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1. Overview 1.1 LANChat - a network chatting application 1.2 The distribution of LANChat 1.3 New versions 1.4 System requirements 1.5 Support and bug reporting 2. Installation of .zip SFX package 2.1 Manual installation 3. Using LANChat 3.1 Architecture 3.2 Main window 3.2.1 Chat Box 3.2.2 Edit Box 3.2.3 User List 3.3 Buttons reference 3.3.1 Credits button 3.3.2 Topic button 3.3.3 Setup button 3.3.4 Minimize 3.3.5 Away Yes/No 3.3.6 Mute Yes/No 3.3.7 Users 3.3.8 Mother-attack ! 3.3.9 Vigilant 3.3.10 Chatroom 3.3.11 N/F switch 3.3.12 Always On Top switch 3.3.13 TV Mode 3.4 Away mode 3.5 Mute button and vigilant mode 3.6 Public and private chat 3.7 Topic 3.8 TV Mode 3.9 Ignoration 3.10 File transfer 3.11 Time outs and resurrections |
4. Dialogs reference 4.1 Setup dialog 4.1.1 Nickname 4.1.2 Color 4.1.3 Female 4.1.4 Logging 4.1.5 Language 4.1.6 Bring... 4.1.7 Use soundcard 4.1.8 Show time in chat window 4.1.9 Show advanced queries 4.1.10 Show full hours 4.1.11 Auto-away 4.1.12 Show Pop-Ups 4.1.13 Show nicks 4.1.14 Shortcuts 4.1.15 Skin 4.1.16 Notify list 4.2 Topic (Session) dialog 4.3 Users dialog 4.4 Private-chat window 4.5 Chatroom dialog 5. Minimized features 5.1 Auto-run minimized 5.2 System tray icons 6. Customization 6.1 Event sound files 6.2 Custom sound files 6.3 Custom skin files 6.4 Custom plugin (.dll) libraries 7. Chatrooms 8. Commands 9. Final words 9.1 Feedback 9.2 About the author |
1. Overview
1.1 LANChat Pro - a network chatting application
LANChat Pro is a local area network chatting program. It allows you to chat with your friends in a very user-friendly environment. It allows every user to have his own color, you can send pop-ups, private messages and many more...
1.2 The distribution of LANChat
LANChat is distributed on the terms of the License version 1.0. Please read it carefully before downloading and/or using LANChat. As LANChat is free software you may distribute it freely and even change its source code, but you have to remember that 'free' is not 'public domain'. Also, if you want to use LANChat as a commercial-application (in your internet cafe or other commercial institution) YOU MUST contact me first (my e-mail is written on the top of this document).
1.3 New versions
You can always get the new version at these sites:
http://www.republika.pl/lanchat - LANChat Homepage
http://www.lanchat.topnet.pl - only a re-direct to the previous site
http://lanchat.cjb.net - another re-direct
LANChat updates are sometimes very often (2-3 times a week) and sometimes not... (2-3 months). It depends on ideas, users activity and bugs :)1.4 System requirements
To run LANChat Pro you require:
- Windows 95OSR2/98/98SE/2000
- a network card (any type)
- Local Area Network (you can run on a single machine but what for ?)
- TCP/IP protocol in your network (standard these days)To enjoy LANChat you require:
- Windows 98/98SE/NT4/2000
- enough RAM for Windows 98 to run smooth
- 800x600 15/16bit color graphics card
- soundcard
- network card, network, TCP/IP, ...1.5 Support and bug reporting
LANChat Pro support is all done by email, please send e-mails to lanchat@poczta.onet.pl with your questions and bug reports.
2. Installation of the package
2.1 Manual installation
All you have to do is run downloaded .exe file, it will open a WinZip SFX dialog, then extract it to "C:\Program Files\LANChat" (recommended !), find the file after instalation and run. You can enable autorun in options then.
That's all.
