Dunking Parrot Chat is an efficient, feature-filled TCP/IP chat program. It is used by several large companies in various industries, from a major computer company to schools to lawfirms. Features are added on a regular basis, and support via email is outstanding. Since it is possible that I might change my ISP from time to time, please direct all email to me at almanac@wingshooters.net. Email to this address is usually checked about three times a week.

Dunking Parrot Chat actually came about as part of a completely different piece of software. In the mid 90's, one of my best friends moved from North Carolina to England. When he moved, we feared that we had lost one of the major pastimes that we shared... playing cribbage. We decided to code our own Internet enabled cribbage game. Of course we would need to include an in-game chat routine. The chat code turned out to be the first place I started when we began to write our game. I soon got it working quite well, and was ready to move on to coding the actual game itself, when my buddy found that another company had already published an online cribbage game. I hated to scrap all of the code that I had written, and it was a great way for me to learn TCP/IP, so I pushed on with the chat piece of the cribbage game, turning it into a standalone chat program. In time, I saw that the software would fill a need that my office had, and I was able to introduce the software there. Since then, the program has become a full featured chat program, arguably one of the best private-protocol chat clients that you will find anywhere on the Internet.

Dunking Parrot Chat is distributed as a self-extracting archive. Simply launch DPCLIENT.EXE, then click the SETUP button to begin the installation process. You may be prompted that you have out of date files on your machine. If this is the case, you will be notified that you need to reboot your machine. Once you have done this, you must launch DPCLIENT.EXE once again to complete the installation process. It is recommended that you exit all other programs prior to installing Dunking Parrot Chat. On some machines, we have noticed that you may get in a cycle where you are constantly asked to reboot your machine. This is apparently a bug in Microsoft's Installer program. We can provide a manual solution if you are having this problem. Feel free to email me if you need help.

Upgrades to Dunking Parrot Chat are made available at our webpage. Please email us for the current web address if the link at left does not work. Most upgrades are delivered as self extracting archives which you simply execute, and the upgrade will occur automatically. Upgrades will not overwrite your existing settings. Also, you are entitled to free upgrades for any revision level of the software as long as the version remains at "5.xx". Dunking Parrot Chat 6.xx, should we ever publish it, may or may not be considered a different work of software.

The software that you now own is the full version of Dunking Parrot Chat Client. All that it takes to register the software is to enter a special password into the Server! There are four registration levels available. Each level determines the number of users that is allowed to logon to the server at any one time. Here is the pricing breakdown for registration:

When you register the software, you simply tell us how many users you would like to register for and we will provide you with the proper password to unlock your server. If you later decide you want to add users, simply pay the difference between your current registration level and the level that you desire! We highly recommend that you go ahead and register for 32000 users. Also, you must pay for EACH copy of the server that you intend to run on your network. You may run as many copies of the client as you like. Your registration fee is for the cost of one copy of the server. See the server documentation for more information on how to enter your registration password. To register, contact me via email and we will discuss your needs.

Although most users will only need to run the Chat Client, there must be a Server available for you to connect to. If you will be "hosting" the chat session, then you need to download a copy of the Chat Server from the same website that you downloaded the Client from. If someone else will be hosting the session, then they must have a copy of the server.

Throughout this document I will refer to a "Chat Administrator". Your Chat Administrator is defined as the person who is responsible for running the chat server. This person should be able to provide you with any information that you need to connect to the server.

The Dunking Parrot Chat Client has been run successfully on Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT, and Windows 2000. The client must be installed on each machine that you want to use Chat on. The Chat Server is a separate program and only needs to be installed on one machine. When you first start the client, a window will open that looks something like this:

This is the main chat window. You might also notice that a tiny globe icon has been added to your tray, down there by your system clock (usually in the bottom right corner of the screen).

Pay attention to this icon!! If you minimize your Chat screen, clicking on the globe icon is the only way to get it back. Left-clicking once on the icon should restore your chat window. You can right-click on it to display a popup menu that allows you to either restore your window or exit the program.

Now let's look at a breakdown of the chat window components. Take a look at the following diagram:

As you can see, the chat window contains several items. Shown below are the functions of each of these items, and how you use them.

Item Name	Function
Menubar	This works just like it does in any other Windows program. Most of the features of the Chat Client can be accessed from the menus.
Toolbar	The toolbar allows you to quickly access some of the more frequently used features.
Channel Selection Tabs	The Chat Client allows you to be in as many as six channels at one time. Each tab represents a different channel. The caption of each tab will show you the name of the channel that you are in for that tab. If a tab shows "(none)", then you are not in a channel on that tab.
Main Chat Window	This is where you see incoming chat messages from other users, as well as messages that the Chat Server sends to you.
Send Window	The Send Window is where you type your messages that you want to send to other users.
Whisper Box	The Whisper Box allows you to send private messages to one or more users. When this box is checked, you can also place checkmarks beside the names of the people whom you want to send private messages to. When checked, messages that you send will only be seen by those people whose names are checked.
Broadcast Box	This allows you to send a message to everyone on the server, whether they are in your channel or not. Broadcast messages show up as pop-up boxes on everyone's computer. These should only be used on rare occasions, when you have an important message that you need everyone to see.
Version Indicator	Part of the Status Bar, this tells you what version of the Chat Client you are using. Pointing your cursor at this will tell you exactly which build of the client you have.
Status Bar	The Status Bar is broken into five panels. The first panel tells you whether or not you are connected to a Chat Server. The second panel is the "PING" window. When you connect to a server, every once in awhile you will see a little "PING" message pop up there. This is nothing to worry about. This is just the server checking in on you to see if you are still out there or not. The third panel tells you exactly what time the last message appeared in your chat window. The fourth panel shows you the chat version number, as described above. The fifth panel is to show you if you are running in "administrator" or "operator" modes. Usually this panel will be blank.
Users in Channel List	This list shows you the names of everyone who is in the chat channel with you.

Ok, let's start Chatting! The first thing you need to do is find out what IP address your server is running on. Ask your Chat Administrator for this information. Once you know what the address of the server is, select SERVER from the menubar, then select CONNECT, or simply click on the lightning bolt icon

on the toolbar.

There are several fields on this screen that you should fill out prior to connecting to the server. Let's look at those fields now.

