EVE Technology Lab

My corp, Running with Dogs, has been using 0mni's EVE API module for Drupal for a while. However, we don't particularly like Jabber so we have been using Slack a lot to communicate among members, ping fleets etc.

However, when we started our new alliance, Stella Nova, we realized that adding users manually is not sustainable long term. Since Slack does not offer API endpoints for user management yet, we have switched to HipChat which allows us to manage users through the API.

This is where my module for Drupal comes in. It adds an option on user's profile to set a HipChat password. The first time it is set, an account is created for the user in our HipChat group. The module comes with integration to 0mni's EVE API module to sync user pictures from EVE servers to HipChat. It also integrates with the well-known Rules module for Drupal. That allows admins to set up flexible rules as to when the account needs to be updated, created or deleted on HipChat. The module also allows adding people to and removing them from private rooms, which is also driven by configurable rules.

In addition to the above, the module allows the site to send messages to specific HipChat rooms through rules, based on various Drupal events. That allows us, for example, to notify members of new articles on the webisite, the recruitment team of incoming recruitment applications etc.

The module uses a subset of methods from HipChat API v2.

In practice, if you combine it with 0mni's module, you can set it up for users to lose HipChat access if they remove their API keys. You can also give them access to specific rooms (chat channels) on HipChat based on a role granted to them on the website.

If you are fed up with Jabber, would like to try a more user-friendly chat software, and you don't mind giving Drupal a try for your corp or alliance content management, this might be something to for you.