Notre Dame University Faculty Of Natural And Applied Sciences Department of computer Science

DEVELOPING A CHAT SERVER

A senior study in Computer Science

By

Waleed Farah

Fall 2000

Abstract

Teleconferencing or Chatting, is a method of using technology to bring people and ideas together despite of the geographical barriers. The technology has been

available for years but the acceptance it was quit recent. Our project is an example of a chat server. It is made up of 2 applications the client application, which runs on the users Pc and server application, which runs on any Pc on the network. To start chatting client should get connected to server where they can practice two kinds of chatting, public one (message is broadcasted to all connected users) and private one (between any 2 users only) and during the last one security measures were taken.

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Acknowledgments
Many People contributed to the success of this project. Although a single sentence hardly suffices, I would like to thank some of the key people: Mr. Youssif Simonouglo, Professional Technical Support Sita; Mr. Maroun Attallah, Director of N.D.U Computer Center, and all N.D.U Computer Center Staff. For their helpful comments and suggestions, I thank: Mr. Armen Balian, N.D.U Analyst and Programmer. Mr. Victor Sawma, N.D.U Analyst and Programmer. Special thanks to Dr. Marie khair for supervisoring this project all the semester. Another special thanks go to my teachers, friends, and my family, whose patience and encouragement were the catalyst of this project.

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Dedication

This book is dedicated to you, the reader, for deciding to embark on fascinating journey of discovery and exploration so that you can implement innovate windows sockets application.

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction 1.1. Why Chat Server? 1.2. Why Visual Basic? 1.3. General OverView 2. Network Programming 2.1. Network application 2.2. Protocol Stacks 2.2.1. TCP 2.2.2. IP 2.3. Service Port 2.4. Sockets 2.4.1. What is WinSock? 2.4.1. How WinSock Works 2.4.3. Family Protocols 2.5. Client Server Application 2.6. Blocking Vs. Non-Blocking 2.7. System Requirement 3. Windows Socket With Visual Basic 3.1. Properties Of Windows Socket Control 3.1.1. Host Name Property 3.1.2. Remote Port Property 3.1.3. Local Port Property 3.1.4. Protocol Property 3.1.5. Action Property 3.1.6. State Property 3.1.7. RecvLen Property 3.1.8. Send Data Property 3.1.9. Address Family 3.1.10. SocketType property 3.1.11. BufferSize Property 3.1.12. Binary Property 3.2. Method of Windows Socket Control 3.2.1. Accept Method 3.2.2. Close Method 3.2.3. Listen Method 3.2.4. Connect Method 3.3. Events 3.3.1. Read Event 3.3.2. Disconnect Event 3.3.3. Connect Event 4. Algorithm Used 4.1. Project Structure 4.1.1. Control String 4.1.2. Client 4.1.3. Server 1 2 2 3 4 5 5 6 6 7 7 8 8 10 10 11 12 13 14 14 15 15 15 16 16 17 17 17 17 18 18 18 18 19 19 19 19 20 20 20

21 22 23 24

4.2. Private Chatting 5. Problem Encountered 5.1. Multi User 5.2. How To Allow Multi User 5.3. Private Chatting 5.4. Keep Track Of Users 5.5. How To Keep Track Of Users 5.6. Private Chatting 5.6.1. Open Window 5.6.2. Keep Track Of Windows 6. Encryption 6.1. Data Encryption/Decryption 6.2. XOR Encryption Conclusion References

25 26 27 27 30 30 30 31 31 32 33 34 35 38 39

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List Of Figures
Figure 4.1.2.1. Figure 4.1.3.1. Figure 4.2.1. Figure 5.2.1 Client Form Server Form Private Form Multi Users 23 24 25 29

List Of Tables
Table 2.4.1. Windows Socket Layer Table 3.1.1. Server States 9 16

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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
In this chapter we are going to deal with the major points behind choosing a chat server as a senior project and why visual basic is the programming language I choose, with a general overview about the project and how it works. So turn this page quickly and get yourself ready to find how it is working.

1.1. Why Chat Server ?

One year ago I was reading an article about Teleconferencing / chatting, which as we said it is a method of using technology to bring people and ideas together despite of the geographic barriers. From that time and on I started wondering if I can participate in that technology and how? The idea of creating a chat server was initiated and it has two dimensions, one to have an experience in network programming and the other is to let people conduct meetings with others in different

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locations. Such that it crosses time zones, can reach many people, and reduce the paper flood.