Field	Function
Nickname	Allows you to choose the name that you will be known by on the Chat Server. Nicknames must be unique, so you should choose a nickname that no one else on the server will use. Spaces are not allowed in the nickname field. If you attempt to enter a space, it will automatically be replaced by an underscore character. The nickname can be as many as 16 characters in length.
Real Name	This allows other users to find out who you are. Although this information is not required to log on to the server, in a business environment you should always correctly fill in this field.
Phone Number	Allows other users to see what your phone number is.
Alternate Phone Number	This is a place for you to store information such as your fax line or pager number.
Additional Info	This is a small field that allows you to store any information about you that you might want other chat users to know. For example, you could enter your normal office hours into this field.
Local Port	This identifies the IP port that the Client uses to receive messages from the server. It is recommended that only advanced users change the value in this field. If you don't know what a "port" is, don't bother changing it. If you do decide to change your port, you can choose any integer from 1 to 32767. The Client defaults to port 3201, but you can use any available port of your choice. If the port that you choose is already in use by another Winsock application, Chat will try ten times to find itself an available port close to the one of your choice. If one is not found, an error message is given and you must choose a different port. If you run more than one Client on the same PC at the same time (and you can do this!), even if they are logged on to different servers you must choose a different local port for each.
Server IP Address	In this field you must enter the IP address that your chat server is running on. Your Chat Administrator will know the server's IP address, and they should provide this to you before you attempt to connect. The Chat Client can remember the IP addresses of many chat servers. To add a server to your list, simply key the IP address into the box provided. If you successfully connect to a server, its address is automatically added to your list for future use.
Server Port	This is the port that the server is running on. Your Chat Administrator will provide this information. The default port for the server is 3200.
Start in Channel	This is used to choose the channel that you will be sent to when you connect to the server. If you leave this blank, you automatically start in the Public channel. If the channel that you want to start in doesn't exist when you connect, it will be automatically created for you.
Channel Password	This is used to specify the password for the startup channel. If the channel that you are starting in does not already exist, then the server will create it for you using the password that you specified. If you are starting in a channel that does already exist, then your password must match that of the existing channel, or be left blank if there is no password for the channel.
Local IP	This is an informational-only field. This drop down box shows you all of the IP addresses that are assigned to your computer.

Once you've filled in all of the above fields to your satisfaction, simply click the CONNECT button to log on to the server. If everything worked, you'll get a message that looks something like this:

Parrot Chat Server at version 5.01 (Build 120) at IP 127.0.0.1
Welcome to Channel Public

You may also see any other welcome message that the server operator has chosen to broadcast. The fact that the above message are shown in bold black text indicates that they came from the server. All informational messages from the server appear in bold black text.

Ok, let's assume that you've logged on to the server and joined a channel called "Books", and you have been chatting for some time. Also assume that your nickname is "Sean". Your chat window might look something like the one shown below. Note that the caption on the first tab says "Books", showing you the name of the channel that you are in on that tab. The other channels say "(none)", indicating that you are not currently in a channel on those tabs.

Let's take a close look at the chat window. On the title bar, you can see your nickname, "Sean", and what your primary channels is ("Books"). There are a total of five users in this channel. You'll notice that each of the users has a checkbox beside his name. Notice also the "Whisper" checkbox at the bottom of the screen. Whispering is how you communicate privately with one or more people in your channel without disturbing everyone else. You can whisper to as many people in your channel as you want. You simply place a check-mark in the box beside each name that you want to whisper to, then check the "Whisper" box. As long as the whisper box is checked, your outgoing messages will be sent only to the people in your userlist that have checkmarks beside their names. Whispers show in bold text. If, in the example above, I were to send a whisper to "Micki", on my screen the outbound whisper would be prefixed with "(To Micki)". If you have the whisper box checked by no users checked, your message would have gone to nobody and would have been prefaced with "(To Nobody)". Ok, you know what whispering is for... what is the Broadcast box for? Well, a broadcast message is sent to EVERYONE on the chat server regardless of what channel they are in. If you want to avoid making people mad, only use this option when absolutely necessary! Broadcasts appear as a popup message box on everyone's PC.

Before you get seriously started chatting with your friends and coworkers, you'll probably want to set up all of the program options to your tastes. There's a lot of stuff to choose from! Click on the FILE menubar option, then select CHAT OPTIONS, or you can simply click on the wrench icon

on the toolbar. You'll see a window like the one below appear. Notice that this window is broken into several separate tabs. All of the program options in Chat can be manipulated from this window.

