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uMiniChat Documentation
Installing and using uMiniChat involves these general steps:

  1. Install or rent Unity 2 Multiuser Server.
  2. Purchase uMiniChat.
  3. Customize uMiniChat's fonts and colours
  4. Redesign uMiniChat's interface from scratch (optional)
  5. Set the location of your Unity 2 Multiuser Server
  6. Add uMiniChat.swf's <OBJECT> and <EMBED> tags to your desired web page(s).
  7. Post the uChatMini.swf, uMiniChatConfig.xml, and uMiniChatSettings.xml files to your website.

However, the specific steps you must follow to add uMiniChat to your site vary depending on whether you intend to run Unity 2 Multiuser Server yourself or rent it from a hosting company. The following detailed instructions tell you what to do depending on your situation.

1: Get Unity 2 Multiuser Server Hosting
uMiniChat requires Unity 2 Multiuser Server (U2MS), which you can run on your own site or rent from a hosting company. Choose the option that applies to you:

2: Purchase uMiniChat
Order uMiniChat here, then download and extract the contents of the uMiniChat.zip archive. (uMiniChat is also available on CD.)

The directories in the uMiniChat archive are:

  • /deploy/
    All the files you'll need to post to your host's website (if you're renting U2MS) or to your own website (if you own U2MS).
  • /sounds/
    Source sound files in .wav format.
  • /source flas/
    Source .fla files for optionally reskinning uMiniChat's interface.
  • /themes/
    A selection of ready-made settings files for customizing uMiniChat's colours and fonts.

3: Customize uMiniChat's Colours and Fonts
To customize uMiniChat's colours and fonts, you have one of two options:

  • Use a Ready-Made Theme
    1. Delete the file /deploy/uMiniChatSettings.xml.
    2. Copy the desired theme file from /themes/ to /deploy/. Theme files are named uMiniChatSettings-THEME_NAME.xml, where THEME_NAME is the name of the theme.
    3. Rename the theme settings file you just placed in /deploy/ from uMiniChatSettings-THEME_NAME.xml to uMiniChatSettings.xml.

  • Create Your Own Theme
    If you'd rather create your own theme than use a ready-made theme, follow these steps:
    1. Open the file /deploy/uMiniChatSettings.xml in a text editor.
    2. Make changes according to the following list of options, then save the file.
      • To set the chat's background colour, change the <appbgcolour> tag to the desired hexadecimal colour (e.g., FF0000 for red). Don't include a # sign, as you would with HTML.
      • To set the chat's foreground colour, change the <appfgcolour> tag to the desired hexadecimal colour (e.g., 0000FF for blue). Don't include a # sign, as you would with HTML.
      • To set the chat's font, change the <fontface> tag to a comma-separated list of fonts. Be sure not to add spaces after each comma. Fonts specified must be present on the end user's system.
      • To set the chat's font size, change the <fontsize> tag to the desired point size (10-14 recommended, depending on font).
      • To set the chat's font color, change the <fontcolor> tag to the desired hexadecimal colour (e.g., 00FF00 for green). Don't include a # sign, as you would with HTML.
      • To set the chat's welcome message, change the <welcomemsg> tag to the desired short message. Make sure to test that your message is short enough to be displayed.

      Here's a sample uMiniChatSettings.xml file (we'll learn about the <roomid> and <uclientcoreURL> tags later). Changing anything shown in bold will affect uMiniChat's appearance.

      <?xml version="1.0"?>
<settings>
  <roomid>general</roomid>
  <appbgcolour>FFFFFF</appbgcolour>
  <appfgcolour>FFFFFF</appfgcolour>
  <fontface>Verdana,_sans</fontface>
  <fontsize>12</fontsize>
  <fontcolor>777777</fontcolor>
  <welcomemsg>Type your name to join the chat:</welcomemsg>
  <uclientcoreURL>uClientCore.swf</uclientcoreURL>
</settings>

4: Redesign uMiniChat's Interface from Scratch (optional)
If you're a Flash designer, you can completely reskin the uMiniChat interface. Follow these steps:

  1. Open the file /source flas/uChatMini.fla in Flash MX 2004 or higher.
  2. Change graphics and move text fields as desired.
  3. Export the movie uMiniChat.swf.
  4. Copy the new /source flas/uMiniChat.swf to /deploy/uMiniChat.swf.

