Connecting to your Server


Using Standard IRC Client (Such as PIRCH)
Java Client
Using Web Interface With Web Server Enabled
Embedding The Java Client In An Existing Web Page


To connect to your server, users may use any IRC-compatible client running on any operating system. They may also use the web browser based Java client included in ConferenceRoom. If the users are using a traditional stand-alone client such as PIRCH, then they must enter their nickname in the client setup, and then login to the server via the hostname and particular port on which your server is running.

Note: If your ISP provides you with a dynamic address, individuals will need to use your current host domain to connect. e.g. server dialup064.cc.columbia.edu. This domain name will change each time the server operator dials in to log onto the Internet.

If you have trouble using your particular client to log on, please contact the particular vendor of that product for support. Following is an illustration of this process using PIRCH. Please note that this is in no way an endorsement of this product. PIRCH can be found mirrored on our site at http://www.webmaster.com/ in the resources section.

e.g. server irc.webmaster.com:6667 channel #support


Using IRC Client Such as PIRCH

Step 1: Open New IRC Server Connection... in the File menu of PIRCH.

Step 2: Enter in the following information:

PIRCH Setup

Step 3: Click on Connect on the menu bar.

Step 4: A Server/Status windows will appear, click on Connect on the menu bar.

Step 5: When connected, a server message will appear which says......

You are now logged on. Enjoy

Step 6: Click on Channels on the menu bar. A list of channels will appear on the Right Hand Side of the Program Window.

Step 7: Double click on the channel #support.

PIRCH Channel Selection

Step 8: You are now logged onto the channel. To talk, type in the command bar at the bottom.

PIRCH Channel


Java Client

The Java web interface to ConferenceRoom is an IRC compatible web interface. It allows real time chat on a web page, using either ConferenceRoom with its web server enabled, or ConferenceRoom in conjunction with another web server. The Java application is designed to "spice" up your web page by introducing real true interactivity. It also has workgroup features included. Following are some of the key features of the Java Client:

  1. Supports private messaging. Simply highlight the name(s) of the people you wish to send a private message to, and type.

  2. Supports some IRC commands.

  3. Increased parameter options for look-and-feel of web page.

  4. Works with Macintosh Java-enabled browsers.

  5. Allows users to view server feedback.


Using Web Interface With Web Server Enabled

Step 1: Select one of the themes in the Web Properties tab of the server menu.

Step 2: From a Java enabled web browser such as Netscape Navigator, type http://:8080.
Note: example shows web sever configured at port 80.

Step 3: Enter your your nickname, and name, and join one of the chat rooms available simply by clicking on the Room icons.

Default Web Interface
The web interface provided with ConferenceRoom has a built in web server designed specifically for serving out the web interfaceJava client. Streamlined for high performance, it is not meant to be a generic web server. It is ONLY configured for a few of the general MIME types, and will not serve out, for example, shockwave files. In addition, it does not return a default filename from a directory.

Except in the case of a theme specified in the ConferenceRoom Configuration, the whole filename of a page must be specified for it to be served out. For these purposes, the root directory of the ConferenceRoom web server is the data sub-directory.

The web interface server cannot reference themes as URLs. They must be specified from within the ConferenceRoom configuration server. Also, for security reasons, the relative URL functionality of (../) cannot be used.

Themes

The web interface uses a themes paradigm to interface with the user. The server is supplied with some pre-configured themes, but these can be edited, and new ones can be created. The administrator of the server can choose the theme of the web interface from the Web Properties Tab.

Themes are implemented by creating a HTML structure in a new directory in the themes sub-directory. The name of the directory will be the name of the theme. The HTML structure's starting point is the default.htm file. Theme creation is accomplished using normal HTML techniques.

The themes interacts with the web server interface using ConferenceRoom-specific variables and standard input strings. The variables serve two purposes:. Tthey display pre-configuration options, such as the description of the server to the page, and are used for inputting information such as the user's nickname to the server. All variables must be enclosed by percentage signs (e.g. %variables%) and are automatically read in by the server.

