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        riddles >> general problem-solving / chatting / whatever >> help develop messenger (javA)
        
(Message started by: priya_singhal on Nov 9^th, 2010, 3:59am)

Title: help develop messenger (javA)
Post by priya_singhal on Nov 9^th, 2010, 3:59am

Hey guys..

I want to code a messenger client that not only we used for chatting but will also work as FTP client (file transfer protocol). Also an extension of the messenger code a will be such that : during a practical teacher will be able to draw algorithms flow charts on one screen that will be immediately transferred to the screens of all the students attending the practicals.
We will also try to support question-answering system where-in a student can ask question on the screen itself and teacher can answer it again on the screen, along with a feature : saving this entire session and re-playability.

The irony with me is, I dont know how to start and from where?

please help. 8) ???

Title: Re: help develop messenger (javA)
Post by towr on Nov 9^th, 2010, 7:54am

Do you want a peer to peer system (clients talk to each other), or will you use a central server (clients talk to server, server relays messages/files etc)?

In principle, once you have a connection, the communication part shouldn't be too hard, because every one of these things is just passing messages, and telling the client what type of message it is (chat, file, drawing, question).
For replayability you could log the whole communication stream; so perhaps having everything go through a server would be best.
After that you can handle each part separately from the rest. Chat would be simplest, because you just need to display the message, without doing anything with it.
For file transfer you need to work with the OS, and manage permissions and IO.
For screen drawings you need to decide what sort of canvas to use and how to transmit drawings. SVG (vector graphics) might work, because you can just transmit every element as it's drawn/modified, and delete them if needed. I don't know if Java has a standard SVG library though; but it would probably beat having to transmit a bitmap every second or more.
Question/answering system is similar to chat, but you need to manage how/which questions go to the board (so wiseguys don't use it to broadcast rude jokes)

Title: Re: help develop messenger (javA)
Post by priya_singhal on Nov 11^th, 2010, 1:11am

thanks it will help a lot... :) :D