Reinstating this question with a bounty!

 I need an example that stays online, like a real instant

messenger! It needs to always be ready to receive or send a message to an arbitrary address
over an arbitrary port, using TCP. The program must not quit after sending/receiving a
message.
Bounty goes to whoever can give the best example of a real, usable instant messenger.

Looking online, all resources I found are either useless tutorials, dead threads, dead

tutorials, ancient examples, or tell the programmer to use external APIs. How can I create a
basic instant messenger from the ground up, only using Java SE?
There must be a way to do this, and some sample code would be appreciated. It only needs to
perform the simplest tasks: Check if a compatible client is online on another computer (IP will be
provided by the user) and send a TCP packet to that client, which will receive and display its
contents.
java   instant-messaging

shareimprove this question

edited Apr 29 '16 at 1:56
asked Dec 17 '11 at 4:22

Supuhstar
7,0022525 gold badges9898 silver badges168168 bronze badges
closed as too broad by meagar♦ May 5 '16 at 13:06
Please edit the question to limit it to a specific problem with enough detail to identify an adequate answer.
Avoid asking multiple distinct questions at once. See the How to Ask page for help clarifying this question.If
this question can be reworded to fit the rules in the help center, please edit the question.
 1
This is not to difficult, but it is unclear if you are talking about a direct peer-to-peer connection or
running a centralized IM server. Either way, one or more parties has to act as a server (listening for
socket connections) and others have to act as clients. IMO the simplest model is the central server
listening on a well-known (to the clients at least) IP and port. The rest is trivial. – Keith Layne Dec 17 '11
at 4:28
 what about two computers, both with peer and socket duties, so there is no central hub? and if it is
trivial, please post it as an answer! – Supuhstar Dec 17 '11 at 4:34 
 1
Dude, you're confusing terms. I think you mean "both with client and server duties". I'm not posting
code because I don't do Java. Somebody should be along to give you some code. It is not difficult, but
it won't be that short of a program. Sorry I couldn't be of more help. – Keith Layne Dec 17 '11 at 4:41
 yeah, sorry... I'm switching between several tasks and it's hard to get my mind straight
^^; – Supuhstar Dec 17 '11 at 4:51
add a comment
6 Answers
activeoldest votes

13
When this question was first asked and answered back in 2011, it was simply "Looking online, all
resources I found are either useless tutorials, dead threads, or tell the programmer to use
 external APIs.". The provided links below met the criteria at the time. Further discussion follows
in the comments.
First few Google results for "java socket chat":
 http://cs.lmu.edu/~ray/notes/javanetexamples/
 simple chatting program in java usings socket class
 http://pirate.shu.edu/~wachsmut/Teaching/CSAS2214/Virtual/Lectures/chat-client-
server.html
 http://www.cise.ufl.edu/~amyles/tutorials/tcpchat/
 http://ashishmyles.com/tutorials/tcpchat/index.html
 Internet Archive link to fix missing Java source file
downloads: https://web.archive.org/web/20150623102646/http://ashishmyles.com/
tutorials/tcpchat/index.html
Or from "java 8 chat client":
 https://gist.github.com/alex-zykov/b4052e3c1b6891081897
Many, many results following in the search. Pick one that suits your needs. You can even modify
the Google search to only show results from the past year, if you wish.

