Chapter 6

Chat Tool

Overview

The Chat Tool is a text based collaborative tool that allows users to communicate in a simple and efficient manner. The Chat Tool consumes a minimal amount of network and processor resources, and automatically generates a transcript containing all messages sent over it. It also allows users to communicate anonymously if they wish, which facilitates candid discussions and informal voting.

This chapter discusses:

The Chat Tool Window

The Chat Tool’s interface is divided into two main sections: the Chat Tool Log and the Personal Note Pad.

Chat Tool Log

The Chat Tool Log is the area where everyone’s comments are displayed. Any messages appearing in the log can be seen by everyone in the conference. A transcript of the Chat Tool Log can be saved to disk for later review.

Personal Note Pad

The Personal Note Pad is where you compose your messages for posting to the Chat Tool Log. You may type directly into the Personal Note Pad, include text files from disk, or paste text from the OpenDVE Clipboard.

Viewing Chat Tool Messages

The Chat Tool Log

1. Click the Chat Tool’s icon in the Conference Manager.

The Chat Tool interface will appear. If messages have already been posted to the Chat Tool they will appear in the Chat Tool Log.

Messages posted to the Chat Tool will appear in the Chat Tool Log as they are posted by each conference member. Each message will be prefixed by the user identification for the person who sent it, or the message will be marked as Anonymous. Messages appear sequentially in the order posted.

Messages can be interpreted as follows:

(linus@sopwith):
What is the status of Project BRB?

(Anonymous):
50 or more completed!

(linus@sopwith):
Great! Push forward with Project FLD.

The first message was posted by a conference member identified as linus on the workstation sopwith. Another person responded anonymously, then linus responded with another remark. If you wished to contribute, you could post the next response.

2. If you want to record the Chat Tool session to disk, save your Chat Log with Save As from the File menu.

Posting a Message

Using the Personal Note Pad

To participate in a Chat Tool discussion you must first compose your message in the Personal Note Pad.

1. Type your message in the Personal Note Pad.

Your message will not been seen by other conference members until you Post it. You are free to make as many changes as necessary before Posting.

2. If you wish to include the contents of a text file in your message select the Include option from the File menu and specify the file you wish to place in your message.

The contents of the file will be brought in to your Personal Note Pad. You can make further changes to the text.

3. If you wish to include the contents of the OpenDVE Clipboard in your message, select Paste (OpenDVE) from the Edit menu.

Again, you can make further changes.

4. If you want to post your message anonymously select the Anonymous Post option from the Options menu.

5. Click the Post Note Pad button when you are satisfied with the message.

To quickly post the contents of your Personal Note Pad to the Chat Tool you can hit Alt-Enter or Control-Enter (depending on your keyboard mapping.)

Looking at Your Posts

Your message will be posted to the conference and will appear in the Chat Tool Log. Your Personal Note Pad will clear, and you can create a new message.

If the Anonymous Post option is enabled your messages will appear to others in the form

(Anonymous): This is a message.

If the Anonymous Post option is disabled your messages will appear as

(user@host): This is a message.

Where user is your user identification for the workstation host.

Your own posts will appear in your local Chat Log enclosed in angle brackets (i.e. <user@host>).

Using Clipboards In The Chat Tool

The Window Manager’s Clipboard

The Chat Tool supports the window manager’s clipboard for all Cut, Copy, and Paste editing functions. The Chat Tool Log is only readable, so neither Paste nor Cut operates in that area though Copy does. All three functions operate within the Personal Note Pad.

The OpenDVE Clipboard

The OpenDVE Clipboard operations of Cut, Copy and Paste are fully implemented in the Chat Tool. You can Cut, Copy, and Paste directly in the Personal Note Pad. Cut and Paste, however, have been disabled for the Chat Tool Log.

Cut, Copy, and Paste operations will affect only selected text. Double clicking on an area of text with the mouse will select the current word. A third click will select the entire line. Alternatively you can drag select an area of text.

While using the Chat Tool you can copy text from the Chat Tool Log or the Personal Note Pad into the OpenDVE Clipboard or you can paste information from the OpenDVE Clipboard into your Personal Note Pad.

The OpenDVE Clipboard can be used to share information between different Communique! tools. In this tool’s case, the OpenDVE Clipboard can share text between the Chat Tool and other Communique! tools. For more information on the OpenDVE Clipboard, please refer to Chapter 15, "OpenDVE Clipboard," in this guide.

Saving and Printing the Chat Log

Saving a Chat Tool Log

You can save a transcript of a Chat Tool text conference for later reference.

1. Choose Save As from the Chat Tool window’s File menu.

You will be prompted with a dialog requesting a name for the transcript and the location where it will be stored.

2. Navigate the file directories using the dialog box until you find an appropriate location to save your transcript.

3. Enter a name to save the transcript as.

4. Click Save.

Printing a Chat Tool Log

You can print the contents of the Chat Tool Log using the Print command in the File menu. The Chat Log will be printed to your chosen printer.

If you are using lp as your printer command, you will need to add the -c option to copy the temporary file to the print spool rather than linking to it.

Chat Options

The Chat Tool has two options that can be set: Anonymous Post and Popup On Receive. These preferences are available under the Options menu in the Chat Tool.

Anonymous Post

If this option is enabled, any message you post appears in the Chat Log non-attributed. This option is useful for candid discussions or anonymous voting within a conference.

If this option is disabled, any message you post to the Chat Tool is attributed to you by your username and hostname.

Popup On Receive

With this option enabled the Chat Tool automatically opens when other conference members post messages. This option is on by default.

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