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    Opencart Admin Buyer Chat

    Updated 10 October 2023

    Opencart Admin Buyer Chat: This module establishes a real-time direct communication between admin and the buyers. This chat module is socket based hence is very fast and responsive.

    Admin can chat with multiple buyers at the same time.

    Subsequently, this module will help the customers in a significant manner allowing them to directly chat with the store admin for their queries.

    Check a brief overviewe of the plugin working –

    zNsGShhOufo

    Features

    • This chat module is socket based and is very fast and responsive on the server.
    • Template based using handlebar.js.
    • Multiple chat instances at the same time for admin chat window interface.
    • The admin can customize the customer’s chat window.
    • The customers can download and print their email transcripts.
    • Both the admin and customers can add attachments in their respective chat windows.
    • Also, emojis can be sent along with the messages at both the admin and customer end.
    • Also, customers can report a manager in case they find any issue with the chat.
    • Customers can set an avatar, chat status as busy, offline.
    • Customers get an automated mail after registration with their password.
    • A message notification icon pop up to lets you know that chat is still active.
    • The admin can remove the chat conversations for any buyer history at any time.
    • Also, the admin can block/unblock a customer from chatting.
    • The admin can search a customer by typing his name within the search box provided on the top of his chat-box.

    Installation Of The Admin buyer Chat Module

    Prerequisites –

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    1. Node should be installed.

    2. If you are using Shared Server then you have to provide SSH login details with root access, so we can configure the module. For root access, ask your Host Provider.

    3. PHP version should be 5.5.x.

    4. Port that you are using, should be open for your IP Address.

    5. The module will only work for LAMP server.

    NOTES:

    Note 1 : Before start the server you have to write the port that you are using for chat module into server.js file that is parallel to opencart root directories.

    Note 2 : If you are using cpanel then you can use either domain name or IP address but if using CloudFlare on server then must use IP address as hostname don’t use domain name.

    Customers will get a zip folder for installing the module. They will unzip this folder on their system.

    This folder has 5 folders namely- admin, catalog, image, ocmod, system and files- Info, package.json, running.php and server.js.

    Now transfer the admin, catalog, image, system folder and all other files into the opencart root folder without the ocmod folder as shown below in the screen shot.

    install-admin-catalog-image-and-system

    Now Before installing the module and starting  the server,  open the server.js file in the Opencart root folder and manually type the port number into the server.js file that you will be using for the chat module.

    After this you have to run some commands :

    -> to install node run command from terminal:
    $ npm install

    -> to install socket.io run command from terminal:
    $ npm install socket.io

    -> to install server.js run command from terminal:
    $ node server.js

    Ocmod folder has two xml files for the two versions 2.1 & 2.2 namely- store_chat2.1.ocmod and store_chat_2.2.ocmod.

    You need to upload the XML file as per your version through the Extension Installer.

    Installation And Configuration Of Admin Buyer Chat

    Now go to Extension->Modifications and click on the clear button at the top right corner & after clear the cache click on refresh button as shown below.Installation And Configuration Of Admin Buyer Chat

    After that under Extensions -> Modules you can install the module as shown below.

    Installation And Configuration Of Admin Buyer Chat

    Retrieving Firebase Credentials

    For module configurations, the user will require the Firebase Project Credentials, first.

    • Click here,  to create a new project with your Gmail account.

    1. As the Firebase website opens up, the user must click on ‘Add project’ button as shown in the image below.

    Click Project

    2. An ‘Add a Project’ pop-up shall display,  where the users must enter the ‘Project Name’ and and select their Country/ Region.

    3. After adding the details the user must click ‘Create project’ button as shown below.

    webkul-opencart-pwa-firebase-add-project

    4. On tapping Create Project, the project will be ready. The user must tap on ‘Continue’ to create the project.

    Project added

    5. After creating your new project click settings menu button and select ‘Project Settings’ option. Please view below snapshot.

    webkul-opencart-pwa-firebase-project-settings

    6. After entering the Settings page, click ‘Cloud Messaging’ tab, where the user will find the Project Credentials.

    The user can copy the ‘Server Key’ and ‘Sender ID’ and use it for configuring the module.