1.2. Why Visual Basic ?

Two main reasons let me choose Visual Basic as the programming language for this project. The first is that Visual Basic 6 is Microsofts latest and greatest language for Visual programming. Although writing programs can be a tedious chore at times, Visual Basic reduces the effort required on your part and makes programming enjoyable. Visual Basic makes many aspects of programming as simple as dragging graphic objects onto the screen with your mouse. The second reason which is the main one is that we are going to use a control called windows socket or WinSock as you will see in the following chapters, and this control is some how has a low level interface. The only high level languages that

deal with windows sockets is Visual Basic and Visual C++, and since Visual Basic is more easy to learn in small period of time than Visual C++, it was chosen to be the programming language.

1.3. General Overview

As a matter of fact there are several varieties of chatting. The simplest computer chatting is a method of sending, receiving, and storing typed messages with a network of users. This network could be WAN (Wide Area Network) or LAN(Local Area Network). Our chatting system will deal only with LANs (static IP address) and it is made up of two applications one runs on the server side (any computer on the network you choose it to be the server) while the other is delivered and executed on

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the client PC. Every time the client wants to chat he runs the client application, enter his user name, host name where the server application is running, and hits the connect button and start chatting. The system is many-to-many arrangement; everyone is able to talk to anyone else. Messages may be broadcasted to all receivers

(recipients are automatically notified of incoming messages) or sent to special individuals (private chatting through server) where during this operation all messages are encrypted at the sender side and decrypted at the recipient to disallow any hackers to the server from reading these private messages. For this system to be physically realized you should be familiar with programming and networking. Visual Basic is our programming language, TCP/IP is our network protocol, and finally windows sockets is our programming interface to have access to network functionality. This is a first glance at our senior project and the rest of explanations and ideas are eagerly waiting for you in the next chapters.

CHAPTER 2
NETWORK PROGRAMING

In this chapter, we are going to give some light on the main concepts and ideas we use to build our project. What we mean by network application, protocols, ports, and how do they interact with each other. Windows sockets, how it works and how we are

going to use it in our application. All these information will be available for you in this chapter.

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2.1. Network Application

Network application exchange data between physically separated machines. For this to occur the machines must be connected by a transmission media. There are many different types of communication links and new ones continue to be developed. Coaxial cables, phone lines, digital phone lines, fiber optic cable, satellite beam, and infrared waves are all used as transmission media for exchange data between computers. A network includes a group of computers connected by a physical link allowing data to be exchanged between them. A local are network on LAN is a network of computers in close physical proximity, usually a single building, but can be a group of adjacent buildings. Over the last decades LANs have become an important component of the computer workplace.

2.2. Protocol Stacks

Very Early in the history of computer network development the concept of separating the problem into multiple levels was adapted. With a multilevel

architecture each layer can handle a different aspect of networking and provide that functionality to the above layer. TCP/IP is a specific implementation of a multi level network architecture. In both, the first and second chapter, we are always repeating the same sentence, which is TCP/IP protocol. It is now the time to dissect this sentence.

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2.2.1. TCP
TCP (the Transmission Control Protocol ) has the responsibility for breaking up the message into datagrams, reassembling them at the other end,

resending anything that gets lost, and putting things back in the right order. It may seem that TCP is doing all the work. And in small network it is true. With TCP, there is no maximum message length. When a message is passed to the TCP protocol, if it is too large to be sent in one peace, the message is broken up into chunks or packets and sent one at a time to the destination address. The TCP packet contains the addressing information. The TCP message also contains a packet number and total number of packets. Because of the nature of the TCP/IP protocol, the packet may travel different paths and may arrive in a different order than sent. TCP reassemble the packets in the proper order and requests the retransmission of any missing or corrupted packets. TCP enables you to create and maintain a connection to a remote computer. By using the connection, both computers can stream data between each other.

