Chat Applet with Specific Features Needed...

[SSTwinrova]

I am the host of my own online games (http://gcsonlinegaming.tripod.com/) and I need a chat applet for my players to communicate in real time with each other. However, I do not want the players to be able to communicate with each other outside of the message boards and the chat room. On my MB, I have a Private Messaging feature to allow for private conversations, but I can still monitor them. However, I cannot find a chat applet that suits my needs correctly. These are the features I am looking for:

• NO Private Messaging Allowed (In order to keep them from exchanging e-mail addresses, IM names, etc.)
• Admin-Only Registration (Players will need a username and password, but they will not be able to create accounts, they will be set up beforehand)
• Chat Logging (It is too much of a pain to keep putting the chat up and taking the chat down on the site (it is a Tripod site), so a log would be nice so I could keep track of what was said (either in an HTML file or a text file))
• Voice Control (Admin can control who can and cannot speak (only necessary when he is present in the room))
• Multiple Rooms/Password Protected Rooms (This isn't really necessary, it would just be a nice thing to have so that players could have private conversations from other players, and more than one could be occuring at a time

I can probably guess that an applet doesn't exist that does all of this, so I was wondering how hard it would be to code something like this. I currently have almost no knowledge of programming, but I am learning C++ this year in school (if that would help me at all). Thanks for any advice you can give me.

-Cale Scott
Co-founder, Webmaster - GCS Online Gaming

[godcomplex]

This sounds like something that you are either going to have to write or you are going to have to have someone write. I don't think that you are going to be able to find a chat applet out there that meets all of your needs. While your C++ experience may help you a little, it is probably going to be a good idea to start learning java. If you are interested in outsourcing this work to someone else, I could recommend a couple of people that could have this done for you in a very short amount of time.

-gc

[SSTwinrova]

I knew that I would probably have to write this myself, so I asked my C++ teacher (also the Java teacher at our school), what she would recommend for me to start out with. She said that she would get me a copy of the Java text that is used for the class so I could begin to look over that. At least that's a start. And I wouldn't mind about the outsourcing idea (in fact I even thought about it for a while), but I am only 15 years old and don't have a way to pay anyone for their work. And for some reason I doubt that there's a place where people would make custom java applets for free .

[godcomplex]

Well then, this is quite a task for you to undertake. Writing a chat client when you have no previous experience in java will be pretty difficult. In fact, writing a chat client at all can be pretty difficult. If you need any help regarding your work in this area I would be happy to look over some code for you, or lend a hand where needed. I will try to get a hold of you on AIM if I ever see you pop on and I will exchange some contact info with you.

-gc

[rmlc]

some chat egs,

http://www.cs.utk.edu/~puening/chatjava.html
http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/...8/index2a.html
http://hotwired.lycos.com/webmonkey/...tw=programming
http://java.oreilly.com/bite-size/java_0299.html
http://www.fawcette.com/javapro/2001...an/default.asp
http://www.onjava.com/pub/a/onjava/e...ex.html?page=2
http://www.onjava.com/lpt/a//onjava/...ch2/index.html
http://www.ejbfactory.com/technology...less5chap2.htm
http://www.fawcette.com/javapro/2001...an/default.asp
http://www-106.ibm.com/developerwork...ml?t=gr,p=Jxta
http://chattutorial.jxta.org/
http://developer.java.sun.com/develo...Articles/peer/
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...147013-1707008