Question

I am not very familiar with server stuff I just know C# so I am not very familiar with the code below. I am trying to make a server chat the kind that will allow people on a server to chat with each other. I am talking about the kind of server you have at schools or workplaces. I am not sure though how to do this or how to use the below code IF it accomplishes this.

Overal what I am trying to accomplish is a chat among a group of people on the same server but am having great difficulty because I don’t know a lot of server things.

using System;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Net;
using System.Net.Sockets;
using System.Text;
using System.Threading;
using System.Windows.Forms;

public class MulticastChat : Form
{
   TextBox newText;
   ListBox results;
   Socket sock;
   Thread receiver;
   IPEndPoint multiep = new IPEndPoint(IPAddress.Parse("224.100.0.1"), 9050);

   public MulticastChat()
   {
      Text = "Multicast Chat Program";
      Size = new Size(400, 380);

      Label label1 = new Label();
      label1.Parent = this;
      label1.Text = "Enter text string:";
      label1.AutoSize = true;
      label1.Location = new Point(10, 30);

      newText = new TextBox();
      newText.Parent = this;
      newText.Size = new Size(200, 2 * Font.Height);
      newText.Location = new Point(10, 55);

      results = new ListBox();
      results.Parent = this;
      results.Location = new Point(10, 85);
      results.Size = new Size(360, 18 * Font.Height);

      Button sendit = new Button();
      sendit.Parent = this;
      sendit.Text = "Send";
      sendit.Location = new Point(220,52);
      sendit.Size = new Size(5 * Font.Height, 2 * Font.Height);
      sendit.Click += new EventHandler(ButtonSendOnClick);

      Button closeit = new Button();
      closeit.Parent = this;
      closeit.Text = "Close";
      closeit.Location = new Point(290, 52);
      closeit.Size = new Size(5 * Font.Height, 2 * Font.Height);
      closeit.Click += new EventHandler(ButtonCloseOnClick);

      sock = new Socket(AddressFamily.InterNetwork, SocketType.Dgram, ProtocolType.Udp);
      IPEndPoint iep = new IPEndPoint(IPAddress.Any, 9050);
      sock.Bind(iep);
      sock.SetSocketOption(SocketOptionLevel.IP, SocketOptionName.AddMembership, new MulticastOption(IPAddress.Parse("224.100.0.1")));
      receiver = new Thread(new ThreadStart(packetReceive));
      receiver.IsBackground = true;
      receiver.Start();
   }

   void ButtonSendOnClick(object obj, EventArgs ea)
   {
      byte[] message = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(newText.Text);
      newText.Clear();
      sock.SendTo(message, SocketFlags.None, multiep);
   }

   void ButtonCloseOnClick(object obj, EventArgs ea)
   {
      receiver.Abort();
      sock.Close();
      Close();
   }

   void packetReceive()
   {
      EndPoint ep = (EndPoint)multiep;
      byte[] data = new byte[1024];
      string stringData;
      int recv;
      while (true)
      {
         recv = sock.ReceiveFrom(data, ref ep);
         stringData = Encoding.ASCII.GetString(data, 0, recv);
         results.Items.Add("from " + ep.ToString() + ":  " + stringData);
      }
   }

   public static void Main()
   {
      Application.Run(new MulticastChat());
   }
}

Answer 1

Although it does look like the code above at least achieved something similar to what you’re asking I believe you’ll be better off trying to clarify exactly what you need.

For instance why not just use a simple form which submits the chat text to the server, and displays to all users? You would store each ‘chat’ into a database and show them all on a page ordered by time. This could be set up to automatically poll the server at short intervals (or even long poll) and it would appear to users that they are chatting to each other.

Although not the most elaborate solution, I would say it appears to certainly be in reach for you.