I need a custom multi-user multi-chatroom app to extend an existing Flex app that I have.
I obviously wouldn't like to develop it from scratch, but focus only on the customizations and integration.
Are there any products (free or commercial) that provide multi-chatroom functionality from which I could start?
http://www.adobe.com/devnet/flashplatform/services/collaboration.html
Have a look at Union Platform chat tutorial:
http://www.unionplatform.com/?page_id=1216
You can also check BlazeDS chat example:
http://livedocs.adobe.com/blazeds/1/blazeds_devguide/help.html?content=build_apps_3.html
I wrote an AS3 Chat Application that makes use of Player.io's free server package of 20 gigs of data transfer, other small limitations. The app is open source, and you can find the source code on GitHub.
The chat itself only uses one room, since it is averaging only around 10-15 users on at any time and its specialized to helping flash game developers, meaning it has a code storage area (simple database interaction), developer links, actionscript help, etc, but it does have some basic features if you want to see how I code them.
The chat itself has a few features you might be interested in checking out even if you don't use the source code, are such:
Support for authentication on server-side
Different types of users. (Currently overlord admin, admin, mod, developer, regular users)
Editable individual user data (Currently saves how long each user has spent on the app)
Server-side Silencing and banning individual users
Support for tags near usernames
Sound Settings on message received
Code box for users to share large amounts of text without spamming the chat
Support for multiple rooms (uses 1 public currently + 1 hidden for select users)
The server-side is written in C# and hosted on playerio.com and is supposed to be an authoritative server (meaning it checks all the client data and makes sure its valid before doing anything). The server code is also included on github.
If your interested you can comment and I will answer any questions.
Related
I'm building an app which uses user contributed content.
The contribution by each user should be available to all others in real time.
I was looking into firebase Realtime database for this.
However, when a user contributes content, there are quite heavy validations and calculations (read server side) to be done on the data before making it available to others.
Is it possible to have a server side validation in firebase ? Or should I look for alternatives ?
Initially, Firebase did not have a feature to implement server-side processing/calculations. All your processing had to be done on the client side.
Now, they've recently introduced a new feature called Cloud Functions For Firebase. Its a really useful new addition where you can write server-side code without the hassles of managing servers or instances. Read up more about it from the above link.
Also, this Youtube playlist by Jen Person is a great start. And, you can find examples similar to your use case here.
If I build a website for my new awesome mobile app (or web service or whatever) I might want to do a slow launch, sending email invites to the first x people to register on the site.
Is there a good way to link each registered email to the corresponding data in google analytics (or any similar service), and query them based on location, language, etc.?
Maybe the spanish version isn't quite done yet, so I don't want to invite people who used a spanish browser to sign up. Or maybe my app is location-dependent (like time tables for buses) and just doesn't work at all outside of my home town.
I really want to have a simple email-only "registration".
It is completely possible, although it may breach some of GA's terms of use if done wrong.
You should not store email addresses in any way as part of your GA data because it would be considered personally identifiable data. However, there is nothing saying that you couldn't store a kind of GUID for each user, and then compare that with email addresses offline - although the user should be made aware that any actions they take while using your service/application/whatever are being tracked with the capability of being personally identified.
As far as getting the actual data that you are discussing, language and location are stored by GA by default, so no headache there!
The best way to store the user's GUID would probably be in a custom dimension. How you do this is going to depend on how you build your product. I had to write a tracking library using the measurement protocol for an AS3 project awhile back because there isn't an AS3 library that is supported anymore. If you are using JavaScript, it will be much easier, as Google offers native JS libraries to handle web analytics.
Finally, try taking a look at the documentation. Its pretty easy to understand
I've been reading about Firebase and playing with it for a short while. The idea (BAAS) and implementation are impressive, and having programmed with Javascript it seems a viable choice. Not having to deal with scaling and other server side concerns makes it even more attractive.
