Ajax IM

What is Ajax IM?

Ajax IM ("Ajax Instant Messenger") is an instant messenger for the web. It is intended to be integrated with existing websites to provide a more interactive community experience.

Features

Instant communication between connected users
Robust backend server built on Node.js
Can be integrated with virtually any existing website
Seamless authentication
Works across an entire website, unobtrusively
Automatic state management between page reloads
User state and statuses
and much more!

Installation

Install Node.js:

wget http://nodejs.org/dist/v0.8.9/node-v0.8.9-linux-x86.tar.gz
tar xzf node-v0.8.9-linux-x86.tar.gz
cd node-v0.8.9
./configure
make
make install

Install Node Package Manager (npm):

See instructions at http://github.com/isaacs/npm.

Install Express.js, Connect and Cookie:

npm install express
npm install connect
npm install cookie

Compile the daemon add-on if you plan on letting the server daemonize itself:

cd server/libs/daemon
node-waf configure build
cp build/default/daemon.node .
rm -rf build

Installation for Development

If you want to test Ajax IM as a standalone app for development, you will need to install Jade as well.

To install Jade:

npm install jade

Starting up the server

Starting the server in development mode is as simple as:

node server/app.js

To start the server in production mode:

EXPRESS_ENV=production node server/app.js

To start the server as a daemon in production mode:

node server/app.js start production

Testing it out

Once the server is up and running in development mode, you can test it out through the included development testing app. The below instructions are assuming that you have left all default configuration options. If not, please replace the host/port values with the correct ones.

To get started, first initialize a session cookie by going to:

http://localhost:8000/dev/cookie

Then head over to the development page that will initialize the client:

http://localhost:8000/dev/

That's it!

More Information

Follow endtwist on twitter for updates
Google Group for discussion
GitHub Wiki for guidance

Node Compatibility

The master branch of Ajax IM is compatible with node --version:

v0.8.9

Contributing

Pull requests are being accepted! If you would like to contribute, simply fork the project and make your changes.

Style Guide

If you intend on contributing, please follow this style guide when submitting patches or commits. Submissions that do not follow these guidelines will not be accepted.

Use 4 space indents (not tabs!)
No trailing whitespace
Blank line at the end of files
Semi-colons at the ends of lines, where appropriate
Keep lines to 80 characters or less
Never bump the version

No whitespace between keys and values:

{foo: 'bar'}
// good

{foo : 'bar'}
// bad

Hash formatting:

{foo: 'bar', baz: 'taz'}
// good

{
    foo: 'bar',
    baz: 'taz',
    moo: 'cow'
}
// good

{ foo: 'bar', baz: 'taz' }
// bad

{foo: 'bar',
 baz: 'taz',
 moo: 'cow'}
// bad

Chained methods:

str
    .strip
    .replace(...)
    .replace(...)
// good

str
.strip
.replace(...)
.replace(...)
// bad

str.
    strip.
    replace(...).
    replace(...)
// bad

Single quotes over double quotes, unless double quotes make sense:

'hello'
// good

"what's up?"
// good

"hello"
// bad

Ternary expressions are fine, but cannot be nested and must be formatted as:

foo = (a ? b : c);
// good

foo = (something.hasAPropertyLikeThis == 'some other value'
           ? 'result one'
           : 'result two'
      );
// good

foo = something.hasAPropertyLikeThis === 'some other value' ?
          'result one' :
          'result two'
// bad

Use braces for conditionals, unless conditionals are single statements:

if(foo) {
    bar();
    baz();
}
// good

if(foo) bar();
else baz();
// good

if(foo)
    bar(),
    baz()
// bad

Closures:

function() {
}
// good

function () {
}
// bad

function()
{
}
// bad

Methods:

foo.bar = function() {
}
// good

foo.bar = function (){
}
// bad

foo.bar = function()
{
}
// bad

License

(The MIT License)

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

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