shareimprove this answer

edited May 23 '17 at 12:02

Community♦
111 silver badge
answered Dec 17 '11 at 4:48

ziesemer
24.8k77 gold badges6969 silver badges8888 bronze badges
 Why google? Supuhstar said: "Looking online, all resources I found are either useless tutorials, dead
threads, or tell the programmer to use external APIs". – Pingwin Tux Jan 12 '15 at 16:33
 2
@PingwinTux - it is unclear as to what search terms were originally used, but sometimes a valid
solution is just finding a better search query. I did not only provide the search terms and a matching
link, but also results that I had reviewed and validated to be in-line with what I understood to be the
original request. – ziesemer Feb 5 '15 at 16:23
 1
@Supuhstar - you're still working on this? For what it's worth, the source code is still accessible by the
Internet Archive (answer updated to include). Also, even dated code is still completely valid for your
purposes here. Get the simple examples working first - and then you can update to make use of Java
8 features, etc., as you wish. – ziesemer Apr 29 '16 at 2:08
 2
You would run one "common" host, then connect multiple clients. What you're looking to achieve will
probably not be as simple as you are hoping for. Start SIMPLE, then build from there. – ziesemer Apr
29 '16 at 3:24
 1
@ziesemer Yet, it's unfortunately way too late for changing that. May I suggest that you add a small
introduction to your answer resuming OP's original question? This way, future readers of the updated
question would better understand how your answer relates to OP's question as they see
it… – jwatkins May 4 '16 at 18:36
show 9 more comments
8
I've done this when I was learning Java, something around 10 years ago. It works:

Constantes.java:

package jsc;

public interface Constantes {

public static final String MULTICAST_IP = "224.0.0.1";

public static final int MULTICAST_PORTA = 3333;

public static final String SEPARADOR = "[>>>]";

public static final int TAMANHO_MENSAGEM = 1024;

public static final long ESPERA = 3000;

public static final String ESTOUONLINE = "EstouOnline";

public static final String DESCONECTANDO = "Desconectando";

public static final String PRIVADO = "Privado";

}
ControladorThread.java

package jsc;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.net.DatagramPacket;
import java.net.InetAddress;
import java.net.MulticastSocket;
import java.net.UnknownHostException;
import java.util.Date;
import java.util.Iterator;
import java.util.StringTokenizer;
import java.util.Vector;

public class ControladorThread extends Thread implements Constantes{

private MulticastSocket mcSocket;
private Main main;
private Vector<Usuario> listaUsuarios; // lista de
usuários ativos

public ControladorThread(Main main){

super("ReceptoraThread_" + main.getNick());
listaUsuarios = new Vector<Usuario>();
listaUsuarios.add(new Usuario(main.getNick(), new Date().getTime()));
this.main = main;

try{
mcSocket = new MulticastSocket(MULTICAST_PORTA);
mcSocket.joinGroup(InetAddress.getByName(MULTICAST_IP));
} catch(IOException e){
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
public void run(){
while(true){
try{
byte[] buffer = receberPacote();
processar(buffer);
removerUsuariosOciosos();
atualizarListaUsuarios();
} catch(IOException e){
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}

public byte [] receberPacote() throws IOException{

byte[] buffer = new byte[TAMANHO_MENSAGEM];
DatagramPacket pacote = new DatagramPacket(buffer, buffer.length);
mcSocket.receive(pacote);
return buffer;
}

public void processar(byte[] buffer){

String mensagem = new String(buffer);
mensagem = mensagem.trim();

StringTokenizer tokens = new StringTokenizer(mensagem, SEPARADOR);

String t1 = tokens.nextToken();
String t2 = tokens.nextToken();

if(t1.equals(ESTOUONLINE))
atualizarEstadoUsuario(t2);
else if(t1.equals(DESCONECTANDO))
desconectarUsuario(t2);
else if(t1.equals(PRIVADO)){
String t3 = tokens.nextToken();
String t4 = tokens.nextToken();
if(t3.equals(main.getNick())){
receberMensagemPrivada(t2, t4);
}
}
else
main.setTextoEntrada(t1 + " diz: " + t2);
}

public void receberMensagemPrivada(String deUsuario, String mensagem){

main.abrirChatPrivado(main.getNick(), deUsuario, mensagem);
}

public boolean atualizarEstadoUsuario(String nomeUsuario){

int pos;
for(Iterator i = listaUsuarios.iterator(); i.hasNext(); ){
Usuario uAux = (Usuario) i.next();
if(uAux.getNome().equals(nomeUsuario)){
pos = listaUsuarios.indexOf(uAux);
listaUsuarios.remove(uAux);
uAux.setTempoInicio(new Date().getTime());
listaUsuarios.add(pos, uAux);
return true;
}
}
 listaUsuarios.add(new Usuario(nomeUsuario, new Date().getTime()));
return false;
}

