Constructing graphical client applications for the Instant Messaging (IM) domain can be complex
and error prone. As well as coping with the details of a specific IM protocol, the developer must
also master specific user interface toolkits, deal with media streaming protocols and codecs,
handle capability negotiation and deploy a robust event handling strategy for this highly
asynchronous application style. These often competing concerns must be encapsulated in a clean
design that can be evolved to cater for an ever expanding set of capabilities now viable for IM
client applications. This paper proposes an architecture, component set and pattern based
framework to encapsulate this domain, which facilitates the rapid construction of rich media client
IM applications. These may be conventional or specialised IM clients or add-on components for
existing applications
