Kacper Chat Application

Realtime chat platform built with PHP, MySQL, and Ratchet WebSockets. The project demonstrates how to combine a traditional PHP stack with websocket-driven messaging for multi-user chat rooms, online/offline presence, and private conversations, while handling user onboarding via email verification.

Features

• Websocket-powered group chat with message persistence in MySQL.
• One-to-one private messaging with read/unread status tracking.
• Online/offline indicators backed by connection tokens.
• Email-based account verification via PHPMailer.
• Auto-generated avatar images and user profile management.
• Bootstrap 4 UI with client-side validation via Parsley.js.

Tech Stack

• PHP 7.4+ with PDO and GD extensions
• MySQL 5.7+ (or compatible)
• cboden/ratchet for the websocket server
• PHPMailer for transactional mail
• Bootstrap, jQuery, Font Awesome, Parsley.js for the front end

Project Structure

bin/                Websocket server bootstrap
database/           Data-access classes and DB connector
images/             Generated avatars (must be writable)
src/                Ratchet message handler (MyApp\Chat)
vendor/             Composer dependencies
vendor-front/       Front-end libraries bundled with the repo
*.php               HTTP entry points (auth, chat UI, profile, verification)

Prerequisites

• PHP CLI with the pdo_mysql, sockets, and gd extensions enabled.
• Composer for dependency management.
• A running MySQL instance accessible to the PHP process.
• SMTP credentials (or a local mail catcher) for sending verification emails.

Installation

1. Install PHP dependencies:

   composer install

2. Create a MySQL database (default name is chat) and a user with appropriate privileges.
3. Update database credentials in database/Database_connection.php.
4. Ensure the images/ directory is writable by the PHP process (required for avatar generation).

Database Schema

Create the following tables (adjust types/indexes to match your environment):

CREATE TABLE chat_user_table (
    user_id INT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
    user_name VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
    user_email VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL UNIQUE,
    user_password VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
    user_profile VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
    user_status ENUM('Enable','Disabled') DEFAULT 'Disabled',
    user_created_on DATETIME NOT NULL,
    user_verification_code VARCHAR(255),
    user_login_status ENUM('Login','Logout') DEFAULT 'Logout',
    user_token VARCHAR(255),
    user_connection_id INT
);

CREATE TABLE chatrooms (
    id INT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
    userid INT NOT NULL,
    msg TEXT NOT NULL,
    created_on DATETIME NOT NULL,
    INDEX (userid),
    CONSTRAINT fk_chatrooms_user FOREIGN KEY (userid) REFERENCES chat_user_table(user_id)
        ON DELETE CASCADE
);

CREATE TABLE chat_message (
    chat_message_id INT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
    to_user_id INT NOT NULL,
    from_user_id INT NOT NULL,
    chat_message TEXT NOT NULL,
    timestamp DATETIME NOT NULL,
    status ENUM('Yes','No') DEFAULT 'No',
    INDEX (to_user_id),
    INDEX (from_user_id),
    CONSTRAINT fk_chatmessage_to FOREIGN KEY (to_user_id) REFERENCES chat_user_table(user_id)
        ON DELETE CASCADE,
    CONSTRAINT fk_chatmessage_from FOREIGN KEY (from_user_id) REFERENCES chat_user_table(user_id)
        ON DELETE CASCADE
);

Mail Configuration

Update the SMTP placeholders in register.php to match your mail provider. During development you can point these settings to a local mail catcher (e.g., MailHog or Mailpit).

Running Locally

1. Start the websocket server (default port 8080):

   php bin/server.php

2. Serve the HTTP front end (Apache/Nginx or PHP built-in server):

   php -S localhost:8000

3. Visit http://localhost:8000/index.php to register, verify your account, and join the chat.

Note: The browser connects to ws://localhost:8080. If you change the websocket host/port, update the URL in chatroom.php.

Deployment Notes

• Use a process manager (Supervisor, systemd, etc.) to keep the Ratchet server running.
• Terminate websocket traffic over TLS (e.g., via Nginx reverse proxy) and adjust the client URL to wss://.
• Hash user passwords before storing them in production (the current code uses plain text for instructional purposes).
• Replace hard-coded email copy and URLs with environment-aware values.

Troubleshooting

• php bin/server.php fails: ensure the sockets extension is enabled and port 8080 is free.
• Avatars are not generated: confirm the gd extension is enabled and images/ is writable.
• Emails do not send: double-check SMTP credentials and firewall rules; for local testing use a mail catcher.
• Messages are not delivered: verify that both the websocket server and the HTTP server are running, and that the browser can reach ws://localhost:8080.