Hello - I would really appreciate any advice about using the Moodle Chat module on Macs.
We really participated in our first online reference group meeting. There were seven participants. Three of us, including the meeting facilitator, were using Macs operating on System 10. We did not receive several postings and when we posted the postings appeared twice. We have one PC in the office and so one staff member decided to use it - it seemed to not have these problems.
We hope to continue the meetings online and to use the Macs. Can anyone assist?
Thanks very much,
Karen Tunny
Were you all using Safari? There are a few issues with Safari, and I'm guessing this is one of them. Try Firefox, Netscape, or something else free 
Mark, thanks for your reply - we're using Explorer.
Karen
Karen
Hi Karen,
Very puzzling situation. I have never heard of Macs having trouble with chat--double postings/no postings. Maybe it has something to do with the browser software. Could you tell us what browsers and versions you used on the PC and the Macs?
Very puzzling situation. I have never heard of Macs having trouble with chat--double postings/no postings. Maybe it has something to do with the browser software. Could you tell us what browsers and versions you used on the PC and the Macs?
Hi Don,
It's Internet Explorer 5.2. Mac is an IMac, System 10. Thanks, Karen
It's Internet Explorer 5.2. Mac is an IMac, System 10. Thanks, Karen
As Don said, we've never heard of any issues with Macs and chat... and maybe that's because we don't use Explorer? ;) Try the chat with Safari, Firefox, or Netscape, and if the problems persist, we can try something else
(Could you tell us a little about the machine that is hosting the Moodle? or your network? or your firewall settings?)
(Could you tell us a little about the machine that is hosting the Moodle? or your network? or your firewall settings?)
Thanks Don, we'll give Netscape a whirl, best wishes, Karen
Hi
I've joined this discussion fairly late but I've been running chat sessions on learning to Look at the Visual Arts on an Imac running OSX with Explorer and experienced exactly the same problems; i.e. double postings and not seeing the whole discussion. I'm told that the problem lies with Microsoft not updating Explorer for Macs for several years and that Firefox is a better alternative. Any feedback on this or Safari welcomed
Thanks
Gordon Reavley
I've joined this discussion fairly late but I've been running chat sessions on learning to Look at the Visual Arts on an Imac running OSX with Explorer and experienced exactly the same problems; i.e. double postings and not seeing the whole discussion. I'm told that the problem lies with Microsoft not updating Explorer for Macs for several years and that Firefox is a better alternative. Any feedback on this or Safari welcomed
Thanks
Gordon Reavley
What type of chat are you using - normal or chatd?
I would like to fix it, but I need some testers, because I have no Mac
I would like to fix it, but I need some testers, because I have no Mac
That's exactly the thing, Petr... chatd sometimes gets bug reports but it's really difficult to do anything with them because there are people using different versions of Mac OS, different browsers... and there's no Mac in sight around here. 
I will prepare a patched chatd today for 1.4.x suitable for production sites. I need to study the sockets and http protocol a bit more, but I hope it will work 
I've spent a night trying to make it work on Windows server, succeeded and I think that the problem with Mac clients is the same.
Try to modify line 970 in chatd (version 1.13.2.10):
$data = socket_read($handle, 512 2048);
I do not know yet why exactly, but it seems to solve the problem...
skodak
I've spent a night trying to make it work on Windows server, succeeded and I think that the problem with Mac clients is the same.
Try to modify line 970 in chatd (version 1.13.2.10):
$data = socket_read($handle, 512 2048);
I do not know yet why exactly, but it seems to solve the problem...
skodak
I am 99% sure the reason of all these problems is too small maximum read length used in socket_read() call.
Why?
If nobody stops me I am going to commit some higher value (2048?) to STABLE CVS tomorrow
PS: we could also add some test to see if data has maximum length and throw error if yes
$data = socket_read($handle, 2048); // should be more than 1024 to prevent empty pages and repeated messages!!
if(empty($data)) {
continue;
}
if (strlen($data) == 2048) {
$DAEMON->trace('UFO with '.$handle.': Data too long; connection closed', E_USER_WARNING);
$DAEMON->dismiss_ufo($handle, true, 'Data too long; connection closed');
continue;
}
Why?
