the jtattoo update

~~SPARK-1464~~ When user accepts group chat invitation, status is always online

~~SPARK-1460~~ No group context menu on a right click

~~SPARK-1459~~ Update to the latest JTattoo version (Nov 2011)

~~SPARK-1452~~ If conferences tab is hidden, then Fastpath tab is hidden also

~~SPARK-1451~~ Vcard popup is not always showing up on mouse hover

~~SPARK-1450~~ When network connection is lost, chat window cannot be closed

~~SPARK-1449~~ UNC Path does not link to folder

~~SPARK-1445~~ Selecting 'Start a chat' in a group chat room opens an incomplete chat window

~~SPARK-1444~~ Subscription dialog shows the id value instead of the nickname

~~SPARK-1443~~ Privacy plugins cannot be accessed if we log into Spark through the IP address of the server

~~SPARK-1465~~ Checkboxes appear bigger then normal since the jtattoo update

~~SPARK-1464~~ When user accepts group chat invitation, status is always online

~~SPARK-1460~~ No group context menu on a right click

~~SPARK-1459~~ Update to the latest JTattoo version (Nov 2011)

~~SPARK-1452~~ If conferences tab is hidden, then Fastpath tab is hidden also

~~SPARK-1451~~ Vcard popup is not always showing up on mouse hover

~~SPARK-1450~~ When network connection is lost, chat window cannot be closed

~~SPARK-1449~~ UNC Path does not link to folder

~~SPARK-1445~~ Selecting 'Start a chat' in a group chat room opens an incomplete chat window

~~SPARK-1444~~ Subscription dialog shows the id value instead of the nickname

~~SPARK-1443~~ Privacy plugins cannot be accessed if we log into Spark through the IP address of the server

~~SPARK-1442~~ JabberVersion.java uses hardcoded value "Spark IM Client" for version name

~~SPARK-1441~~ ContactItem in shared group - right click popup menu performs copy when move is selected

~~SPARK-1440~~ Bug in ConferenceUtils.java that can break smack communication

~~SPARK-1439~~ Plugins are loaded in random order - plugins with no dependency has to be loaded first

~~SPARK-1438~~ Avatars are not scaled in user login/logout notification dialog

~~SPARK-1437~~ Bug in PrivacyManager that can break smack communication

~~SPARK-1429~~ Update French translation

~~SPARK-1427~~ Default Appearance/Colors cannot be overwritten through plugin;Group-Chat colors are hard-coded

~~SPARK-1423~~ typo error in LayoutSettings.java

~~SPARK-1422~~ persist vcard may throw file not found exception when jid is empty

~~SPARK-1421~~ Application version and application name are hardcoded

~~SPARK-1420~~ The messages in the set status message window is not getting deleted

~~SPARK-1419~~ Chat room configuration shows wrong roles for which presence is broadcast

~~SPARK-1418~~ Update simplified Chinese translation

~~SPARK-1414~~ Chat window is not flashing when receiving new message on Windows 7 64 bit

~~SPARK-1413~~ Update build.xml to check for Java 7

~~SPARK-1411~~ Sometimes file transfer indication is not updated on the receiving side

~~SPARK-1408~~ Remove "#" character next to Accounts button on the login screen

~~SPARK-1405~~ Improved last activity recognition

~~SPARK-1403~~ Enhance ability to extend core classes like ContactItem, ContactGroup, etc through plugin

~~SPARK-1400~~ Update to latest version Exe4J

~~SPARK-1381~~ Group Chat - Actions/Start a conference menu: propose bookmarked room (if any) instead of adhoc (random) room name

~~SPARK-1379~~ Support for XEP-0147

~~SPARK-1326~~ Make tabs position optional: TOP or BOTTOM; make search input appearance optional

~~SPARK-1324~~ SparkToaster showing avatars in real size

~~SPARK-1313~~ Enhance ability to overwrite spark properties values through plugin

~~SPARK-1215~~ Log out doesn't log out, it shuts down spark

~~SPARK-891~~ Typing notifications would be easier to see if also displayed near typing area

The beta release also includes a new Smack library that is based on Smack 3.2.1 plus the following bugfixes:

