Hye guyz how r u doing?..

Currently im developing an IM application based on java gui for the interface and java socket for the networking purpose.. this IM covered LAN only.. Glad everything work fine so far.. But now i want to add a new features to this IM.. File transferring.. im planning to use FTP.. but can it be done w/o Internet conn.?.. i mean through the LAN only.. according to java FTP tutorial right here, its said we need to establish the conn to ftp server first.. so i guess if i get the ftp server installed in the same pc running the IM server app, its all can be done.. any idea bout it sifu?.. thanx in advance..

Hi there,

As long as you can connect to the FTP server (LAN or local machine), it should be fine.

BTW, Why do you want to use FTP if file transfer is between two IM users.

nope it is not for two user.. one building contains around 20 pcs n maybe more in LAN..
is there anyway else to use instead of FTP?.. thanx for the response mate..

Try this ftp server...
http://incubator.apache.org/ftpserver/
Of couse u can download the source code and integrate with your IM.

Adding the FTP client AND server would increase the complexity of your project tenfold.

Just hack up your own simple file transfer protocol. Imagine this - without file transfer, you would have two persons, A and B, having something like..

A: I'm telling you the contents of "example.txt".
B: OK.
A: Here we go.
A: Currently im developing an IM application based on java gui for the interface and java socket for the networking purpose..
A: this IM covered LAN only..
A: Glad everything work fine so far..
A: But now i want to add a new features to this IM..
A: That's all.
B: OK.

Put A and B as software agents, and you have file transfer!

Need to use FTP one meh?AFAIK,if u know how to do socket programming,the sender will select the file then the application serialize it to receiver,then receiver received it and reconstruct back to a file,thats all...and i tot that if both can chat means both parties can connect,just open another connection with another port number or same port number with a header that indicates is a file.
I use to write such application b4,just for fun...its a mulitple clients to one server thingy,not like an IM,but more like IRC...every packet the client send to the server has a header that indicates the message type...functions of this apps including chat room,private messaging,user's profile etc...
u can try to add emoticons or some small small features lor...i think emoticon is good in the sense of increasing the fun of using it...
just my 2 cents

ps.if u have finish ur apps,do u mind to make it open source? my apps i already throw to dunno where adi... =_=''

i'd agree with others that its easier to send the file directly to another client and the client ask the user where to save it afterwards
open a file at the selected location and write the received byte stream to it

you can send the file/byte stream via client -> client or client -> server -> client, its a uni project so the efficiency won't matter as much rite ?

to do it via ftp, you only need 1 ftp server, each client that wants to send a file will connect to the ftp server and upload the file, notify the destinated client and the client will connect to the ftp, download it.

This post has been edited by asc2: Feb 8 2006, 09:31 AM

this sounds just like my assignment back then..