The following is a list of the variables which can be used to configure themes:

Variable Explanation
%serial% Serial Number
%contact% Contact Information
%nick% Nickname. This variable is entered, and can be SET when user first logs into the web interface.
%name% "Real Name" of the server. This variable is also entered through the SET option.
%channel% Channel.
%ifchannel% Lists channels only if any are active.
%topic% Topic of the channel.
%users% Number of users in the server.
%product% Product.
%version% Version of ConferenceRoom.
%hostname% Hostname of the server.
%port% Port at which the IRC server is running.

Some sample HTML to SET user information is listed below:

<FORM ACTION="/Theme/list.htm" TARGET="list" METHOD=GET>
Nick: <INPUT TYPE="TEXT" NAME="NICK" VALUE="%nick%" SIZE=8>
Name: <INPUT TYPE="TEXT" NAME="NAME" VALUE="%name%" SIZE=20>
<INPUT TYPE=SUBMIT VALUE=" Set "></FORM>

This form sets the user information for the web interface. If the information is entered, and the "SET" button is checked, then the information is listed in the list server. When a channel is opened, the server does not request a nickname.

Some sample HTML to GO to a channel is listed below:

<FORM ACTION="/Theme/jirc.htm" TARGET="jirc" METHOD=GET>
<INPUT TYPE="SUBMIT" VALUE="Go">
<INPUT TYPE="HIDDEN" NAME="NICK" VALUE="%nick%" SIZE=10>
<INPUT TYPE="HIDDEN" NAME="NAME" VALUE="%name%" SIZE=10>
<INPUT TYPE="TEXT" NAME="CHANNEL" VALUE="%channel%" SIZE=8>
</TR>
<TR><TH><TH ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH=60>Room
<TH ALIGN=LEFT>Topic
<TH ALIGN=LEFT WIDTH=25>Users %channels[*]%
<TR>
<TD WIDTH=10 ALIGN=RIGHT>
<INPUT TYPE=IMAGE SRC=/Theme/go.gif alt="Go" NAME="%channel%" BORDER=0>
<TD WIDTH=60>%channel%
<TD>%topic%
<TD ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=25>%users%
<TR>
</FORM>

A channel can be joined either by clicking on the channel name or icon (if the channel is already open), or typing the channel name in the input field, and clicking on the "GO" button. The first part of the HTML code deals with creating a new channel, or joining a current one by typing in the channel name, and clicking "GO". The action sends the information to the Java client.

If the user information has been SET as shown above, then the user information is passed onto the Java client. If the information has not been SET, the user is prompted for their nickname. The default channel to GO to is "#lobby". To create a new channel, the user must type the name of the channel and click GO.

The second half of the HTML deals with listing the active channels. To join any one of the channels, a user simply needs to click on the channel icon or name. Once again, if the user information is not SET, then the Java client prompts the user for a nickname. In addition, channel information such as topic and the number of channels can be displayed to the user via the list and topic user commands (see Appendix)..

Jirc.htm

All themes need to have a jirc.htm to which user and channel information is inputted. jirc.htm contains the option flags for the java client. Below is a sample jirc.htm:

jirc.htm

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>ConferenceRoom Java Interface</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgcolor=ffffff text=000000>
<center>
<APPLET codebase="/java/" code="jirc.class" width=520 height=290 VSPACE=0 HSPACE=0>
<center>

You cannot use the ConferenceRoom Java interface because you do not have a Java enabled browser. However, you can use any standard IRC client to connect to this IRC server at %hostname% port %port%.

</center>
<param name=server value="%hostname%">
<param name=port value="%port%">
<param name=channel value="%channel%">
<param name=nick value="%nick%">
<param name=user value="java">
<param name=bg value="ffffff">
<param name=realName value="%name%">
</APPLET>
</center>
</BODY>
</HTML>

<themename>.txt
For theme information to be placed in the ConferenceRoom configuration panel as a option, there must be a file with the format <themename>.txt placed in the theme sub-directory. The text file should contain the explanation of the theme -- this which appears in the Configuration panel.