~~SMACK-362~~ smack throw NoSuchElementException if the muc#roominfo_subject has no values

~~SMACK-354~~ Provide milliseconds in timestamp colum debugwindow

~~SMACK-353~~ Thread leak in the FaultTolerantNegotiator

~~SMACK-350~~ Bytestream is not working in Spark 2.6.3 from XP to W7

~~SMACK-349~~ Smack's IBB sends too much data in a packet

~~SMACK-348~~ Documentation error - broken link

~~SMACK-346~~ Bug in return code for rejection handling in FileTransferManager

~~SMACK-343~~ Make Smack jar an OSGi bundle.

~~SMACK-338~~ IBB filetransfer doesn't work as expected

SMACK-336 There is an empty element in a SASL response

SMACK-335 Need to set file size and name for outgoing file transfer from input stream

SMACK-324 Investigate SASL issue with jabberd2 servers

SMACK-322 NPE in XMPPConnection

SMACK-263 Set file info in all send* methods

Expect a second beta in the first quarter 2012 that will include the latest final release of Smack

Please report issues in the Developer Forum

Seasonal Greetings

communityadmin@igniterealtime.org — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 07:04:05 GMT

Dear Community!

Another year has passed for this open source project and various developers have contributed significantly to nearly all of our projects. We were able to finally release Openfire 3.7 and Spark 2.6.3 under Apache 2.0 license. The most important Smack library has also seen several releases and last but not least the good old instant messaging gateway Kraken returned to us. Some great innovations were presented like SparkWeb/Redfire, Websocks and Candy. I really would like to thank all developers involved by contributing code and all users and system admins that went through this year. A very special thank you goes to Daryl Herzmann who keeps the servers healthy and Wroot for outstanding work in the forum. I would also like to single out Guus der Kinderen for his insights in Openfire architecture and the release of Openfire 3.7.

Merry Christmas to all of you and a happy, healthy and sucessful 2012

Openfire 3.7.1 has been released!

communityadmin@igniterealtime.org — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 19:35:24 GMT

The Ignite Realtime community is happy to announce the release of version 3.7.1 of Openfire! Downloads for various platforms are available here.

Openfire is a real time collaboration (RTC) server licensed under the Open Source Apache license. It uses the only widely adopted open protocol for instant messaging, XMPP (also called Jabber). Openfire is incredibly easy to setup and administer, but offers rock-solid security and performance.

The 3.7.1 release is primarily a bugfix release. Amongst others, these issues have been addressed:

A number of enhancements were made to the server-to-server connectivity. Server-to-Server connectivity was enhanced and a bug preventing a successful dialback was fixed.
Various improvements have been made to platform specific installers and scripts.
The Multi-User Chat implementation has received various tweaks and updates.

The full changelog is available on the Openfire project page.

We welcome your feedback, suggestions, tips, hints, questions and other contributions in the Ignite Realtime Community pages.

Jappix users, PLEASE UPDATE!

communityadmin@igniterealtime.org — Sun, 25 Sep 2011 21:25:46 GMT

If you use openfire-jappix plugin on your server, you should update to version 0.0.2 which uses the the new 0.8 package

Please read

http://codingteam.net/project/jappix/news/show/500-jappix_users_please_update

and

http://codingteam.net/project/jappix/browse/diff/1319/1320/

Openfire Chat Chrome Extension

communityadmin@igniterealtime.org — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 23:14:59 GMT

Ignite Realtime community is happy to release OfChat (Openfire Chat), a Google Chrome extension that puts a chat toolbar on any web site you want so you don't have to switch back and forth between tabs or have to resize your browser window to include your desktop chat application on your screen.

OfChat does not require a front-end Apache web server or middle-man BOSH server and connects directly with Openfire eliminating the cross-domain issues associated with web browser application like SparkWeb, Jappix or Candy. With WebSockets, it is as fast as a chat desktop application. It also uses Google Alerts when the Chrome window is minimised.

