FAQ

What browser do I need?
What is that pop up window asking for "permission"?
How come I cannot connect?
Is that possible to get rid of the pop up window when the applet is first loaded?
Can I use my own logo on the applet?
Where can I get it and is it free?
Is future upgrade free of charge?
I need more help on configuring the applet, where can I find more examples or samples?
What is your license key policy?
I got a "Class Not Found" error when install the applet on my web site, what is the problem?
I am behind firewall, can I use jIRC to connect irc servers outside?
How come the Identd is not responding?
When connect to IRC server, applet give me "Security Exception" error, why is that? and how to fix it?
Can I use my own certificate to sign the applet?
Does jIRC have different language version?
How to display characters other than English?
Is that possible to ignore the join/leave message, MOTD, and other server messages?
How to use JavaScript to control and send command to applet?
Where to put my audio files and what format it supports?
Will jIRC support DCC file transfer and banner function in future?
Is there any limitation on how many users can log into a channel at the same time? How can I create a channel?
Which server to use?
What is IRC network anyway?
Any known problems?
Can you help us to create a customized jIRC applet?
Where to find more information?

What browser do I need?: Netscape4.08 or above and Internet Explorer4.0 or above.
AOL browser is also supported as it is essentially Internet Explorer.
Other browsers probably will fail unless they can bypass the applet security
sandbox. (It has been reported that on Mac platform the applet works properly only with; we suggest you use IE4.5 if you have Mac)

What is that pop up window asking for "permission"?: We sign the applet with Thawte digital certificate to by pass the Java
applet sandbox. You can safely say yes to this request. If you don't grant
these permissions, the applet will not function properly.

How come I cannot connect?

There are several possibilities.

You are using a very old version of IE or Netscape. Only IE4 or above and Netscape 4.08 or above is supported by jIRC applet.
When the popup window first appears and asks for granting permission, the user
denies the request. Without such permission, the applet will not be able to connect to
any IRC servers around the world. It can only connect to the host the applet was downloaded from.
Some IRC servers deny connection from some ISP domains( due to abuse or flooding coming from that domain). For example, some IRC servers do not allow AOL users to connect. And some IRC servers require you to have Identd installed and running on your computer (Identd is included in jIRC, and it is turn on by default). There are thousands of public IRC servers available, you can always find one that is friendly to your environment.
IE browser allow users to modify its Internet Security Setting, if you are
not using the default security setting and disable the support of signed applet,jIRC may not work properly. If this is the case, revert the IE security to default medium level.

Is that possible to get rid of the pop up window when the applet is first loaded?

This is only possible IF your jIRC applet is hosted on the same
machine as the IRC server you want to connect to.

If you are the system admin or webmaster who can put the IRC server and a web
server in a same machine, then you can do the following to remove the
popup security window:
Remove the line that says: <param name=CABBASE value="jirc_mss.cab">
Change the applet file name from jirc_nss.jar to jirc_pure.jar
e.g <applet archive="resoures.zip,jirc_pure.jar" code="Chat.class" >

The current restriction is due to Java Security sandbox; and for security
reason, if you cannot do the above, then users have to accept the permission
request popup window from IE or Netscape.

Can I use my own logo?: Yes! By default, jIRC applet use the image file IRCLogo.gif found in the
download package. You can simply replace it with your own logo.

We recommend the logo image size to be around 52 x 88.
Remember the image file must be in the same directory of the jar file.

Where can I get it and is it free?

You can download jIRC applet for free and install it in your web site. If you find it useful, please register it. Registration fee is only $US49.99.

Each web site you deploy jIRC applet on, requires a licese key. Starting
from version 2.42, jIRC applet will compare the applet host name and the
registered host name, so you will need license key for each web site you
installed your jIRC applet.

By registering the applet, you will be able to modify some of the wordings on the
applet and have access to some advance configurations later when available.

What is your license key policy?

You are required to obtain a license key for each web site you deploy the
applet to.

Starting from versoin 2.42, jIRC will also check your applet host name and
compare with license key's URL value, if they do not match, it will return
unregistered.

In general, we DO NOT provide service to change the data of your license key
once the key was sent out. Therefore, it is important for you to enter the
right information at first during registration.

If you register for http://www.mycompany.com/, your license key is ONLY good for the site of www.mycompany.com, no matter if you have host alias or virtual
host name running on the same machine or not.
Later on if you want to place the applet to chat.mycompany.com, you have to purchase a new license key just for chat.mycompany.com. No exception
Tips:
If you have or plan to have subdomain, it is recommended that you register for the top level domain name. e.g mycomany.com, instead of www.mycomany.com
In this way, you can deploy the applet everywhere under *.mycomany.com

Is future upgrade free of charge?: Absolutely, once you register, you are entitled for all future upgrade
releases, free of charge!

I need more help on configuring the applet, where can I find more examples or samples?

Several jIRC applet fans have put up some pages to help other users to
configure the applet. We appreciate their efforts and hope the following links
can give you some ideas.

WT-jIRC

Using some advance HTML and javascript, this tool will help you create some
nicely looking chat pages. May require some installations on your web site
GojIRC Front End!

Enhanced version of the WebT tool, plus a parameter builder.

I got a "Class Not Found" error when install the applet on my web site, what is the problem?: This is most likely the mistakes that users or webmasters make.

First, make sure the jirc.nss.jar and jirc_mss.cab files are located at the
right place. If you are using the chat*.html file from our download package,
you don't need to do anything at all. Once you unzip the jIRC.zip file,
everything will be located in the right places.

There are some other system level issues that causing this problem. Please
see here for details.