Embedding The Java Client In An Existing Web Page

If a user is logging into the channel using the Java web interface, the task is simplified as the administrator must specify server name and channel. The end user merely has to type in a nickname to log onto a channel as can be seen below:

#cafe

The user needs to enter their nickname or userid and then press enter to join the channel.

Embedding the Java Client (JIRC)

The Java client is a standard Internet Relay Chat(IRC) Java client, which should be able to interact with any IRC Server. If you have disabled the web server, then you need to implement the following steps to use JIRC in conjunction with ConferenceRoom:

Note: These steps are important, and you should follow them closely.

  1. Setup ConferenceRoom. Ensure that it is working correctly by logging into the server using any standard IRC client, such as PIRCH. PIRCH can be downloaded from our site at: http://www.webmaster.com/frames/give-take/resources/pirch/index.html.

  2. Copy the Java Client (jirc.class) from its default sub-directory (c:/Program Files/WebMaster/Data/), and ensure that it is placed in the same sub-directory as the web page on which it is to reside. You must do this even if you have multiple web pages serving our the chat client. "jirc.class" must be replicated in all the pages. Also, the client and the page must be on the same machine as ConferenceRoom. You cannot access a java server remotely.

  3. Create a html file in the same directory, and then enter in the following parameters.
Note: Only put in the parameters, not the explanations:

  1. <APPLET CODE="jirc.class" width=520 height=278>
    The first part of this will remain the same. As the file "jirc.class" must always be in the same directory, you must not need to change this. The width and height of the java window in your browser can be changed, but they have been optimized.

  2. <param name=server value="<server hostname>">
    The server name nust be the same as the hostname of your machine. Your page and java client must be on the same server, and your java client must be in the same sub-directory. The name of the server MUST be the hostname of the machine. This is the same name as the one you used to log onto the server with from your standard IRC client. You can locate the hostname of the machine by checking your DNS information in the Network Control Panel.

  3. <param name=port value="6667">
    The standard port for running IRC is 6667.

  4. <param name=channel value="#<channel name>">
    You can set any channel name.

  5. <param name=nick value="PROMPT">
    This will give you a prompt of "Please Enter Your Nickname:".

  6. <param name=user value="java">

  7. <param name=realName value="">

  8. <param name=history value="500">
    This parameter specifies the number of previous lines which are retained by the Java client.

  9. <param name=bg value="FFFFFF">
    Specifies the background color.

  10. <param name=fg value="000000">
    Specifies the foreground color.

  11. <param name=userColor value="000000">
    Specifies the colors user names appear in.

  12. <param name=textColor value="000000">
    Specifies the color text appears in.

  13. <param name=columns value="70">
    Specifies number of columns.

  14. <param name=font value="helvetica">
    Specifies the font.

  15. <param name=fontsize value="12">
    Specifies the size of the font.

  16. </APPLET>
    Close the parameter list.


Test Page

If you would like to take a test the java client, cut and paste the following page into a html file called "index.html", and place it in sub-directory called "testcr". Then place the "jirc.class" in the same directory. The only field which needs to be specified is the server name. Make user that the server name is the hostname of the machine, and the page resides on the same server as the one running ConferenceRoom.

Note: YOU NEED ONLY SPECIFY THE SERVERNAME TO TEST THE FOLLOWING PAGE.

-------------------------cut here for index.html--------------

<html>
<head>
<title>Test Page</title>
</head>
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" link="#CC3300" alink="#000000" vlink="#666666">

<center>
<p>
<p>
<APPLET code="jirc.class" width=520 height=278>
<param name=server value="!!!ENTER YOUR SERVER NAME HERE!!!">
<param name=port value="6667">
<param name=channel value="#webchat">
<param name=nick value="PROMPT">
<param name=user value="java">
<param name=realName value="">
<param name=history value="500">
<param name=bg value="FFFFFF">
<param name=fg value="000000">
<param name=userColor value="000000">
<param name=textColor value="000000">
<param name=columns value="70">
<param name=font value="helvetica">
<param name=fontsize value="12">
</APPLET>
</center>
<br>
</body>
</html>

--------------------------cut here-------------------------------------


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