Chat Server

10.1 Introduction - Winjab configuration for instant messaging and chat.

"Rainmail Server" includes a chat server using which you can chat with other users in your LAN/Intranet. To start using this facility, you need to install a Chat client. While there are many chat clients available, your default Intranet page includes Winjab a popular chat client.

WinJab is a popular Jabber client for Win32 systems such as Windows 95/98/NT/2000. Jabber is an XML-based, open-source platform for real-time communications, the first application of which is an instant messaging system.

10.1.Installation

You can download Winjab from your Intranet page. Once downloaded, run the downloaded executable by double-clicking the icon for it under Windows Explorer to install the software. The program will install under Program Files/WinJab.

10.2 Registering your account

Jabber is like email in that you need to set up an account with a service provider (in fact, your Jabber ID will have the same form as an email address), such as user @chat.carizen.com. When you first open WinJab, you will see a configuration screen.

1. Fill in the information for Server in the Server field. This will be the fully qualified name of your "Rainmail Server" (in this case chat.carizen.com).
   
2. Enter the Username (Rainmail Server account name) in the Username field.
   
3. Enter the Password in the Password field.
   
4. The Resource field helps Jabber know which instance of your Jabber account to send messages to (e.g., if you have Jabber installed on multiple computers), so you can put information about the location where you have WinJab installed (e.g., home, work, laptop) or the name of the program ("WinJab").
   
5. Click OK.

   

6. You ar now online.

   
   
   

10.3 Sending your first message

To send your first message,

1. Press F6 or select WinJab > Start Chat and you will see the following input box:

   
   

2. Enter uma@chat.carizen.com in the Enter Jabber ID input box and click on the OK button.

   

3. WinJab will show you an empty chat window:

   

4. Now type some text in the bottom pane of the window...

   
   
   

5. ... and press the Return or Enter key on your keyboard (or the Send button in the Jabber chat window). If  the other person is online, you will get an reply and you'll be participating in your first conversation in Jabber!
   
   
   

10.4 Adding contacts

You can add the addresses of users you frequently chat with in yoru contact list. This will not only help you to chat with them faster, but also help you find whether they are logged in at any point of time. To add an user to your contact list, you need to have the Chat ID of the user.

1. Select Roster > Add User or press Crtl-F and you will see this window:

   

2. The key is to fill out a complete Jabber JID, of the form user@server (in this case murali@chat.carizen.com).
   
3. Then you can put whatever you would like for Nickname field (in this case murali).
   
4. Add the user to a pre-defined Group if you want to ( in this case chennai) .
   

   
   

5. Click OK.
   
   
   

10.5 Subscribe Presence

To make it easy to know when a friend is available for chatting, Jabber enables you to subscribe to that person's "presence" (which can be offline, online, away, etc.). In order to subscribe, you must request a subscription and that person must approve your subscription. To protect the privacy of Jabber users, there must be a mutual agreement to see each other's presence, rather like a handshake in real life. Here's what happens:

1. You receive a request to subscribe to your presence:
   
   
   
   
2. If you want to accept, then click the Accept button, the other person will see a window like this (very similar to the one you just received)
   
3. The "handshake" is complete and you are both subscribed to each other's online presence. Now whenever your friend is online, you will see a yellow light-bulb icon next to their name in your roster. If they are online but have set their presence to "Away", you will see a red check-mark icon. And if they are offline, you will see a grey light-bulb icon
   

10.6 Chat Vs Message style

There are two ways to talk with people in Jabber: by sending single messages or by chatting in a threaded conversation. Most users prefer chatting to sending single messages, but WinJab enables you to do both.

1. Here's what a single message screen looks like:

   

2. And here's a chat screen:

   

3. You can configure your preference by pressing F4 or selecting WinJab > Preferences and clicking the Roster tab. Either way you will see the following screen:

   

4. In the Roster Dbl-Click Behavior area, select your preferred communications style ("Normal Msg" or "Chat Window"). Now when you double-click a user's name in your contact list or "roster", WinJab will automatically bring up your preferred window style. However, if you want to communicate in your non-preferred style for any reason, you can still do so by right-clicking the person's user name and choosing "Message" or "Chat".
   

10.7 Groupchat

To engage in a discussion with many people at once a.k.a. "groupchat". If your server of choice has the groupchat installed , you can quickly and easily join existing groupchats or even set up your own.

1. Just select WinJab > Join a Group or press F7 to get the window for joining a group:

   

2. Fill in the appropriate information for the group you want to join or start, your server of choice, and your desired nickname. You will see a window similar to the following:

   

3. Type your messages in the input box at the bottom and hit Return to send them to the group.

   
   

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