Make a chatroom allowing multiple clients!?

[VB6Learner]

How can I make a server application? How can I then create another application that is meant for the clients!? I have tried to look for something for over 3 months now. All that stuff about TCP/IP just is not working! Using TCP/IP I cannot connect to anyone out of my network! How can I make it so when you start the client application it will automatically connect you to the server. Then having 2 textbox's and one button that says "Send". One text box will have what has been send and recived and the other textbox will be what you type to then later send it! How can I make it work with up to five clients!?

[jmcilhinney]

All that stuff about TCP/IP just is not working! Using TCP/IP I cannot connect to anyone out of my network!

The whole internet works on TCP/IP so of course you can connect to computers outside your local network. You just have to make sure that you use the correct IP address and port number. If someone outside your network wants to connect to your machine then they can't use your LAN IP address because that only identifies you on your LAN. They would have to use your external IP address, i.e. the one that your ISP assigns you, that identifies you on the internet, and a port number that your router will forward to your machine. You might want to do a bit of reading on network address translation (NAT), which is the mechanism that allows multiple internal (LAN) IP addresses to share one external (internet) IP address, and port forwarding.

[VB6Learner]

Okay, and where could I find information on that? I know a bit about NAT im trying to find out how I can obtain it?

[jmcilhinney]

Okay, and where could I find information on that?

<insert sarcastic quip about the internet here>

[stateofidleness]

obtain NAT? heh

if you are behind a router, you will have a LAN IP address (ie: 192.168.1.10 for example)
This isn't the IP address that others (read The Internet) know you by. In addition to that "private" IP, you have a WAN IP which other computers on the Internet use to talk to yours.

go to www.whatismyip.com

that is your WAN IP. you need to make sure your App and Client App are using this IP and not your LAN IP. Of course, there are many other things involved such as making sure ports are forwarded, firewall rules are correct, etc.