General Options
Option	Function
Save Settings on Exit	It's a good idea to leave this option checked. By activating this option, all of the information about your preferences is saved every time you exit the chat program. All program options are saved, as well as your window sizes and positions.
Show Splash Screen at Startup	You'll probably want to uncheck this after the first couple of times that you run Chat. This simply turns on or off the program's title screen.
Autoconnect to Server at Startup	This is a nice option to turn on once you've gotten connected to the server a time or two. By checking this, whenever you launch the Chat Client you will automatically be connected to the server (provided, of course, that the server is running).
Originate Pings to the Server	As I explained at the beginning of this documentation, Dunking Parrot Chat uses the UDP network protocol. Since UDP is connectionless, the server has no way of knowing if clients have disconnected or not. By leaving this option checked, your Client will send a little "hello, I'm still here" message to the server every once in awhile. I strongly recommend that you leave this option checked at all times.
Use Preview Window	This is one of my personal favorite features. When you select this, a small "preview" window will appear on your screen and will always stay on top of everything else. In this window you'll see whatever text appears in your chat screen. You can keep your Chat Client minimized, and with the preview window active you'll still be able to see what's going on. The preview window looks like this:
Autocheck Whisper Feature	When this is selected, the Whisper Checkbox automatically checks and unchecks itself you you select or deselect a user's name in the Users in Channel listbox.
UDP Timeout Enabled	As mentioned previously, Dunking Parrot chat utilizes the UDP protocol to send all of its messages. UDP, by its very nature, is an "unreliable" protocol. This means that there is no guarantee that a message from one machine will reach another. If you enable the UDP timeout option, the chat client will try to verify that every message that it sends makes it to the server. If you check this option and a message that you send does not make it to the server, the client will assume the server is down and will disconnect itself. It is recommended that you leave this option unchecked unless messages that you send appear not to be making it to the server. In my practical experience with DP Chat in a 100 user environment, one out of a thousand messages may not make it to the server. By leaving this option unchecked, dropped messages will be ignored by the client.
Show Toolbar on Chat Window	In version 3.35 of the Chat Client, I added a toolbar to the main chat window. Since the toolbar was not an original feature of chat, some users may not want to use it, so by unchecking this option your chat window will not show the toolbar.
Up/Down Arrows Retrieve Messages	By default, pressing the up or down arrows on your keyboard will retrieve old chat messages that you have sent so that you can resend them. If you would rather use your arrows for editing your outgoing message, uncheck this box. When unchecked, the PAGE UP and PAGE DOWN keys are used to retrieve old messages.
Clicking on URL Link Launches Browser	When this option is selected, if someone types a URL link (prefaced by http://) into the chat window, clicking on the text will launch your web browser to this site.
Use Emoticons in Chat Window	When enabled, this option causes certain emoticons to be displayed as graphics in the chat window. For example, if you have this option selected and someone sends a :) smiley face, you will see it as in your chat window.
Disable Exit Button on Chat Window	When enabled, this turns off the ability for users to exit chat via the "X" in the top right corner of the chat window.
Reset Socket on Each Message	This was added for compatibility with Windows NT. In order for the Chat Client to work properly on NT, this option should be disabled.
Chat Window Popup Options
On Chat Message Popup Window	This causes the chat window to automatically restore itself if it is minimized whenever a new chat message appears. If you do not select this option, you will still be able to tell that a new chat message has appeared, because the little globe icon will start flashing a smiley face at you. When you see this, simply single-click on the smiley-face/globe to restore your chat window. The smiley face looks like this: .
On Server Message Popup Window	This works exactly the same as the previous option, however this one causes the chat window to automatically restore when a message from the server appears. A server message might appear when someone joins or leaves your channel. Server messages also cause the smiley face to appear if you have this option turned off.
Show Smiley-face on Server Message	You might not want to have the smiley-face flash simply because someone has joined or left the channel. This option turns the smiley face off for server messages.
Popup When Your Nickname Appears	This causes the chat window to pop up whenever someone says your name in the channel or in a whispered message.
Popup When you are Whispered To	This causes the chat window to pop up whenever someone sends a whispered message to you.
Popup When Private Chat Arrives	This option causes the "Private Chat" window to come to the top whenever a new message arrives in it.
Show Smiley for Active Tab Only	If chat is minimized, this causes the smiley face to flash only if a message comes in on the tab that is currently active.
Taskbar Options
Always	This causes an entry for the chat program to always appear in your Windows task bar. If you select this, you will be able to use ALT-TAB to switch to Chat.
Never	This is the way that I like to run chat. You never have an entry for the chat program in your task bar.
When Minimized	This causes the chat program to show up in your taskbar only when you have it minimized.
Miscellaneous Options
Ping Interval	This option determines how often the client will originate pings to the server. The default interval of 17000 is recommended. If you run a server that has more than 150 clients on at one time, we recommend that you ask your users to change this setting to 35000 to reduce the amount of ping traffic.
Plugin Launch Character	This option configures the character that is used to launch a chat plugin.
Play Sound Options
Always	This causes sounds to be played whenever a sound event is triggered.
Never	Chat will never play any event sounds if this option is selected.
When Minimized	When selected, chat will play event sounds only when it is minimized.
Multichannel Options
Autoswitch When a Chat Message Arrives	If a chat message comes in on a tab that is not selected, this causes that tab to automatically activate itself.
Autoswitch When a Whisper Arrives	This causes chat to switch to whichever tab a whispered message arrived in.
Autoswitch When a Server Message Arrives	This option causes chat to swich to whichever tab a server message arrived in.
Autoswitch When Your Nickname Appears	If someone on a non-active tab says your name, chat will automatically switch to that tab.
Remember Secondary Channels at Logon	This option, when selected, will cause the chat program to remember the secondary channel(s) that you were in the last time you were connected to the server, and will place you back into these channels at your next logon. Channel passwords are also remembered.
Change Preview Window Color to Active Tab	When selected, the color of the preview window will match the background color of whichever tab you have active.
Display Lightbulb on Server Messages	When a message of any kind appears on a non-active tab, by default chat will display a lightbulb icon on that window to let you know that there is a new message. By deselecting this option, chat will not show this icon when a server message arrives.

The chat window can be customized to be any background color that you like. Each tab has its own color. You can also customize the color of your outbound chat messages. The Color Options panel looks like this:

Click the text color button to select the color of your outbound text. Click the back color button to select your chat window background color. To change colors on different tabs, select the tab that you want to change the color for, choose your colors, then click "Apply".

You can predefine up to 10 macro strings that are automatically activated when you press CTRL + a number in the chat window. You have the option of having your macros either overlay anything that you may have typed in the outbound chat window, or simply append onto the end of it. The preset macro panel looks like this:

You'll notice that there are two radio buttons at the bottom of this window: overlay and append. If you have "overlay" selected, when you activate a macro it will overlay anything that you currently have typed in your outgoing chat area. If you select "append", your macro will simply be appended to the end of anything that you have already typed.

Popup macros are activated by right clicking your mouse while pointing at the outbound chat window. A menu will appear that will show you all of the popup macros that you have defined. Select any of them from the menu and release your mouse button. The "Edit Popup Macros" window looks like this:

If you have the "Automatically send macro when clicked" box checked, when you right click on your outbound chat window and select a macro it will immediately be sent out. If this box is not checked, then the macro will simply be entered into your outbound chat window, leaving it up to you to press ENTER to send it.

Selecting the EDIT USER ALIASES menu option on the File Menu allows you to use the "quick whisper" feature of chat. Although it is simple to whisper to someone in your own channel by simply checking their name and the WHISPER box, sometimes you might want to whisper to someone that is not in your channel. There are a couple of ways that you can do this, but if you already know the nickname of someone, you can create a short alias for them and then use the quick whisper command to send a private message to them. Selecting the EDIT USER ALIASES option shows you a window that looks like this:

In the example above, you can see that we have already created four aliases. For example, the alias for "Mark" is "mk". To create an alias, simply decide what alias you want to use for a person. Type the alias in the space provided, followed by a blank space, followed by the exact nickname that they use in chat. Press your ENTER key to enter the alias into the system. Once you have an alias defined, to send a quick whisper to that person, simply type "/w" followed by a blank space, followed by the alias of the person that you are sending the message to, followed by another blank space, and then key your message. So, to ask Mark how he is doing today, I might enter "/w mk How are ya today?" in the chat window.

