Chat Merging with dharmawheel?

[m0rl0ck]

This is about the rumours that dhammawheel and dharmawheel chats will merge.
The questions i have are:

1. Will the ajax chat format be preserved? please ?
2. How will authentication for the chat be handled? I have forgotten my password for dharmawheel its been so long, but have the same username at both boards. In cases of the same user being registered at both boards, which authentication info will be used dharmawheels or dhammawheels?

[retrofuturist]

Greetings m0rlock,

These are things we have to consider and look into further... we're still trying to work out the technical viability of it - it may not be possible at all.

The preference is to stick with the Ajax format because access rights are integrated into that of the overall database. Can it point to 2 databases at once? We don't know.

Once we work out what can be done, we can discuss with staff at both sites and get an idea of what should be done.

Metta,
Retro.

[Individual]

Greetings m0rlock,

These are things we have to consider and look into further... we're still trying to work out the technical viability of it - it may not be possible at all.

The preference is to stick with the Ajax format because access rights are integrated into that of the overall database. Can it point to 2 databases at once? We don't know.

Once we work out what can be done, we can discuss with staff at both sites and get an idea of what should be done.

Metta,
Retro.

If you make any changes, make sure security is of the utmost priority.

I'm no computer whiz, but passing data between two databases on two websites sounds like it might present a security threat if it isn't implemented properly.

[Viscid]

Eh just have the dharmawheel's chat forward to dhammawheel's. No biggie.

[retrofuturist]

Greetings,

Eh just have the dharmawheel's chat forward to dhammawheel's. No biggie.

It's not that simple though... as we wouldn't expect Dharma Wheel members to register to Dhamma Wheel simply to use the chat.

Metta,
Retro.

[Viscid]

Greetings,

Eh just have the dharmawheel's chat forward to dhammawheel's. No biggie.

It's not that simple though... as we wouldn't expect Dharma Wheel members to register to Dhamma Wheel simply to use the chat.

Metta,
Retro.

This could be a worthwhile opportunity to convert them to the Right View.

[Individual]

Greetings,

Eh just have the dharmawheel's chat forward to dhammawheel's. No biggie.

It's not that simple though... as we wouldn't expect Dharma Wheel members to register to Dhamma Wheel simply to use the chat.

Metta,
Retro.

This could be a worthwhile opportunity to convert them to the Right View.

Your plan won't succeed, because the people on dharmawheel rarely make posts, so there won't likely be many of them available for chat.

In my opinion, this is because they are too busy meditating and making good deeds, while you Theravadins are singing Pali and dancing dharma.

Hahaha. Just kidding.

[Phra Chuntawongso]

This could be a worthwhile opportunity to convert them to the Right View. [/quote]
Your plan won't succeed, because the people on dharmawheel rarely make posts, so there won't likely be many of them available for chat.

In my opinion, this is because they are too busy meditating and making good deeds, while you Theravadins are singing Pali and dharma dancing.
I think that should be DHAMMA dancing

[m0rl0ck]

My suggestion would be that the code check for identical username values in both databases and if the identical username value is found in both databases, the login code at dhammawheel uses the password value in the dhammawheel database to authenticate the user. This seems easiest because the chat login already authenticates against the dhammawheel database and would be a (hopefully) minor change in the dhammawheel code.

[Ytrog]

I would suggest having a system in which each board authenticates it's own users, but trust each other using certificates. A bit like claims based authentication.

Would be something like this: http://www.sharepoint2007security.com/blog/2009-10-20/introduction-claims-based-authentication-sharepoint-2010-plain-english

I hope it is easily possible using phpBB, but i fear it needs some custom programming as it is clearly an integration issue.

What you also might do is separating the board and chat databases with a database for dhamma and dharma wheel each and one database for the chat where all the user data from the two boards is replicated to. This still raises the issue though that you would need to login separately for the board and the chat, but to solve this you really need an authentication and authorization service for both boards (bit like single sign-on).

Unless you have a way to completely go web-service based with authentication and authorization on phpBB or have time and funds to let a bunch of programmers do this, merging the chat would be technically infeasible IMHO. PhpBB and Ajax Chat are made to be a simple websites with a database behind and not enterprise applications.