QuickChat for Facebook - real-time chat app (phones and TouchPad)

[pcworld]

QuickChat for Facebook finally brings real-time Facebook chat to your TouchPad and webOS phones!

Features:
• Real-time chat with your Facebook friends
• See your messaging history from previous chats
• Threaded list showing your conversations
• Online friends list, with an option to show offline friends
• Notifications, including customizable sound notifications
• Quickly search through your friends list
• Secure, no third-party servers are involved
• ...and much more!

or search for "QuickChat" in the App Catalog - available for webOS >= 2.1 and webOS 3

Reviews:
App Review: QuickChat for Facebook | webOS Nation
(German) QuickChat for Facebook bringt den Facebook Chat auf das webOS Gerät | webOS Blog
(Italian) La chat di Facebook (finalmente) approda su webOS! | webOS Italia

Some screenshots:

Changelog

v1.0.0 (2012-04-04): Initial release v1.0.1 (2012-04-09): - Fixed a bug which led to an empty contacts list - Fixed a bug that caused webOS phones to show a screen from the last used app while starting - Added support for webOS 2.1 - Added "Other Apps" to app menu - Other small improvements v1.0.3 (2012-04-16): - Fixed some webOS 2.1 bugs - Other minor changes v1.0.4 (2012-09-30): Fixed login error which was caused by a server-side change v1.0.5 (2012-10-05): - Added sound notifications to settings - Other minor changes v1.0.6 (2012-10-25): Minor fix v1.0.7 (2012-12-08): Added user-friendly debugging v1.0.8 (2012-12-22): Added work-around for login issues (see help menu) v1.0.9 (2013-01-13): Fixed opening links on webOS 2.1 v1.0.10 (2013-04-26): Fixed missing online statuses which was caused by a server-side change

Feedback is welcome!

Note: The developer of this app is not associated with Facebook Inc.

[wMarck90]

Sorry you say required >= webOS 2.2
But on catalog i see

Palm Pre, Palm Pixi, HP Veer, Palm Pre2, HP Pre3, HP TouchPad

The Pixi and Veer don't have webOS 2.2....
It's compatible for Veer or not?
Thanks

[pcworld]

@wMarck90:
That's a bug in the App Catalog.
I will update the app to work on >= webOS 2.1 soon!

[geeksquadkid]

I want to say I beta tested this app, I will be buying it, and it works awesome. Highly recommended if you use facebook/facebook chat. When running it you forget its not the native chat app since they look identical.

[Loiter]

It looks very nice.
Question about notifications:
Do you need to have the App open and be "Online" to receive the msgs?
I mean on FB you get a notification for msgs if you are not online in the FB chat. Does the same thing apply here or it works like the native messaging app?

[eblade]

Now if only we could crack the code to insert things into the stock messenger... sigh. *buying app*

[Saijin_Naib]

Any chance this could run on a 1.4.5 Pixi+?

[pcworld]

Originally Posted by Loiter

It looks very nice.
Question about notifications:
Do you need to have the App open and be "Online" to receive the msgs?
I mean on FB you get a notification for msgs if you are not online in the FB chat. Does the same thing apply here or it works like the native messaging app?

Due to limitations of webOS, the app needs to be open in order to receive messages.
And you're shown "online" to your Facebook friends, if that was your questions (again due to limitations in Facebook's Chat API).

Originally Posted by eblade

Now if only we could crack the code to insert things into the stock messenger... sigh. *buying app*

That was my initial plan, but HP didn't provide any docs for that, so I decided to create my own app with a similar interface to the stock Messaging app. Also, with my own app I have the advantage of being able to display the message history from Facebook.

Originally Posted by Saijin_Naib

Any chance this could run on a 1.4.5 Pixi+?

Pixi not, sorry.

[eblade]

yeah, i've -almost- cracked it. There's enough documentation, theoretically, to get the data -into- the stock messenger app, but actually getting input back from it appears to be completely undocumented and the only examples are the native 2.1 pidgin plugins, which don't really translate well. or work in the more up to date systems.

