IM Server Features for external clients

[bkirkland]

Hello,

I am trying to get all users on my server switched over to an external IM client. We are currently using another proprietary system for IM that uses a stand-alone client, and I would like to keep that feel for the users. Several of our users have also said that they don't like using the web-based messaging.

I have been able to connect with XMPP clients with no issue. I just have a couple of ideas to improve the system.

First, one of the reasons we haven't already switched to the Zimbra IM is the lack of searching for contacts through an external server. There is a search protocol outlined in the XMPP specs. It is called Jabber:iq:search. You can find the doc here: http://xmpp.org/extensions/xep-0055.pdf

It looks to me like it would be a pretty simple task to implement for someone familiar with the Zimbra code. I'm fairly new to Zimbra, so I'm not sure if this could be done with some sort of addon. Spark is an example of a client that supports this feature, but as Zimbra does not, it does not actually work.

Second, when using the web-based IM client, chats are saved into the "Chats" folder. When using an external client, however, they are not.

If these two features were implemented, we would be able to fully migrate to Zimbra for our IM needs.

Anyone have any thoughts on this, or have any ideas as to where to start if I were going to try and add these features myself?

[LMStone]

Zimbra have stated that they intend to remove the IM server feature from ZCS7, but provide an integrated client to connect external IM servers.

Not sure that's what you want to hear; we ourselves would very much like Zimbra to keep the built-in IM server but in this case I'm hearing the Rolling Stones in the background... Perhaps when ZCS7 is done, we just might find we'll get what we need!

Hope that helps,
Mark

[bkirkland]

Mark,

Thank you for the response. I was unaware of this. Looks like it may be time for me to look into a better 3rd party messaging system that will cooperate with Zimbra.

Thanks again,
Ben

[JoshuaPrismon]

Mark,

Thank you for the response. I was unaware of this. Looks like it may be time for me to look into a better 3rd party messaging system that will cooperate with Zimbra.

Thanks again,
Ben

Take a look at the Meebo extension. Not sure if it does what you want, but I use it for my IM tasks, and it works fairly well.