OfChat is based on on Gtalklet for by Sean Zheng and has been modified to work with Openfire BOSH and the WebSockets Plugin for Openfire 3.7.1. It uses Strophe JavaScript library by Jack Moffitt and includes a new Openfire.Connection class which implements the full Strophe.Connection class for Openfire WebSockets. Openfire.Connection should work with other Stophe based applications as a direct replacement for Strophe.Connection..

OfChat does not have a conventional roster display with groups. You have to start typing into the search area to filter a list of contacts in Google search style and like the new Facebook contact list view. In order to see only online contacts, just press spacebar as your first character. Support for MUC (group-chat) will be added later on.

To install from Chrome, just click on this link or download and install from the attached ofchat.crx file.

After you install the extension, go to the extension's preferences and enter your Openfire account credentials. Enter your Openfire BOSH URL. It is usually http://your_server:7070/http-bind/. Please don't select WebSockets unless you have upgraded your Openfire server to use jetty 7.5.1+ and running the WebSockets plugin. Once you've signed in, reload one of your tabs and you should see it pop up in the lower right-hand corner. Once you see it in the corner of your screen, just hit the grey circle to log in. Once you log in, you can set status as normal. Click the plus sign as many times you need to search for a contact and start a new chat.You can block it from showing up on certain sites from the extension's preferences.

WebSockets Connection Manager for Openfire

communityadmin@igniterealtime.org — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 10:38:29 GMT

This is an implementation of WebSockets for the Openfire XMPP server. It consists a plugin for Openfire and a low-level JavaScript library suitable to be used with jQuery.

Why?

Recently, I have been involved in shaping an XMPP protocol extension (XEP) for simple application remote control of telephony devices for financial trading systems. This XEP is called Openlink and is still evolving.

I use XMPP Bosh to provide an Openlink Javascript library for web based applications and I am seeking to improve performance and scalability beyond the limitations of long-polling BOSH connections, so I decided to investigate replacing BOSH with Websockets in my Openlink Javascript library.

What did you do?

The Websocket protocol is close to finalising and Jetty (the embedded web server for Openfire) has been supporting WebSocket since Nov 2009 in version 7.0.1 which is the Jetty version in current Openfire 3.7.0. My first attempt of using the Jetty WebSocketServelet? class from Openfire 3.7.0 with Google Chrome web browser failed and I am not sure why. The WebSockets specification has changed a lot over the last two years and both Chrome and Jetty have kept up with it, so I was not surprised.

I therefore decided to recompile Openfire from SVN (version 3.7.1 Alpha) with latest Jetty 7.5.1 and finally got it working.

I then implemented a very thin XMPP stanza based Javascript class called openfire-websockets which exposes a minimium "Stophe" like connection object which I tested with the XMPP console application in chapter 4 of the book "Professional XMPP Programming with JavaScript and jQuery" by Jack Moffitt.

How?

You can use this plugin from Openfire 3.7.0. Just replace openfire.jar and slf4j-log4j12.jar in OPENFIRE_HOME\lib.

Should I?

If you do most of your application development with XMPP like I do, using Openfire and need fast and simple access to the low level XMPP messages as DOM elements in Javascript from JQuery right now, then take a look at openfire-websockets.js

Where?

http://code.google.com/p/openfire-websockets/

ej-Technology grants install4j license to the Spark community

communityadmin@igniterealtime.org — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 19:34:26 GMT

ej-Technologies has granted a multi-plattform license of install4j to the Spark community. The community developers gladly accept the donation to the project. This will give all core developers of Spark the opportunity to use the features of install4j for during the development of the Spark installer.

Install4j is the installation plattform for Spark since many years and has helped to provide multi-plattform support and great integration in the operation systems.

About ej-Technologies:
ej-technologies GmbH was founded in 2001 as a privately held company and specializes in solutions that help programmers make the most of their own applications. With its focused expertise in the areas of performance and deployment, ej-technologies is developing the next generation of enterprise application development tools.

If you have any questions regarding install4j and it's usage during the Spark development, please contact me via community mail.

