Hi,

I've just downloaded CuteChat and I've come accross the following problems while installing it:

1) web.config file:
-I'm surprised to see this: <compilation defaultLanguage="c#" debug="true"/
Shouldn't debug be set to false by default or are you expecting your customers to change this manually? Can I ask which mode (release or debug) was used when you compiled the solution and created the dll files (sampleportal.dll and  CuteSoft.Chat.dll)?

2) Database:
-In one of the posts in the forum (http://cutesoft.net/forums/thread/26787.aspx) you said that the application requires database owner permissions. In reality the application only needs select/update/delete/insert permissions on the tables created by the SQL script (CutechatStandalone.sql).
-Why don't you use stored procedures? I understand that CuteChat can be used against different types of databases (SQL Server, Oracle, etc.) but surely it's possible to use stored procedures if you connect to SQL Server and access direcly the tables if you connect to a different type of database. That would also simplify the permissions required.


3)Documentation:
I like CuteChat and it's easy to setup for testing but I can't see any help files. When I open CuteChatDeveloperGuide.chm which was in the Zip file I downloaded from your website, nothing is displayed.
-I was expecting to get a list of things to be done before using CuteChat in production (eg recompiling the solution in release mode, settings the SQL permissions, where to put the config file etc.).
-I'm trying to integrate CuteChat with my own website but it doesn't seem to be straightforward. For example in the web.config file the connections string should be called "CuteChat.SqlClient.ConnectionString" and not just "ConnectionString" as in the SamplePortal solution. I had to go through a lot of posts in your forum to understand this very simple thing.

Basically what I'm trying to do is to put a link on my website which will point to the chatroom I've created:
/CuteChat/CuteSoft_Client/CuteChat/CH_MainForm.Aspx?Location=Lobby&LocationId=1
My users are already logged in so I don't want them to have to login again. I'm using vb.net

I'm also getting confused with the configuration page of the administation console. I've just set 'Show Room List' to false but the room lists still appear. Am I doing anything incorrectly? Is this a bug? If so, is it documented somewhere?

All in all CuteChat seems to be a great product. Testing it (using the SamplePortal solution) is very easy and takes about 10/15mn but integrating CuteChat with an existing website is a different matter especially with such a lack of documentation which is really putting me off.

Thanks and regards,

Anthony.

AnthonyLondon,

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Web Messenger: http://cutesoft.net/Web-Messenger/default.aspx
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Live Support: http://cutesoft.net/live-support/default.aspx

Adam,

Thank you for your quick answer. As I said I really like the product and the customer service (based on your responsiveness) seems to be good but you should really spend time on the documentation. If this helps, this is what I did which lead to a lot of frustration (I easily spent 4 hours on this this weekend) and was about to give up.

 
My goal was to use the chatroom directly from my website. I downloaded the 'Cute Chat and Web Messenger standalone' zip file. I realise now that this was a mistake as I should have downloaded the 'Cute Chat and Web Messenger integration package' zip file but to be fair it's not very clear on the 'download' page which file should be downloaded as the description is not readable:

I tried to follow the instructions of this page (General Installation Instructions):

http://cutesoft.net/ASP.NET+Chat/Developer-Guide/deploymentintegration.htm

 

It says I should run SQLScripts\cutechat3.sql

 

As I had downloaded the 'standalone' app., I didn't find the sql file in the zip file which was a bit frustrating. I checked the 'Integration with an existing user membership database (VB)' page:

http://cutesoft.net/ASP.NET+Chat/Developer-Guide/integration_vb.htm

 

I found some explanation but no cutechat3.sq file mentioned there.

 

In the end, I found a link at the bottom of this page:

http://cutesoft.net/ASP.NET+Chat/Developer-Guide/integration_overview.htm

 

It says: “if you haven't downloaded the integration package, please download the package from    http://cutesoft.net/download/CuteChat3IntegrationPackage.zip”.

 

 

 

In the end, I managed to get everything working but even using the configuration page wasn’t straightforward. For example, I set ‘Show room list’ to false (expecting the drop down list on each chat room to disappear) but it didn’t. Generally speaking there are plenty of parameters which can be set on the Admin page but for some of them it’s not obvious what they do (and as there is no help files…). You know your product so you know what those parameters do but for someone you look at your product for the first time it’s a different matter.

 

 

I wouldn’t be surprised if some of your potential customers just give up when they evaluate your product and they don’t bother letting you know. You have a great product so you should make sure it’s easy for your cutomers to install it. I suspect you are a technical person and you probably appreciate proper documentation when you use a product too. For example the way you explain how to modify the global.asax is amazing: you just give some examples (an example is not a substitute for documentation). You don’t explain for example which functions have to be implemented in the global.asax, which ones are optional and when they will be called etc.

 
Regards,

 
Anthony.

AnthonyLondon:

Adam,

Thank you for your quick answer. As I said I really like the product and the customer service (based on your responsiveness) seems to be good but you should really spend time on the documentation. If this helps, this is what I did which lead to a lot of frustration (I easily spent 4 hours on this this weekend) and was about to give up.

 
My goal was to use the chatroom directly from my website. I downloaded the 'Cute Chat and Web Messenger standalone' zip file. I realise now that this was a mistake as I should have downloaded the 'Cute Chat and Web Messenger integration package' zip file but to be fair it's not very clear on the 'download' page which file should be downloaded as the description is not readable:

<!--[if !vml]-->
<!--[endif]-->

I tried to follow the instructions of this page (General Installation Instructions):

http://cutesoft.net/ASP.NET+Chat/Developer-Guide/deploymentintegration.htm

 

It says I should run SQLScripts\cutechat3.sql

 

As I had downloaded the 'standalone' app., I didn't find the sql file in the zip file which was a bit frustrating. I checked the 'Integration with an existing user membership database (VB)' page:

http://cutesoft.net/ASP.NET+Chat/Developer-Guide/integration_vb.htm

 

I found some explanation but no cutechat3.sq file mentioned there.

 

In the end, I found a link at the bottom of this page:

http://cutesoft.net/ASP.NET+Chat/Developer-Guide/integration_overview.htm

 

It says: “if you haven't downloaded the integration package, please download the package from    http://cutesoft.net/download/CuteChat3IntegrationPackage.zip”.

 

 

 

In the end, I managed to get everything working but even using the configuration page wasn’t straightforward. For example, I set ‘Show room list’ to false (expecting the drop down list on each chat room to disappear) but it didn’t. Generally speaking there are plenty of parameters which can be set on the Admin page but for some of them it’s not obvious what they do (and as there is no help files…). You know your product so you know what those parameters do but for someone you look at your product for the first time it’s a different matter.

 

<!--[if !vml]-->
<!--[endif]-->

 

I wouldn’t be surprised if some of your potential customers just give up when they evaluate your product and they don’t bother letting you know. You have a great product so you should make sure it’s easy for your cutomers to install it. I suspect you are a technical person and you probably appreciate proper documentation when you use a product too. For example the way you explain how to modify the global.asax is amazing: you just give some examples (an example is not a substitute for documentation). You don’t explain for example which functions have to be implemented in the global.asax, which ones are optional and when they will be called etc.

 
Regards,

 
Anthony.