    Keys

    Server Configuration: Admin Buyer Chat

    Admin will configure the module after installation by navigating to Extensions -> Modules and from the list of modules look for STORE CHAT.

    After that admin will click the edit button available to the right of the module to bring up another page with settings for the module – Server Settings & Chat Window Options.

    Here the admin can set the chat module status as “ON” or “OFF”.  Then Hostname will be the server name and Port need to be defined.

    Port no. must be mapped with the hostname that you are using. Port number should be same as already defined.

    If you are using Cloudflare on your system then using “IP” address for Hostname is mandatory.

    webkul-opencart-admin-buyer-chat-status-off

    After filling the details for hostname and port number admin will save the settings and then click on “Start Server”.

    If the server is not running then admin will get an error message like this “ Currently Server is not running, you can restart the server and again start the server by clicking on start server button.”

    webkul-opencart-admin-buyer-chat-status-enabled-server-setting-3

    Display Configuration: Admin Buyer Chat

    After this setting admin will set the “Chat Window Options” that will be displayed on the front end .

    Here he will set the chat window title, Login Button title, chat window position,Profile image extensions,Profile image size, client online/offline window color, chat background image/color , “display block message” is used to display a message if the store blocks a customer, “default error message” this message will display to customer if the server will stop.

    webkul-opencart-admin-buyer-chat-status-enabled-server-setting-2

    Push Notification: Admin Buyer Chat

    The next tab is Push notification tab which is an essential component of the Admin Buyer Chat system.

    The admin will configure the following fields under Push Notifications-

    Push Notification Status: The admin can set the status of the push notification module as Enabled.

    Server Key: The admin retrieves it from the Firebase site.

    webkul-opencart-admin-buyer-chat-push-notification-tab

    Chat window Layout location: Admin Buyer Chat

    The customers can go to the homepage (or any other webiste page) and will see a chat box, using which customers can chat with the store admin.webkul-opencart-admin-buyer-chat-support-chatbox-tab-visibility

    After clicking on the chat window tab, it will appear as shown in the image below.

    webkul-opencart-admin-buyer-chat-open-support-chatbox

    Customer Login : Admin Buyer Chat

    Registered Customer login

    Registered customers can initiate their chat by typing in their e-mail address, password on the chat window and clicking the login  button.webkul-opencart-admin-buyer-chat-registered-user

    Unregistered Customer login

    Unregistered customers can register themselves by clicking on the “Sign Up” label & then typing in their full Name, E-mail address and an initial message to the admin.

    After this click  “Begin Chat Now” button. When the unregistered customers create an account to chat with the admin they are automatically logged in & registered as customers on the store.

    Also an automatic email is send on the customer’s email address containing the password for his account.

    webkul-opencart-admin-buyer-chat-login-details

    Thereafter, the customer will be logged in and can wait for the admin’s response and then both can continue their real time chat conversation.

    webkul-opencart-admin-buyer-chat-frontend-customer-sends-message

    Customer Chat Availability Status

    Customers can set their chat availability status as busy or offline as per their need as shown below.webkul-opencart-admin-buyer-chat-status-1

    In the case a customer has set the status as offline and if the admin sends a message to the customer, admin will see a message stating the receiver is Offline as shown below.webkul-opencart-admin-buyer-chat-status-displays-offline-to-admin

    Customer Chat Setting Options

    Customers can select different options from the chat window settings like – Email Transcripts, Report to Manager, End Chat and Profile settings.webkul-opencart-admin-buyer-chat-settings

    Email Transcripts

    After the customer clicks on the Email Transcript option another page opens up which includes the complete history of the conversation between the customer and admin.