public void removerUsuariosOciosos(){

Usuario usuario = null;
for(Iterator i = listaUsuarios.iterator(); i.hasNext(); ){
usuario = (Usuario) i.next();
if(new Date().getTime() - usuario.getTempoInicio() > ESPERA){
desconectarUsuario(usuario.getNome());
i = listaUsuarios.iterator();
}
}
}

public void desconectarUsuario(String nomeUsuario){

for(Iterator i = listaUsuarios.iterator(); i.hasNext(); ){
Usuario uAux = (Usuario) i.next();
if(uAux.getNome().equals(nomeUsuario)){
i.remove();
break;
}
}
}

public void atualizarListaUsuarios(){

Vector<String> sVector = new Vector<String>();
Usuario uAux = null;
System.out.println("\nOnline: ");
for(Iterator i = listaUsuarios.iterator(); i.hasNext(); ){
uAux = (Usuario) i.next();
System.out.print( uAux.getNome() + " ");
sVector.add(uAux.getNome());
}
main.setUsuariosOnline(sVector);
}

private class Usuario{

private String nome;
private long tempoInicio;

public Usuario(){}

public Usuario(String nome, long tempoInicio){

this.nome = nome;
this.tempoInicio = tempoInicio;
}

public String getNome() {

return nome;
}
public void setNome(String nome) {
this.nome = nome;
}
public long getTempoInicio() {
return tempoInicio;
}
public void setTempoInicio(long tempoInicio) {
this.tempoInicio = tempoInicio;
 }
}

public void sair(){

try {
mcSocket.leaveGroup(InetAddress.getByName(MULTICAST_IP));
mcSocket.close();
} catch (UnknownHostException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
EstouOnlineThread.java

package jsc;

import java.io.IOException;
import java.net.DatagramPacket;
import java.net.InetAddress;
import java.net.MulticastSocket;

public class EstouOnlineThread extends Thread implements Constantes{

private MulticastSocket mcSocket;
private String nick;
private byte[] buffer;

public EstouOnlineThread(String nick){

super("EstouOnlineThread_" + nick);
this.nick = nick;
try {
mcSocket = new MulticastSocket();
} catch(IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}
}

public void run(){

String saida = ESTOUONLINE + SEPARADOR + nick;
buffer = saida.getBytes();
while(true){
try{
DatagramPacket estouOnline = new DatagramPacket(buffer,
buffer.length, InetAddress.getByName(MULTICAST_IP), MULTICAST_PORTA);
mcSocket.send(estouOnline);

System.out.println(saida);
sleep(ESPERA);
}
catch(InterruptedException e){
e.printStackTrace();
}
catch(IOException e){
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
}
MensagemPrivadaFrame.java

package jsc;
import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Frame;
import java.awt.TextArea;
import java.awt.TextField;
import java.awt.Toolkit;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.awt.event.WindowAdapter;
import java.awt.event.WindowEvent;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.net.DatagramPacket;
import java.net.InetAddress;
import java.net.MulticastSocket;
import java.net.UnknownHostException;

public class MensagemPrivadaFrame extends Frame implements Constantes{

private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;

private TextArea entrada;

private TextField saida;

private String nomeJanela;

private String nick;
private String paraUsuario;
private MulticastSocket mcSocket;

private ActionListener saidaListener;

private WindowAdapter frameListener;

private boolean estouVivo; // indica que a janela ainda está ativa

public MensagemPrivadaFrame(String nick, String paraUsuario){

super("JSC - Chat com " + paraUsuario);
setIconImage(Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getImage("icone.4"));
this.nick = nick;
this.paraUsuario = paraUsuario;
this.nomeJanela = nick + paraUsuario;

try {
mcSocket = new MulticastSocket();
} catch (IOException e) {
e.printStackTrace();
}

iniciarComponentes();
estouVivo = true;
}

public void setNomeJanela(String nomeJanela){

this.nomeJanela = nomeJanela;
}

public String getNomeJanela(){

return nomeJanela;
}
 public String getNick() {
return nick;
}

public void setNick(String nick) {

this.nick = nick;
}

public boolean estouVivo(){

return estouVivo;
}

public void iniciarComponentes(){

saidaListener = new ActionListener(){
public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e){
TextField origem = (TextField) e.getSource();
enviarMensagem(origem.getText());
entrada.append("\n(" + nick + " diz) " + origem.getText());
origem.setText("");
}
};

frameListener = new WindowAdapter(){

public void windowClosing(WindowEvent e){
estouVivo = false;
dispose();

