Chat Application for Remote Message Exchange

Project Overview

This project is a chat application that enables remote message exchange among peers using TCP sockets. The application integrates both client-side and server-side functionalities within a single program. It supports multiple simultaneous connections and provides a UNIX shell-like interface with the following commands:

• help: Display the list of available commands.
• myip: Show your machine’s IP address.
• myport: Show the port on which your program is listening.
• connect <destination> <port>: Establish a TCP connection to another peer.
• list: Display a numbered list of all active connections.
• terminate <connection id>: Terminate the specified connection.
• send <connection id> <message>: Send a message (up to 100 characters) to a peer.
• exit: Close all connections and exit the application.

Member Contributions

• Timothy Eng:

  • Developed the networking module using Java’s socket programming.
  • Implemented the server thread for accepting incoming connections.
  • Conducted unit testing for the connection management module.

• Zaid Alabwaini:

  • Designed and implemented the command-line interface (CLI).
  • Handled command parsing and integration with the networking component.
  • Coordinated debugging sessions and contributed to error handling improvements.

Prerequisites

• Java Development Kit (JDK) 8 or above:
  Download from Oracle JDK or OpenJDK.
• Terminal/Command Prompt:
  Needed for compiling and running the application.

Building the Program

Using the Terminal

1. Open the terminal and navigate to the directory containing the Chat.java file.
2. Compile the program by running: This command creates the compiled Chat.class file.

cd /Users/tim/Desktop/Projects/COMP429-PA1 javac -d bin Chat.java java -cp bin Chat 4322,4323,4324

Using Visual Studio Code

1. Open the project folder in VSCode.
2. Ensure the Java extension is installed.
3. You can compile the program either using the built-in terminal (with the same javac Chat.java command) or by clicking the "Run" button provided by the extension.

Running the Application

Testing on a Single Machine

1. Open multiple terminal windows or tabs:
   Each instance of the application must run on a different port.

2. Start the application in each terminal:

• Terminal 1:

  java Chat 4322
  

• Terminal 2:

  java Chat 4323
  

• Terminal 3:

  java Chat 4324