Question 1

How to set up idle detection with Meteor user status?

Accepted Answer

Call UserStatus.startMonitor on the client with parameters like threshold and idleOnBlur, as shown in the demo app. This automatically tracks user activity and updates reactive variables, but you must handle UI feedback manually using the provided APIs.

Question 2

Meteor user status vs using raw DDP for presence tracking?

Accepted Answer

Meteor User Status abstracts away the complexity of DDP connection management by handling heartbeats, idle states, and event emissions out-of-the-box, whereas raw DDP requires manual implementation of monitoring and state persistence, increasing development time.

Question 3

How to track user IP addresses accurately in Meteor with this package?

Accepted Answer

You must set the HTTP_FORWARDED_COUNT environment variable and configure any reverse proxies to forward headers, as noted in the README. Without this, IP addresses may be logged incorrectly or not at all, affecting features like geo-location.

Question 4

Can I use Meteor user status with aldeed:collection2 schemas?

Accepted Answer

Yes, but you need to extend your user schema to include the status fields, as detailed in the README's compatibility section. This adds boilerplate code and can cause validation errors if not set up correctly.

Question 5

What happens to user status when the Meteor server restarts?

Accepted Answer

By default, all users are reset to offline on startup, which can cause temporary UI inconsistencies. You can mitigate this with startupQuerySelector to preserve certain states, but connection-level data is still lost due to in-memory storage.

Question 6

How to test Meteor user status with multiple users in development?

Accepted Answer

Use the provided demo app at user-status.meteor.com or simulate connections with different browsers or tools. The package includes Tinytest unit tests, but end-to-end testing requires manual setup since it relies on real client events.

meteor-user-status

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