}
};

entrada = new TextArea("[JSC] Bate papo privado entre " + nick + " e " +
paraUsuario + "\n");
entrada.setEditable(false);

saida = new TextField();

saida.addActionListener(saidaListener);

addWindowListener(frameListener);
setLayout(new BorderLayout());
int x = (int) (Math.random() * 500);
int y = (int) (Math.random() * 500);
setBounds(x, y, 400, 300);
System.out.println(x + " " + y);
add("Center", entrada);
add("South", saida);

setVisible(true);
saida.requestFocus();
}

public void setTextoEntrada(String texto){

entrada.append("\n" + texto);
entrada.setCaretPosition(entrada.getText().length());
}

public void enviarMensagem(String mensagem){

try{
mensagem = PRIVADO + SEPARADOR + nick + SEPARADOR + paraUsuario +
SEPARADOR + mensagem;
 byte[] bMensagem = mensagem.getBytes();
DatagramPacket pacote = new DatagramPacket(bMensagem,
bMensagem.length, InetAddress.getByName(MULTICAST_IP), MULTICAST_PORTA);
mcSocket.send(pacote);
}
catch(UnknownHostException e){
e.printStackTrace();
}
catch(IOException e){
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
}
Main.java

package jsc;

import java.awt.BorderLayout;
import java.awt.Dimension;
import java.awt.Frame;
import java.awt.ScrollPane;
import java.awt.TextArea;
import java.awt.TextField;
import java.awt.Toolkit;
import java.awt.event.ActionEvent;
import java.awt.event.ActionListener;
import java.awt.event.MouseAdapter;
import java.awt.event.MouseEvent;
import java.awt.event.WindowAdapter;
import java.awt.event.WindowEvent;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.net.DatagramPacket;
import java.net.InetAddress;
import java.net.MulticastSocket;
import java.net.UnknownHostException;
import java.util.Iterator;
import java.util.Vector;

import javax.swing.JLabel;
import javax.swing.JList;
import javax.swing.JOptionPane;

public class Main extends Frame implements Constantes{

private static final long serialVersionUID = 1L;

private TextArea entrada;

private TextField saida;
private JList usuariosOnline;
private ScrollPane usuariosOnlineScroll;

private WindowAdapter mainListener;

private ActionListener saidaListener;
private MouseAdapter listListener;

private MulticastSocket mcSocket; // soquete para

multicasting
private Vector<String> listaUsuariosOnline; // lista com os
nomes de usuários online
 private Vector<MensagemPrivadaFrame> listaJanelasAbertas; // janelas de
conversação privadas abertas
private String nick; // nome do usuário
no chat

public void setNick(String nick){

this.nick = nick;
}

public String getNick(){

return nick;
}

public Main(String nick){

super("Java Socket Chat [" + nick + "]");
setIconImage(Toolkit.getDefaultToolkit().getImage("icone.1"));

this.nick = nick;

listaUsuariosOnline = new Vector<String>();

listaUsuariosOnline.add(nick);

listaJanelasAbertas = new Vector<MensagemPrivadaFrame>();

try{
mcSocket = new MulticastSocket();
}
catch(IOException e){
e.printStackTrace();
}

iniciarComponentes();
new EstouOnlineThread(nick).start();
new ControladorThread(this).start();
}

public void iniciarComponentes(){

mainListener = new WindowAdapter(){
public void windowClosing(WindowEvent e){
sair();
}
};

saidaListener = new ActionListener(){

public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent e){
TextField origem = (TextField) e.getSource();
enviarMensagem(origem.getText());
origem.setText("");
}
};