2.2.2. IP
As the number of computers networked become larger, a system becomes necessary to give remote computers the capability to recognize other remote computers; thus the IP addressing method was born. Therefore, simply an IP address uniquely identifies any computer connected to a network. This address is made up of 32 bits divided into 4 four bytes. But since the number of connected computers is too large and since it is difficult to remember all their IP addresses, the Domain Name Service (DNS) was designed. It has the job of transforming the unique computer

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names (host name) into an IP address. Therefor, whenever in our project we run the client application and enter the host name, this means that we are writing the IP address of the remote computer we want to connect to indirectly. In general, TCP/IP is a set of protocols developed to allow cooperating computers to share resources across the network.

2.3. Service Port

Till now, we have seen that TCP/IP forms the backbone for communication between computers, but do you know how these computers speak to each other? The answer is Ports. A port is a special location in the computers memory that exists when two computers are communicating via TCP/IP. Application uses a port number to communicate and the sending and receiving computers use this same port to exchange data. To make the job of communication easier, some port numbers have been standardized, ex, (www Port 80, Ftp Port 20, 21, Etc). Our application uses a constant named IP-echoport = 7.

2.4. Sockets
The world is defining itself as a largely Intel-processor, windows-based set of desktops communicating with back end servers of various types. Hardware and

software technology advances are pushing PCs into the role of every where communications devices. For software applications to take advantage of increasingly sophisticated and feature-rich communications technology, they require an Application Programming Interface (API) which provides a simple and uniform access to this technology. WinSock has been this interface for TCP/IP on windows

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systems for the last 3 years. It is now set to become the definitive applications interface for all windows-based communication-capable applications.

2.4.1. What is WinSock ?

Windows Socket or WinSock as it has become known, is an open network API standard. It was first designed to create a standard programming interface for TCP/IP on all versions of Microsoft Windows including Windows 3.x. The major benefit of WinSock to date have come in 3 areas. First, by providing an open API standard rather than a closed propriety API, it has helped foster the success of TCP on Microsoft operating system. Second, application developers have been able to easily create applications that will run on many different vendors TCP/IP network stack. Third, it has made it much easier for end users to select both

applications and network stacks they need only look for WinSock compatibility. There are now hundreds of WinSock-capable applications and an ever-increasing number of users mandating and relying on this open standard for the connectivity delivered by their TCP/IP applications.

2.4.2. How WinSock Works

The previous sections described what information a program needs to communicate over a TCP/IP network. The next step is for a program to create what is called a socket; a communication end-point that can be linked to a telephone. However, creating a socket by itself doesnt let you exchange information (having a telephone doesnt mean that you can talk by simply taking it off the hook). You need

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to establish a connection with the other program. Table 2.4.1. shows how winsock works

Table 2.4.1 the windows socket layer

TCP/IP Stack Wireless stack

Name Space Wireless SPI Service provider Interface

TCP/IP Protocol Specific Annex

TCP/IP SPI

(SPI)

Winsock 2 DLLS

Application Layer

The winsock DLL is a layer between an application and the TCP/IP stack. The application tells the Winsock DLL what to do. These instructions then go to the TCP/IP stack, and the TCP/IP stack passes them along to the network. To do this, you need a socket address of the application that you want to connect to. This

address consists of 3 parts: protocol family, Internet protocol, and the service port number. We have already covered the service port and protocol, but what is protocol family?

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2.4.3. Family Protocol

It is a number used to logically designate the group that a given protocol belongs to. Since the socket is general enough to be used with any protocols, the protocol family tells the underling network software which protocol is being used by the socket. In our project it is given the value AF_INET, which s a global constant with the integer value of 2.

2.5. Client-Server Application

When the program wishes to use TCP to exchange data, one of the programs should take the role of a client while the other must take the role of a server. The client application initiates what is called active open. It creates a socket and actively attempts to connect to server program. On the other hand, the server application creates a socket and passively listens for incoming connections from client, performing what is called passive open. When the client wants to connect a server, it sends a connection request. The server is notified that some process is trying to connect with it. By accepting the connection, the server completes what is called a virtual circuit, a logical communication pathway between the two programs. To review, there are five significant steps that a program that uses TCP must take to establish and complete a connection.

