Urlan-Meeting Design Document

Contents

• 1   Name Brainstorm
• 2   Overview
• 3   Features
• 4   Programs
  • 4.1   Server
  • 4.2   Client
  • 4.3   Web Log
• 5   Development Timeline
• 6   Classes
  • 6.1   Association
  • 6.2   Account
  • 6.3   Forum
  • 6.4   Topic
  • 6.5   Post
• 7   Database
  • 7.1   Files
    • 7.1.1   association
    • 7.1.2   passwd
    • 7.1.3   forum-index
    • 7.1.4   posts
    • 7.1.5   topic-index
    • 7.1.6   topic.01
  • 7.2   Database Commands
• 8   Protocol
  • 8.1   Syncronization

1   Name Brainstorm

Urlan-Meeting
Urlan-Connector
Urlan-Forum
FilterForum
SmartForum
Forum-S
Chatum
Chat-o-matic
Shady Glade
Sunny Glade
GroupThink
PowWow

2   Overview

This is a distributed collaboration tool which is a combination of live chat and message forums.

3   Features

• Notification on desktop (taskbar).
• Persistent chat/threads which can be viewed offline.
• Dynamically organized forums (Drag-n-drop from chat to threads).
• Anyone can run a server.
• Documented protocol allowing for many client implementations.

4   Programs

4.1   Server

Command line only tool.

4.2   Client

The client can start a new server.

A server administration tool is built into the client.

4.3   Web Log

This is a separate script which allows web browsing of the database (like an email list archive).

5   Development Timeline

1. Database
2. Login
3. Chat
4. Multiple Forums
5. Topics
6. Security issues (encryption, etc.)
7. Document protocol
8. Web log script

6   Classes

6.1   Association

name
about
admins
accounts
forums

6.2   Account

id
login
password
full-name
email

6.3   Forum

id
name
posts
topics

6.4   Topic

id
name
posts

6.5   Post

account
date
text

7   Database

The database is stored in the filesystem.

7.1   Files

db/
    association
    passwd
    forum-index
    forum.01/
        posts
        topic-index
        topic.01
        topic.02
        topic.03
    forum.02/
        ...

7.1.1   association

name: "Urlan"
about: {The Urlan Project.  Visit http://urlan.sf.net}
admin: [0 1]
accounts: [
        [0 jane "Jane Doe" "jane@somewhere.com"]
        [1 joe "Joe Rocker" none]
        [4 jim "Jim Wright" "jwright@place.org"]
]

7.1.2   passwd

Passwords are stored separately so that the association file can be freely shared.

0 asdfalsk
1 es3328
4 uj-RRql

7.1.3   forum-index

Records the forum id, name, and editors for each forum.

1 "Orca" all
2 "Thune" all
3 "Private" [0 1 4]

7.1.4   posts

This is the date, account id, and text for each post in the forum.

Dec-01-2006/01:30:00 0 "First post!"
Dec-01-2006/01:31:00 4 "Jim here"
Dec-01-2006/01:31:05 1 "This is Joe"
Dec-01-2006/01:31:05 0 "What about unicode?"

7.1.5   topic-index

Quick access list of topics.

1 "Chat"
2 "Time Storage"
3 "Unicode support"

7.1.6   topic.01

Topic files are simply an array of post ids.

[0 1 2 3]

7.2   Database Commands

• mk-account <user> <name>
• passwd <user> <pass>
• email-addr <user> <addr>
• mk-forum <name>
• mk-topic <forum> <name>
• rm-topic <forum> <topic>
• post <account> <time> <forum> <topic> <text>
• cp-post <forum> <post> <topic>
• rm-post <forum> <post> <topic>

8   Protocol

Direction	Message
S -> c	challenge
c -> S	login <user> <passwd>
S -> c	welcome
S -> c	barred
S -> c	posted <account> <time> <forum> <topic> <text>
c -> S	post <forum> <topic> <text>

8.1   Syncronization

Client gets a copy of the database (without passwords).