How to create a chat in WRT

This article shows how to write a simple chat client implemented in JavaScript and PHP.

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Created: felipebzr (30 Sep 2008)

Last edited: hamishwillee (12 Oct 2012)

How it works

HTTP is not the ideal protocol for a Chat. If you want to have a real chat server you should go for IRC or Jabber.

While not overcoming the limitations of a stateless protocol, the AJAX technology at least made it possible to implement a web chat that does not bring down the server, although a real mobile chat has to be implemented to be as resource efficient as possible.

The current chat have to be extended to maintain the operations on the server less complex and only sent updated data to the clients to keep the traffic low.

JavaScript

The code bellow shows how to make a call to an external server.

    function sync(aMsg) {		
        url = "http://localhost/forumnokia/forumnokia.php?msg=" + aMsg;
	msg_sync = aMsg;
	ext_doc = new XMLHttpRequest();
        ext_doc.onreadystatechange = onMsgLoad;
 
        try {
	  ext_doc.open("GET", url, true);
	  ext_doc.send(null);
	} catch(e) {
	  alert(e);
	}
    }
 
function onMsgLoad() {
    if(text_doc.readyState == 4|| text_doc.readyState == "complete") {					
	   divMessaging = document.getElementById("divChatMessaging");	
	   divMessaging.innerHTML = ext_doc.responseText;
	} 
    }

PHP

The following PHP file was used in this sample to hold the server side logic in an unique resource.

<?
	function add_message($msg, $log_dir, $full_path) {
		if(file_exists(($log_dir . '/'))) {
			$f = fopen($full_path, "a");
			$dt = date("Y-m-d h:i:s");
			$msg = urlencode(strip_tags(stripslashes($msg)));
			$msg = "$dt $msg\n";
			$remote = $_SERVER["REMOTE_ADDR"];
 
			fwrite($f, $msg);
			fclose($f);
 
			return $msg;
		} else {
			@mkdir("log", 0700);
			add_message($msg);
		}
	}
 
	function load_message($msg, $full_path) {		
		$content_array = file($full_path);
		$saved = array_slice($content_array, -20);
		$result = '';
 
		foreach ($saved as $value) {
			$result .= $value . '<br />';
		}
 
		if($msg != '1')
			$result = substr($result, stripos($result, $msg) + strlen($msg) + 7, strlen($result));
			if(strlen($result) == 0)
				$result = 'nodata';
 
		return $result;
	}
 
	$action = $_REQUEST['act'];
	$msg = $_REQUEST['msg'];
 
	$log_dir = 'log';
	$log_file = 'wall.html';
	$full_path = $log_dir . '/' . $log_file;
 
	if(isset($msg)) {	
		if($action == 'add') {
			echo add_message($msg, $log_dir, $full_path);
		} else {
			echo load_message($msg, $full_path);
		}
	}
?>

Requirements

The widget logic is written in JavaScript and through the XMLHttpRequest API we request data from a server written in PHP. The chat messages are stored in a text file just to turn things less complex.

• Server side
  • PHP >=4
• Mobile side
  • Widget Support (check the complete list of supported devices)

Future work

To complement this tutorial you can use a Flash Lite interface to add sound support and/or to establish the (optional) socket connection on client side.

Follow up

Please, [contact me] to get the full source code. There are many resouces available that you can use to be more confident with widgets development. Check bellow some of them:

Widgets for the S60 Platform eLearning

Getting Started with Web Runtime Widgets for S60 Screencast

Web Developer's Library

Author

--FelipeAndrade 20:10, 12 September 2008 (EEST) Profile