3. Using LANChat
3.1 Architecture
I'm sure you've seen IRC (who didn't ? :) LANChat is rather different from that chat network. The main difference is that you don't require a server in your network (local network, LANChat does not work on the Internet). All users are equal, there are no better and worse users, operators and bots, no things like that. You can't be kicked by any user, you can always change the topic, you can't be banned or anything. Remember about the C Class IP addressing - if you want to use LANChat in other class you have to force the IP number using setup dialog.
3.2 Main window
The main window consists of these elements:
- Chat Box (the biggest one), all private conversation is there
- Edit Box (small on the bottom), you enter your quotes there
- User List (right-top), list of active users
- little light on the right of the Chat Box - it flashes while data is transmitted over the network
- 2 switches and a TV button switch under the little light
- 10 large buttons on the right3.2.1 Chat Box
Private conversation is stored in this window, you can scroll it when the text doesn't fit (only vertically), some system messages are also there. It's a Rich Edit box, so the text there can be multi color, underlined, bold and different-font. See the Setup Dialog reference for details.
3.2.2 Edit Box
You enter your text here, it can be a 'to-say' quote or a system command (see commands reference for details). You can paste here text from clipboard (using Ctrl+V) but only single-lined and up to 200 characters. Pressing up-arrow brings previous text and pressing Alt+F1..F3 gives shortcuts.
3.2.3 User List
Here are the users with an icon on the left determining whether the user is present or not (see away mode reference for details). You can scroll this box when users don't fit vertically. When a user's nick is very long it's shorted with "..." characters. Clicking right mouse button on a user displays a pop-up menu with two options (show window and send pop-up).
3.3 Buttons reference
Ten buttons:
- Credits (F2)
- Topic (Session) (F3)
- Setup (F4)
- Minimize (F5)
- Away Yes/No (F6)
- Mute Yes/No (F7)
- Users (F8)
- Mother-Attack ! (F9)
- Vigilant Yes/No
- Chatroom
3.3.1 Credits button
Displays Credits Dialog.
3.3.2 Topic button
Displays Topic (Session) Dialog.
3.3.3 Setup button
Displays Setup Dialog.
3.3.4 Minimize
Pushes LANChat down to the system tray.
3.3.5 Away Yes/No
Indicates your mode (see away reference for details).
3.3.6 Mute Yes/No
Enables and disables sound.
3.3.7 Users
Displays Users Dialog.
3.3.8 Mother Attack
Clears Chat Window and sends an alert to your friends.
3.3.9 Vigilant
Enables/disables vigilant mode.
3.3.10 Chatroom
Displays Chatroom Dialog.
3.3.11 N/F switch
(N)ormal or (F)rozen state of the vertical scroll.
3.3.12 Always On Top switch
Enables and disables Always-Stay-On-Top (the two rectangles).
3.3.13 TV Mode
Enables TV mode. See TV mode reference.
3.4 Away mode
In LANChat you can be present or away. The first mode means that you are free to chat with any users, you are sitting by the computer and not doing very important things. Away mode indicates that you are not by the computer, or you are very busy doing something. When you are going away (by clicking Away Button or selecting Away option in the System-Tray Pop-Up menu) you should write a reason why you are doing this. After doing it, the icon on the left of your nick in the User List box will change (depending on your skin file) and when anybody clicks left mouse button on your Nick your away message (with time appended to it) will be shown to him. To return from being away just click the button again. You can't write messages while you're away, and icons in system-tray are changed.
3.5 Mute button and vigilant mode
When you are away and your sound is still on, depending on the options in the Setup Dialog you can still receive Pop-Ups and private messages. To enable mode DND (Do Not Disturb) you have to click both Mute and Away buttons.
When Vigilant mode is on (bell marked with '!') every message causes LANChat Pro to be set to front and/or to flash the taskbar. Nice when you are under fullscreen console or other fullscreen mode.3.6 Public and private chat
There are two types of chat in LANChat: public and private. On the public channel you are talking to all users, and your messages can logged. When you are talking privately you are talking only to your one friend and your messages can't be logged (they can be copied to the clipboard.... but you can't help that). Speaking privately is very safe because of different encryption method (anti-sniffing). To enable private chat you can double-click on a user in the user list, or click right button on him and then select 'Show window' or enter a "/msg user" in the chat-box (a system command).
