bsodium / ipvchat

A C++ Linux chat client-server infrastructure

IpvChat

Structure

This project is split in two environments, and consequently two folders: client and server. Both environments are configured with Cmake, and will work out of the box on any linux distribution (windows and macOS untested) with an up-to-date Cmake installation.

Usage

Client

Start the client by running {projectRoot}/client/build/client with no arguments, assuming the app is already built. This will open a command prompt with whom you can interact to initiate client-side actions.

Type in commands to get a list of all available commands and their description. When it comes to our use-case, we won't need anything other than the following four directives:

test - Test connection to server
connect - Connect to server
disconnect - Disconnect from server
login - Login to server
join - Join a channel

Here are some examples of usage:

test 127.0.0.1 8080 // test <ip> <port>
connect 127.0.0.1 8080 // connect <ip> <port>
login user // login <username>
join general // join <channel>
disconnect // disconnect from the server you are currently connected to 

Server

Once you fully understand how the client works, you'll need to get the server up and running. Again, assuming it is already built, run {projectRoot}/server/build/server <ip> <port> , <ip> and <port> being the IP address and port number you want your server to be reachable at.

You should see a short log message similar to the one below if everything did start properly:

Server started on XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX:XXXX

In case of failure, try another port, it's often caused by another application already using it.

Requests

Currently, the server does not support creating new channels, or users on the fly. However, this would be pretty easy to implement with the current architecture.

Here is again an example of usage:

ClientConsole> connect 127.0.0.1 8080
Connection successful
127.0.0.1:8080> login J0hn
Logged in as J0hn
[email protected]:8080> join general
J0hn: Hey
Response: success OK