chat in java

[watusiboy]

i have created a chat application in java. the server listens to clients, receive messages from them, and send these message to other clients. i intend to embed the client program as an applet in a website that i'm developing. i am building this website using apache-php-mysql
is there a way to trigger the server program (which is a java class) through php. what i want is that as apache starts, the server program is also executed. is this possible?

[BigDaddyLH]

Why not add Tomcat to the mix? I think you could loose the PHP and access your server-side Java component using a servlet.

[watusiboy]

Why not add Tomcat to the mix? I think you could loose the PHP and access your server-side Java component using a servlet.

this might be a stupid question but can tomcat and apache run simultaneously?

[BigDaddyLH]

this might be a stupid question but can tomcat and apache run simultaneously?

Tomcat is a servlet container and is mean to run inside a web server, so they are meant to work together. For demo purposes, it's enough to install Tomcat, because it comes with a server suitable for development and testing.