5: Tell uMiniChat Where to Find Unity 2 Multiuser Server
Follow these steps to connect uMiniChat to your Unity 2 Multiuser Server:

  1. Open the file /deploy/uMiniChatConfig.xml in a text editor. By default, the file will look like this: 
    <?xml version="1.0"?>
<config>
  <server>localhost</server>
  <port>9100</port>
  <logLevel>INFO</logLevel>
</config>
  2. If you own Unity 2 Multiuser Server and run it on your own site:
    1. Change localhost to the domain or IP address on which you're running U2MS (e.g., mysite.com). Note that this domain should be the same as the domain where you plan to post the uMiniChat.swf Flash movie. If it's not, see "Running uMiniChat and Unity 2 Multiuser Server on Different Domains", below.
    2. Change 9100 to the port on which you're running U2MS (e.g., 2000, 1024, etc).
  3. If you rent Unity 2 Multiuser Server from a hosting company:
    1. Change localhost to the domain provided by your hosting company. For more details, see Unity 2 Hosting.
    2. Unless your hosting company provided you with a port other than 9100, leave 9100 as is. For more details, see Unity 2 Hosting.

6: Add uMiniChat to Your Web Page
Follow these steps to add uMiniChat to any web page:

  1. Open your web page (.html file) in a text editor or HTML editor.
  2. Copy'n'paste the following <OBJECT> and <EMBED> tags to your .html file, where you want uMiniChat to appear.


  3. In the <OBJECT> and <EMBED> tags now in your page, change http://www.yoursite.com/chat_directory/ to the domain and directory that will actually contain your uMiniChat.swf movie. You need to make the change in all four places. If you are renting Unity 2 Multiuser Server, your site's domain will be provided by your hosting company.
  4. In the <OBJECT> and <EMBED> tags in your page, change FFFFFF to background colour of your chat, as specified earlier in your uChatMiniSettings.xml file..
  5. Save your web page (.html file).

6: Post uMiniChat to Your Website
Follow these steps to post your chat.

  1. From the /deploy/ directory, upload the following files to your webserver:
    • uMiniChat.swf
    • uMiniChatConfig.xml
    • uMiniChatSettings.xml
    Be sure to place them in the exact directory specified in your web page's <OBJECT> and <EMBED> tags (see Step 5, above). If you are renting Unity 2 Multiuser Server, follow your hosting company's directions for uploading files.
  2. Upload the web page from Step 5 to your website. Note that the site to which you upload your web page may be different than the site to which you upload uMiniChat.swf (this is often the case if you are renting U2MS from a hosting company).

Your chat should now be live!

If you have any problems with your chat:

Now let's look at a few advanced chat options.

Running uMiniChat on Multiple Pages
You can put uMiniChat.swf on as many pages as you like. If the chat will have the same fonts and colours on every page, simply follow Step 5, above, to add the chat to each page.

If, on the other hand, you want to customize the colours and fonts of the chat on each page, you'll need to follow these steps:

  1. For each page that contains a chat, create a corresponding directory on your web server. For example, if you want to put the chat on a home.html page and a news.html page, you would create the following directories:
    • /homechat/
    • /newschat/
  2. Into each directory, place a copy of the following files:
    • uMiniChat.swf
    • uMiniChatConfig.xml
    • uMiniChatSettings.xml
    Each copy of uMiniChatSettings.xml should specify its own colours, fonts, and welcome message.
  3. Add <OBJECT> and <EMBED> tags to each .html file that contains a chat (as you did earlier in Step 6). For each <OBJECT> and <EMBED> tag, specify the domain and directory that contains the appropriate chat. In the home.html and news.html example, we'd use http://www.yoursite.com/homechat/uChatMini.swf for home.html and http://www.yoursite.com/newschat/uChatMini.swf for news.html.

Whether you customize the fonts and colours for the chat on each page or not, all users will appear in a single chat conversation, no matter what page they're on.

To set up multiple conversations (e.g., one per page), follow these steps for the uMiniChatSettings.xml file in every chat directory you made, above.
  1. Open uMiniChatSettings.xml in a text editor.
  2. Change "general" in the <roomid> tag to the name of the conversation you want to have. For example, if you put uMiniChat on a stockmarket.html page, then in the /stockmarketchat/ directory, you'd change "general" to "stockmarket": 
    <roomid>stockmarket</roomid>
    Then, if you put uMiniChat on a tennis.html and a football.html page, and you wanted a general sports chat, then in the /tennischat/ and /footballchat/ directories, you'd change "general" to, say, "sports": 
    <roomid>sports</roomid>
    That way, the conversation on the tennis.html and football.html pages would be kept separate from the conversation on the stockmarket.html page.
  3. Save uMiniChatSettings.xml and post it to the appropriate directory.

Running uMiniChat and Unity 2 Multiuser Server on Different Domains
For the sake of simplicity, the web server used to retrieve uMiniChat.swf should be on the same domain as the Unity 2 Multiuser Server. However, it is possible (but more complicated) to host uMiniChat.swf on a different domain than the Unity 2 Multiuser Server it connects to. See Cross Domain Policy Files.