EWGIE (Easy Web Group Interaction Enabler)


Last Updated: January 24, 1998

  1. Introduction
  2. Installation
  3. Documentation

Introduction

Many web site administrators find that they need to offer some kind of "chat" service where visitors can engage in real time conversation and interaction. Ewgie (pronounced yoo-GHEE, rhymes with "boogie") stands for "Easy Web Group Interaction Enabler". Ewgie is a small, simple collaboration service, very much like IRC (Internet Relay Chat). It's easy to learn for people new to it, and commands for IRC users have been provided so that net veterans should be pretty comfortable with it.

Ewgie is unique from other similar chat services in that:

  1. it is written in Java - there is no need to compile or set it up or anything like that,
  2. it is simple - setting up and running the server is very easy,
  3. it takes advantage of the Web,
  4. it's translatable and customizable, and finally
  5. Ewgie is totally free.


HTML/CGI Chat Scripts vs. IRC-like Server/Client Chat Apps
There are two types of web-based chat solutions. The first solution consists basically a CGI script or several CGI scripts which are invoked by the web server to manage the chat rooms, the conversation, etc. This type of approach involves a lot of overhead and resources because the Chat scripts must be "forked" by the web server. A popular CGI-based chat room can quickly bring a web server to its knees.

The second approach, much more powerful and feature rich, is the idea of having a IRC-like server which is contacted by several clients. This approach is more friendly on web server's CPU and therefore is much faster for the chat clients. EWGIE is a java based server/client chat suite and is by far the best freeware Java Chat software available on the Internet. If you are currently considering adding chat capability to your Virtual Server, or are looking for an alternative to your current HTML/CGI based chat solution, EWGIE is perfect for you. Not only does EWGIE support multi-room text based chatting, but a whiteboard is also available for picture-enhanced conversation.

You should also be aware that HTML/CGI based chat software can be notoriously inefficient and may occasionally core dump, fail to respond, and fall into infinite loops. We reserve the right to suspend and kill HTML/CGI based chat processes that consume excess CPU resources.

Installation

To install the Java Ewgie Chat onto your Virtual Server, you will need to telnet to your Virtual Server and then do the following steps:

  1. type cd   (this will put you in your home directory)
  2. type tar -xvf /usr/local/contrib/Ewgie.tar

  3. Customize the EwgieServer Configuration
    You will notice that the Ewgie distribution files are stored in your ~/www/htdocs/Java/Ewgie directory. In this directory you will find the subdirectories "bin", "client", "server", "utils", and "docs". Your Ewgie server configuration file, "server.conf", is found in the "server" subdirectory. The server configuration file is well commented and should be fairly self-explanatory. In most cases, you can accept the defaults. You will however need to change theoperatorPasswd from "PASSWD" to the operator password of your choice. Detailed documentation about the server configuration file can be found in the Using EwgieServer Ewgie documentation.

  4. Customize the EwgieClient Options
    Please find below a sample of the HTML source code required to embed the Java client within a web document:

    • <applet code="Ewgie.class" width=480 height=550>
        <param name=host value=www.YOUR-DOMAIN.NAME>
        <param name=port value=1971>
        <param name=room value="">
        <param name=bgcolor value="50,50,50">
        <param name=fgcolor value="0,255,0">
        <param name=fontsize value=12>
        <param name=login value=on>
        <param name=namepanel value=on>
        <param name=statuspanel value=on>
        <param name=buttonpanel value=on>
        <param name=controlpanel value=right>
        <param name=controlbuttons value=on>
        <param name=whiteboard value=on>
        <param name=debug value=off>
      </applet>

    You can pass the client program a number of options via the param tag. Each of these tags is explained in some details in the EwgieClient Options Ewgie Documentation. Several templates are also available. Be sure you substitute the domain name of your Virtual Server for the occurrences of "YOUR-DOMAIN.NAME" in the client templates.

  5. Start the EwgieServer
    To start the EwgieServer simply type:
        ~/www/htdocs/Java/Ewgie/bin/RunEwgie

  6. Add the EwgieServer to your local auto-reboot file (~/etc/rc)
    Each of the Virtual Server administrators has the ability to automatically run programs should a system reboot occur (such as for scheduled system maintenance). This is done simply by adding the programs that you would like to run at system startup to your ~/etc/rc file. You can use FTP to upload an rc file or edit it directly on your Virtual Server using pico.

    Add the following line to your ~/etc/rc file:
        ~/www/htdocs/Java/Ewgie/bin/RunEwgie > /dev/null

    The "> /dev/null" part of this entry simply "redirects" all output the command generates to the file "/dev/null" which is a special UNIX file that is equivalent to a black hole. :)

  7. Add the EwgieServer Check to your crontab file
    Eeach of the Virtual Server administrators has the privilege of scheduling jobs to be executed. The scheduler is a UNIX utility called cron. The Ewgie distribution includes a sample cron file in the "bin" subdirectory. The contents of this file are echoed here for your convenience:

      0-59/15 * * * * ~/www/htdocs/Java/Ewgie/bin/CheckEwgie 2>&1 > /dev/null

    In the example above, a check would be made to see if your Ewgie server is running every 15 minutes. See the Cron Server Extension page for more information about scheduling a cron job.

  8. Go to "http://www.YOUR-DOMAIN.NAME/Java/Ewgie/" and start chatting!

If you are unfamiliar with JAVA, or would like to learn more about JAVA: Programming for the Internet, the following URL is an excellent resource:

http://java.sun.com

Documentation

Your installation of the Ewgie Chat software will include complete documentation which you should probably browse through. This documentation can be accessed on your Virtual Server after you install Ewgie by using the following URL:

© Copyright 1997 A Little Technology Shoppe, LLC.