3.7 Topic
Every conversation should have its topic. To set (or change it) hit the Topic (Session) button and change it there, or type "/topic new-topic" system command. The topic is shown in LANChat's window bar.
3.8 TV Mode
While in TV Mode (switch to using the TV button near the chatbox) LANChat Pro loads the skin from \Skin_TV directory (not \Skin as usual) and changes boxes' backgrounds. It was designed to run with DirectDraw from DirectX package (tested on DX5, DX6 and DX6.1) and uses 255/0/255 color to simulate transparency (that's why the skin is so ugly). Most TV cards work well with this color, however there are some (like FlyVideo) which do not :( The use of LANChat Pro's TV Mode should do like this - enable Always On Top (the lighter rectangle over the darker one), then switch to TV Mode, run your TV Viewing application and enter fullscreen with it. LANChat should be shown on top of it transparently. Press TV Mode button again to return to standard mode.
3.9 Ignoration
Ignoration allows you to ignore nasty LANChat users. It can be enabled using user context menu (right mouse button on user). There are two types of ignoration: standard and complete. Options of the first mode can be set with Misc II page in the Setup Dialog. Go there for details. Complete ignoration causes LANChat not to receive any messages from specified user, but he may receive our messages (what can be stopped only with using chatrooms).
3.10 File transfer
This is still an experimental feature, but it works fine. It allows you to exchange files (now only one by one) with other users. To send a file click right mouse button on an user and select 'Send file'. You will be prompted for the file name. Then you will have to wait for the authorization (if your destination really wants the file) and after that the data will be sent. When the transfer is finished you and your party will be informed about that fact. File transfer is done by reliable TCP/IP protocol but now it does not support any emergency cases (e.g. connection breakdown) and may hang very often. In options you can set the directory for received files (please remember to do that !).
3.11 Time outs and resurrections
Every running LANChat Pro sends alive messages (sth like "I'm OK") in 5 second intervals. Other LANChats notice this message. When something happens to that computer (network down, hangup or something like that) it stops transmitting alive messages. After 15 seconds (default) of silence the user has a time-out: he disappeares from the users list etc. But sometimes it so happens that the computer is blocked, for example, 30 seconds and then works fine - - then the user resurrects and comes back to normal. For various reasons it is recommended to alter the time-out detection time (default is 15 seconds) to your network - when users often time-out and resurrect just use the Timeout interval option in LANChat to a greater value (multiply by 5 to get time in seconds, e.g. 3 equals 15 seconds).
4. Dialogs
4.1 Setup Dialog
Your options are stored in the system registry (different for each user). Here is the reference of options in the Setup Dialog and its Sub-Dialogs.
4.1.1 Nickname
Everybody knows that :), it can be 3-19 characters long.
4.1.2 Color
Yes, this is your color. You can set its RGB values or choose one predefine (using "..." button). The box on the right is a real-time test of your color.
4.1.3 Female
Mark this if you're female. It changes messages in the Polish version.
4.1.4 Logging
LANChat can write all private messages to log-files yyyymmdd.log. You can disable this if you want or set another directory (or subdirectory) for them. In LANChat Pro you can also log everything as HTML files (achieves colors and formatting). PopUps are logged as RTF files to LogDir\PopUps directory.
4.1.5 Language
LANChat is a two-language program: choose yours.
4.1.6 Bring private window to front
When a users sends you a private message and you have his private-window closed it automatically goes to the front.
4.1.7 Use soundcard
Plays wave files from '\sounds' and '\custom' directories, see sounds reference.
4.1.8 Show time in chat window
Shows messages' time after sender's nick.
4.1.9 Show advanced queries
Notices when a users checks your status or away message.
4.1.10 Show full hours
Notices when it's a full hour (beware not to chat too long :).
4.1.11 Auto-away
Makes you 'away' after X minutes of inactivity (0 disables).
4.1.12 Show Pop-Up-s
Indicates when you want to receive Pop-Up messages.