listListener = new MouseAdapter(){

public void mouseClicked(MouseEvent e){
if( e.getClickCount() >= 2 ){
// abrir a janela para mensagens privadas e passar o id do
usuário
JList jlAux = (JList) e.getSource();
String paraUsuario = (String) jlAux.getSelectedValue();
abrirChatPrivado(nick, paraUsuario, null);
 }
}
};

usuariosOnline = new JList(listaUsuariosOnline);

usuariosOnline.setSize(new Dimension(60, 280));

usuariosOnlineScroll = new ScrollPane();

usuariosOnlineScroll.add(usuariosOnline);

entrada = new TextArea("Olá " + nick);

entrada.setEditable(false);
entrada.setSize(300,280);

saida = new TextField();

saida.addActionListener(saidaListener);
usuariosOnline.addMouseListener(listListener);
usuariosOnline.setMinimumSize(new Dimension(60, 250));
addWindowListener(mainListener);

setSize(400, 300);
setLayout(new BorderLayout());
add("North", new JLabel("Java Socket ChatO"));
add("Center", entrada);
add("South", saida);
add("East", usuariosOnlineScroll);

setVisible(true);
requestFocus();
}

public void enviarMensagem(String mensagem){

try{
mensagem = nick + SEPARADOR + mensagem;
byte[] bMensagem = mensagem.getBytes();
DatagramPacket pacote = new DatagramPacket(bMensagem,
bMensagem.length, InetAddress.getByName(MULTICAST_IP), MULTICAST_PORTA);
mcSocket.send(pacote);
}
catch(UnknownHostException e){
e.printStackTrace();
}
catch(IOException e){
e.printStackTrace();
}
}

private void desconectando(){

try{
String mensagem = "Desconectando" + SEPARADOR + nick;
byte[] bMensagem = mensagem.getBytes();
DatagramPacket pacote = new DatagramPacket(bMensagem,
bMensagem.length, InetAddress.getByName(MULTICAST_IP), MULTICAST_PORTA);
mcSocket.send(pacote);
}
catch(UnknownHostException e){
e.printStackTrace();
}
 catch(IOException e){
e.printStackTrace();
}
}

public void abrirChatPrivado(String nick, String paraUsuario, String mensagem)

{
removerJanelasInativas();
if(nick.equals(paraUsuario)){
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "Você não pode abrir um janela de
conversação para você mesmo!", "Burro!", JOptionPane.ERROR_MESSAGE);
return;
}
String nome = nick + paraUsuario;
MensagemPrivadaFrame janela = null;
for(Iterator i = listaJanelasAbertas.iterator(); i.hasNext();){
janela = (MensagemPrivadaFrame) i.next();
if(nome.equals(janela.getNomeJanela())){
System.out.println(nick + " - " + janela.getNomeJanela() + " - " +
janela.toString());
janela.setTextoEntrada("(" + paraUsuario + " diz) " + mensagem);
//janela.requestFocus();
return;
}
}

janela = new MensagemPrivadaFrame(nick, paraUsuario);

if(mensagem != null)
janela.setTextoEntrada("(" + paraUsuario + " diz) " + mensagem);

listaJanelasAbertas.add(janela);
//janela.requestFocus();
}

public void removerJanelasInativas(){

MensagemPrivadaFrame janela = null;
for(Iterator i = listaJanelasAbertas.iterator(); i.hasNext(); ){
janela = (MensagemPrivadaFrame) i.next();
if( !janela.estouVivo()){
i.remove();
}
}
}

public void setTextoEntrada(String texto){

entrada.append("\n" + texto);
entrada.setCaretPosition(entrada.getText().length());
}

public void setUsuariosOnline(Vector<String> listaUsuariosOnline){

usuariosOnline.setListData(listaUsuariosOnline);
}

public void sair(){

desconectando();
dispose();
System.exit(0);
}
 public static void main(String args[]){
String nick = JOptionPane.showInputDialog("Digite seu nome (max. 20
caracteres): ");
if(nick != null && !nick.equals("")){
if(nick.length() > 20)
nick = nick.substring(0, 20);
new Main(nick);
}
else
JOptionPane.showMessageDialog(null, "É necessário informar um nome
para entrar no bate-papo");
//System.exit(0);
}
}
Nowadays I'm not proud of the code, but it really works.

