Add global indicator based on Pusher status

[quinthar]

Show if we are currently connected to Pusher in order to correctly set the expectations of the user for what functionality will work.

[tgolen]

@shawnborton what ideas do you have for an online/offline indicator? Would a green/red dot in one of the corners be OK?

@quinthar Another thing we need to figure out is fix the pusher-reconnect issue. I think what is happening is that the AuthToken that pusher uses for authentication expires, and then when you come back from being away, pusher attempts to reconnect with the expired authToken, and is denied. Unfortunately, I don't think there is any easy way to get Pusher to reauthenticate with a new authToken (because you have to manually re-bind all the channel subscriptions). I think a better idea is to use an authToken that doesn't expire for a really long time.

@AndrewGable How does that work with the infinite sessions. Is that an authToken that doesn't expire for a long time? Can we use that authToken for pusher?

Also, do we still need AUTH_TOKEN_EXPIRATION_TIME which is set to 90 minutes?

[shawnborton]

Where exactly would the indicator go? I don't think we should have a persistent green dot for "online" but rather only cover the case where you are offline.

When I go offline and open up something like Gmail, I just have a little bottom-docked message saying something like "There appears to be no connection"

[tgolen]

Yeah, that's a good idea. Maybe we can put the indicator near the user avatar?

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On Wed, Aug 12, 2020 at 2:25 PM Shawn Borton ***@***.***> wrote: Where exactly would the indicator go? I don't think we should have a persistent green dot for "online" but rather only cover the case where you are offline. When I go offline and open up something like Gmail, I just have a little bottom-docked message saying something like "There appears to be no connection" — You are receiving this because you were assigned. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#85 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAJMAB6WF7VYJTXVHIZB363SAL3DZANCNFSM4P4D5WNQ> .

[shawnborton]

Yeah, I could get down with that... maybe even a gray dot overlapping the user icon or something? If you can wire it up and give me good testing instructions, I am happy to style everything!

[tgolen]

Cool, I just pushed up a PR #85 that adds the indicator, so it's already for your styling.

[quinthar]

Given that the PR that adds a visual indicator is linked and will close this issue, I'm going to clarify the OP that this is just about a visual indicator. I think we should also have a "singular" offline state (ie, we shouldn't attempt to send messages when not connected to Pusher), but now that we don't the "trying to send..." spinner, this isn't nearly so visible.