New Features
The following list describes each of the new features in VolanoChat
2.0.0.
- License Key Support
- The VolanoChat server now uses a license key for granting its modes
of operation. By simply replacing your license key, you can now upgrade
from a trial copy to a full featured product, from VolanoChat to
VolanoChatPro, or from one level of VolanoChatPro to another, all
without reinstalling or changing your configuration.
- Personal Chat Room Hosting (VolanoChatPro only)
- This feature allows Web hosting companies to offer personal chat
rooms to their customers. Personal chat rooms are created by simply
adding a few lines of HTML to a Web page. When visitors come to a Web
page with a personal chat room on it, they are prompted to enter a name
and an optional profile. They are then taken directly into the personal
chat room. A single VolanoChatPro server can support hundreds of
independent personal rooms, and the server administrator has full
control over which Web pages are allowed to create the rooms.
- Personal Room HTML Configuration (VolanoChatPro only)
- Personal rooms can be configured through simple HTML applet
parameters instead of requiring modifications to a separate applet
property file on the server.
- Membership Database Interface (VolanoChatPro only)
- By implementing three simple CGI scripts, sites can integrate their
membership information into the VolanoChat server in order to highlight
their online members or restrict access to their members. The CGI
scripts grant password access to members, determine whether a name
belongs to a member, and optionally display a member's Web page profile.
- Full Unicode Support
- The VolanoChat applet and server now fully supports all Unicode
characters, allowing translation into non-Western languages such as
Japanese, Chinese, and Korean.
- Support for Embedded Java Applets
- Java applets embedded as banners can now have parameters for their
customization, allowing any Java applet to run inside the independent
chat room windows.
- Support for Embedded Java Servlets
- Any Java servlet can be started automatically by the VolanoChat
server for easy interaction with Java banner applets running in the
VolanoChat client. With support for embedded Java applets and servlets,
you can supplement your chat rooms with polling questionnaires,
electronic commerce and purchasing, mailing lists for catalog
subscriptions, or even complete on-line games.
- Banner Images from CGI Scripts
- The BannerPlayer applet included with VolanoChat now supports CGI
scripts as sources of GIF and JPEG banner images.
- Support for Ad Networks
- The VolanoChat server includes HTTP GET redirect and proxy servlets
which permit banner to be served from remote ad servers without
violating the security restrictions placed on Java applets.
- Simple Connection Count Servlet
- The VolanoChat server includes a servlet which returns the number of
connections to the server. It can be used to place an HTML frame on a
Web page showing the current number of chatters.
- Windows NT Service Registration
- You can now register and run the VolanoChat server as a Windows NT
Service simply by running the
service /install command
provided with the server. As an NT Service, the VolanoChat server can
startup and shutdown automatically with your system without requiring an
active logon account.
- Windows and Unix Launch Scripts
- Launch scripts for starting, stopping, and monitoring the VolanoChat
server are included for Windows and Unix systems.
- Native Installations for Windows and Unix
- A Windows executable file and Unix shell script are provided for
native installation on Windows and Unix systems. The native installation
lets you select from a list of appropriate Java virtual machines found
on your system.
- Graphical Installation
- Using the InstallShield Java Edition, now any Java Compatible™
platform can install the VolanoChat and VolanoChatPro server with the
same intuitive interface that has become the standard on Windows
platforms.
- 100% Pure Java™ Certification
- This release is based on VolanoChat 1.3, which is the first chat
solution to be awarded Sun Microsystems' 100% Pure Java certification by
KeyLabs, Inc.
- Flexible Access Logging and Formats
- Logging can be now be enabled or disabled for each log file. The
server now appends to any existing log file instead of creating a new
one when restarted. Public and private room access can now be logged.
The format of each log file is completely customizable, including
complete control over all date and number formats. This feature allows
the server administrator to create log files for any log analysis
program, or for import into any spreadsheet program.
- Flexible Status Report Format
- The format of the Status report is completely customizable, allowing
for easy import into any spreadsheet or analysis program.
- Automatic Registration Log
- The VolanoChat server automatically creates a file, called
support.log by default, which provides the information
required by Volano for registration and support.
- Support for Latest Browsers
- The VolanoChat applet has been modified to work correctly under
Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.01 and Netscape Communicator 4.04, and
includes the new Java Archive (JAR) file.
- Entrance Notifications
- With entrance alerts enabled, a visitor receives a text notice in the
chat room when someone enters the room. The text notices consist of user
names and their profiles.
- Audio Notifications
- With audio alerts enabled, a visitor can receive audio alerts from
anyone else in the room. If entrance alerts are enabled, an audio alert
will sound when someone enters a room. This feature is ideal for
businesses who want a bell to sound when a customer enters,
allowing them to perform other work while their online store is empty
but be notified when someone enters the store.
- Macro Hot Keys
- Macro messages are defined for the function keys F1 through F12. To
run the macro, just type its drop-in text and press the function key. To
see the macro template, just type the function key without any drop-in
text.
- Administrator Broadcast
- The administrative version of the VolanoChat applet has all the power
of the monitoring version plus an additional text field on the main
panel allowing you to broadcast text message into all public and
personal rooms. With this feature, the server administrator can alert
all visitors about an event by posting a single message.
- Secure Status and Shutdown Commands
- The Status and Shutdown commands now read the server property values
if accessible, avoiding the risks of placing the administrator password
on the command line.
- Graceful Shutdown
- The Shutdown command now does a graceful shutdown of the VolanoChat
server, blocking any new connections, closing all existing connections
with a special status code, capturing all connection log records, and
then terminating the server.
- Ignore Menu Option
- Visitors can now ignore the chat text and private chat requests of
other visitors in the chat room.
- Additional Access Status Codes
- The connections are logged with 4 additional status codes for better
information about why a connection ended.
- Error Log File
- An error log file is added for recording all errors once the
VolanoChat server has been started. When enabled, this logging makes
sure to capture errors without requiring standard error to be
redirected to a file.
- Verbose Error Logging
- The VolanoChat server can log errors in either a normal or verbose
manner. When the verbose error logging is enabled, a complete Java stack
trace is recorded in addition to the error message text.
- Simpler Monitoring Interface
- The monitoring version of the VolanoChat applet now prompts for the
password directly from the Web page, leaving the main chat panel
identical to the non-monitoring version.
- Kick and Ban Menu Items
- The monitor and administrator Kick and Ban buttons are now simply
menu items on the People menu in the chat rooms.
- Absolute URL Properties
- The applet now allows its URL properties to be absolute instead of
requiring them to be relative to the applet's codebase.
- Static Logo Placement
- The logo image on the main chat window now remains fixed in the upper
left corner of the frame instead of being centered when the window is
resized.
- Scrolling profiles
- The status messages and profile text can be scrolled to the left and
right using the arrow keys or by simply dragging the status bar with the
mouse.
- Name and profile editing properties
- Two additional applet properties determine whether people can edit
their names and profiles when using a member interface.
- Concurrent room limits
- The server administrator can define limits on the number of
concurrent public and private chat rooms any one person can enter.
- System message prefix text
- The server administrator can define the prefix text of the system and
administrator broadcast messages, including the addition of an optional
time stamp.
