Help & Support
Our help database contains answers to most of the common questions regarding our products.
If you are unable to locate a satisfactory answer for your query by searching here, please contact us.
I lost my Cbox embed code. Where can I get it?
Your Cbox embed code is available at your control panel. You need this code to install your Cbox on your website.
Also on that page is your Quick Link — a URL which you can use to access your Cbox directly in your browser or on your mobile device.
How do I put my Cbox on my website?
Once you have created your Cbox account, go to the Publish page of your control panel. The code and steps for embedding your Cbox are provided there for a number of common platforms.
If you install your Cbox and all you see is code, or nothing at all, your web host may be removing or otherwise interfering with the HTML iframe tags that Cbox uses. Your Cbox code needs to be pasted into an area of your site that accepts HTML without modification. This may mean switching your editor from "rich text" or "WYSIWYG" mode into HTML-editing or "raw" mode, or you may need to open your template files in a plain-text editor like Notepad.
Remember that you always have the option of posting or sharing your Cbox Quick Link — this gives visitors direct access to your Cbox in a full-screen layout, so it's perfect as a mobile option or for stand-alone use.
How do change my Cbox's style to go with my site's design?
Go to the Theme editor in your control panel. There you can specify the fonts and colours of your Cbox, using a point-and-click editor. You can always reset your theme to one of the preset defaults there, if you would like to start again.
If you have a Premium or Pro Cbox you can edit CSS, which gives you complete control over presentation.
How do I delete messages?
If you have a Premium or Pro Cbox, you can create a moderator name for yourself at your Users page, and then log in on your Cbox using the "profile" link. You will see a delete icon [x] next to each message in your Cbox, and you will not have to log in at your control panel at all to delete messages.
Alternatively, visit your Messages page to delete messages individually or in bulk. Deleted messages are removed from your public Cbox history, but are preserved in your Archives.
Can I make my Cbox transparent?
Yes. In the Theme editor, simply delete the colour codes for the main and form background ("BG") elements. This will make the Cbox transparent, allowing whatever is behind the Cbox to show through.
Note that any pop-ups generated by a transparent Cbox will have the default background colour — usually white. If your font colour is light, it may be invisible in popups. You can fix this by editing the CSS to introduce a background-color rule for popups.
How can I prevent other websites from showing my Cbox?
The option "Enable site whitelist" at your Publish page will prevent other websites from displaying your Cbox to their visitors.
When using this option, ensure the web address we have on record (also on that page) is the simplest possible address for your site. For example you should generally not include the "www." part nor any trailing path, like "/index.html".
Bot users
You can register a bot user at your Users page. Bot users are like ordinary registered users, except that instead of a password they are issued an access token. You cannot log in via the normal profile dialog. Instead, you can use the token directly in HTTP requests to Cbox.
We do not currently support an official API, but to demonstrate how you might read and post to your Cbox using a bot, the proof-of-concept PHP script below takes a simple HTTP-based approach. Run this script on your own server, and your bot will post to your Cbox. After its initial message, it will poll for messages containing trigger words, to which it will respond.
You can run the script from a shell, or have it run automatically with a crontab entry. When it's running, test it by entering a message in your Cbox such as "hello bot", "time?", or "what is the weather in new york?"
#!/usr/bin/php <?php define('LISTEN', true); define('PID_FILE', './cboxbot.pid'); // Edit these lines for your Cbox and bot user. $box = array('srv' => 7, 'id' => 1, 'tag' => 'bOxTag'); $bot = array('name' => 'mybot', 'token' => 'XJC-bottoken-asKC', 'url' => ''); $msg = 'Hello world!'; $callmap = array( '/\bhello bot\b/iu' => 'bot_greet', '/\btime\?/iu' => 'bot_time', '/\bweather in ([a-zA-Z-0-9 ,]+)/iu' => 'bot_weather', ); // Basic reply function bot_time ($msg) { return date("M d Y H:i:s"); } // An example incorporating message data. function bot_greet ($msg) { return "Hello ".$msg['name']; } // An example calling an external API function bot_weather ($msg, $matches) { $place = $matches[1]; if (!$place) { return; } $query = 'select * from weather.forecast where woeid in (select woeid from geo.places(1) where text="'.addslashes($place).'")'; $url = 'https://query.yahooapis.com/v1/public/yql?q='.urlencode($query).'&format=json&u=c&env=store%3A%2F%2Fdatatables.org%2Falltableswithkeys'; $out = file_get_contents($url); if (!