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 The server side would follow these steps:

1. Create a socket 2. Listen for incoming connections from clients 3. Accept the client connection

4. Send and receive information

5. Close the socket when finished, terminating the conversation

In case of the client, these steps are followed:

1. Create a socket 2. Specify the address and service port of the server program 3. Establish the connection with the server 4. Send and receive information

5. Close the socket when finished, terminating the conversation

2.6. Blocking vs. Non-blocking Mode

A socket can operate in blocking or non-blocking mode. This mode is associated with the socket and affects the operation of all relevant commands on that socket. The socket commands affected by the blocking mode are: Accept ( ), Connect ( ), Disconnect ( ), Read ( ), Write ( ). In general, in blocking mode, commands wait to return until the required network activity completes, while in the non-blocking mode, commands fail if the required network activity has not completed when the command is issued. In nonblocking mode, issuing a command can be used as a method of polling for the

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associated network event completion. It is highly recommended that in WinSock application to use the non-blocking mode as my application does.

2.7. System Requirements

The SocketWrench control requires Microsoft Windows 3.1 or later, Visual Basic 2.0 or later and networking software that supports the Windows Sockets 1.1 specification. For 16-bit platforms, the Visual Basic or ActiveX control should be installed in the system directory. For 32-bit platforms, the ActiveX control should be placed in the system directory under Windows 95, or the system32 directory under Windows NT. Windows 3.1 does not come with TCP/IP software as part of the operating system, so you will need a third-party product for that platform. One of the most popular TCP/IP stacks for this platform is written by Trumpet Software International, and can be used over local and dial-up networks. Windows for Workgroups 3.11 does not include TCP/IP software, but Microsoft does offer one for free. However, it does not support dial-up networks, so if that is a requirement, you will still need a thirdpart product. Windows 95 and Windows NT both have TCP/IP software included with the operating system. Both local and dial-up networks are supported, with dial-up networking installed as part of the Windows Remote Access Services subsystem. If you are using Windows 95, it is recommended that you obtain the Dial-Up networking 2.1 update that includes a number of enhancements to the product. You

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can obtain further information about this update by searching the KnowledgeBase on the Microsoft website.

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CHAPTER 3

WINDOWS SOCKETS WITH VISUAL BASIC

With the acceptance of the TCP/IP as a standard platform-independent network protocol, and the explosive growth of the internet, the Windows Socket API (Application Program Interface) has emerged as the standard for network programming in the Windows environment. There are two general approaches that you can follow when creating a program that uses Windows Sockets. The first is to code directly against the API. The second-which we use in our project-is to use a component, which provides a higher level interface to the library by setting properties and responding to events, which we will describe later in the next chapters. So this chapter has the responsibility of describing this control and how we can make use of it in our project. Therefore, psyche yourself up to get motivated to explore the beauty of Windows Socket Control.

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3.1. Properties of Windows Socket Control

Winsock/socket wrench enables you to create clients and servers using the same control. These dual functioning enables you to specify through property setting the type of application you will be building. The socket control uses a number of the same properties, whether you are creating a client or a server, thereby all but eliminating the learning curve needed to create applications. The next couple of sections describe some of the properties we used and available to the socket control and how they can be called in an application.

3.1.1. Host Name Property

The Host Name Property returns or sets the remote host. Remote host can be both read from and written to and is available both at design time and run time. The value returned is a string and can be specified either as IP address such as (204.246.66.6) or as DNS name (www.microsoft.com). The following is an example of the syntax to read the property: RetVa1 = winsock.Hostname To set the property, you use: winsock.Hostname = 127.0.0.2 Sitting this property at run time enables the user to select the remote host when the application starts or based on some criteria.

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3.1.2. Remote Port Property

The Remote Port Property returns or sets the remote port number. This property can be both read from and written to and is available both at design time and run time. The value returned is a long integer. An example of the syntax to read property is: RetVar = winsock.remoteport To set the property, use the following: Winsock.remoteport = 7 This property can be used to select the application that is to be contacted at the remote host.

