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) has been added, but you will need the Openfire client management plugin to create user group chat bookmarks.
Support for WebRTC audio and video has also been added.
To install from Chrome, just click on this link.
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.
Another great stuff from you Though, i wasn’t able to sign in at localhost to my test server. Tried both servername, localhost and both http and https options.
Trailing slash did the trick, though only for the non-ssl option. Looks simple and well very cute Though too limited for me, but some folks can like it. A bit like gmail chat, but for jabber server. Will it only work with Openfire?
It should work with other XMPP servers with BOSH, but websockets connection is tied to Openfire WebSockets plugin for now until Openfire natively supports websockets.
Out of curousity, what missing features makes it limited for you?
Contacts list is a must have. Also i didn’t see or check is it possible to have chat history in OfChat? maybe something else, but those are the main 2 issues. I wasn’t able to do search for all online users with a space, though at this moment there were only one online contact and i was already chatting with it
I did miss the normal contact list at first, but the search bar is growing on me as it helps with many contacts when using Kraken, especialy from Facebook. I don’t use presence as much as before.
I plan on adding support for Stefan’s OpenArchive plugin for Openfire. If I can get that done with MUC, I might make the switch from my reliable Pandon client to OfChat
I can’t get it to work for me. I have the latest non-beta version of chrome and i have installed the extention and configured it correctly. I also have http-bind enabled and configured at the default port. I dont see the little great circle at the bottom or anything. Suggestions?
Latest non-beta was 14, at least yesterday, and it shouldn’t work. You have to use 15 version of Chrome. After you install and configure it, reload the tab. Also, do not forget the trailing SLASH (’/’) after the http-bind in the url.
Well, if i want to chat with someone, 99% of time i use Ctrl-F in Spark, so i don’t use Contact’s list for searching, but i do need presence. To be able to see who’s online and who’s offline at glance. OpenArchive should go fine with such chat solution. Especially for something like Chromebook
Of course. I have Chrome 15.0.874.15 m downloaded and installed from filehippo.com
I am running windows 7, 32bit, non-sp1 version. I clicked on the link in chrome to install the extension and it installed and configured it as described above. I also have http-bind enabled and configured at the default port. I dont see the little great circle at the bottom or anything.
uninstalled the 0.0.0.2 version of extension and installed the .03 version and sorry but I still cant get it to work. I don’t have the extension status icon like you mentioned. Maybe I’m a lost cause.
