Compatibility with other systems.
The system mIRC/Pirch98 uses to hook you up to IRC, with these mIRCLinks, is fully compatible to the system used by the Global Chat or Prospero IRC client. You can easily join the chats organized on their Web pages by simply following the provided links.
Configuring your WWW browser to work with mIRCLinks.
To enter a channel and/or server on IRC from a Web page, you just need to have your Web browser set up to use the mIRCLink helper application. This page will tell you how to correctly set up this program with some of the most popular browsers. Once you tested it on the examples provided on these pages you can explore the WWW and try the mIRCLinks others offer. The mIRCLink helper application is included for free in the mIRC package.
Configuring Netscape to understand chat files.
mIRC supports all popular chat file systems, you just have to configure Netscape to
launch the mIRCLink helper application for the .cha and .chat files of the GlobalChat
type and the .nsc NetscapeChat files.
Configuring MS-Internet Explorer 3.xx to understand chat files.
Similar to Netscape you have to set up MS-IE to understand what to do with the chat files
that contain the mIRCLink info.
Configuring MS-Internet Explorer 4.xx to understand chat files.
Configuring other browsers.
You could just click on a mIRCLink in one of the lists above. The first time you click on
a mIRCLink your browser will come with an error message like "Unknown MIME type..." and ask
you to configure a helper application or viewer. Select the 'Configure External Viewer'
option and browse to the directory where mIRC and the mIRCLink helper application are found.
Select the mlink.exe or mlink32.exe file and press OK. That should do the trick :-)
Please note that not all Web browsers offer the capability to launch helper applications.
The Netcom Netcruiser Web browser is known to not support this feature.
Troubleshooting mIRCLinks.
If the above mIRCLinks fail to work you can safely assume your WWW browser is configured wrong or not at all yet. If you for instance just get a page with 3-4 short lines of text, or some error message from your WWW browser then you just need (once only) to configure your copy of Netscape, Internet Explorer, Mosaic, or other browser to use the mIRCLinks helper application. In these cases the browser you use doesnt recognize the MIME type associated to the chat files (correctly) and you just need to check your settings against the setup info given above.
If the mIRCLinks start some other chat application instead of mIRC you just need to reconfigure the setup of helper applications in your WWW browser. Just setting the associated helper application to be the mIRCLink program will help.
You can easily create your own mIRCLinks on the WWW. This might bring lots of people to the channels you like. On these pages some examples are provided that will already have shown you the general idea. Also a list of servers is available to show how you could plug your favorite IRC network a little.
When you click on a mIRCLink, your WWW browser will download a chat file with information and start the mIRCLink helper application that came with the mIRC package. The mIRCLink helper program will make sure your mIRC is started correctly and on-the-fly. To create your own mIRCLinks you just have to create a chat file with the proper information and place it on your Web site. If this proces doesnt work properly for you, then first make sure to setup the mIRCLink helper application correctly and test on the examples above.
The chat file format mIRC uses is based on the standard set by GlobalChat but also the NetscapeChat filetype is recognized. The file format for chat files is very simple. It contains several lines of text, each starting with a keyword followed by a space, and then the value for that keyword. You can specify one or more of the items Server, Port and Channel, eventually including a channel key or password.
TITLE some info on the channel and/or server might be used as info on startup.
SERVER irc.server.net will make mIRC to connect to the specified server on the default
port number 6667, unless a PORT is specified.
PORT xxxx will make mIRC to connect to the specified port number unless no SERVER
is specified.
CHANNEL channelname will make mIRC to join the specified channel. If no server
(and eventually a port) is specified the current or default server is used.
PASSWORD password A password can be included to be able to join locked channels.
Example The link to the text file mircef.chat will load a file into the mIRCLink helper application that contains just four lines :
WWW Servers handling mIRCLinks.
Some webservers cannot yet properly handle chat files. This usually shows by the problem that your browser works correctly with the files available on these pages but not with the files you personally created. If you over and over again just 'see' the contents of the .chat files you made in the browser you need to place a .htaccess file in the directory that contains your chat files. You just have to create a file by the name .htaccess that contains the single line:
AddType application/x-chat chat
This instructs the WWW server your provider uses, to tell your WWW browser that a .chat file type is send to you. In case you cant create such a file on your www account you have to contact the web-master of your provider and ask him/her to make the appropriate changes to the setup of the www server.