found when a given chat tab should be flashing

labs/meteor-client/client/globals.coffee

@@ -169,11 +169,12 @@ Handlebars.registerHelper "visibility", (section) ->
       newObj = {
         userId: u.userId
         name: u.user.name
+        gotMail: false
         class: "privateChatTab"
       }
   tabs = [
-    {userId: "PUBLIC_CHAT", name: "Public", class: "publicChatTab"},
-    {userId: "OPTIONS", name: "Options", class: "optionsChatTab"}
+    {userId: "PUBLIC_CHAT", name: "Public", gotMail: false, class: "publicChatTab"},
+    {userId: "OPTIONS", name: "Options", gotMail: false, class: "optionsChatTab"}
   ].concat privTabs
 
 @setInSession = (k, v) -> SessionAmplify.set k, v 

labs/meteor-client/client/main.coffee

@@ -75,7 +75,6 @@ Meteor.startup ->
   setInSession "display_chatbar", true
   setInSession "display_whiteboard", true
   setInSession "display_chatPane", true
-  setInSession 'inChatWith', "PUBLIC_CHAT"
   setInSession "joinedAt", getTime()
   setInSession "isSharingAudio", false
   setInSession "inChatWith", 'PUBLIC_CHAT'

labs/meteor-client/client/views/chat/chat_bar.coffee

@@ -107,9 +107,27 @@ Template.chatbar.helpers
 
     msgs
 
+  markNewAsUnread: ->
+    #if the current tab is not the same as the tab we just published in
+    Meteor.Chat.find({}).observe({
+      added: (chatMessage) =>
+        destinationTab = ->
+          if chatMessage.message?.chat_type is "PUBLIC_CHAT"
+            "PUBLIC_CHAT"
+          else
+            chatMessage.message?.from_userid
+        console.log "destination=" + destinationTab()
+
+        if destinationTab() isnt getInSession "inChatWith"
+          console.log "there should be flashing on:" + destinationTab()
+
+        #currentTab = document.getElementsByClassName("active")[0].getElementsByTagName("a")[0].id #TODO how can I simplify this?!?
+      })
+
 
 # When chatbar gets rendered, scroll to the bottom
 Template.chatbar.rendered = ->
+  Template.chatbar.markNewAsUnread()
   $('#chatbody').scrollTop($('#chatbody')[0]?.scrollHeight)
   false
 # Scrolls the message container to the bottom. The number of pixels to scroll down is the height of the container
@@ -178,7 +196,7 @@ Template.tabButtons.helpers
     button = '<li '
     button += 'class="'
     button += 'active ' if getInSession("inChatWith") is @userId
-    button += "tab #{safeClass}\"><a href=\"#\" data-toggle=\"tab\">#{safeName}"
+    button += "tab #{safeClass}\"><a href=\"#\" data-toggle=\"tab\" id=\"#{safeName}\" \>#{safeName}"
     button += '&nbsp;<button class="close closeTab" type="button" >×</button>' if @class is 'privateChatTab'
     button += '</a></li>'
     button