Kind regards,

Walter Ebeling

Smack 3.2.2 alpha: Fixes IBB transfer

communityadmin@igniterealtime.org — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 17:53:36 GMT

again an experimental Smack to fix IBB transfers for Spark 2.6.3. This is an experimental build with patches based on the Smack 3.2. branch. The patch itself is published in SMACK-351

The Smack code is not using IQ Stanzas for IBB file transfer since the implementation is not correct. Smack 3.2.1 also breaks file transfers via IBB to Spark 2.5.8. This alpha should fix:

~~SMACK-350~~ Bytestream is not working in Spark 2.6.3 from XP to W7

~~SMACK-349~~ Smack's IBB sends too much data in a packet

~~SMACK-263~~ Set file info in all send* methods

~~SMACK-335~~ Need to set file size and name for outgoing file transfer from input stream

Copy into the lib folder of the Spark installation folder and report results.

Walter

P.S. Also fixes SASL against jabberd2 since http://issues.igniterealtime.org/browse/ ~~SMACK-324~~ is included.

Jappix MiniChat with Openfire

communityadmin@igniterealtime.org — Sat, 23 Jul 2011 08:54:35 GMT

I have received a couple of emails about Jappix MiniChat not working properly with Openfire BOSH. The main issue seems to be that the Openfire BOSH is not handling the reconnection properly as the user browses from page to page.

I'll be surprised if it did as the implementation was a few years ago and the BOSH specification has moved on since. More importantly was that it was designed to work with SparkWeb which was always resident on the web page until the user logged off. In this mode, Openfire BOSH works very well.

A possible solution for using Jappix MiniChat with Openfire is to use this same approach and keep Jappix resident on the web page as the user browses from page to page. My way of doing this is to use a main top page container with the Jappix MiniChat which puts the content web page in an <iframe> tag. I then call JavaScript on the main top page from within the iframe to control Jappix.

Of course, this does not always work especially if the content page promotes itself to be the top main page for security purposes like Goole Mail for example. In practice, I use Jappix MiniChat with my own web applications and even if my web page is hijacked, cross domain security will stop malicious JavaScript controlling my application.

If this solution will work for you, then use the attached HTML file and adapt it to your needs.

Release of Smack 3.2.1

communityadmin@igniterealtime.org — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 22:16:37 GMT

Since several defects have been fixed, including a rather serious issue dealing with file transfers. The 3.2.1 version of Smack is released as of July 4th.

Although more issues were planned for this release, due to number of people having issues with ~~SMACK-338~~ and the slower than expected resolution rate on the planned issues, the release will go ahead with the 6 issues that have already been resolved.

[SMACK-129] - MultiUserChat will Store Messages in its PacketCollector irregardless of whether or not they are being read
[SMACK-230] - Disconnect Can Cause Null Pointer Exception
[SMACK-273] - Bug in RoomListenerMultiplexor.java
[SMACK-324] - Investigate SASL issue with jabberd2 servers
[SMACK-329] - XHTMLText uses improper format for br tag
[SMACK-338] - IBB filetransfer doesn't work as expected

The rest of the planned issues have been pushed to a 3.2.2 release.

Robin Collier

Release of Spark 2.6.3

communityadmin@igniterealtime.org — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 17:47:43 GMT

Dear Community,

due to several issues, we have released a 2.6.3 on July 1st. The following issues were fixed

~~SPARK-1383~~Login screen shows disabled fields.
~~SPARK-1394~~ Search in history is not working
~~SPARK-1395~~ NPE when exiting a chat window with ESC
~~SPARK-1396~~ Send Broadcast Window doesnt show when not using JTattoo
~~SPARK-1379~~ Support for XEP-0147 (URI handling)
~~SPARK-1392~~ Check if Spark is really checking for updates even if that option is turned off

A new Feature was added:

Expand ability to customize spark if you want to build your own branded version

You can download the release in the download section of the igniterealtime web site.

The Spark development will be reduced until the 4th quarter this year.

There has been a significant demand for help about the packaging of custom editions for Spark. I would like to ask all users who have done custom packages to report their approach in the forum. The project files of the packager (e.g. appdeploy) are really welcome.

