Issue: I want a chat room that only members can access.

[If you are looking for a private ShoutBox instead:
You can find Members-Only Shout Box instructions here. ]

Method:
Get a free chat room from http://parachat.com. Make the box private to your site. Do that by naming the box something not guessable, and do not sign up for the network.

[Other free chatrooms will work with this method too, another good one is http://www.sigmachat.com/ I personally prefer Parachat because it has much smaller ads.]

Install the EMBEDDED box code (not the pop-up one) in the forum rules text box of a forum that is for members only. Use the forum rules title link to pop the chat box.

ACP > Forum Control > Manage Forums > Edit Forum rules (click the little triangle icon)

Display method: check "show link only"

Rules title: Enter Private Chatroom (or whatever you want)

Rules text: Insert code.

Click "Edit forum rules."

You can put a link to the chatroom on your index page so that chat can be accessed from there as well.

Get the link:

ACP > Forum Control > Manage Forums > Settings

Pop the chatroom. Get the URL address in the address bar. Put this code in the forum description text box:
ACP > Forum Control > Manage Forums > Settings

The link in your forum description will look like this:

[ PRIVATE CHAT ROOM]

Here is the painfully detailed version that assumes you know nothing :

If you don't already have a members-only forum, see this IF documentation topic: http://support.invisionfree.com/index.php?showtopic=20286. When you set up (or edit) the permissions, omit the guest and validating group from read/reply/post permissions.

Get a free chat room from http://parachat.com. Make the box private to your site. Do that by naming the box something not guessable, and do not sign up for the network. You will have a choice of a pop-up code, or an embedded one. Choose the embedded code, highlight and right-click to copy it.


You will put the chatroom code in the Forum Rules section of a members-only forum.

To get to the forum rules, go to your Admin Control Panel

Find the Forum Control section in the list of links in the left side index.

Click on "Manage Forums"

You will see your forums listed in order. Find the forum you want to put the chatroom in. Then follow right. You will see links to "Settings" and "Permissions". The next link is a yellow triangle icon. That is the forum rules. Click on it.

That will take you to the Forum Rules edit screen.

In the first box (Display Method), choose "show link only"

In the second box (Rules Title) put something like "Enter Private ChatRoom"

In the third box (Rules Text) is where you will paste your code that you have copied from the ParaChat site. (It should be the code that is for the embedded chatroom.)

When you have pasted the code there, go to the bottom of the screen and click on "Edit Forum Rules".

Now, go back to your board and enter the members-only forum. you will see the little triangle icon above your forum with the title that you named it. Click on that. It will open up ("pop") your chatroom.

Now, look in your addressbar....highlight and copy the URL that you see there. You will need that address to make a link in your members-only forum description.

Paste the link into this code:

Replace the red part with the URL you copied from your address bar. It will start with http:// and end with a number.

Now take that code and go back in your Admin Control Panel to the same Manage Forums screen that you accessed above. Find the forum that you installed the chatroom in. Instead of clicking on the triangle, this time you will click on "Settings".

Paste the code in the box marked "Forum Description", click on "Edit Forum" at the bottom of the screen, and you will have a link to the chat room in your forum description.

Sooooo wonderful - thank you for that. I've just got it sorted.

Am I able to get a link showing in the Portal bar at the top of our forum?

Yes, you can do that with Stefan's code:

[CODE] Add link(s) after the portal link
http://support.invisionfree.com/index.php?showtopic=56182

or with this one:

Add links beside Help,Search,Members and Calendar:
http://support.invisionfree.com/index.php?showtopic=12068

Whoops, I've done something I shouldn't have...

Since I was able to get a link to the chat room in the portal bar, I removed the other link which had been through the forum rules. will that kill it?

I click on the portal link to the chat room and get this:

ps.... if you don't want this discussion going on under your brilliant code, I am quite happy for it to get deleted, to keep the thread tidy - that is once I get it sorted hopefully. :blink:

You have to have something in the rules title line. If you deleted the words from the rules title box, that would cause a problem and create an error message.

If you don't want the link to the chatroom to be visible in the forum it is in, choose the option "Don't Show" for the rules title line, but still be sure you put some title in there. That will remove the link from view above the forum, and then your portal bar link should be operational.