Ok, you've seen some of the chat options that are available to you. Now lets assume that we've connected to the server and are ready to join a channel and start chatting. Although you default to the "Public" channel, you don't have to stay there. To create or join a channel, click on the SERVER menubar option, then select either CREATE CHANNEL or JOIN CHANNEL. Both of these options perform the same function by showing you this window:

Channels can be password protected. If you are either joining a channel or creating one that is password protected, you must enter the password in the space provided. If you are creating or joining a channel that does not have a password, simply leave this space blank. If you do enter a password protected channel, if someone else attempts to join and enters the wrong password, everyone in that channel will be told that someone attempted to enter the channel. We will take a more indepth look at channels shortly. First, though, let's take...

The buttons on the toolbar allow you quick access to many of the features of chat. Here is a brief overview of what some of these buttons do. Please note that some options are described in detail in other sections of this documentation.

Icon	Function	Description
	CONNECT	Allows you to connect to the server. If you are already connected, clicking this allows you to update your user information, such as your real name and phone number.
	DISCONNECT	Disconnects you from the server.
	SAVE	Saves the contents of your chat window to a text file. This file can be found in your chat directory, and will be named with the current date.
	PRINT	Prints the contents of your chat window to your default printer.
	CLEAR	Clears the contents of your chat window.
	LIST CHANNELS	Displays a list of all channels. From here you can see who is in a given channel, and you can also join any channel in the list.
	JOIN CHANNEL	Allows you to create or join a channel. Whatever tab that you have selected on your channel selection tabs will be placed into the selected channel. You may join up to three channels at any one time.
	HOME CHANNEL	Sends you to your home channel. To set a home channel, you must enter this information in the "Start in Channel" field on the CONNECT window. If you click this button while your second or third tab is selected, you will simply exit the channel that you are in on that tab.
	EDIT MESSAGE	Lets you edit your text for the message board. The message board is described below.
	MESSAGEBOARD	This shows you the message board for your channel.
	FIND USER	Allows you to find out what channel a given user is in.
	PAGE USER	Sends a page to the selected user. A page is received as a popup message box on the recipient's computer.
	MESSAGE TO USER	Allows you to send a message to any user on the chat server regardless of which channel they are in.
	REPLY	Allows you to reply to the last user who whispered to you. If this user is in your channel, then clicking this button will simply place a check beside that user's name and a check in the Whisper box. If the user is not in your channel, a special window will appear allowing you to respond to the last person who sent you a message. You can also send a quick reply to whoever last whispered to you by simply typing "/R " followed by your message in the chat window.
	CHAT OPTIONS	Allows you to change your chat options.
	SOUND OPTIONS	Allows you to set or change your chat sound options.
	COLOR OPTIONS	Allows you to change your color options.
	LOCK CHANNEL	Allows you to lock and unlock your channel. No one can enter your channel when it is locked, even if they know the password, if any. If someone attempts to enter your channel when it is locked, everyone in the channel is told of the failed attempt to join. If anyone unlocks the channel within one minute, the user who attempted to join is notified that the channel has been unlocked.

Right-clicking your mouse in the "Chat Window" when connected to the server will pop up a special menu with several options that you can choose from. Those options are:

"Chat Window" Popup Menu Options
Clear Buffer	This simply clears out your chat window.
Copy	If you have used your mouse to select text in the chat window, this option will become available. This allows you to copy the select text to your clipboard. From there it can be pasted into other applications.
Print	If you have selected text in the chat window, selecting this option will print the highlighted text only. You can print the entire contents of the Chat Window from the FILE menu.
Freeze	This "freezes" your chat window. Sometimes you may find that you want to scroll the chat window upward to look at some messages that might have scrolled off of your screen. If a new message comes in while you are doing this, your chat window will immediately jump back to the bottom, causing you to lose your place. Clicking freeze will prevent any new chat messages from appearing in your window. Incoming messages are stored in a special buffer. When you unfreeze chat (which is done by again right clicking in the Chat Window and selecting "Unfreeze") any messages that came in while you were frozen will immediately be displayed. To remind you that your session is frozen, the Status Bar will have a "FROZEN" message in the third panel. It may also say something like (200 messages left). This means that you have 200 more incoming messages before your buffer becomes full. If your buffer becomes full, all incoming messages AFTER the end of the buffer are lost. The buffer can hold 1000 messages. Note that some messages may be simple behind-the-scenes communications from the server to the client. In this case, you may not see anything happen when you click the UNFREEZE button. Please also note that while frozen, certain options such as MESSAGE TO SELECTED USER, will not work until after you unfreeze your session.
Show Message Time	This is used to find out what time any of the last 100 messages appeared in your chat window. To use this, highlight an entire message, including the name of the user who sent it, then right click in the Chat Window. Select "Show Message Time". The time that the message arrived will then be shown to you.
Repeat Last Incoming Message	If you cleared your chat window and happened to miss the last message that came in, you can select this option to have chat show you what that message was.
Insert Separator Line	If you are stepping away from your computer for awhile, and expect a lot of chats to come in while you are away, you can easily mark where these chats begin. By selecting the "Insert Separator Line" option, chat will place something like this at the very bottom of your active chat tab: <------------------------------ 11:05:22 am ------------------------------> When you get back to your computer, you could just scroll up until you found this separator, then read the chats that came in while you were away.
Show Preview Window	If you have your Preview Window hidden or turned off, this menu option will be available to you. Clicking it will cause the Preview Window to appear.
Watch Tab in Preview Window	This menu option toggles whether or not text in the currently active tab will be displayed in the preview window. A check mark indicates that text will show in the window. No check mark beside this option means that the tab is not shown in the preview window.
Play Sounds on this Tab	Sounds can be toggled on or off for specific tabs by selecting this option. A check mark indicates that sounds will play for events that occur in the select tab, while no check mark indicates that no sounds will be played.
Restore "Always on top" Status	In some cases the preview window may lose its "always on top" status. When this happens you can right click in the chat window then select this option to restore the preview window to the top.