3.1.3. Local Port Property

The Local Port Property returns or sets the local port number. Local Port can be both read from and written to and is available both at design time and run time. The value returned is a long integer. The following is an example of syntax to read the property: RetVar = winsock.localport To set the property, you use the following: Winsock.localport = 7

3.1.4. Protocol Property

The Protocol Property returns or sets the protocol of either UDP or TCP. This property can be both read from and written to and is available both at design time and run time. The value returned is 0 (or the constant SckTCP Protocol) or 1 (SckUDPProtocol). Example:

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RetVar = winsock.Protocol To set the property, you use: Winsock.localport = SckTCPProtocol

3.1.5. Action Property

Setting this property causes the socket to take some action, such as creating a socket connecting to a remote system or closing a connection. Example: Winsock.Action = action

3.1.6. State Property

The State Property returns the state of the control as expressed by enumerated list. This property is read-only and is unavailable at design time. The state property is set by using various methods and events. The syntax to read the property: RetVar = winsock.state

Table 3.1.1. shows the setting for the state property:

Table 3.1.1. server states

Constant SckClosed SckOpen SckListening SckConnection Pending SckResolving Host SckHost Resolved SckConnecting SckConnected SckClosing SckError

Value 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Description Default Open Listening Connection Pending Resolving Host Host Resolved Connecting Connected Closing Error

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3.1.7. RecvLen Property

Sets the maximum number of bytes to read, or return the number of bytes read. Example: Winsock.Recvlen = [ number of characters to be sent ]

3.1.8. Send Data Property

Writes data to the remote server. Example: Winsock.Senddata = [ data to be sent ]

3.1.9. AddressFamily property

This property is part of the socket address, and should always be set to a value of AF_INET, which is global constant with the integer value of 2.

3.1.10 SocketType property

This property specifies the type of socket that is to be created. It may be either of type SOCK_STREAM or SOCK_DGRAM. The streambased socket uses the TCP protocol, and data is read and written on the socket as a stream of bytes, similar to how data in file is accessed. The datagram-based socket uses the UDP (uniform datagram protocol) protocol, and data is read and written in discrete units called datagrams. The socket we use is a stream one.

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3.1.11. BufferSize Property

This property is used only for stream based (TCP) sockets. It specifies the amount of memory, in bytes, that should be allocated for the sockets send and receive buffer.

3.1.12. Binary Property

This property determines how data should be read from the socket. If set to a value of True, then the data is received unmodified. If set to False, the data is interpreted as text, with the carriage return and linefeed characters stripped from the data stream. Each receive returns exactly one line of text.

3.2. Methods of Windows Socket Control

Methods are predefined functions used to perform various tasks on the control. There are methods that open and close a connection and methods that accept a request for the connection. The following are the most important ones of them:

3.2.1.

Accept Method
The Accept Method is used for the TCP server applications only. It accepts

the request for connection from client system. For the Accept Method to be used, the control must be in a listening state. This method is used in conjunction with the connection request. Example: Private sub winsock connection request (ByVal request ID as integer) Winsock (Numsockets).Accept request ID End sub

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3.2.2. Close Method

This method is used to terminate a TCP connection. Syntax: Winsock.close

3.2.3. Listen Method

The Listen Method is invoked on the server application to have the server application wait for a TCP request for connection from client system. Syntax: Winsock.listen

3.2.4.

Connect Method
The Connect Method requests a connection to remote computer according

to host name and remote port. Winsock.connect

3.3. Events
Events are triggers that invoke the methods. The winsock control generates events that also can be used. Some of these events, such as the connection request, happen at the server as a result of an action taken by the client. The events generated by the winsock control make it possible for an unattached system to participate in a network communications.

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3.3.1. Read Event

The Read Event is generated when data is available to be read. Syntax: Sub winsock-read ([ index as integer,] datalength as integer) [ ]

3.3.2. Disconnect Event

The Disconnect Event occurs when the remote computer closes the connection. Syntax: Winsock-disconnect (index as integer)

3.3.3. Connect Event

The Connect Event occurs after the connection with remote computer has been made. Syntax: Private sub winsock-connect (index as integer) End sub

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CHAPTER 4

ALGORITHM USED

Knowing sockets, protocols, and network programming does not mean that you can easily create a chat server. How you are going to send and receive data. What kind of synchronization exists between the server and the client application. This chapter will show you how this server is build and what algorithm it follow, try to enjoy what you are reading.

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4.1. Project Structure

Since we are using the TCP/IP facilities, we are obliged to divide the project into two applications. In the next few sections we are going to explain how these applications works and how they are synchronized with each other.

