readme.txt

一个功能强大的聊天程序

havChat(TM) 1.1  10-01-2000 
Copyright (c) 2000 by hav.Software and Horace A. Vallas, Jr.
All Rights Reserved.
-----------------------------------------------------------------


This readme contains basic information about the installation and use
of the havChat server and applet compenents.

If you are using a trialware distribution of havChat 1.1, it will expire 
after 10 uses or in @ 30 days from the first use or by @ june 30, 2001,
which ever comes first.

This is the only documentation available with trialware distributions,
but it should be sufficient to allow you to play with the server and
client to get a feel for it's performance, etc.

More complete and propor documentation is included in licenced distributions.

The chat server is distributed as the havChat2000.class file. 

      NOTE: in trialware distributions, the chat server 
            class file is named havChat2000Eval.class


TRIALWARE RESTRICTIONS:
=======================

Besides certain time limitations, trialware distributions of havChat have 
a somewhat crippled version of the havChat server.  Specifically, the 
trialware server will only support THREE (3) chat rooms and only 5 users 
can be logged into any room at the same time.  

These restrictions DO NOT exist in the licensed distributions.  In licensed
distributions the server will support as many rooms and as many concurrent 
users per room as can be supported by the hardware on which you run the 
server and your connection's bandwidth.  Because havChat is Tcp/Ip based, 
its bandwidth requirements are quite low - nowhere near that required by 
cgi/html type chats.

If you are interested in playing with a fully functional copy of the chat,
you can call for an EXTENDED DEMO license which will allow you to run the 
server without any restrictions for a period of 5 days, afterwhich it will 
revert to the standard demo license.  Whan you call, please have the HOST-ID
as reported by your installed copy of the demo.  To get the required value
of HOST-ID, run the demo with the -showlicense option:

        java havChatServer2000Eval -showlicense

For an EXTENDED DEMO license - call us at 281-341-5035.


KNOWN PROBLEMS:
===============

1. User id's for password protected users should be lowercase only.
   This springs from an incomplete workaround of Microsoft's lack
   of case sensitivity.

CHANGES from v1.0
=================

1. Applets are (mostly) localized.  The demo distribution may not contain 
   all available localization classes.  You can find newly available 
   localization classes at ... http://www.hav.com/chat/local/
   Simply download any localization classes you are missing and place them
   in the web/applet subdirectory.  The default language is English.

2. Several small changes have been made in the havChat Server to improve
   thread scheduling, better protect against accidental port access by
   third party clients and better control of lurker timeouts.

3. The FLOAT button can now be hidden using the new "floatVisible" applet
   parameter.  By default, the FLOAT button is visible, but, if you do
   not want chatters to be able to FLOAT the chat off the page (like if
   you have a non-resizable framed presentation), you can hide the FLOAT
   button by specifying "floatVisible" as false...

floatVisible    display the FLOAT button? 
                OPTIONAL - values: [true|false] - default: true
                Ex. <param name="floatVisible" value="false">

4. Several other new applet parameters to add things like automatic login, 
   population of user id and password, turning various sounds on and off,
   using diferent sounds, etc.

autoLogin      if true, will automatically attempt login when applet loads 
               OPTIONAL - values: [true|false] - default: false
               Ex. <param name="autoLogin" value="true">
               NOTE - if true then at least the userName parameter must
                        also be used and valued.

