New Gateways: Twitter and Google Talk via Google Apps

Two new gateways! Well, one new and one upgraded.

• Twitter. Every once in awhile, someone asks about Twitter integration. We tried this before with a gateway that worked via direct messages, but it proved too cumbersome in practice as direct messages require reciprocal following. The new one released today works on mentions (@username messages). The setup is like any other LibraryH3lp gateway.
  
  Your librarians can identify these messages when they arrive because they'll start with @username. Librarians can simply reply to these; they do not need to start the message with @ since the gateway will take care of this. The next version of the librarian's webchat client will provide a character countdown for twitter messages.

• Second, Google Apps. Google Talk for Google Apps users works with our standard Google Talk gateway now. For your username, use your full address. Example: my.name@myschool.edu. The gateway will take care of the rest.

All code available on github.

Enjoy!

Improved Mobile Widget

Today we pushed out a mobile-specific version of our widget. Our default widget has worked with iPhone/iPod touch since the beginning, but the new one has been designed specifically for mobile devices. We've tested it heavily in the default browser on our Android phone.

The new, mobile-specific widget is prefaced with m., like this:

http://m.libraryh3lp.com/chat/queue@chat.libraryh3lp.com

As with regular LibraryH3lp widgets, you can deck out the appearance of your mobile widget nearly any way you'd like. The easiest thing will be to use the Widget Designer in the admin site to create a custom skin using your preferred colors, title, etc... Then, after you generate the code, look for the raw widget URL (as above) and place the m. at the beginning. Of course, you can also customize your widget by hand if you prefer, as described in the Widget Customization section in the docs (the default mobile CSS is here).

Mobile technologies offer more flexibility for people on the go. Busy people like your patrons probably already IM you or text you from their phones; our IM and SMS gateways make answering those questions easier. Now, they can chat you more easily from your mobile website. And if you're so inclined, you can even staff your service from your phone now that librarians can use any XMPP client at all. (Please don't LibraryH3lp and drive.) Have fun!

Android SMS Gateway Updated

We just pushed a new version of our Android SMS Gateway out to the Android Market.

The gateway has been reworked to perform better under various network conditions. It also has a great deal of delivery verification code to ensure that messages get to their recipients.

The user interface has also been changed to provide better feedback about the status of the gateway.

If you're currently using this application, your phone should let you know that an update is available. You will need to reconfigure your gateway on the LibraryH3lp admin site: delete your old gateway and create a new one. We plan to leave the old gateway running for about a week, and we will email all current users to make sure they're aware of the change.

Details for getting it up and running are in our Google Docs Presentation:

If you prefer text instructions, here is a brief outline (the presentation is more complete):

• Search the Android Market for My Customer Cloud and install the application on your phone.
• Start the My Customer Cloud SMS Gateway app on the phone and press the MENU button. The MENU button appearance may vary depending on the phone, but it not the same as the HOME button.
• Select Libraryh3lp, Refchatter, or My Customer Cloud, depending on which system you're using.
• Pick Settings.
• Provide the name of the queue you will use for this gateway in the Admin site.
• Click the green checkmark to have the app start automatically when the phone boots.
• Click the phone's back button to return to the main LibraryH3lp SMS Gateway app screen.
• Press the MENU button and select Password.
• The password is unique to your phone and cannot be changed. Any 0's are zero's.
• Go to the LibraryH3lp Admin site and navigate to your chosen queue.
• Add a new Android SMS gateway and give it the password from the phone. You will not be able to change the username in the gateway. That is normal.
• On your phone, return to the main LibraryH3lp SMS Gateway app screen and press Start.
• When the app indicates it is running, you can send your first test SMS message to the phone.

Please let us know of questions! Current users, let us know if you can't make the change in a week's time.

ALL XMPP/Jabber clients now suitable: core routing system upgraded

This morning we released an upgraded version of the routing system. This change means that now, there is a even more flexibility in client choice for staffing LibraryH3lp queues. In fact, you can use any XMPP (Jabber) client that will connect to LibraryH3lp, which should be all of them.

If you've been waiting to upgrade Pidgin, try the new Adium beta, or use the Meebo.com website, it's fine to go ahead now.

For the most part, this change is transparent and simply makes the routing system more robust. Previously, we relied on librarians' Jabber clients sending "gone" to terminate chats. This sometimes caused problems with patrons getting "stuck" talking to a librarian who wasn't there anymore, if that librarian had been using an unsupported client. This is no longer the case. You can read all the technical details in our docs if desired.

One change that staff need to be aware of involves Away and Do Not Disturb (Busy) statuses. These statuses can be very helpful in the case of a librarian who already has all the chats they can handle, or who is trying to wrap up their shift without taking on any new chats. Prior to today's change, both statuses behaved the same way, as described below for DND/Busy. Now:

• Do Not Disturb (Busy) status allows a librarian to continue working with any active chats from queues. They will not receive new chats.
  
• Away status re-routes active chats from queues to other librarians with Available status on the queue.

Think of it this way: use Away if you are going away from your desk to go to lunch, take a break, etc... Use Do Not Disturb/Busy if you are busy with your current chats and don't want to receive any new ones.