Walter Ebeling

Jappix for Openfire plugin

communityadmin@igniterealtime.org — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 19:57:44 GMT

I really like Jappix. It ia fully functional XMPP web client with a lot of features and even looks like Sparkweb

It has a cool microblog feature like onesocialweb similiar to the one I implemented on a comercial version of SparkWeb using XMPP pubsub. As much as I liked Jappix, I really could not use it. It was developed in PHP and required a second web server with too much fiddly configuration to make Openfire HTTP-BIND run the cross-domain gauntlet. Well that all changed when I discovered Quercus: Caucho Technology's fast, open-source, 100% Java implementation of the PHP language.

It has enabled me to create an Openfire plugin for Jappix that works out-of-the box. No configuration required.

The main reason for my interest in Jappix was the minichat feature which is like the Facebook IM User Interface and is best for integration with other web applications. I have an immediate requirement to put IM into my Clearspace/Openfire setup and Jappix was just right for this.

I am posting this here for community members who might have a need for it. I do not plan on doing any development work on the Jappix PHP code, so if you spot a fault, head over to the Jappix project web site and report it. Please don't email me.

How to install and use

Download the appropiate zip file for your Openfire server
Stop Openfire
Unzip jappix.war and copy to your plugins folder
Restart Openfire
Go to http://your-server:7070/jappix

How to access the Jappix Admin Console

Delete the contents of the OPENFIRE_HOME\plugins\jappix\store folder
Go to http://YOUR_SERVER:7070/jappix

References

Download for Openfire-Jappix is http://code.google.com/p/openfire-jappix/downloads/list

Source code is http://code.google.com/p/openfire-jappix/source/checkout

Project Jappix is https://project.jappix.com/

Project Quercus is http://www.caucho.com/resin-3.0/quercus/

Release of Spark 2.6.2

communityadmin@igniterealtime.org — Wed, 22 Jun 2011 17:43:59 GMT

The community is happy to report that Spark 2.6.2 has reached final status. The release contains several bug fixes and new features and enhancements for Spark. It is a hot fix release for a regression bug introduced in 2.6.1. Details can be found in the changelog.

Main features for this release are:

OTR (off-the-record) support for encrypted chat between clients
New notification mechanism
New splash screen
Support for animated GIF as avatar
Plugin blacklisting
Documentation for Spark customizing (lot's of option now)

More than 30 bugs were fixed, including

New default look and feel for Mac
File transfer is using IBB as fall back for VPN network connections
Scroll to end in chat window

The downloads for all supported plattforms can be found in the download section of Igniterealtime.org.

Red5 is not included in the release as well as games were not included. These can be found in the forum for those of you interested.

A big "Thank You" to Holger and Wolf who spend numerous hours in writing features and debugging code. And of course to all the users who have reported issues, provided feedback and contributed code.

Walter Ebeling

Moving SparkWeb Forward

communityadmin@igniterealtime.org — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 23:35:10 GMT

This is an update from ignite realtime community about where we are with SparkWeb

There is an Open Source HTML version of SparkWeb based on the original commercial Jive Software version and now released under the Apache 2.0 license just like Spark and Openfire. It can be found on the ignite realtime community here.

Knight Raider has worked on the Flash version of SparkWeb and has made it compatible with the ignite realtime latest version of XIFF. His version compiles with Flex Builder using Flex SDK 3.0 for Flash Player 9 and above. It can be found on the ignite realtime community here.

I have made a few more changes to make it compile with the latest Flex SDK 4.5 for current Flash Player 10.3 and above and uploaded it to the SparkWeb SVN. The code can be checked out using

https://svn.igniterealtime.org/svn/repos/sparkweb/trunk/SparkWeb2

Knight Raider has volunteered to work on this. We plan to to add Jingle-based audio, video, file transfer, screen sharing, etc and make it look better than this

Finally, work has started on RedSpark which is yet another web client for Spark, but is tightly integrated into Redfire and will be compatible with the Redfire plugin for Spark. It is extending XIFF with the new RTMP/RTMFP connection classes and has a Facebook/Google type chat user interface that combines both HTML5 and Flash to support a softphone (red5phone), audio/video in both 2-way and multi-user chat with screen sharing (red5-screenshare) and p2p file transfer using RTMFP.