Sun Java System Instant Messaging 7 2006Q3 Online Help Sun logo
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Sending Instant Messages (Using Chat and Conference Rooms)

This section contains the following information:

Chat Window Overview

The Chat window is displayed when you:

The Chat window title bar indicates either the conference room name or the first name of the contact you are chatting with. Depending on the settings, multiple chat or conference room sessions can take place in multiple tabs or in multiple windows. When you start a chat session with multiple individual participants, the tab displays the names of the first few participants and then a number in parenthesis that indicates the total number of participants. When multiple tabs are displayed, a tab that is currently not selected blinks to indicate that a chat participant has sent a message.

The Chat window contains the following items:

Cut, Copy, and Paste in the Chat Window

You can copy or cut text from other applications and paste it in the input area (Lower Message pane) of the Chat window to then send the text as part of an instant message. Likewise, you can copy from the Upper Message pane and paste into the Lower Message pane, or into another application.

Use the standard Windows key strokes listed in Table 1 to cut, copy, and paste or select the Cut, Paste or Copy options from the Edit pop-up menu.

Table 1  Standard Keyboard Shortcuts

Activity

Keyboard Shortcuts

Cut

Ctrl +x

Copy

Ctrl +c

Paste

Ctrl +v

To Send an Instant Message (To Invite Someone to Chat)

  1. With the Contact List tab selected, click the contacts with whom you want to chat.
  2. You can start an instant message session with one or multiple contacts. Use the Shift or Control keys for multiple selection. See Selecting Contacts and Contact Groups for more information.

  3. Select Chat from the Tools menu option or click the Chat icon:
  4. Chat Icon

    The Chat window appears.


    Tip

    You can double-click a user or users to launch the Chat window.



    Note

    Double-clicking a contact group does not launch the Chat window.


  5. Type your message in the input area and click Send.
  6. The message is sent to the users displayed and appears in your upper display area. The message includes the user ID and the time the message was sent. As users respond, their messages also appear in upper display area.


    Tip

    Use the toolbar to change text size or color, or to emphasize with bold, italic, or underline.


  7. To invite other users to participate, click the Invite Users to Chat icon.
  8. Use the Invite Users to Chat window to search for other contacts that you want to add to this chat session. See Add Recipients/Invite Users to Chat Window Overview for more information.

To Respond to a Chat Invitation

When you are invited to chat, the Chat window is displayed on your desktop with the name of the person who invited you in the title bar.

  1. To respond to this invitation, type your response in the lower message pane and click Send.
  2. Everything you type, and everything other participants type is displayed in the upper message pane.

  3. To decline this invitation, click Leave in the Chat window, if you are participating in multiple chat sessions. Alternatively, choose Close from the File menu to close the entire Chat window.
  4. If desired, you can expand the size of the window so that more of the message content may be seen at one time.


    Tip

    Once you have been invited to a conference, click Invite Others to invite other users to chat.


To Send a File to a Contact

Sun Java™ System Instant Messenger lets you send files to other online contacts. When you send the file, the recipient receives a notice to launch or save the file.

Follow these steps to send a file:

  1. With the Contact List tab selected, select the contacts to whom you want to send a file.
  2. You can start an instant message session with one or more contacts. See Selecting Contacts and Contact Groups for more information.

  3. Select Chat from the Tools menu option or click the Chat icon:
  4. Chat Icon

    The Chat window appears.

  5. Select Attach File from the Tools menu option or click Attach File:
  6. Attach File Icon

    A Find File window appears. Find the file you want to send and click OK.

  7. The name of the file to be sent appears in the tool bar, and the Attach File button changes to Remove File button.
  8. Type your message in the input area and click send.
  9. Sun Java System Instant Messenger sends both the message and the file.
  10. When the file arrives, the Instant Messenger program notifies the recipient in the Chat window, and also gives the recipient the choice to either open or save the file.

To Start a Side Chat

When you are participating in a chat with multiple contacts, you can start a separate chat session—a side chat—with selected contacts.

Follow these steps to start a side chat:

  1. In the Chat window, select the contacts with whom you want to start a separate chat session, in the Session Member list pane.
  2. Select Side Chat from the Tools menu. You can also right-click on the selected contact and select Side Chat from the pop-up menu that appears.
  3. You can start chatting with the selected contacts from the new chat tab that appears.

To Set the Subject for a Conference

  1. In the conference Chat window, select Set Subject from the File menu.
  2. The Input dialog box appears.

  3. Enter the subject of the conference in the text box provided and Click OK.
  4. The subject displays at the top of the conference Chat window. In addition, Instant Messenger uses this subject as the subject of emails sent to conference participants when email archiving is activated. Contact your system administrator for more information about email archiving.

To Save a Chat or an Alert

To save the chat sessions or alert messages on the desktop:

Select Save from the File menu in the Chat window or select “Save as” from the File menu option in the “Alert received” window.

Emoticons and Shortcut Characters

Emoticons can be inserted into your messages in two ways:

Selecting one of the emoticons inserts the emoticon’s shortcut character into your message in the lower message pane. When you send the message, the shortcut characters are converted into the graphic representation of the emoticon, which you see displayed in the upper message pane.

You can also type the emoticon shortcut character directly into your message. This is converted to the graphic emoticons when you send the message.

The following emoticons and their corresponding shortcut characters can be used in the chat message (lower message pane):

Emoticon

Name

Shortcut Character

Alarm Clock icon

Alarm Clock

((O))

Angel icon

Angel

0:)

Angry icon

Angry

X-(

Balloons icon

Balloons

88=

Birthday Cake icon

Birthday Cake

~[

Calendar icon

Calendar

[#]

Can of Worms icon

Can of Worms

&]

Clown icon

Clown

:O)

Cool Icon

Cool

B:

Dead Icon

Dead

D:

Devil icon

Devil

>:)

Don’t Tell Icon

Don’t Tell

:-$

Drink icon

Drink

)-|

Embarrassed Icon

Embarrassed

:$

Exclamation Point Icon

Exclamation Point (glow required)

:E

Flowers icon

Flowers

@=

Ghost Icon

Ghost

G:

Gift icon

Gift

@[

Gold Star icon

Gold Star

(*)

Grin Icon

Grin

:-D

Happy Icon

Happy

:-)

Kiss Icon

Kiss

:*

Knife icon

Knife

-->>

Laugh icon

Laugh

:))

Life Preserver icon

Life Preserver

o=

Lightning icon

Lightning

\\\

Lovestruck Icon

Lovestruck

:-x

Money icon

Money

$$

Mug of Beer icon

Mug of Beer

@]

Music icon

Music

~~

Nerd Icon

Nerd

8-|

Not Talking Icon

Not Talking

[-(

Phone icon

Phone

(~)a

Rat Hole icon

Rat Hole

<O~

Sad icon

Sad

:-(

Sick Icon

Sick

+O(

Sleep Icon

Sleep

|:)

Straightfaced Icon

Straightfaced

;|

Sun Shining icon

Sun Shining

=O=

Surprised icon

Surprised

:O

Tongue Out Icon

Tongue Out

:p

Violin icon

Violin

~\~

Whatever Icon

Whatever

W:

Wink Icon

Wink

;-)

To Type Multiline Messages in Instant Messenger

By default, you cannot send multiline messages from the chat window. Instead, you can press Ctrl+Enter instead of Enter to type a second line before sending a message. Alternatively, you can configure Instant Messenger not to send the message you are typing when you press Enter as follows:


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