4.1.1. Control Strings

A set of Control Strings was created, such that whenever the client or the server receives one of these control strings, it should do a certain task. To distinguish these strings from normal strings (chatting sentences) they are given the following format: *ControlCommand . For example if the client sends to server the string *Out walid, the server upon receiving this message, the message parsing operation starts. It looks at the first character if it is a * immediately it recognizes that this is a control string. It continues parsing until it reads the control command which is in this case Out . It matches this control to the group of commands it has. Where it finds out that this client ( walid ) is trying to disconnect himself, so the function User_Out is called where the disconnection operation is completed. Else if the string does not begin with a star, then it is a normal string and therefore it should be broadcasted to other connected users to be displayed in their public window. In fact there are many controls in both server and client where each has its own job and some of these controls are common between both server and client.

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4.1.2. Client
The client form is divided into four sections. A text box of the username, a text box of the host where the server application is running, another text box of the public sent data, and a list of the connected users. To get connected to server you just enter a username, the host name you want to connect to, and finally hit the connect button figure 4.1.2.1. shows the client form.
Users on line Connect button Figure 4.1.2.1 Client Form

Received Data User status

During this connection operation, the client will send a control *In username indicating to the server that there is a new chatter. The server will parse this string and call the User_In function which adds this username to his list and retransmit another identical control string to all connected users containing all the online usernames in

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order to update the connected users list in the clients form. The same thing happens when the user wants to disconnect himself where instead of sending *In username, *Out username is sent and User_Out function is called which disconnects the user and do all the updates.

4.1.3. Server
Till now it is clear that the server application has dual job, one to receive data and another to transmit data. In fact it plays the role of a traffic officer ( putting everything in order the right order ). Since all the chatting operations are passed through the server, then the main job of server is responding to the control strings sent by clients as we have seen in the in and out requests. Figure 4.1.3.1 shows the server form.
Connected Users Number of connected Users on line

Figure 4.1.3.1. server form Encrypted Data

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It plays an important role during the private chatting as we are going to see in the next chapter.

4.2. Private chatting

When ever a client wants to initiate a private session, in the list of connected users, he double clicks the username he wants to chat with. Two phenomenon will take place. First, open a local-private session window. Second, to tell the server that he wants to chat privately in order to open a remote private window. When these conditions are satisfied, private chatting can be practiced by just writing in the send text box and then hitting the enter button in your keyboard. Figure 4.2.1. shows the private session form.
Private Data Destination Client

Data To be Send

Figure 4.2.1. private session form

Send Data Terminate Private Session

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CHAPTER 5

PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED

To say, I am going to write a chat application without having problems means that you are not really working with that application. In our previous four chapters, our main concentration was to show and explain network programming, sockets and how do they work. Now, considering that all the needed information was properly delivered for you, it is time to shake your brain neurons and start solving problems.

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5.1. Multi-user
For two programs to use the TCP/IP facilities, one should take the role of client and the other should take the role of server. The client initiates a socket and tries to send a connection request on that port. For the connection to take place, the client should be on the connection mode and the server should be on the listening mode.

Supposing that all the required conditions for a connection are satisfied and both applications are ready to establish that connection. The first client sends a connection request for the server that is in the listening mode so it detects a connection. It accepts that connection and the socket shifts itself from the listening mode to the connected mode. Now another user enters and sends another connection request for the server. Automatically, this request will be rejected since the server is in the connected mode and it should be in the listening mode. So, what shall we do in order to allow other users to connect to server?

5.2. How To Allow Multi-user

Following an extensive research and reading, it seems that Biology in general and cloning in specific is the solution. What is cloning? And how are we going to use it? Cloning: a group of cells or organisms, derived from a single ancestral cell or individual and all genetically alike. In fact, we are not going to use genes and cells. All what we are going to do is to create a socket with all its parameters. Each time a client requests a connection, the server clones from that socket and provides the client with a socket descriptor (like

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array structure) so the operation works likes this. When the server application first runs, it creates an array of sockets and puts the socket of index zero in the listening mode. When a client requests a connection, the connection will be accepted (since socket [0] is listening) immediately. The server takes that connection that was caught by socket [0] and scans other socket indexes for available sockets. The time it finds a socket descriptor, it puts that client on that socket, updates the number of last socket being used, and returns to listening mode at socket [0] such that when another user tries to access the server, he will be accepted as shown in (figure 5.2.1.). Since all the connection operations take place in Accept event, the code should look like this: Private sub socket-accept (index as integer, socket id as integer) Dim 1 as integer For I = 1 to last socket If not socket [I]. connected then Exit for Next I If I > last socket then Last socket = last socket + 1 : I = last socket Load socket (I) End if Socket [I].address family = AF-INET Socket [I].protocol = IPPROTO IP Socket [I]. sockettype = sock-stream Socket [I]. binary = true Socket [I]. buffersize = 1024 Socket [I]. blocking = false Socket [I]. accept = socket id End sub.