4.1.13 Show nicks
You can disable/enable displaying nicks (only color dependent) to save windows' space. Nick are logged normally.
4.1.14 Shortcuts
You can set here 3 keyboard shortcuts under Alt+F1..3 When you append a @ character at the end of one, you won't need to press enter (auto-send).
4.1.14 Font
Set your favorite font (don't depend on Windows default).
4.1.15 Skin
Does nothing :)
4.1.16 Notify list
When a message contains any of this words it will be underlined or a sound will be played from the '\custom' directory (if set).
4.2 Topic (Session) dialog
You can see some statistics here and change the topic. No reference required :)
4.3 Users dialog
Displays detailed user information.
4.4 Private-chat windows
It consists of private-chat-box, edit-box and one button (Pop-Up).
4.5 Chatroom dialog
This dialog allows you to maintain chatrooms - create, destroy and add/remove users. You can have only 1 chatroom and it appears as [yournick] on the users list.
5. Minimized features
5.1 Auto-run minimized
You can set this option to run LANChat Pro always with Windows and minimized.
5.1 System tray icons
There are 6 system tray icons:
- normal
- normal - away (when you are away)
- notify (a light-red, indicates that LANChat contains text you didn't read)
- notify - away (dark-red, same as above only when you are away)
- normal - vigilant
- normal - away - vigilant
When LANChat is minimized and Mute is off, it beeps on every incoming message using the PC Speaker and/or plays wave files from '\sounds' and '\custom' directories. Left-clicking on LANChat icon brings its window back and right-clicking shows a Pop-Up menu. Using the menu you can restore LANChat window, go away, disable sound or launch some dialogs.
6. Customization
6.1 Event sound files
You can substitute zero-length wave files from the '\sounds' directory if you want LANChat to play a sound when an event occurs. The events specification is stored in the '\sounds\sounds.txt' file. Go there and have a look.
6.2 Custom sound files
You can also assign your own sound files (from '\custom') directory to specific words using Setup Dialog -> Notify. They will be played if the assigned word occurs in a message.
6.3 Custom skin files
Yes, from version 4.2 LANChat supports custom graphic files. They are stored in the '\skin' directory and you are free to change them and/or create yours. See '\skin\skins.txt' file for more details on creating your own skin files.
6.4 Custom plugin (.dll) libraries
LANChat Pro allows you to write plugins as .dll files (the example of such plugin is the Virtual Barman supplied with LCProv20). Download Plugin Tutorial if you want to write your own plugins. You'll find everything there.
7. Chatrooms
Every user can create its own chatroom (only one). Use the chatroom dialog to maintain chatrooms (create, delete, add/remove users). It's possible to send a popup to all users in a chatroom - it appears just like another user in the list.
8. Commands
Enter /help for commands summary in the LANChat window.
9. Final words
9.1 Feedback
Please remember that downloading LANChat is free. No charge is taken for it and you can even get the sources. When you use LANChat, you use a program which cost me hundreds of hours of hard work developing it. I don't want to make LANChat shareware and take money for it because I understand that many people can't afford to register a good quality shareware program. So I don't make LANChat users pay for using it, but if you (or all users of your network) can afford to send me a small donation I would be very glad. LANChat is not a commercial product and it will never be. If you would like to appreciate my hard work developing LANChat please send a small donation (anything will do) to the following address. It's really hard to find such a good program for free and I would like LANChat users to understand and appreciate it. Thank you. I'll repay your service.
Piotr Kowalski
os. Pulanki 46/143
27-400 Ostrowiec Swietokrzyski
POLAND
phone. +48 41 2665838
e-mail: goro@vc.pl
9.2 About the author
My name is Piotr "GORO" Kowalski (funny, eh ?) and I'm from Poland. I started writing programs in BASIC on my ATARI 65 XE when I was 9. Then I had other computers and now I have a PC. I write programs in C/C++ for DOS and Windows environments. If you're interested in cooperation please write. My private e-mail is shown above.
End of LANChat Pro documentation.