Edit:
As some have suggested, I've made some code improvements (refactoring) and post the project
on GitHub: https://github.com/jaumzera/javasocketchat
shareimprove this answer
edited May 29 '16 at 21:56
answered May 3 '16 at 1:36

Jaumzera
1,3641515 silver badges3535 bronze badges
 Goodness! Maybe you should make a Github repo just for this answer! XD – Supuhstar May 3 '16 at
15:04
 1
I'm planning to take some time to refact this code and post in GitHub. BTW, thank you. – Jaumzera May
3 '16 at 15:07 
 @Zimano. First of all, I've been working with IT for something around 12 or 13 years and I've never
seen an author suggesting that English should be the unique idiom you'd use for coding. Secondly, I
am Brazilian and I speak Portuguese. It's my native language and although it seems hard to learn,
write, read and speak, I like it and I'm proud of it. And last, but not less important, this code has more
than ten years. I was in university, my teacher was also Brazilian, my colleagues were Brazilians and
so there was no reason to write it in English, once it was just a class exercise. – Jaumzera May 30 '16 at
15:35
 1
@Juamzera I apologize for what I said. I shouldn't have phrased it like that, as I can see it came off as
pretty rude. I should have probably just said that it made the code less interpretable/reusable from my
side. But that's actually a problem for me to deal with, not yours. :-) – Zimano May 30 '16 at 20:46
add a comment
2
Hm, I was tempted to direct you to a java implementation of a server implementing imap protocol
(eg. gavamail). But this, of cources, might also qualify as "old" code and for sure would kill your
expectation (for being a non-standard solution). Nevertheless it is a proper reference fulfilling
your (terse) specification.

What do we have?

We need a solution that should be in java. It must implement an basic instant messaging system.
The later is problematic as it covers a really broad range of functionality. But "basic" seem to
allow for a minimum solution.

So what is a minimum instant messaging system? Let's try with the following:

 a client that is posting and retrieving messages.
 a server that is storing posted messages for (later) retrieval
We also would need a policy of how a client would identify a proper server. Most trivial solution
for the later aspect is using a "central" server with a well-known address. For more complex cases
we would need to have the server and/or client functionality distributed across several instances
and devise a scheme or policy for identifying the proper instance(s) for communication.

We leave out more complex semantics like having different users or messages being related to a
system of categories or tags.

Now, we are down to having two components:

A server implementing two entry points:

1. POST_MESSAGE
receive a mesage form a client and store it for later retrieval
This immediatley is asking the question of where to store such messages (in a database or
filesystem for persistency or simply within memory for a "messages live as long as the
server is up" semantics)
2. LOOKUP_MESSAGE
select a suitable message from the stored ones (preferrably an unread one) and return to
caller.
This could also return a set of messages (but think of restricting such set for cases where a
caller has a severe backlog of messages)
It might be necessary to keep track of the messages already having been read, either by
marking the messages or by maintaining seen status at the client. This could even be as
simple as keeping time or ordinal of last message seen and send this information along with
the LOOKUP_MESSAGE request.
A client needs to interact with a user on one hand and the service on the other hand.

It will take gat a new message from the user (likely on explicit request (e.g. send button) and call
the POST_MESSAGE service at the related server.

It also will (likely regularly, could also be on explicit request (e.g. user is starting client)) poll the
server for new messages. (Alternatively, you could devise a separate notification service that is
used by the server to notify the client of new messages. What suits your "needs" is beyond your
question.)

That's it.

So any example of a TCP based client/server application will form a perfect starting point for a
straight implementation.

I should also mention that you could cut the specification logic within the client and delegate user
interaction to a standard browser and implement the client application logic into a (web-)server
instance (together or separate from the server part). Nevertheless, you still will have both
(client/server) logical functionality according to above minimum specification.

