How do I connect this chat program to two computers?

Question

So I have been modifying the chat program found here: http://www.dreamincode.net/forums/topic/259777-a-simple-chat-program-with-clientserver-gui-optional/ and I am at the point where I am ready to use it between twp pc's.

The problem is, I do not know enough about server-client relationships to set it up. Is there anything missing in the code for this to work? I just want to link two laptops to chat with one another. Is there any server softare I need to run or something?

I tried openfire but couldn't figure out how to link it, every port number I tried (listed in the admin page) didn't work. This is my first attempt at anything like this and probably beyond my current level of understanding which is why I would greatly appreciate a straightforward solution.

I chose this becaue I needed to do a lot of customization to the code so please use the ones on the page above as a reference. I would post the code here but there are 5 classes and they are neatly displayed on that page already with a explanation of each.

Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

Before you start trying to incorporate external libraries or functions, understand the code. Play around with it a little. See what does what and if you change this setting or that what will happen. Bare in mind that the code is separated into 2 applications:

• Client - [ClientUI + Client + ChatMessage]
• Server - [ServerUI + Server + ChatMessage]

Check that the application works on a single machine. So keep the server class the same and simply edit the client class so that it points to the current machine.

Run both the server and the client (from the example) on the same machine and when the client asks for the server location input 127.0.0.1 then put the port number you gave for the ServerSocket in Server. This should point to your machine and if this works but not when using 2 separate machines check your firewall settings.