    Using this option customers can download or print this chat history.webkul-opencart-admin-buyer-chat-email-transcript

    Report To Manager

    Using this option customers can send message to manager if they are facing any issue with the chat.webkul-opencart-admin-buyer-chat-report-to-manager

    Customer End Chat Option

    Customers can end their chat at any moment by clicking the End Chat option.webkul-opencart-admin-buyer-chat-end-conversation

    On clicking the End chat option,  the chat window will minimize. The customer can click on the minimized chat window to again start the converstion with the admin.

    webkul-opencart-admin-buyer-chat-window-minimized-on-ending-conversation

    Customer can click on the close button on the minimized window to close the chat window.

    A small notification icon will appear in place of the chat window, clicking which the chat window will open up.

    webkul-opencart-admin-buyer-chat-icon-visibility-on-closing-window

    Profile Settings

    On clicking Profile Settings option, the customers can change their profile pictures for the chat window.webkul-opencart-admin-buyer-chat-change-profile-photo

    As the customer changes and uploads a new profile picture, it is visible in the chat customer’s window as shown in the image below.

    webkul-opencart-admin-buyer-chat-customer-profile-photo-changed-1

    Adding Attachments in Chats: Admin Buyer Chat

    Both, the customer and the admin can send attachments across their respective chat windows.

    An example is shown in the image below where the customer sends an image in the form of an attatchment from the chat window.webkul-opencart-admin-buyer-chat-adding-attachments

    The admin will define the extensions for the atachment files which the customers can add from their chat window.

    Adding Emojis in Chats: Admin Buyer Chat

    The admin and the customer can also express themselves across their respective chat windows through emojis.

    Image displaying emojis at the Admin End –

    webkul-opencart-admin-buyer-chat-adding-emoji-admin-end

    An example of emoji list (same will display at the admin end as well) at Customer End is given below-

    webkul-opencart-admin-buyer-chat-adding-displaying-emojis-customer-end

    Chat History At Customer End

    Customers will be able to see the history of conversation with the admin.

    They can also select to display message from like – Last 7 days or Forever that displays the chat history in the chat window itself.webkul-opencart-admin-buyer-chat-conversation-history

    List of online Customers: Admin End

    On the other end, admin will be able to see a complete list of customers who are online. also, the admin will be able to chat with multiple customers at a time.

    The recent chat window will always display and the rest are minimized into a window. Admin can switch between customers from the minimized chat window any time.webkul-opencart-admin-buyer-chat-list-of-online-customers

    New Message Notification for Admin

    As the customer sends a message, a notification message will display on the top right corner on the admin panel as shown in the image below.webkul-opencart-admin-buyer-chat-notification-display-admin-end-1

    Push Notification

    The admin will also receive the push notifications for the messages as shown in the image below.

    webkul-opencart-admin-buyer-chat-push-notification-1

    Change Chat Availability Status: for Admin

    The admin can change the status of the chat to busy or offline as shown in the image below.

    webkul-opencart-admin-buyer-chat-status-admin-end

    Search Customer: Admin End

    The  admin can search for a customer by typing in the relevant customer’s name in the search box provided on the chat window as shown in the image below.webkul-opencart-admin-buyer-chat-search-customer-admin-end

    Delete Customer Chat History: Admin End

    The admin can delete the chat history of any customer as shown in the image below.webkul-opencart-admin-buyer-chat-delete-customer-messages

    Blocking a Customer: Admin End

    The admin can block/ unblock any customer by clicking the Block the Customer option as shown below in the screenshot.webkul-opencart-admin-buyer-chat-block-customer-1

    The blocked customer will find a message, “Currently, You are Blocked by Store!!” that displays on the chat window and also a contact us button is present underneath that.webkul-opencart-admin-buyer-chat-blocked-message-display-at-customer-end-1

    When the admin blocks a buyer an automatic email is sent to the buyer notifying him that he has been blocked for the chat.

    That is all for the Opencart Admin Buyer Chat. If you still have any issue, feel free to add a Ticket and let us know your views to make the module better http://webkul.uvdesk.com/

    Current Product Version - 4.0.1.3

    Supported Framework Version - 2.x.x.x, 3.x.x.x

    . . .

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