userName       user name to be placed in the "Handle" input field.
               OPTIONAL - default: blank - limit: 8 characters
               Ex. <param name="userName" value="joe">
               NOTE:  REQUIRED if autoLogin is true

userPass       user's password to be placed in the "Password" input field.
               OPTIONAL - default: blank - limits: 20 characters
               Ex. <param name="userPass" value="j6l3B4t">
               NOTE:  REQUIRED if autoLogin is true AND this user
                      has a user id and password for the room

userEmail      user's email address to be placed in the "Email" input field.
               OPTIONAL - default: blank - limit: 128 characters
               Ex. <param name="userEmail" value="[e-mail]">

userURL        user's URL to be placed in the "URL" input field.
               OPTIONAL - default: blank - limit: 128 characters
               Ex. <param name="userURL" value="http://www.hav.com/">

entryDing       play an audio clip when a user enters the room
                OPTIONAL - values: [true|false] - default: true
                Ex. <param name="entryDing" value="false">

entryDingURL    URL of the audio file played when a user enters the room 
                FILE TYPE must be supported by java's getAudioClip(...)
                URL must be relative to the applet dir and <= 256 characters
                default: the entry.au in applet dir
                Ex. <param name="entryDingURL" value="sounds/yourEntryClip.au">

exitDing        play an audio clip when a user leaves the room
                OPTIONAL - values: [true|false] - default: true
                Ex. <param name="exitDing" value="false">

exitDingURL     URL of the audio file played when a user leaves the room 
                FILE TYPE must be supported by java's getAudioClip(...)
                URL must be relative to the applet dir and <= 256 characters
                default: the exit.au in applet dir
                Ex. <param name="exitDingURL" value="sounds/yourExitClip.au">

messageDingURL  URL of the audio file played when a message is popped up 
                FILE TYPE must be supported by java's getAudioClip(...)
                URL must be relative to the applet dir and <= 256 characters
                default: the oops.au in applet dir
                Ex. <param name="messageDingURL" value="sounds/yourOOPsClip.au">

cloneOnDingURL  URL of the audio file played when a user selects a clone point 
                FILE TYPE must be supported by java's getAudioClip(...)
                URL must be relative to the applet dir and <= 256 characters
                default: the cloneOn.au in applet dir
                Ex. <param name="cloneOnDingURL" value="sounds/yourCloneClip.au">



FEATURES
========

Some features of havChat are listed here.  Be sure to click the HELP
button on the applet to see a list of commands that can be used from
within the applet.


HELP text is customizable:
==========================

You can edit or totaly replace the help.txt file (in the applet dir)
with your own help info - perhaps more suited to your user community.


Privilege Levels:
=================

Several privilege levels are defined.  Users may be granted one or more
privileges at various times.  The current privileges are:

	admin - can execute all commands - add, edit, delete users etc.
	moderator - controls who can speak in a MODERATED room
	speaker - a transient privilege that allows a chatter to speak
	          to all other chatters in a moderated room
	logger - can make a local log of the chat session
	ghost - can enter the room unseen by other chatters


Room States:
============

A room may be in one or more of various states at any given time.
Admins and Moderators can change room state at will using the "%room" 
command.

The current state pairs supported are:

	Open|Closed - when closed, only admins can log in.

	Public|Private - when public, anyone can log in 
	                 when Private, ONLY users with passwords can log in

		NOTE: users with assigned passwords must always use their
		      passwords to log in regardless of the room state

	Moderated|UNModerated - (see the next section for details)


Moderated Chats:
================

A chat room may be either MODERATED or UNMODERATED.  Admin and Moderator
users can change the room's state at will using the "%room" command.

When a room is moderated, then non-speakers can speak only to the 
moderator(s) in the room.  Speakers and Moderators can speak to all
chatters.  Moderators and admins can assign and revoke speaker privilege
for chatters as appropriate. 

Speaker privilege can be managed by using the %grant command OR using
the Moderator GUI (called by the "%moderate" command)


Emulating a Call Center:
========================

You can use havChat to emulate a call center.  The easiest way to
accomplish such a customer experience is to...

	1. put the room in MODERATED state.

	2. Make available a special applet page to the customer which
	   uses some of the optional applet parameters to restrict what
	   the customer can see (see the callcenter.htm example html page
	   in the web directory of this distribution).
	   
	   In this altered applet presentation, the customer will not be
	   asked for a password nor for a URL (he is allowed to enter his
	   email address) and, once logged in, he will not be able to see
	   a list of other users in the room - nor will he hear alerts when
	   anyone other than a MODERATOR enters.