Another aspect you should be aware of:

With some comments you mentioned "host" and "guest" attributions available in current
messenger examples. This actually is a logical structure of a tagging system provided with those
messengers. The messages are still sent from a client to a server and then being retrieved by other
clients. Whether a client can see a message is determined by the client being eligible to the
specific tag. E.g posting a message to a contact from yours (user b) just tags the message with the
tag "for_user_b" and as such it is only visible to the poster and anybody that is also allowed to
read "for_user_b" tag messages (user b in our example). So, please be aware that
the logical structure of a messaging system is determined by the access and distribution policy
and not by the physical distribution structure!
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answered Apr 29 '16 at 8:58

rpy
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I am not even sure if this question is still being used or what but I liked the task and I thought:

why not?
Here is my implementation, as simple as it gets but without forgetting fundamental parts. Written
in pure Java, makes use of, among the rest, Sockets, Threads and SynchronizedList:

SimpleChat.java (Main)

import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;

public class SimpleChat {

private static boolean isRunning = true;

private static Sender sender;
private static Receiver receiver;

public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {

if(args.length < 3){

showUsage();
}

try {
receiver = new Receiver(Integer.parseInt(args[1]));
sender = new Sender(args[0], args[2], Integer.parseInt(args[3]));
} catch (InterruptedException e) {
showUsage();
}

// Read user input

BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(System.in));
System.out.println("Chat started. Type '\\exit' to quit.");
 while(isRunning) {
String input = br.readLine();

if(input.equals("\\exit")){
receiver.stop();
sender.stop();
isRunning = false;
} else {
sender.sendMessage(input);
}
}
}

static void showUsage(){

System.out.println("Usage: java SimpleChat.java listening_port target_IP
target_port");
System.exit(1);
}

}
Receiver.java

import java.io.BufferedReader;
import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.InputStreamReader;
import java.net.ServerSocket;
import java.net.Socket;

public class Receiver {

private boolean isRunning = true;

public Receiver(int listeningPort) throws IOException {

Runnable receiverT = new Runnable() {

public void run() {

ServerSocket serverSocket;
try {
serverSocket = new ServerSocket(listeningPort);
Socket clientSocket = serverSocket.accept();
BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new
InputStreamReader(clientSocket.getInputStream()));

while(isRunning) {
try {
System.out.println(in.readLine());
} catch (IOException e) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e.printStackTrace();
}
}
} catch (IOException e1) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e1.printStackTrace();
}

}
};
 new Thread(receiverT).start();
}

public void stop(){

isRunning = false;
}

}
Sender.java

import java.io.IOException;
import java.io.PrintWriter;
import java.net.Socket;
import java.net.UnknownHostException;
import java.util.ArrayList;
import java.util.Collections;
import java.util.Iterator;
import java.util.List;

public class Sender {

private boolean isRunning = true;

private volatile List<String> msgs;

public Sender(String username, String targetIP, int targetPort) throws

InterruptedException, UnknownHostException, IOException {
msgs = Collections.synchronizedList(new ArrayList<String>());

Runnable senderT = new Runnable() {

public void run() {
try {
Socket socket = new Socket(targetIP, targetPort);
PrintWriter out = new PrintWriter(socket.getOutputStream(), true);

while(isRunning) {
synchronized(msgs){
Iterator<String> it = msgs.iterator();

while(it.hasNext()){
out.println(username + ": " + it.next());
}

// Clear messages to send

msgs.clear();
}
}

out.close();
socket.close();
} catch (UnknownHostException e1) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e1.printStackTrace();
} catch (IOException e1) {
// TODO Auto-generated catch block
e1.printStackTrace();
}
 }
};

new Thread(senderT).start();
}

public void stop(){

isRunning = false;
}

public void sendMessage(String msg){

synchronized(msgs){
msgs.add(msg);
}
}
}
As the 'showUsage()' says, use this program as follows:

java SimpleChat.java username listening_port target_ip target_port

Example:

java SimpleChat.java Supuhstar 1234 127.0.0.1 1234

[To talk to yourself]

shareimprove this answer

answered May 3 '16 at 21:02

N3sh
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I think you should clarify some details regarding what exactly you mean by a "basic instant
messaging program" and what your objectives actually are regarding this project.