- If you insert echo "length: ".strlen($data)."\n"; after socket_read() you will see that the length of $data is always more than 650 bytes.
- Opera error message says "Connection closed by remote server" - the best description!! IE and FF say "Page empy" or ignore it and Safari tries to resend the request (resulting in double posts).
If nobody stops me I am going to commit some higher value (2048?) to STABLE CVS tomorrow
PS: we could also add some test to see if data has maximum length and throw error if yes
$data = socket_read($handle, 2048); // should be more than 1024 to prevent empty pages and repeated messages!!
if(empty($data)) {
continue;
}
if (strlen($data) == 2048) {
$DAEMON->trace('UFO with '.$handle.': Data too long; connection closed', E_USER_WARNING);
$DAEMON->dismiss_ufo($handle, true, 'Data too long; connection closed');
continue;
}
Yes, I 'm all for that!
Strange though... I remember setting that so something higher than 512 exactly because it wasn't reading the whole response. Anyway...
Jon
Strange though... I remember setting that so something higher than 512 exactly because it wasn't reading the whole response. Anyway...
Jon
Hello Petr,
We are using normal chat. By chatd do you mean chat daemon? We don't seem to have any choices about the chat we use - so I guess it's just normal. I was going to download Netscape following suggestions last week however if the modifications you have done mean that's not necessary then we will just continue with Explorer. Should we test it again?
Thanks,
Karen
We are using normal chat. By chatd do you mean chat daemon? We don't seem to have any choices about the chat we use - so I guess it's just normal. I was going to download Netscape following suggestions last week however if the modifications you have done mean that's not necessary then we will just continue with Explorer. Should we test it again?
Thanks,
Karen
Karen, if you're using OS X you should definitely try Mozilla Firefox rather than continuing to use Internet Explorer.
IE for the Mac hasn't been updated for 4 years, and doesn't support many of the nice features in Moodle (in particular, the WYSIWYG editor). There's just no comparison.
IE for the Mac hasn't been updated for 4 years, and doesn't support many of the nice features in Moodle (in particular, the WYSIWYG editor). There's just no comparison.
Hi Tony,
Thanks for your reply - that clarifies it some more. Is Mozilla Firefox a free browser that I can download that will work fine on Mac? Appreciate your time,
Karen
Thanks for your reply - that clarifies it some more. Is Mozilla Firefox a free browser that I can download that will work fine on Mac? Appreciate your time,
Karen
Yep, it's free, and it works great as long as you have OS X.
Sadly, there is no version for OS 9 or earlier (nor is there likely to be).
Sadly, there is no version for OS 9 or earlier (nor is there likely to be).
Hi Tony - I see you provided a link and I just did a Google search which answered my questions. Do you think Firefox is preferable to Navigator?
Thanks,
Karen
Thanks,
Karen
Do you think Firefox is preferable to Navigator?
Absolutely.
Absolutely.
Could somebody arange for me remote access to some Mac machine with chat problems. I am trying to improve Chat in 1.5, but I can not test it properly I saw Mac only once in my life, it was some 11 years ago...
I think it would take only several hours to diagnose and fix the problem
(VNC could be the easiest solution.)
In the meantime could somebody send me a backup of course (by email) where those problems with macs appeared? I want to study message timestaps, maybe it would help.
skodak
I think it would take only several hours to diagnose and fix the problem
(VNC could be the easiest solution.)
In the meantime could somebody send me a backup of course (by email) where those problems with macs appeared? I want to study message timestaps, maybe it would help.
skodak
Looking at the javascript for submitting messages to chat, I might have spotted another problem: data is submitted and then the input field is cleared.
The problem is that the user can press the enter twice and thus make double post. If we clear the form field first, than another pressing sends nothing
What do you think Jon?
The problem is that the user can press the enter twice and thus make double post. If we clear the form field first, than another pressing sends nothing
What do you think Jon?
Hi Petr,
Do you still wish to have access to a Mac OSX?
Cheers,
J
Do you still wish to have access to a Mac OSX?
Cheers,
J