NodeJS-Chat

This is a very basic Node JS / Socket.io chat application. It has very basic functionality / interface. Extending this app would be simple & so much could be done with it. Currently it is just a multi way conversation over using socket.io, the messages sent are not stored anywhere, this is something that could be added to extend the functionality.

I developed this on a system with the following specs

• CentOS 6.7 (Final Release)
• NodeJS v0.10.40
• NPM v1.4.28
• MySQL 5.1.73

Features

• Username set, to identify you from other users
• Show your messages as 'You' in bold, to stand out that you sent them
• Basic database functionality to store messages / username
• Started implementing online / offline feature, to show users currently online

TODO

• Complete online / offline feature
• This will show users currently online
• This will be a true / false value in database users table
• Make window scroll when new message is recieved
• Add alert sound of some kind when message is recieved?
• Add profiles for users?

How To Setup

To use this application follow the instructions below:

• Download + Install Node JS
• Download the zip file + unzip it to a location of your choice (make a note of the location)
• You need to edit the index.js to reflect the location of the index.html. This has to be the full path to the file; example: /home/yourusername/nodechat/index.html
• Go to the location & run the command node index.js (without quotations). You should see a message in the console saying listening on *:3000
• Now browse to localhost:3000, when prompted type a username (This is to identify a user who sent the message)
• Click in the message field & type a message. Once done click save. This should then send the message & it should appear in the chat area under the name field

Useful information

• This application is, by no means stable. It should NOT be used in a production environment without majour modifications
• This is a very basic implementation of a chat application / chat room
• This is an open source project, do with the code as you wish
• If you have a feature you wish for me to add then please send me an email & I will consider it ([email protected])
• If you find a bug then please contact me & let me know, I will try to fix it as soon as possible
• Overall this is just something I am building while I learn Node, I do not wish to team up with anybody at this time although this is something I may consider in the future.
• Any questions then please, do not hesitate to drop me an email ([email protected])

Created By Dean Cole (2015)