creating a chat using php

[JackOfBlades]

hi im making this sort of system now for our school group and i was thinking that putting a chat on it would be great... but i would prefer if id be the one to make it instead of using source codes... but the thing is i have no idea where to begin with... can u guys give me an idea on this or reference to how i can make this? im not looking for pm's in my chat..just one channel for the group and thats it
thanks

[saraadmin]

why don't you want to use an existing tool?
http://phpopenchat.org/

[dschreck]

basically php chat is really just posting information to a page and having that page automatically refresh itself every so often to see if anyone else has posted.

this has changed since everyone started doing ajax, but it's basically the same thing.

so you're gonna need to figure out how you're going to......

1. Save Data (text posts, user names, etc) ((Aka: MySQL))

2. Authenticate Users (or if you even want to)

3. Refresh the page (*cough JavaScript cough)
   

4. Create an easy accessible UI
   

and that's about it......
sorta...

but that's just the jist of it. good luck have fun 😛

(And I do recommend just use one that's already made. No reason to reinvent the wheel unless you're going to improve it's traction, not just clone it.)

[etully]

I'll agree that it's better to use one that's already made - installing other people's code and getting it to work is a good skill to have. Being able to modify their code is also a good skill to have.

But in defense of writing your own - even if you're just cloning an existing product - it's a great way to learn programming. Since you are in school, now might be the last time you have enough free time to write something just for a hobby. Go for it - and like dschreck said, have fun.