client/server app problem

[Chirieac]

Hello! I've started to learn internet programming. I've made a simple text conference app which I use it to talk with my friend over the internet.
The problem is that my friend can only connect to me, my aplication can act like a server on his PC (well... my app can act like a server but I can't connect to)

The problem is that he has a private IP. I've tried to connect with his public IP (whatismyip.com) but no luck. The same happens with a game (FIFA 2007): he can't create a server (host)... he always must connect to me.

What I need is not some application that can help with this problem.... I want to make my app to work around this problem.

Please, sorry for my bad english! Hope I was clear (maybe a tiny bit).

Bye!

[Edders]

Your friend needs to setup port forwarding on his router/firewall. This will then allow the router to accept the traffic for the (forwarded) port from the public IP and forward that to the private IP address of the computer running your software.

[Chirieac]

Thanks for your reply! I don't know what you mean, but now I have some keywords to look for. Thanks, Bye!

[Edders]

In case you need more keywords to look for, some routers call it "application sharing" instead of "port forwarding".