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figure 5.2.1. MultiUser

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5.3. Private chatting

Another facility of our chat server is the private chatting. Whenever you are connected to a server, you will have two kinds of chatting; public chatting (your messages appears to all users on-line) and private chatting (exchange of data between clients privately). By default, you will be connected to a public window, plus another window containing all the users on-line with you. Private chatting is initiated by double clicking on the user name in the list. Immediately a small window between you and the remote client appears indicating that you are in the private mode and that you can start chatting.

5.4. Keep track of users

In fact, we have two kinds of private chatting; DCC that is a direct IP to IP connection and another one where all the messages pass through a server which has the job of delivery. In our system, we will use the server technique, but the problem here is the delivery process and how it works. Therefore the server should know each user, to which socket they are connected, and the available window number.

5.5. How To Keep Track Of Users

To keep track of a user and on which socket he is connected, we maintain a data base made up of one table containing two fields; username and socket number. Each time a user is connected to a server, his username and socket number are added to database automatically. Whenever the user double clicks a

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username to run the private chatting, the server fires a query that selects the destination socket number (according to usernames) and the source socket number. It sends the destination socket to source and the source socket to the destination. From that time on, these socket addresses are contcatinated with the sent message and passed by the server such that it knows where it comes from and where it should go.

5.6. Private window

To chat privately you should have two windows one on the source clients screen and the other on the destination clients screen. The problem is where does these windows come from, on which bases they were created, and if I send a message to which opened window on the screen it belongs.

5.6.1. Open Window

As a matter of fact we have created three identical forms for private chatting and each of which has its own identity number i.e. form1, form2, form3. When a client asks for private session, the system will call a function choose_window . This function contains an array of type integer, where the indexes of this array are equivalent to the identity number of forms, so it scans the array, if it contains 1 (window is in use) it skips that window and jump to next window, if it is 0 (window is available) it exits the function and return the index of that available window to client to open it and the identity window number is stored in a variable in that opened window. The same thing happens for the

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remote window but here the order to open a window comes directly from the server.

5.6.2. Keep Track Of Windows

When the open window in the source client ends and before sending the first message, the source client waits an acknowledgment control string from the server containing in it the window number that was opened in the destination clients screen. The next time it receives that number, it calls a function

First_Message which has the responsibility of sending the first message where the destination socket number and the destination window number are attached to that first message such that when the destination client receives this message, he parse it and know the window number from which it comes. Now each time a private message are exchanged these variables are concatenated with it.

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CHAPTTER 6

ENCRYPTION

Data being sent over communication lines may be protected by scrambling the message-that is, putting them in code that can be broken only by the person receiving the message. After completing the private chatting, its time to deal with encryption or decryption, where two users can chat privately without fearing that their words are published to others.

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6.1. Data Encryption / Decryption

We are living in the information age. Computer thrive on information, with more and more data being obtained and processed every day. Data about you, your business, your bank account, your bills, and your credit is being processed everyday. Information is a commodity that is sometimes valued more than gold and silver, and thats not likely to change any time soon.

Most information is freely accessible, available to anyone who wants it. The internet is the worlds largest source of information, an unlimited amount of data that is, for the most part, free for the asking.

But some information is not meant for public eyes and has to be secured, lest it fall into the wrong hands. Details of military operations, financial information, medical records, and som forms of communication are all type of information that need to be kept secret. This is where data encryption (also known as cryptography) comes in.

Data encryption is nothing new. it goes back to ancient civilization that used hieroglyphic to build messages. Were all familiar with the strange symbols used by the ancient Egyptians. These hieroglyphics were an early form of encryption, and a relatively good one. It wasnt until the Rosetta stone was found in the recent times that these hieroglyphics could be accurately deciphered. Although data encryption has always been important, never has it been as necessary and widespread as it is today.

