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<title>Using PCCC</title>
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<h1>Getting Started with PCCC</h1>
When you start up the Perl CyanChat Client, you will be presented with the
Main Window, where a message by "<font color="#FF0000">ChatClient</font>" is
already visible on screen, welcoming you to PCCC.<p>
To <b>connect</b> to the CyanChat room, select "Connection" from the menu bar,
and choose "Connect". This will attempt to connect you to the CyanChat server.
Once connected, you will see a lot of "lobby messages" sent by
"<font color="#009900">ChatServer</font>", and moments later the Who List will
display the list of users logged into the chat room (if there are any logged in).
<h1>Chat Presence</h1>
To <b>enter the chat</b>, type in a nickname for yourself in the "Name:" box, and
then press the "Join Chat" button. Note that your nickname <u>must</u> be less than
20 characters long, and <u>cannot</u> contain a caret (^), pipe symbol ("|"), or a
comma. If your name is accepted by the server, you will "link in" to the room. Otherwise,
<font color="#009900">ChatServer</font> will tell you that your nick was invalid.<p>
When a user <b>links in</b> to the chat room (in other words, enters the room), a message
will display similar to the following:
<blockquote>
\\\\\[Nick] <links in from somewhere on the internet Age>////
</blockquote>
When a user <b>links out</b> of the chat room (in other words, exiting the room by
clicking the "Exit Chat" button), a message will display similar to the following:
<blockquote>
/////[Nick] <links safely back to their home Age>\\\\\
</blockquote>
Finally, when a user <b>disconnects</b> from the chat room, the following message
is displayed:
<blockquote>
/////[Nick] <mistakenly used an unsafe linking book without a maintainer's suit
*ZZZZZWHAP*>\\\\\
</blockquote>
All users in the chat room also have a unique <b>address</b> assigned to them. This
is a mangled up form of their IP address, so multiple nicks from the same computer
will probably have the same address. To see a user's address, right-click their name
in the Who List.
<h1>Standard Messaging</h1>
To send a message to the chat room, simply type it into the entry box at the top of the
Main Window and press the Return key. Note that you must be logged in before you can
send messages!<p>
See <a href="pm.html">Private Messaging</a> and <a href="action.html">Action Messages</a>
for information about different types of messaging.
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