Right clicking your mouse in the "Users in Channel" list box will also pop up a special action menu. Use your mouse to highlight the user that you wish to perform an action against, then right click your mouse on their name. A popup menu like this will appear:

"Users in Channer" Popup Menu Options
Page User	Allows you to send a page to the select user. A page appears in a special popup message box on the recipient's PC. You can send up to 256 characters of text to another user as a part of this page.
Query User	Allows you to find out information about who a given user is. This query returns all of the information entered on the CONNECT window, including the user's real name, phone number, IP address, chat version, and more.
Show Phone Number	This shows you the phone number of the user that you have selected.
Send File	Allows you to send a file to another chat user. As was explained earlier in this document, Chat uses the UDP protocol to pass messages back and forth to the server. However, when sending files between users, Chat completely bypasses the server and establishes a direct TCP connection on port 27101 between the two users who are exchanging files. If you are using firewall software, you will need to configure it to allow TCP traffic to pass on this port.
Private Chat	Initiates a private chat request. Private Chat is described in a section below.
Add to Buddy List	Adds a user to your buddy list. This feature is described below.

"Server" Menubar Options
Update User Info	This allows you to change some of the information that you sent to the server when you logged on. Information that you can change includes your real name, your phone number(s), and your "additional information."
Disconnect	This option logs you off of the Chat Server.
Find A User	This allows you to ask the server to look for another user. For example, you could look for a user named "Sean", and the server might respond: Sean is in channels(s) Books, Movies, and Religion If there is a user named "Sean" and a user named "SeanJ", the server would report the channels that both of these users are in.
Page a User	This option allows you to send a special popup message to the user of your choice. This is a good way to get someone's attention if you have sent them several chats that they have not responded to.
Message to Selected Users	This displays a special window that looks like this: From here you can select any number of people to send messages to, whether they are in your channel or not. You will be shown a list of all of the users who are on the server. In the example above, I am broadcasting a message to Matt, Mark, and Ted, asking them each if they would like to see a movie tonight. There are three types of messages that you can send from this window. First, by selecting "Whisper", you simply send a standard whisper message to each of the selected users. Selecting "Broadcast" causes your message to appear as a popup window on the recipient's PC. The "Stick" option causes a window that looks like this to appear on the recipient's PC: For Sticky Messages, the recipient can use the space provided to key in a response to your message, or can click the "IGNORE" button to ignore it. If IGNORE is chosen, you will be notified that your message was ignored. When sending sticky messages, you also have the option of having your message appear "always on top" on the recipient's PC. This forces them to look at and respond to (or ignore) your message prior to using any other application on their system. The server operator has the option of disabling always-on-top sticky messages. If this is the case, then your message will still be sent as sticky, but it will not be always-on-top of the recipient's PC. If more than one sticky message arrives while the sticky window is displayed, you can use the left and right arrow buttons to scroll back and forth through your sticky messages.
Broadcast to Channel	This allows you to send a broadcast message to the channel(s) of your choice. Broadcast messages appear as popup windows on each recipient's PC. Everyone in the selected channel(s) will receive your message. A NOTE TO PROGRAMMERS: The Chat Server has an interface to allow you to use the BROADCAST TO CHANNEL feature from outside of a chat client. In other words, suppose that you have an application that monitors the status of databases within your network. If your monitoring application detected a problem in a database, you could have it send a message to the chat server that there was a problem. The chat server would accept the message and broadcast it to the channel of your choice. An example of how to correctly call this API will be included in a future release of this documentation. Registered users can also get an example of how to do this by sending email to "dunkingparrot@hotmail.com".
List Channels	This shows you a list of all of the active channels, and the users that are in each channel. From this screen you can join any of the channels. You can also right click on any user name to receive a list of actions that you can perform on that user, such as "Page" or "Query" him. The Channel List window looks like this: Shown above, I have highlighted channel TeamC. From here I could click the Join button to enter the TeamC channel. The "Users in Channel" area shows you the nicknames of each user that is in the selected channel, as well as their real name, their phone number, whether or not they are away from chat, and whether or not they have their "Do not disturb" flag active. By selecting a user's name, then right clicking your mouse, a pop up menu will appear that will allow you to "query" any user to get all of their information. The menu also includes options to page the user, find out their phone number, or request a private chat with them.
Join Channel	Allows you to join an existing channel. You must know the name of the channel that you want to join when you select this option.
Create Channel	Allows you to create a channel
Set Channel Topic	This allows you to set the "Topic" for the channel that you are currently in on a given tab. Topics are shown in the Channel List window above, and when anyone joins your channel they will be told what the topic is. For example, if you have set the topic of channel "Books" to "A Discussion of J.R.R. Tolkien", when someone joins the channel they will see: Welcome to Channel Books (A Discussion of J.R.R. Tolkien) If channel "Books" did not have a topic, a joining user would simply see: Welcome to Channel Books
Create Alert	This option allows you to create an Alert message. Alerts are special messages that are stored on the server, and that you want all users to be aware of. For example, lets say that you are the boss, and that you have decided to let your workers go home at 2:00pm today. You might sign onto chat at 1:00pm and create an alert that tells them they can leave early. Selecting the CREATE ALERT option displays a window that looks like this: You could create an alert entitled "Everyone can leave early today!!". Enter this in the Alert Title field. Alerts have expiration dates and times. In the fields provided, enter the date and time that you want your alert to expire on. Alerts can also be "public" or "private". By default they are private, meaning that only the creator of the alert can edit or delete it. If you want your alert to be public, then place a check in the box provided. Finally, you can enter some text in the "Alert Text" field. For example, you could enter "Due to the holiday season, everyone can leave at 2:00pm today. If you have any questions, please contact me in chat channel TeamLeaders". Finally, click the SUBMIT button. The server will then create your alert and will notify everyone of its existence. Users who have their chat window minimized will see a flashing exclamation point in their tray, looking something like this: . When an alert is created, a red "Alert" light will appear on your main chat window. Clicking on this light will take you to a list of alerts, as will the "Show Alert" option below.
Show Alerts	This shows you a list of all of the active alerts in the system. Once you have viewed all of the active alerts, the red alert light will turn yellow. The list of alerts might look something like this: If no alerts appear in this list, or if alerts have been created while you have this list open, click the "Refresh" button to get an updated list of alerts from the server. To view the full text of an alert, from this list double-click on the alert that you wish to see. If you have the ability to edit an alert, clicking on the alert will enable the "Delete Alert" and the "Edit Alert" buttons, allowing you to remove or change the alert. Now let's move on to the "message board" option.
Edit My Message	The Message Board is a place where you can enter a one-line message that will remain there until you change it or logoff of the server. This is useful if you are going to be away from your PC for awhile, or if you don't want to be disturbed. When you select this option, a window appears that looks like this: Messages can be 55 bytes in length. There are four additional options shown: "Echo When someone whispers to you", "Echo when your name is mentioned", "Display your message in the channel", and "Set flag to show that you are away". If you have the whispered-to option checked, whenever someone whispers to you your message, if you have one, will automatically be whispered back to that user so that they will know not to disturb you. The second option causes your message to be broadcast to the channel if someone mentions your name and you have a message set. When you click the SET MESSAGE button, everyone in the server will also see that you have changed your message. The third option, "Display your message in the channel," means that everyone in the channel will be shown your message when you set it. The fourth option, "Set flag to show that you are away" tells the server that you are away from chat. With this option set, whenever someone checks your name to whisper to you, they are told that you are away. Note that there is a "CLEAR MESSAGE" button on the window. This button simply clears the text in the message box; you must actually click the "SET MESSAGE" button to send your message to the server, even if you are simply clearing it.
Show Message Board	If you would like to see what all messages are active for your channel, select this option. A window will appear that may look something like this: As seen above, only "Micki" has entered a message. Her message says that she is "Headed to the library" and presumably doesn't want to be disturbed. You can view the message board for channels other than your own by going to the "List Channels" toolbar button, then right clicking on the channel name that you want to view the board for once the channel list window appears.
Clear Message Board	This is a quick way to wipe out your current message.
Mute Sound	This selection allows you to temporarily turn off the sounds played by the chat client. Pressing the F4 key will toggle the mute on and off.
Do Not Disturb	This is a nice feature that lets other users know that you are busy and don't want to be bothered. To toggle Do Not Disturb on/off, simply select it on the SERVER dropdown menu. A check will appear beside it when it is enabled. If you have Do Not Disturb enabled, whenever another user places a checkmark by your name in their user list, they will get a message telling them that you would rather not be disturbed. To remind you that your DO NOT DISTURB is active, a small "Do Not Disturb" light will appear on your chat window.
Away	This is a feature that tells the server that you are away from chat at the moment. When someone clicks on your name, they are told that you are away. To remind you that AWAY is active, a small "Away" light will appear on your chat window.
Display Log	This is a debugging feature. Contact me via email if you would like to discuss how to activate this feature. Using this is not recommended, as it increases the amount of memory used by the client.