My question is: generally speaking, is Firebase a first class back-end candidate for any average data-based application? e.g. billing, CRM, e-commerce, social, location based, etc. I do not include super light or heavy extremes such as a basic chat, or a nuclear plant monitor...
The answer may not be a clear yes/no, but was it built to support the general application space, or just stand out as a real-time read/write data service?
Would appreciate answers based on experience and existing production applications.
Thanks
Yes, Firebase is intended to be a first class back-end for any data based Web, iOS or Android application. The service offers real-time data reads and writes, but also comes with a powerful and flexible security system that allows you to write secure client-only apps, without needing any server code to enforce data boundaries.
There are several apps in production listed on the front page as customer and on the app showcase page on https://firebase.google.com/customers/
Firebase is now more capable and is considered as a full stand-alone back-end, especially after the introduction of cloud function. https://firebase.google.com/docs/functions/
Firebase may not have support for transaction spanning multiple business objects.
e.g. When a sales order is booked then it needs to update inventory for multiple items, update billing in receivables, give sales credit to multiple sales persons etc.
Firebase team is supposed to come up with a database trigger option which will make all these happen.
I'm using this link https://www.google.com/reader/api/0/stream/contents/feed/FEEDHERE?output=json&n=20
to fetch feeds using Google's algorithm. As you can see I'm not adding any other parameters, just fetching the returned data in JSON format. My app will be heavily used hopefully and if I send a lot of requests to this link, will Google block my access or something?
Is there anything I can include, like userip, url for my app (so if they have problem to just contact me) or something else?
The most basic answer to your question is that Google will change its Terms of Service whenever it likes, and you've got no say in the matter. So if it's allowed today, it might not be allowed tomorrow, at Google's whim.
On this issue, though, you seem fairly safe. From the Terms of Service (these is the general document, since Reader doesn't seem to have a specific one):
Don’t misuse our Services. For example, don’t interfere with our Services or try to access them using a method other than the interface and the instructions that we provide.
Google provides RSS and Atom. They provide these feeds, so I assume they expect that they'll be used. They don't say that it's a misuse to point someone else at those feeds, so it looks OK for now, but they could add such a clause at any time.
All online services are subject to the terms and conditions of the providers of those services. So, as others have said, they may be ok with your use today, but they can change their mind any time down the line. I doubt including a URL or email or contact info will help anything, because when these services change, they don't notify every user of the service, they just announce the change publicly, and usually they give several month's notice in order to give users a chance to adapt their applications, but this is not standardized or enforced so there is no guarantee. One example would be the fairly recent discontinuance of the Google Finance API (for which no replacement has been announced).
The safest approach would be to design your app such that this feature that uses google's functionality is decoupled as much as possible from the rest of your app, so that, when or if the availability of the service changes (ie it's no longer available at all) you can adapt your app to use some other source for the feeds with minimal impact to the rest of the app. Design for change and plan for the worst.
I have an existing asp.net application that is currently in production for more than 3 years now. That application was developped based on internal and user requirements. That application is also using Google Analytics to detect different usage metrics to understand more what users are doing and which part of the system is most requested. But... we understand now that we are not so well connected to client's need's and more importantly, we don't receive a lot of feedback from them and when we receive feedback, that feedback is sent to many different people so most of the time they are lost or missing some valuable informations. Here is my question: is there some free (or paid) products that can be incorporated into an existing asp.net application that can provide the following functionnalities:
For my users:
Send feedbacks
Log bugs
Submit feature request
Ask questions
Be able to follow an issue, bug or feature and subscribe to it
Be able to rate answers
Be able to include attachments
Be able to vote for issues to prioritize them
Etc.
For me:
Respond to all of these issues and be able, in some way, to see and analyze all of this data to properly populate our product backlog with what user needs
My real need will be to have something like Telerik has implemented. Is there something that can be incorporated into an existing application?
Thanks in advance
What about User Voice? It's a great system to collect user feedback. Not sure if you'd get the integration you're looking for. For the rest of your requirements it seems it would work really well.