$out) { return; } $wobj = json_decode($out); if (!$wobj->query->results) { return; } $cond = $wobj->query->results->channel->item->condition; $desc = $wobj->query->results->channel->description; return "[b]".$cond->text." ".$cond->temp."F [/b] (".$desc." at ".$cond->date.")"; } // Do not edit past this point. set_time_limit(0); $id = cbox_post($msg, $bot, $box, $error); if (!$id) { echo $error; } else { echo "Posted ID $id\n"; } if (!LISTEN) { exit; } // Synchronization. // PID file is not removed on exit, but it is unlocked. A locked file indicates a running process. $fp = fopen(PID_FILE, 'a+'); if (!flock($fp, LOCK_EX | LOCK_NB)) { echo "Could not lock PID file. Process already running?\n"; exit; } ftruncate($fp, 0); fwrite($fp, posix_getpid()."\n"); fflush($fp); do { $msgs = cbox_get_msgs($id, $bot, $box); if (!$msgs || !is_array($msgs)) { sleep(5); continue; } $id = (int)$msgs[0]['id']; for ($i = 0; $i < count($msgs); $i++) { if ($msgs[0]['name'] == $bot['name']) { continue; // Ignore bot's own messages. } $msgtext = $msgs[$i]['message']; foreach ($callmap as $expr => $func) { $matches = array(); if (preg_match($expr, $msgtext, $matches)) { $reply = call_user_func($func, $msgs[$i], $matches); if ($reply) { cbox_post($reply, $bot, $box, $error); } } } } sleep(2); } while (true); function cbox_get_msgs ($id, $user, $box, &$error = '') { $srv = $box['srv']; $boxid = $box['id']; $boxtag = $box['tag']; $host = "www$srv.cbox.ws"; $path = "/box/?boxid=$boxid&boxtag=$boxtag&sec=archive"; $port = 80; $timeout = 30; $get = array( 'i' => (int)$id, 'k' => $user['token'], 'fwd' => 1, 'aj' => 1 ); $req = ''; $res = ''; foreach ($get as $k => $v) { $path .= "&$k=".urlencode($v); } $hdr = "GET $path HTTP/1.1\r\n"; $hdr .= "Host: $host\r\n\r\n"; $fp = fsockopen ($host, $port, $errno, $errstr, $timeout); if (!$fp) { $error = "Could not open socket: $errno - $errstr\n"; return; } fputs ($fp, $hdr); while (!feof($fp)) { $res .= fgets ($fp, 1024); } fclose ($fp); if (!$res || !strpos($res, "200 OK")) { $error = "Bad response:\r\n $res"; return; } $matches = array(); preg_match_all('/\n([^\t\n]*)\t([^\t]*)\t([^\t]*)\t([^\t]*)\t' .'([^\t]*)\t([^\t]*)\t([^\t]*)\t([^\t]*)\t/', $res, $matches); $msgs = array(); $map = array('id', 'time', 'date', 'name', 'group', 'url', 'message'); for ($m = 0; $m < count($map); $m++) { for ($i = 0; $i < count($matches[$m+1]); $i++) { $msgs[$i][$map[$m]] = $matches[$m+1][$i]; } } return $msgs; } function cbox_post ($msg, $user, $box, &$error = '') { $srv = $box['srv']; $boxid = $box['id']; $boxtag = $box['tag']; $host = "www$srv.cbox.ws"; $path = "/box/?boxid=$boxid&boxtag=$boxtag&sec=submit"; $port = 80; $timeout = 30; $post = array( 'nme' => $user['name'], 'key' => $user['token'], 'eml' => $user['url'], 'pst' => $msg, 'aj' => '1' ); $req = ''; $res = ''; foreach ($post as $k => $v) { $req .= "$k=".urlencode($v)."&"; } $req = substr($req, 0, -1); $hdr = "POST $path HTTP/1.1\r\n"; $hdr .= "Host: $host\r\n"; $hdr .= "Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded\r\n"; $hdr .= "Content-Length: ".strlen($req)."\r\n\r\n"; $fp = fsockopen ($host, $port, $errno, $errstr, $timeout); if (!$fp) { $error = "Could not open socket: $errno - $errstr\n"; return; } fputs ($fp, $hdr.$req); while (!feof($fp)) { $res .= fgets ($fp, 1024); } fclose ($fp); if (!$res || !strpos($res, "200 OK")) { $error = "Bad response:\r\n $res"; return; } $matches = array(); preg_match('/1(.*)\t(.*)\t(.*)\t(.*)\t(.*)\t(.*)/', $res, $matches); $err = $matches[1]; $id = $matches[6]; if ($err) { $error = "Got error from Cbox: $err"; return; } return $id; } ?>
How do I downgrade my account?
You can downgrade from Pro to Premium at your control panel. Your Pro features will be disabled automatically.
If you let your Premium plan lapse, it will not automatically revert to a Free Cbox. Your messages and settings will be saved but your Cbox will be locked. You will be able to renew at any time reactivate it. To get back on the Free plan, simply sign up for a new Cbox, using a new Cbox name.
If our service is not meeting your expectations on any plan, please contact us and we will do what we can to improve your experience.
Every time I do something in the control panel, I get logged out.
You need to have cookies enabled in your browser in order to use the control panel. Your browser may be configured not to accept cookies, or it may be in a "private browsing" mode, or you may have a plugin or extension that is restricting them. Test in another browser if possible.
I didn't get an email I was expecting
The most likely reason for this is that it was delayed, or trapped by a spam filter. Check your spam folder in your email client. If emails from Cbox are repeatedly being marked as spam, try adding our addresses to your email client's address book.
It's also possible the email address we have on record for you is wrong. If you know your account details, log in and check your email address is correctly spelled.
Finally, you may want to contact us from another email address for further assistance.