	3. Call center staff should have either ADMIN or MODERATOR privilege
	   and will enter the room using a normal applet presentation (i.e. they
	   should be able to see the user list, etc.).

	4. By using the "%talkto", "%send" and/or "%tell" commands, moderators
	   (and Admin's) can now act like call center staff, working with each
	   customer individually and privately.


Private/Ignore:
===============

Users can use the Private/Ignore button to select which other chatters
they speak or listen to.  

An ignored user will not see your messages and you will not see their's.

If you add one or more chatters to Private, you will see only their 
messages - no one else's.  If they add YOU to their Private list, then
you will have formed a sort of Private room within the main room where
you see only each others' messages.

You can send messages to one or more selected users without using the
Private/Ignore lists.  This can be done using the "%send", "%tell" or
"%talkto" commands.

%send and %tell provide  ONE-TIME only private messaging.

%talkto stays in effect until you turn it off.

NOTE: in a Moderated room, the Moderator can use the %talkto command
      to effectively create a help-desk sort of caller queue sort of
      environment.


Whiteboard:
===========

The Full Version demo applet includes a shared whiteboard feature.

Anyone in the room can open a shared picture using the "%pic" command.
Pictures must reside on the webserver and cannot (yet) be sent from the
local machine.

Anyone can draw on shared pictures.  Tools are available under the
TOOLS menu item on the picture's frame.  In a moderated room, only speakers
can draw.

See the %pic command for more info.

More features and commands are listed toward the bottom of this document.


APPLET PARAMETERS:
==================

Applet presentation and function can be controled by use of any/all of the
following applet parameters:



host             host name where chat server is running 
                 REQUIRED
                 Ex. <param name="host" value="www.hav.com">

chatServerPort   port on which the chat server is running
                 OPTIONAL - default: 4333
                 Ex. <param name="port" value="4335">

handshakeTimeOut   message handshake timeout interval in seconds
                   OPTIONAL - default: 30 (seconds)
                   Ex. <param name="handshakeTimeOut" value="45">

logoURL	        URL of the logo file to use (relative to the applet dir)
 	            OPTIONAL - default: the logo.gif file in the applet dir 
	            Ex. <param name="logoURL" value="logos/logo1.gif">

helpURL         URL of the help text file (relative to the applet dir)
                OPTIONAL - default: the help.txt in applet dir
                Ex. <param name="helpURL" value="yourHelp.txt">

bgColor         applet bg color (Note 1)
                OPTIONAL - default: Black
                Ex. <param name="" value="">

fgColor         color of text in chat messages window (Note 1)
                OPTIONAL - default: Black
                Ex. <param name="" value="">

labelColor      login screen optional field label color (Note 1)
                OPTIONAL - default: Yellow (bright)
                Ex. <param name="" value="">

labelColorHi    login screen required field label color (Note 1)
                OPTIONAL - default: Green (bright)
                Ex. <param name="" value="">

entryDing       play an audio clip when a user enters the room
                OPTIONAL - values: [true|false] - default: true
                Ex. <param name="entryDing" value="false">

entryDingURL    URL of the audio file played when a user enters the room 
                FILE TYPE must be supported by java's getAudioClip(...)
                URL must be relative to the applet dir and <= 256 characters
                default: the entry.au in applet dir
                Ex. <param name="entryDingURL" value="sounds/yourEntryClip.au">

exitDing        play an audio clip when a user leaves the room
                OPTIONAL - values: [true|false] - default: true
                Ex. <param name="exitDing" value="false">

exitDingURL     URL of the audio file played when a user leaves the room 
                FILE TYPE must be supported by java's getAudioClip(...)
                URL must be relative to the applet dir and <= 256 characters
                default: the exit.au in applet dir
                Ex. <param name="exitDingURL" value="sounds/yourExitClip.au">

messageDingURL  URL of the audio file played when a message is popped up