One of the nicer features of the chat client is the "private chat" function. If you would like to conduct a private chat session with another user, simply right click on their name and click "Private Chat". You can issue the private chat request from either the main chat window, from the channel list window, or from the "message to selected user" window.

The recipient of the private chat request will receive a pop-up message on their computer asking them if they want to chat with you. If they decline, you will be told that they did not want to talk with you. If they accept, a special window will open where the two of you can conduct your chat session in private. You may only be in one private chat session at a time.

The Buddy List feature helps you keep track of which of your friends is logged on to chat at any given time. When a buddy is logged on, you can easily send a message to them by selecting their name from the Buddy List dropdown menu. When you have a person added to your buddy list, you are also told whenever they log on or off of the server.

To remove a person from your buddy list, you must currently wait until that person is logged on, then right click on their name when they are. Select "Remove from Buddy List" to get them out. A better way of doing this will be addressed in a future release of chat.

The Parrot Chat client also features several "special" text formatting modes that you can use when sending messages to other users. You can either manually key in the formatting codes, or you can use the corresponding hotkeys to activate them. A chart of the formatting commands is shown below.

Special Text Mode	Hotkey	Activate	Deactivate
italics	CNTL+I	[i]	[/i]
underlined	CNTL+U	[u]	[/u]
bold	CNTL+B	[b]	[/b]
proportional	CNTL+P	[p]	[/p]
blue	CNTL+L	[bl]	[/bl]
red	CNTL+R	[rd]	[/rd]
green	CNTL+G	[gr]	[/gr]
Emoticons	Shows As
:)
:(
:D
:P
;)

When you enter a formatting command using a hotkey, it will show as the "activate" or "deactivate" characters in your outbound chat window. So, if you were going to send a message in italics, it might look like this in your send window: "[i]This message is in italics[/i]". All message recipients would see this message as: This message is in italics. It is also possible to combine formatting characters. If you wanted to send a word in bold italics, you could type: "Here is a [b][i]bold italic[/i][/b] message", which would result in everyone seeing "Here is a bold italic message".

The chat client has the ability to access special programs called "plugins" that can return information to the user. The client comes with three plugins, and more will be available in the near future. Watch our webpage for details. Users who are familiar with Microsoft Visual Basic™ can easily code their own plugins for chat. Click here for details on how to write your own plugins.

To launch a plugin, you must enter the plugin character (default "\"), followed by the name of the plugin that you wish to launch, followed by a blank space, then followed by any data that you want to pass to the plugin. For example, if Dunking Parrot had a stock symbol of "DPS", and you wished to use a stock plugin to get the current stock price, you would enter: \stock dps. The chat client would launch the stock plugin, and very shortly you would be shown the current price for Dunking Parrot stock. You can also pass the parameter "clear=y" to any plugin to have it clear your chat window before displaying the output of the plugin.

The chat client comes with the following three free plugins - "Stock", "Weather", and "Verse". Listed below are some of the parameters that can be passed to these plugins:

Stock - Enter as many symbols as you like. You can also pass the "tab=5" to direct the output of the stock to your fifth channel tab, or "tab=4" to direct the output to tab 4. Use "\stock ?" for detailed help.

Weather - Pass your zipcode to the plugin. You can use "tab=x" to direct the output to any specific tab.

Verse - This allows you to look up any specific Bible verse. Use "\verse ?" for detailed help.

You can also configure the chat client to launch plugins at specific intervals throughout the day. Select the "Plugins" menubar option, then choose "Automate" from the menu that appears. Chat will respond by displaying the following window:

In the example above, I have coded three "Automation Rules" for plugin launches. As shown, I currently have rule "Daily Bible" selected. By glancing at this rule, you can see that it launches the "Verse" plugin each time I connect to the chat server, as long as I logon before 8:30am. It directs the plugin output to tab 5, and passes the "daily" parameter to the plugin. Listed below are the fields on this screen and a description of how they work.

