Adventia - Chat Server Pro FAQ

Chat Server Pro 3.0: Frequently Asked Questions

Server Configuration
Settings Configuration
Chat Customization
Runtime Errors and How to Solve Them

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

Server Configuration

1. What is Active Server Pages (ASP)?
Active Server Pages (ASP) is a server-side execution environment which allows you to run components and scripts in Microsoft web servers Microsoft introduced ASP with Internet Information Server (IIS) version 3. In brief, ASP allows developers to mix HTML and a scripting language, such as VBScript and JavaScript in a single file. For more information on ASP, please visit the Microsoft Web Workshop ASP Overview.

2. Does my web hosting company support ASP?
Ask your web hosting company if it supports ASP. If it doesn't, you can check our Review Section for ASP Enabled Hosting Companies at http://www.adventia.com/review.htm . The review page presents features information, rates, setup fees, etc. for several hosting companies summarized in comparison tables and catalogued according to monthly rates.

3. Which platforms support ASP?
ASP runs on Windows 2000 (all versions), NT Server 4.0, NT Workstation 4.0 with Peer Web Services, and Windows 95/98 with Personal Web Server.

4. Does Unix support ASP?
ASP runs on certain flavors of Unix. For more information please check the Chilisoft homepage.

5. What is Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS)?
Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) is an application server included with the Microsoft Windows NT Server operating system. IIS can be used as a stand-alone Web server, or with compatible technologies to set up Internet commerce, to access and manipulate data from a variety of data sources, and to build Web applications that take advantage of server script and component code to deliver client-server functionality. For more information please check the IIS Web site.

6. Can I use Microsoft Personal Web Server instead of IIS?
You can also use ASP with Personal Web Server for Windows 95/98, and Peer Web Server for Windows NT Workstation.

7. Can I use Netscape Enterprise Server 3.5.1 or any other server besides Microsoft IIS?
The chat server is an Active Server Page (ASP) application. ASP is a technology developed by Microsoft for its web server, Internet Information Server (IIS). The web server you use must support ASP. A company named ChiliSoft offers a product, Chilisoft ASP (http://www.chilisoft.com/products/default.asp), that allows ASP applications to run on web servers other than Microsoft IIS 4.0.

Note though, that we don't provide support for Adventia Chat running on Chilisoft ASP or any other server besides Microsoft IIS 4.0.

8. Why do I need to configure an application after installing the chat program?
You should flag the directory where you installed the chat server scripts as an application directory to make sure that the global.asa file is read. If the directory is not flagged as an application directory, the global.asa file will be ignored and all settings will be read from the default application directory (C:\Inetpub\wwwroot\ by default).

9. How do I configure an application in IIS?
You can configure an application via the IIS Internet Service Manager. Please consult the IIS documentation for details.

10. Why do I get a "Path Not Found" error every time I try to log in?
A "Path Not Found" error is returned when the chat server tries to write to its log file and fails. The most likely source of the problem is a misconfiguration of the Application("ScriptPath") parameter in settings.asp

11. Why do I get a "Permission Denied" error every time I try to log in?
A "Permission Denied" error is returned when the chat server tries to write to its log file and fails. The most likely source of the problem is a misconfiguration of your server's file system security settings. To solve the problem, use the Windows Explorer to navigate to the directory where the chat is installed and examine its security settings. Make sure that the user under which IIS runs has permissions to create, read, and modify files.

12. How many rooms can I run on my server?
The short answer is as many as your server can support. The maximum number of rooms will depend on the hardware configuration of your web server, the bandwith of its internet connection, and the load placed on it by other applications. Our code places very little load on the CPU and on the hard drives, so you will be primarily constrained by how much RAM you have on the server. As a rule of thumb, plan on allocating 500 Kb per user, e.g. if you think you will have 3 rooms with 10 users per room, the minimum amount of free RAM you would need is 15 Megabytes (3 rooms X 10 users X 0.5Mb)

13. How many users per room can my server support?
Please read the previous answer. Theoretically, our chat server supports an unlimited number of users per room. Our experience, however, has shown that chat rooms rarely exceed 50 concurrent users.

Settings Configuration

1. Which chat settings are configurable?
You may configure the following chat settings by editing the settings.asp file:

Application("LogFile"): Name of the chat users log file
e.g. Application("LogFile") = "chat_users.log"

Application("TimeLimit"): Time in minutes before idle users are removed from the chat
e.g. Application("TimeLimit")=15

Application("RefreshRate"): Rate, in seconds, at which the chat screen is automatically refreshed
e.g. Application("RefreshRate")=8

Application("administrator"): Username for the chat room administrator
e.g. Application("administrator")="administrator"

Application("admin_password"): Password for the chat room administrator
e.g. Application("admin_password")="admin"

Application("MaxBufferLength"): Maximum length(in characters) of the conversation text displayed at any one time
e.g. Application("MaxBufferLength") = 2000

Application("rooms"): List of rooms. Separate each room name with a pipe character "|"
e.g. Application("rooms")="General|Travel|News"

Application("AllowHTMLX"): Where X is the room number. Set to True/False to allow/prevent the use of html, images, etc. in the corresponding chat room. Note that X should always start at zero.
e.g.
Application("AllowHTML0")=False
Application("AllowHTML1")=True
Application("AllowHTML2")=False