I am befind firewall, can I connect to IRC servers outside?: Currently, jIRC does not support proxy connection. It means that jIRC appletcan only connect to IRC servers inside your local network if you are behind company's firewall.

How come the Identd is not responding?: First of all, make sure you have really enabled the identd support.
And if you are running on a Unix machine, your browser need to be executed by
root or superuser, so that the applet will have the permission to listen to
the low port number.

Also notice that, Identd basically needs to listen to an incoming request from
the IRC server, if your network or firewall does not allow incoming traffic,
identd will not be able to send back the response to IRC server.

When connect to IRC server, applet give me "Security Exception" error, why is that? and how to fix it?: This may be cased by the user's browser setup problem,
see here for some of the solutions.

The other possibility is that, the webmaster unzip the jirc_nss.jar and
jirc_mss.cab file. Such action will break the digital signature that helps
jIRC applet to bypass the Java Security "SandBox" restriction. Webmaster please
make sure jirc_jar.zip and jirc_mss.cab is the original file without any
modification. Any slight changes to the file will break the digital signature.

Can I use my own certificate to sign the applet?: Yes, you are welcome to use your own certificate to sign the applet. This
can give your users more confidence to grant the permission as they see your
branding on the certificate. In order to obtain your signing certificate,
you need to prepare quite a lot of documentation and some $200 - $200.
It is only recommended for advance users.

For more information, please visit www.verisign.com or www.thawte.com>

Does jIRC have different language version?: We don't but we have provided a set of parameters that you can use to define
your labels and buttons text and hence give you a complete control of
what wordings or language to use on the GUI front end.

These parameters starts with "FieldName*", please
see the manual page for more information.

How to display characters other than English?

This is a complex issue.

(Note: Currently, this function may not work for all user environment,
we will implement better support in future release.)

First of all, user's browser environment must have the proper font installed.
Without the correct font installed, jIRC will not be able to display these characters. Fortunately, if you are using Chinese Win98 and IE for example, this may already be done for you.

Last but not least, the webmaster needs to tell the applet what encoding method
to use. Starting from versoin 2.41, there is a new parameter called "EncodeMethod", that allows the applet to do different encoding for different languages.
Please see Sun Microsystems Java web site for a list of encoding method.

For example, to display Big5 encoded Chinese characters, set the parameter:

Is that possible to ignore the join/leave message, MOTD, and other server messages?: Yes, you can use the "IgnoreLevel" parameter to control what to display
and what not to display. Basically, if you set IgnoreLevel to 3, you will
not see most of the server messages during login and the join/leave messages.

How to use JavaScript to control and send command to applet?: Starting from version 2.41, "LiveConnect" is supported through a function
name in the applet called "processJInput(String)".

It is essentially the same as you type something from the input text field.
The idea is to use JavaScript to collect the message or command you want to
issue from a drop down list, checkbox, input field etc, and send it to the
applet through the processJInput() function.

Please use our demo page as starting point if you are not familiar with JavaScript.

[ insert tutorial from other site (pending) ...]

Where to put my audio files and what format it supports?: Currently, Java applet only support *.au audio format, with these specification: 8-bit ISDN u-law, mono, 8000 Hz.

All audio file name must be in the form of "sound_xx.au" where xx is the name of the sound file you use in "/s xx" command.

You must place all the sound files in the same directory of your applet zip/cab file.

What is IRC network anyway?: Please check the IRC help web site at http://www.irchelp.org

Which server to use?: You want to configure the applet such that all servers belong to the
same network(DALNet,Undernet,EFnet, IRCnet are the major four). If two servers
are on two different networks, your web site visitors will not see each other.
Please check out this
page for the description of each network and server list if you are not
familiar with IRC network servers.
Notice that some ISP IRC servers
only allow access from their subscribers, so it is good to pick some public IRC
servers to use.

There are thousands of IRC servers available, you can definitely find the one
really suit your need.

AOL users should try irc.mindspring.com, irc.ais.net or irc.prison.net.

Will jIRC support DCC file transfer and banner function future?: The simple answer is "No".

DCC functions will require more additional permissions in order to complete the
operation, and therefore it will not be supported.

Also, there are already a lot of third party banners available on the net, it is
pointless to add another one on jIRC applet. Webmasters can easily embeded
third party banner on top of the applet. This will give users the most
flexible way to create their ads environment.

Is there any limitation on how many users can log into a channel at the same time? and how can I create a channel?: Since jIRC applet is only a client, it really depends on how the IRC server handles such situation; jIRC will work just fine as long as the IRC server
allows such situation.

Creating a channel for yourself is very simple, just type /join yourchannel,
if the channel does not exist, it will be created for you automatically.

Any known problems?

Some web servers cannot recognize the *.cab Mime type and hence your IE
browser will not able to load the jirc_mss.cab file from server.
To fix this, try to rename jirc_mss.cab to jirc_mss.bin or jirc_mss.jar and
the corresponding HTML code.
Some free web hosting sites do not allow direct download of zip or cab files( e.g www.angelfire.com ). They require users to see the ads first before they
can be linked to the zip or cab file. In general, applet will not work under such condition. Solution is to simply switch to another hosting service which does not have this restriction.
When using InitCommands, the color code (%C) will not be parsed and hence
people will see the "%C" instead of the real color change.
On some old IE browser, if the jIRC applet is started by using
JavaScript to popup the window, closing such window will cause some PC to
freeze and reboot will be required. The best way to avoid it is to not
using the JavaScript to popup the window, use CGI instead. Or do a complete
IE system upgrade(from JVM to JavaScript).

Can you help us to create a special version of jIRC?

Currently, we do not have extra resources to build customized version. We will re-evaluate this in future.

Where to find more information?: You can contact us through email at support@jpilot.com