ChatHu P2P Chatting System

ChatHu is a peer-to-peer (P2P) chat application that leverages a central server for user management while providing direct communication channels between clients. The system is designed with a focus on asynchronous operation, non-blocking I/O, and thread safety, ensuring a robust and efficient user experience.

Architecture Overview

The ChatHu system comprises two primary components:

• Server: Acts as the central node for user registration, authentication, and peer discovery.
• Client: Provides a user interface for message exchange and implements direct peer-to-peer communication.

Server

The server component of ChatHu is engineered for concurrent client handling, with a breakdown into several modules:

• Server Main: Listens for incoming client connections and spawns new threads for individual client handling.
• ClientHandler: Manages client requests, processes commands, and maintains communication with the connected client.
• ClientData: Stores client-related information such as username, IP address, port, and a history of executed commands.
• ClientMap: A thread-safe collection that maps usernames to their corresponding ClientData objects for quick lookups.

Client

The client-side of ChatHu is designed with an asynchronous architecture, allowing for a responsive user interface that can handle incoming communication without blocking user interaction.

Key Features:

User List and Peer Discovery

Users can easily see who is online and initiate a private chat using the user list feature. This screen shows all currently connected users along with their status.

Private Chat

ChatHu allows for private messaging between users. The chat interface is clean and user-friendly, making communication simple and direct.

Broadcast Messages

Need to send a message to all online users? The broadcast feature lets you communicate with everyone at once.

Server Terminal

The server terminal provides real-time updates on user activity and system status, allowing for effective monitoring and management of the chat service.

Getting Started

To run ChatHu, follow these steps:

1. Ensure that Java is installed on your system.
2. Clone the repository to your local machine.
3. Compile and run the server component from the server directory.
4. Compile and run the client component from the client directory.
5. Use the client UI to connect to the server, discover peers, and start chatting.

Contributions

Contributions are welcome! If you have any features, bug fixes, or improvements, please fork the repository, make your changes, and submit a pull request.