Application("AllowPrivateX"): Where X is the room number. Set to True/False to allow/prevent private conversations between users. Note that X should always start at zero.
e.g.
Application("AllowPrivate0")=True
Application("AllowPrivate1")=False
Application("AllowPrivate2")=True

Application("moderatedX"): Where X is the room number. Set to True/False to moderate/not moderate the corresponding chat room. Note that X should always start at zero.
e.g.
Application("moderated0")=False
Application("moderated1")=True
Application("moderated2")=False

Application("LogSessionX"): Where X is the room number. Set to True/False to keep/not keep a record of the session. Note that X should always start at zero.
e.g.
Application("LogSession0")=False
Application("LogSession1")=False
Application("LogSession2")=True

Application("TranscriptFileX"): Where X is the room number. Name of the chat conversation transcript file. Note that X should always start at zero.
e.g.
Application("TranscriptFile0")="chat_log0.htm"
Application("TranscriptFile1")="chat_log1.htm"
Application("TranscriptFile2")="chat_log2.htm"

2. Where do I configure the chat settings?
You configure the chat settings in the settings.asp file.

3. Which settings do I need to configure?
We recommend that you set the administrator user name and password to your own preferences. All other settings can be left unchanged.

4. Where do I configure the time in minutes before idle users are removed from the chat?
In the settings.asp file look for the following instruction:

'Time in minutes before idle users are removed from the chat
Application("TimeLimit")=15

In this example we set the timeout to 15 minutes. You can set it to the time length you consider appropriate.

5. Can visitors use HTML code to enhance their messages?
Absolutely. If you want to offer this option to your visitors, you must set the Application("AllowHTML") setting equal to True in the settings.asp file, as seen in the following example:

'Set to True/False to allow/prevent the use of html in the chat
Application("AllowHTML")=True

6. Where do I assign Administrator permissions (username and password)?
To assign an administrator username, search for the Application("administrator")="admin" setting in the settings.asp file and write your defined username inside the quotation marks. In this case we use admin as the username. Similarly, to assign an administrator password, search for the Application("admin_password")="admin" setting and write the password you chose inside the quotation marks. In this case we used admin as the password.

7. Do I need to create a chat transcript file or a user log file?
You don't need to create those. The program will do it for you. The chat program will create the chat_log.htm file which keeps a transcript of all conversations and the chat_users.log file which keeps a log of all chat users.

Chat Customization

1. Where do I customize the chat looks?
To customize the chat looks you need to make changes in the HTML code in the login.asp, logoff.asp, display_frame.asp and input_frame.asp files. All changes should be made inside the HTML tags as shown in the following example:

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Adventia Chat Login Page</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgcolor="#FFFFFF" link="#004B97" vlink="#356A6A" alink="#0073AA">

Welcome to Adventia Chat 3.0 

 
..................
..................

</BODY>
</HTML>
..................
..................

</BODY>
</HTML>

No changes should be made to the code inside the <% %> tags. For more information on HTML, you can visit the Webmonkey's HTML page.

2. Can I change the chat background color?
Sure you can. just look for the <BODY> tag in the HTML code and set bgcolor equal to the color you chose. You can also change the link, visited link (vlink) and active link (alink) colors, as seen in the following example:

For color names and codes you can check the HYPE's Color Specifier page.

3. Can I change font types, font size and font colors?

Yes, you can. Just look for the tag and make the respective changes. See the example below:

4. Can I add images and graphics to the chat?
You can add images and graphics. The common formats are GIF and JPEG. To add images to the chat pages look for the <img> tag and set the image's source equal to its file name as shown in the following example:

<img src="logo.gif" WIDTH="208" HEIGHT="49">

In this example the name of the image we used was logo.gif. If you image is located in another directory, you should specify the relative path to the image file as well.

5. Can I add banners to the conversation frame of the chat?
Sure. To add a banner edit mainframe.asp and add a new frame wherever you like. For example, if you want to display a banner across the top of the browser screen your code should look like the following:

<Frameset rows="10%,70%,20%">
 <frame src="http://www.adventia.com/">
 <frame src="display_frame.asp">
 <frame src="input_frame.asp">
</Frameset>

6. Can I use Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to customize the chat looks? Yes, you can. Once again only inside the HTML tags. To learn more about how CSS work you can visit the Webmonkey's CSS Tutorial page.

7. Can I customize the chat looks using the Microsoft Front Page editor?
We do not recommend it. If you open any of the .asp files with the Front Page editor, your code might be lost or changed. Therefore, the chat program won't work as it is supposed to.

8. What kind of browser do chat visitors need to use?
One of the strengths of Adventia Chat is that visitors can use any browser, as long as it supports frames and cookies. Visitors do not need to worry about downloading Java applets or ActiveX controls. This means that your site can be used by a very large audience, including people behind firewalls.

9. Is it possible for private messages to be displayed on the main central screen instead of on a different window?
Private messages can only be displayed on a different window. It is not possible to display them on the main window.

10. Would the chat allow authentication of users with information stored in a relational database. In this regard, can Adventia Chat be customised using VB Script?
You will have complete access to the source therefore, you can easily customize the chat program to validate users against a database. You can use VB Script.

11. Can I translate the chat program into any language?
Yes. The chat program can be translated into any language.

12. Does Adventia Chat Server require database connectivity in order to work?
No. The current version of Adventia Chat does not require database connectivity in order to work.