Plugin Automation
Rule name	Enter the name of your rule here. This can be anything that you like, but it should be descriptive so that you can easily tell what the rule does.
"Plugins"	This dropdown box lists all of the plugins that are installed. From here you must select the plugin that your rule will launch.
Rule is enabled	This means that the rule will launch whenever its trigger events occur. You can uncheck this box to save the rule but not have it activate.
Plugin executes at connect	When selected, your plugin will be launched whenever you connect to the chat server.
Plugin executes at interval	When selected, your plugin executes whenever x number of minutes passes. When you select this option you must also fill in an interval.
Interval	The number of minutes between plugin launches.
Not before	In military format (24 hour), enter a time. Your plugin will not execute before this time.
Not after	In military format (24 hour), enter a time. Your plugin will not execute after this time. Be careful when using this option and the "not before" option that you not enter conflicting times. If you are not careful, your plugin may never run!
Flash smiley face when minimized	This causes the tray icon to flash whenever your plugin is launched if the chat window is minimized.
Plugin data	This is the data that you are passing to the plugin. In addition to the normal plugin data, you can pass "clear=y" to have your chat window cleared automatically when the plugin is launched. You can also direct the output to any tab with the "tab=x" option.
Play sound when rule is triggered	Plays a sound when the rule launches.
Sound file name:	The path and name of the sound file for the rule.

This covers just about everything that the average user needs to know about the Dunking Parrot Chat Client! Listed below are some of the more advanced options available in the chat program.

There is a set of server commands that can be clients can enter to get information about the chat server! Each of these commands is prefaced with a "/". To enter a command, simply type it into your outbound chat window. The commands that you can issue are shown below. Some commands require that you pass a parameter to them. Where a parameter is needed, it is shown below in <brackets>.

Server Commands (these commands may be issued by anyone)
/acceptlogon <true\|false>	Toggles whether or not the server accepts logons. When this is disabled, only the server owner is able to log on to the server.
/act <message>	This is the "action" command. This puts out a bold message that everyone in your channel will see. For example, if my user name is "Sean", and I issue "/act is going to lunch", everyone in my channel will see "* Sean is going to lunch".
/admin <password>	This allows you to activate Client Administrator mode. You must know the password to be able to do this. Administrators are able to kick users out of channels or off of the server completely. Failed attempts to access administrator mode are reported to the Server "owner" (see the server documentation for more details).
/channels	This gives you a list of all of the channels.
/cleanup	Deletes all channels that are empty.
/cmdlist	This prints out a list of all of the commands that you can use.
/currentusers	This tells you the current number of users that are logged on to the server.
/follow <name>	This will automatically take you to whatever channel user <name> is in. For example, if you want to join that channel that "Sean" is in, you would type /follow Sean.
/highusers	This will tell you the highest number of users that have been on chat at any one time since the server was started.
/logoff	This will log you off of the server.
/maxusers	This will tell you how many users the server is configured to allow to logon at any one time.
/motd	Message of the Day. This replays the chat logon message.
/name <nickname>	This allows you to change your nickname on the fly.
/operator <password>	This allows you to activate Client Operator mode. You must know the password to be able to do this. Operators are able to change settings on the server, and to actually drop and restart the server itself. Failed attempts to access operator mode are reported to the Server "owner" (see the server documentation for more details).
/pinginterval	This shows you how many seconds the server waits between pings (see server documentation)
/phone <name>	This shows you the phone number for user <name>. Example: /phone Sean.
/stats	This shows special server statistics, such as how many users are logged on, what the highest number of users ever to log on is, when the server was started, and more.
/showlogoff	This shows you how many pings a user can miss before the server automatically logs him off.
/showlogoptions	This shows you which logging options are enabled on the server.
/time	This shows you the current time on the server.
/userlist	This gives you a list of all of the users logged on to the server, what their primary channel is, their IP address, and what version of the chat client they are using.
/whereis <name>	This shows you which channel(s) the specified user is in.
/whois <name>	This option gives you detailed information about the specified user, including a list of all channels they are in, their real name, phone number, and more.

Although the client is fully functional out-of-the-box, there are two special modes that can be used to access additional features. The two modes are, in order of their power, Administrator Mode and Operator Mode. Although "administrator mode" is included free with the server, if you wish to use "operator mode" you must pay an additional $25.00 to activate that feature. If you decide to register your server for Operator Mode, please specify this when you send in your registration payment.

The Administrator mode password is entered on the server. Once a password is selected, any user can activate Administrator Mode if they know what the password is. To activate administrator mode, while logged on to the server, enter the command "/admin " followed by the password. If you get it right, you will be placed in administrator mode. Any operators on the server are immediately told that you have entered admin mode. Also, if an invalid admin password is entered, all operators are told that you attempted to access admin mode.

- The ability to kick any user out of the channel that you are currently in and send them to Public.

Operator mode is accessed by logging on to the server and entering the command "/oper " followed by the Operator Password. All operators logged on to the server are told when someone activates or attempts to activate operator mode.

Once in Operator Mode, highlighting any user in the USERS IN CHANNEL list, then right clicking will popup a menu that allows you to:

Also from the "OPERATOR" menu, you can select the Operator Panel. This returns a window that looks like this:

From this window you can instantly change settings on the server. Clicking any check box causes the setting to be immediately changed on the server. These check boxes are set up to soon replace the Operator Commands listed below. Note that you can also change the Message Of the Day (the welcome message) on the server. You must first click the "GET MOTD" button. Make your changes, then click the "UPDATE MOTD" button. The message will instantly be updated.

The following SERVER commands also become available when you are in Operator Mode. Those marked with an (*) will be going away in a future release of chat, since they have been replaced by the Operator Panel shown above.

