What is Jicra? -------------- The name Jicra comes from words "Java IRC Chat Room Applet" and it was made for the Majik Project (http://www.majik3d.org/) as the project wanted to lessen the curve needed for the new users to participate our discussions in the IRC. Without such an applet they would have needed to download an IRC client, find a right server and join the channel. A lot of work to do if just wanting to say hello. Jicra is a very simple IRC client Java applet that includes only minimal functionatily and doesn't try to look like an IRC client in any way. It just tries to be a chat room limited to one channel without any fancy commands. This way the applet is very light-weight and doesn't require the user to learn anything. See http://www.majik3d.org/~namhas/jicra/ for the homepage. Installation ------------ To install just type "make clean && make" or alternatively "javac *.java" or use pre-compiled class files and then customise one of the .html-files to suit your needs. There is a version for PHP and for JavaScript, along with the index-plain.html, which doesn't use scripting and thus is suitable only for testing or for a chat room that allows only anonymous connections. One caveat with this applet is that the Java does allow connecting only local services so that's why there is no variable to et the IRC server's address. You need to be a root at your server and set the local port 6667 (or whatever you want) to be forwarded to the IRC server you want to use, if you're not going to set up a local IRC server. You can also use program like aproxy, tircproxy or similar to forward the connection or then use the ForwardServer Java Port Forwarder that comes along with this package. It handles the forwarding and it may be possible to use without root privileges. On Linux system you would set up the port forwarding using ForwardServer like this, assuming that you have JDK installed and you have compiled the .java files or you use the supplied pre-compiled binaries. $ java ForwardServer irc.stealth.net 6667 6667 That would forward local port 6667 to irc.stealth.net's port 6667. Yes, there is a way in Java to avoid this problem but it would fire up a dialog for the user asking whether the user wants to grant the applet a "high security risk" feature that would allow the applet to connect the outside world, and to make that happen, it would require me to have a Developer Certificate which costs just too much money. I will not buy one for a freely available program. If you for some reason can't set up local IRC server or use port forwarding, then I suggest you to visit http://www.jpilot.com for a shareware Java chat room. Release history --------------- 1.0.0 - The first public release. 1.0.1 - Added support for ACTION, works by placing '*' to the beginning and the end of a message. - Disabled sending messages starting with a '/' to prevent people confusing Jicra with a real IRC client. - Added support for 465 error reply, ERR_YOUREBANNEDCREEP. 1.1.0 - The automatic scrolling in the text window should work now. - Added Java Port Forwarder, ForwardServer. - Added port parameter. - Various bugs has been fixed. - Added JavaScript version of login-script for those without PHP. 1.2.0 - Nick change bug fixed by Kalani Sanders. - Better checking for nickname restrictions. - Jicra now knows how to display NOTICE's. - Support for server's ERROR command. - Added user parameter. 1.2.1 - If a NOTICE message was sent by a server, Jicra crashed. Applied a patch from Kalani Sanders which fixed this. 1.2.2 - Jicra crashed on KICK. No longer. - Allowed the following _OPTIONAL_ applet params: foreground - 6 digit hex code for the foreground color background - 6 digit hex code for the background color font_size - size of font (points) font_name - name of font (Monospaced, Sherif, SansSerif, ?Others?) quiet - suppress ALL '***' notifications (except Private Message selection), and all errors. - Removed internal references to height and width since Mac Internet Exporer used them above the