In a 2011 comment, you mentioned that there should be no "central hub", but in a more recent
comment, you say that you would like something more in line with Skype or iMessage, where
users do not have to know which peer is the server... It is technically possible (using protocols
such as mdns, dlna or ssdp) for the program to transparently search the local network for potential
existing server nodes and have it either connect to the server peer if there is one, or establish itself
as a local server for other nodes to connect to it. That is for example how Apple iChat's Bonjour
protocol used to work. This is however a rather complex solution to implement right, and is
definitely not in line with what is done by current mass market messaging programs.

Also establishing direct peer-to-peer communication between users pose several practical issues
(particularly because of firewalls and NAT, but there are also concerns of confidentiality and
security). Most protocols therefore relay most messages through the central server, and negotiate
a direct connection only for the purpose of file transfers and audio/video calls.

For all these reasons, unless you are looking merely for an example of local network
communication between two hosts, you most certainly want two distinct programs: a server and a
client.
 Then, assuming my assumption is correct, there are two other questions that need to be clarified.
First, do you have an actual reason to conceive the protocol by yourself, or would it be acceptable
to rather implement an existing protocol (such as XMPP, IRC, SIMPLE... there are tons). Even
though these protocols might looks highly complex at first, it is almost always possible to
implement only a subset these protocol's features/messages. Designing a naive network protocol
by yourself isn't that difficult, but there are tons of potential mistakes (mostly inefficiencies,
incompleteness and other minor issues) that you will have to go through. Maybe that is indeed
what you are specifically aiming for (that is, gaining experience at designing a network protocol
from scratch), but unless it is so, you should seriously opt for implementing an existing protocol.
Indeed, working with an existing protocol will not only avoid such design mistakes, but better
yet, you will gain significant knowledge from how others (generally experienced protocol
designers) actually resolved problems they met along the way. Using an existing protocol will
also make it much easier and more interesting for you to develop that program, given that you
will for example be able to test your client and server programs independently by connecting
from/to an official client/server implementation. You will also be able to exploit exiting protocol-
decoders in traffic sniffing tools in order to debug messages going through.

The second important question is how realistic you would like the server program to be, and most
importantly in regard to persistance. Should the server maintain a persistant list of users and
authenticate them? Should the server store a list of allowed contacts for each user? Should the
server allow store messages aimed at a peer that is currently offline or that can't be reached at that
exact moment? Real messaging server programs generally do such things, and though
implementing such mechanisms isn't highly difficult, it is best considered early in the design of a
program's architecture. For example, should you decide that these features are indeed desirable,
then it might turn out to be much more interesting for you to immediately design your server
around a persistant message queue engine, such as ActiveMQ...

I know this is not the examples you were asking for, but I still hope these thoughts may help you.

shareimprove this answer

edited May 4 '16 at 15:48
answered May 4 '16 at 15:34

jwatkins
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Thanks for all the knowledge! I'm really glad you've straightened stuff out. I'll consider all this, rethink
my approach, and edit my question accordingly (and answering your question) soon. – Supuhstar May
6 '16 at 2:52
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As said before, there is a lot of things that you need to put a real chat to work.
But i belive that you want something to start. And if you know the address and the port of the
other "client" it is easy.
Extreme simple "chat" implementation
import java.io.InputStream;
import java.io.OutputStream;
import java.net.InetSocketAddress;
import java.net.ServerSocket;
import java.net.Socket;
import javax.net.ServerSocketFactory;
import javax.net.SocketFactory;

public class SimpleChat {

protected boolean running = true;
protected int port;

private Thread server;

public static void main(String... arg) {

//create 2 clients in the localhost to test
SimpleChat app1 = new SimpleChat(8989);
SimpleChat app2 = new SimpleChat(8988);

app1.sendMessage("localhost", 8988, "Message from app1 to app2");

app2.sendMessage("localhost", 8989, "Message from app2 to app1");

System.exit(0); // ugly way to kill the threads and exit

}

public SimpleChat(int port) {

this.port = port;
start();
}

public void start() {

server = new Thread(new Server());
server.start();
}