Operator Commands (only an Operator may issue these commands)
/ban <ip address>	This permanently blocks a user from accessing chat. This should be used for problem users.
/banlist	This shows you a list of the IP addresses that are banned from using chat.
/broadallowed <true\|false>	Toggles whether or not broadcast messages can be used. When this is set to false, the "broadcast" box on each client will be grayed out.
/broadpopup <true\|false>	When true, broadcast messages appear as popup boxes on client PC's. This can be used in conjunction with or in place of the option below.
/broadmessage <true\|false>	When true, broadcast messages appear as server messages on each client. This can be used in conjunction with or in place of the option above.
/crash	Hard shutdown of the server. This immediately drops chat without notifing users that the server has dropped.
/debug <true\|false>	Places the server in debug mode when true. Debug messages are sent to channel "Debug" on the chat server. Users who join this channel will see these messages.
/dndallowed <true\|false>	This toggles whether or not users are allowed to turn on their "Do not disturb" flags.
/down	Drops the chat server gracefully, including saving all settings that may have changed since the last server shutdown. Users are notified that the server has been taken down.
/kill_dummy	Logs off all dummy users.
/minversion <version>	This is the lowest version of the chat client that you would like to allow to log on to your server. Anyone who logs on with a version lower than this will receive a warning message at logon.
/msg <message>	This sends a bold message to everyone in your channel. This looks like a server message.
/msgall <message>	This sends a bold message to everyone on the server.
/msglevel <integer>	This is for debugging purposes. The higher the number, the more verbose the server is in communicating with you specifically about events that occur.
/mute <name>	Causes user <name> to no longer be able to send out chat messages. Used to quiet down problem users.
/owner <name>	Changes the server owner to the selected name. The server owner is able to log on to the server even if logons are disabled.
/oplock <true\|false>	When true, only Operators can lock and unlock channels.
/pageallowed <true\|false>	This toggles whether or not users are allowed to access the "Page a User" option.
/password <channel>	Shows you the password for the specified channel.
/promptinfo <true\|false>	When set to true, the server will periodically send a message to anyone who has not entered their name in the "Real Name" field. This message tells those users that they need to enter their name.
/promptver <True\|False>	When set to true, the server will periodically remind users who have "old" versions of the chat client that they need to upgrade to a more current version.
/save	Causes the server to save the current settings.
/setinterval <integer>	This sets the ping interval on the server. Specify the number of seconds between pings. The higher the number, the faster the server runs, but the longer it takes the server to logoff users who have dropped without disconnecting.
/setlogoff <integer>	Sets the number of pings that a user can miss before being automatically dropped.
/setmaxuser <integer>	Allows you to change the maximum number of users that can be on chat at any one time. The higher the number, the slower the server runs.
/setping <true\|false>	This toggles whether or not the server sends pings to clients. Setting this to false will drastically speed up server performance, however, the server will not be able to detect if a client has lost connection.
/showini	Shows the operator all of the variable values that are stored in the server INI file.
/spawn <integer>	Spawns <integer> number of dummy users. Dummy users are used for testing purposes only, to determine the capacity of the server.
/stickytop <true\|false>	This determines whether clients are allowed to send "always on top" sticky messages.
/textmessage <message>	Allows you to set a one line text message that will be displayed to each user when they logon to the server.
/unban <ip address>	This unbans a banned user.
/unmute <name>	Allows a muted user to speak again.
/upgradebuild <integer>	The chat client has a built in "upgrade now" feature. To activate, when you receive a new build of the client from Dunking Parrot Software, enter that new build number here. All clients will then be told that a new version of chat exists, and they will be prompted to download it. This option works in conunction with the option below.
/upgradeurl <url>	This is the URL of the newest version of the chat client.
/zap <user> <setting> <newsetting>	This allows the operator to change a value on any client machine. Valid settings are PINGINTERVAL, REALNAME, PHONE1, PHONE2, PINGSERVER, and STARTCHANNEL. When an operator zaps a client, that client is told that he has been zapped.

DP Chat was written using Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0 Professional Edition. Versions of the client greater than 3.16 and the server greater than 3.14 were compiled with Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Enterprise Edition. The source code is available for $10000. The source code may not be resold or used for profit. You CAN use it to LEARN how to write your own Visual Basic TCP/IP applications. You must also sign a non-disclosure agreement if you wish to purchase the source code.

If you register Dunking Parrot Chat for "unlimited user" mode, I will be happy to work with you to make any changes that you feel might benefit the program. Basically, it works this way. If you have something you'd like to see added or changed, simply let me know via email. If I like the idea and feel that it might benefit the use of DP Chat in my own day to day work, I will be happy to add the feature as quickly as possible. If I feel that the change is NOT beneficial to me or my office, I might be willing to make the change for you on a contract basis. My contract basis works like this:

You first agree to pay $10000 for the source code, of which you immediately send in a non-refundable $1000 deposit. You pay for the source code because the new source code becomes property and responsibility of your company. I will then put in up to ten hours of work into making the changes that you have requested. You are not billed for any time in this ten hours. Most changes take LESS than ten hours to make. Once the change is complete or the ten hours are up, I will send you a "crippled" version of the new client and/or server. This crippled version will work BUT will only allow ten users to log on at one time. You will approve the changes and/or the direction that the changes are going in. If you approve of the changes, you then send in the balance of the $1000. If the changes are complete, I then send you the fully funct

Sound Options
Option	Function
Server Message	This plays a sound whenever a message from the server arrives (which, for example, occurs when a user leaves or joins your channel).
Whispered Message	This option plays a sound when someone whispers (sends a private message) to you.
Normal Chat Message	This plays a sound whenever a normal chat message (one that everyone in the channel sees) appears.
Broadcast Message	This option plays a sound whenever a broadcast message (a message that everyone on the server sees) occurs.
Incoming Page	Selecting this plays a sound when someone pages you.
Whenever Your Nickname Appears	This is my favorite. This plays a sound whenever someone says your nickname either out loud or in a whisper to you.
When a Message Arrives While Frozen	The "freeze" feature allows you to temporarily block messages from coming in to chat. When frozen, you can scroll your chat window up to review earlier messages without having the window jump back to the bottom whenever a new message arrives. Playing a sound while frozen simply means that when you have frozen your session, chat will play a sound whenever a new message from the server arrives.
When You Check the Broadcast Box	This plays a sound whenever you check the broadcast box on the main chat window. In my experience, people occasionally broadcast a message to everyone on the server when they do not mean to. Selecting this sound option warns you that you have checked the broadcast box.
On an Incoming File Transfer Request	This Plays a sound whenever someone wants to send you a file.
When a Sticky Message Arrives	Sticky messages will be discussed later. This plays a sound whenever a sticky message arrives at your chat session.
When an Alert Arrives	Alerts will be described below. This option causes a sound to be played whenever a new alert is created.
When a Buddy Logs On	This causes a sound to be played when someone in your Buddy List logs on.
When a Buddy Logs Off	This option plays a sound when someone in your Buddy List logs off.
When Someone Asks a Question	This causes a sound to be played whenever a chat spoken out loud ends in a question mark. This sound overrides the "Normal Chat Message" sound.