I can help you with advice if you want to make it so the app can check messages periodically while closed, but it may require a major structure change, depending on how your app is architected.

[pcworld]

Originally Posted by eblade

I can help you with advice if you want to make it so the app can check messages periodically while closed, but it may require a major structure change, depending on how your app is architected.

My app depends on a plugin - I guess without homebrew this wouldn't work, right? And even with, how would you accomplish this? E.g. is it even possible to launch a dashboard from a C++ service?

[filmor_]

I'm currently working on a new variant of the purple plugins, so I might have actually some insight on how this stuff works together. Any particular questions?

[eblade]

filmor_: If you can figure out how it is that Synergy communicates back/forth, you'd be like some kind of webOS God, considering the only answer we've got out of HP is "That is not documented."

pcworld: Basics of doing notifications from the web side:
Setup your notification system in a noWindow: true webApp
Call the Alarm PalmSystem call to set up a timer to fire every 5 minutes or 10 minutes or whatever, and when it fires, launch the noWindow app, with a parameter that tells it only to check messages, not to launch a window. If it finds messages, open a notification dash, otherwise, close.

Reading the source code for the WordPress app really improved my knowledge of some parts of webOS

[Volcom45]

I also beta tested this app and it's awesome! Go buy it now! Props to Pcworld for filling another gaping hole in webOS world!

[leobloom]

Fantastic customer service!!! I bought this app but had loading issues of my contacts right from the start contacted the developer and after 10 or so emails, lots of communication back and forth, additional ipks to add everything is working perfectly can not praise the developer enough.

This app needs to be showcased on the front page of webOSnation!

Thanks again for the support you gave and on a Bank Holiday I may add

[pcworld]

Originally Posted by eblade

pcworld: Basics of doing notifications from the web side:
Setup your notification system in a noWindow: true webApp
Call the Alarm PalmSystem call to set up a timer to fire every 5 minutes or 10 minutes or whatever, and when it fires, launch the noWindow app, with a parameter that tells it only to check messages, not to launch a window. If it finds messages, open a notification dash, otherwise, close.

Reading the source code for the WordPress app really improved my knowledge of some parts of webOS

The problem is that plugins only work in visible windows.
Luna crashes if you try to load a plugin in a non-visible window.

[filmor_]

Originally Posted by eblade

filmor_: If you can figure out how it is that Synergy communicates back/forth, you'd be like some kind of webOS God, considering the only answer we've got out of HP is "That is not documented."

I don't want to claim, that I have a complete understanding of the ongoings, but as far as I can tell, there is not too much witchcraft in there. The whole thing works by writing and reading the db-kinds com.palm.imloginstate (which handles logging in), com.palm.immessage (for sending and receiving messages) and com.palm.imcommand (for buddy invites etc., everything that is not a message ) or derived kinds. It is actually pretty well-documented in the code, see also:
https://github.com/filmor/webos-mess...andHandler.cpp
https://github.com/filmor/webos-mess...ageHandler.cpp
https://github.com/filmor/webos-mess...LoginState.cpp
although you shouldn't take everything in there literally as some of the comments seem to be out-of-date.

After I've finished the plugins (or at least got them working ) I'm going to refactor the code and might write some documentation for them.

[mumbassa]

Great App! But is it possible that the app reconnects automatically?

[pcworld]

Originally Posted by mumbassa

Great App! But is it possible that the app reconnects automatically?

Reason I don't do this is because Facebook forbids this (under certain circumstances):

Clients should not automatically reconnect if they receive a stream-error of type conflict

[pcworld]

Submitted version 1.0.1 of QuickChat for Facebook, changelog:

- Fixed a bug which led to an empty contacts list
- Fixed a bug that caused webOS phones to show a screen from the last used app while starting
- Added support for webOS 2.1
- Added "Other Apps" to app menu
- Other small improvements

[mumbassa]

Originally Posted by pcworld

Reason I don't do this is because Facebook forbids this (under certain circumstances):

hmm but its only a recommandation. Are there no apps (in Android/iOS of course) that can be stay always-on? Because it disconnects even if the phone is connected over wifi within 2-3 hours. :-/