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A wide range of encryption techniques have been devised, Some are simple, whereas others are incredibly complex. Obviously, the simpler the encryption

techniques. The easier it is to crack. Also, as computers get faster and more efficient, they become more capable of cracking existing encryption techniques. Therefore, newer and better methods of encrypting data are constantly being invented. And, since in our project the main concern is on network programming and not encryption, we are going to use a simple way of encryption (as demonstration) which is the XOR encryption.

6.2. XOR Encryption

One simple way to encrypt and decrypt data is by using the XOR Encryption method. basically. The characters in the data stream and those of code key are XORed together to create and encrypted character. The process is exactly the same for data being decrypted.

The code key is a string made up of any alphanumeric characters you want to use. It can be any number of characters long, but the longer the key is, the more secure the encryption.

XOR Encryption is not a tight method of encryption, meaning that it can be broken relatively easily. However, if you want to encrypt messages or documents so that they cannot be viewed with text editor or browser, then XOR Encryption offers a simple way to do so

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The following code shows a function called XOREncryption that can be used for both encryption and decryption. You need only pass it the key (a string) and the data to be encrypted or decrypted.

Public Function XOREncryption ( strCodekey As string, strDataIn As string) As string Dim IonDataPter As Long Dim intXORValue1 As Integer Dim intXORValue2 As Integer Dim strDataOut As string

For IonDataPtr = 1 To Len (strDataIn) the first value to XOR comes from the data to be encrypted intXORvalue1 = Asc(Mid$(strDataIn, IonDataPtr, 1)) the second value to XOR comes from the code key. intXORvalue2 = Asc(Mid$(strCodeKey, ((LonDataPter Mod

Len(strCodeKey))+1, 1)) the two values are XORed together to create a decrypted character. StrDataOut = strDataOut + Chr(intXORValue1 Xor intXORValue2) Next IonDataPtr the XOREcryption function returns the encrypted or decrypted data. XOREncryption = strDataOut

End Function

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To make the XOREncryption in our application more complex, I avoided using the same constant key each time the private chatting is fired. Instead, whenever a user double clicks another username for private chatting the source will automatically create a random alphanumeric key of 15 characters and has the following format. Six digits constitute the hour, minutes, seconds when the source user enters the server. The rest nine characters are random characters generated by source also. When key generated and before sending the first message to destination, the sources sends that key to server and server send it to destination where it is used during that private session. For more security and since the key will pass through the server without being encrypted, the possibility of cracking this key becomes higher. To overcome this problem, we have created a function that is called by one of the clients where after each unit of time say ten minutes it will generate another key and send it to the other chatter in such a way if a hacker cracks the key after ten minutes another key will be generated and the hacker will spend his time cracking only.

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CONCLUSION

As a matter of fact this project took me one year to be completed and this year is divided into two sections, six months of collecting information and six months of writing Visual Basic code. First, the theoretical section, where I have learned lots of things in networking, such as the TCP/IP protocol (number one in network protocols) and how it works, windows sockets, and network programming which is one of the best programming domains in computers. Second, the technical section which let me become more familiar with a new programming language such as Visual Basic and its network components. Having a chat server as a senior project, obliged you and indirectly to go into the tiny details in networking and no one will teach you these details. Lots of experience was gained and another beautiful face of networking was discovered. The psychological part I have learned from that project is that, nothing in life comes easily and at the same time nothing is impossible only it needs time, patience, and hard working. Finally I would like to thank my university N.D.U and all my instructors for helping me to reach this level.

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REFERENCES

Books Used

1. James Martin, [1989], Local Area Network Architecture and Implementations . 2. H. L. Capron, [1996], Computers Tools For an Information age . 3. Rob Thayer, [1998], Visual Basic 6 . 4. Pat Bonner, [1996], Network Programming With Windows Sockets . 5. Catalyst Development Corporation, [1999], An Introduction To TCP/IP programming with windows sockets . 6. Charles L. Hedrick, [1987], Introduction To Internet Protocols . 7. Greg Perry, [1998], Sams Teach Yourself Visual Basic 6 In 21 Days . 8. Star Dust Technology, [1997], Introducing Windows sockets version 2 . 9. Novel Education, [1997], Course 200 Networking Technologies .

Software Used

1. Visual Basic 6 2. Socket Wrench Control 3. Microsoft Access 2000

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