Scripts for Educators Presents:

Chat-N-Time

A simple real-time chat script

Contents:

Program Summary
Who's Using Chat-N-Time?
System Requirements
Files Needed

Program Summary:

Chat-N-Time is a simple Perl real-time chat cgi for the web. It lets you hold real-time conversations on a web page. User's log in, and then can type what they'd like to say into a text box, and click a button. The chat window refreshes itself every 10 seconds, so that others looking at the page will be able to see the new addition to the conversation. This program requires the use of frames, though, so non-frame browsers won't be able to use it. Works with Internet Explorer v3.0+ and Netscape 3.0 +. While it also makes use of a META "Refresh" tag, users who can use frames but not META tags can refresh their own screens by clicking another button.

(Yes, I know, this would be better with Java, but hey -- what do you expect for free? )

There is a working version online for you to play with.


Who's Using Chat-N-Time?:

Well, it's only been out for a week or so, so there's only one other place using it, I think:

Treasure Coast Connection


System Requirements:

The machine where your script will be run should be a Unix or Windows NT with Perl 5.000 or higher. It shouldn't matter whether the web server is Netscape or NCSA, and it shouldn't matter what browser the user has as long as it supports frames, forms and the POST method.

You must be able to execute cgi programs on your web server. If you're not sure whether you have permission to do this, or are not sure how to configure the files, please ask your system administrator. (Usually "root@your.machine.name." For example, if your email address is 'bob@mysite.com' then you can often reach your system administrator at 'root@mysite.com'. AOL, CompuServe, and Prodigy users should look for "technical support" or "member services.")


Files Needed:

The following files are required. You may download the package for Unix in a gzipped tar file . If you have Netscape or Internet Explorer, and you want to download this, try holding down the "shift" key while you click on the link. This should give you the option to download the file.

Unix: Type "gunzip chatntime.tar.gz" then type "tar -xvf chatntime.tar" to uncompress and expand the package.



The following files should be included with this distribution:

chatntime.cgi
the actual program that processes the data from the form.
chatntime.html
The HTML file containing the frame source for the chat room.
chatntime.rules.html
the HTML page that contains rules and/or instructions for users of the chat room. This is displayed in the lower frame of "chatntime.html" at first.
cgi-lib.pl
cgi-lib.pl is a library of parsing routines for web cgis. It is copyright Steven Brenner and can be found at http://cgi-lib.stanford.edu/cgi-lib/
README.chatntime
contains information on how to get started using the program. READ THIS before you get started!
chatntime.info.html
This file


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This page copyright © 1996, Kristina L. Pfaff-Harris. All rights reserved.