shadowsrising-devtalk

[Shadowsrising-devtalk] What have I done?!?

[ProgrammerMatt <pro...@gm...>]

Good thread title eh?

Anyway, I did something that bears explanation today: error.inc.php and=20
sysmessage.inc.php. I was getting annoyed a little bit at the lack of a=20
standard error / system message system and there was a lack of themes for=
=20
errors so these two file have respective functions error() and sysmessage()=
=20
that function to erase the buffer and output a page using whatever smarty=
=20
instance applies to where they are called from. Currently they are very=20
simple functions that don't even display it nicely, but they add room for=
=20
things like language settings and templated sysmessages and errrors. If you=
=20
don't like them, or had other plans; let me know.

--=20
<a href=3D"http://www.spreadfirefox.com/?q=3Daffiliates&amp;id=3D67508&amp;=
t=3D72"><img=20
border=3D"0" alt=3D"Get Firefox!" title=3D"Get Firefox!" src=3D"
http://sfx-images.mozilla.org/affiliates/Buttons/88x31/rediscover.gif"/></a=
>

RE: [Shadowsrising-devtalk] What have I done?!?

[Pádraic B. <mau...@ho...>]

Hi Matt,

Will have to look at some stage during the week - need a faster connection 
to grab the CVS at the moment. Even this is taking minutes at a time to load 
a hotmail page...:(

It's a wonder this PC even works anymore (it's circa 1994 - though Linux 
doesn't appear to mind thankfully). My usual station of operations is having 
second thoughts about its existence - I think the drive has probably gone 
tail up - either that or I need to install a bootloader. Once again a modern 
HD has (probably) failed - while my 512MB backup just keeps rolling. I love 
that hard disk. 11 years old and it has never once spat, hissed or failed. 
It makes a really loud clicking noise when working - but it does work...;)

Back on topic...

It's something to think about, you're right. I think at the moment 
everything in-game is handled through the usual checks, ending with a 
SystemMessage() - this is in the game engine. Probably in that generic print 
file (one of the few generic files in the game directory sets). But nothing 
for cms/backend

If it works, it works...;) You're doing most of the application side work 
for the backend at the moment - so I'm not arguing...

Paidi.

-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-
Pádraic Brady

aka Maugrim The Reaper
http://www.quantum-star.com/
http://www.shadowsrising.net/
-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-


>From: ProgrammerMatt <pro...@gm...>
>Reply-To: ProgrammerMatt <pro...@gm...>
>To: sha...@li...
>Subject: [Shadowsrising-devtalk] What have I done?!?
>Date: Sat, 4 Jun 2005 17:48:47 -0500
>
>Good thread title eh?
>
>Anyway, I did something that bears explanation today: error.inc.php and
>sysmessage.inc.php. I was getting annoyed a little bit at the lack of a
>standard error / system message system and there was a lack of themes for
>errors so these two file have respective functions error() and sysmessage()
>that function to erase the buffer and output a page using whatever smarty
>instance applies to where they are called from. Currently they are very
>simple functions that don't even display it nicely, but they add room for
>things like language settings and templated sysmessages and errrors. If you
>don't like them, or had other plans; let me know.
>
>--
><a 
>href="http://www.spreadfirefox.com/?q=affiliates&amp;id=67508&amp;t=72"><img
>border="0" alt="Get Firefox!" title="Get Firefox!" src="
>http://sfx-images.mozilla.org/affiliates/Buttons/88x31/rediscover.gif"/></a>

Re: [Shadowsrising-devtalk] What have I done?!?

[ProgrammerMatt <pro...@gm...>]

Okay, new updates. I am feeling up for a good, long post here.

First, I have 2 prospective devs that I am actively engaged in talking to.=
=20
One is a flash/PHP coder, but at this time we have (I believe) little need=
=20
for any flash in our game. With AJAX and our current 'roadmap' I do not see=
=20
any need for flash, but I think him to be competent in PHP so we shall see.=
=20
The other is a German (from Munich). His English isn't great, but he is=20
easily able to communicate. The biggest benefit that I can see coming from=
=20
him is a German translation (started adding something more complicated for=
=20
languages, similar to phpBB's method. changes coming here as I took a step=
=20
back to look at long-term plans for SR while being forced to paint my house=
=20
:().

I have, as you probably have noticed, another developer by whose name=20
currently escapes me and I am just too lazy to look it up. He has dropped=
=20
out of contact for awhile so I sent an email checking up with him. I hope t=
o=20
see contributions coming from him soon. UPDATE: His mother was admitted to=
=20
the hospital and he has been looking after her.=20

I was wondering again at the many other devs that are assigned to this=20
project and was hoping for some form of a status on them. I have no=20
intention of cutting them out as I know they were very active in early=20
theory and design and much of what we have comes from them, but I was just=
=20
wondering why they seemed to have dropped out.

As for a nice status update, today I plan to move some files around, change=
=20
a core concept of the permission system, and change how forums will be=20
handled completely. The old, independent file method, as I see it now, was =
a=20
bad choice. Instead, new files will be added to the back end with functions=
=20
like 'draw_forum' and 'draw_forum_at'. Then, for displaying the forums,=20
files with names like 'viewtopic' and 'viewforum' will be put into 'core/'=
=20
and 'qcms/' and will serve as wrappers for those functions. A moderator=20
control panel and user control panel will be handled similarly.

As to the core concept change of the permission system. First, as opposed t=
o=20
being read from a file, the permissions will be instead read from the DB.=
=20
Permissions will switch to lower case with prefixes 'f_' (forum perms) 'g_'=
=20
(game perms) 'c_' (cms perms) 'u_' (user perms) 'a_' (admin perms). Each=20
category will also have a 'hidden' permission written as the prefix (for=20
example, 'a_' will be its own permission). This 'hidden' permission will be=
=20
a toggle if any of the 'child' permissions are 'yes', then the toggle will=
=20
be 'yes'. This way we can easier deduce control panel stuff.

In addition, the *_can functions of the permission system will no longer=20
return the permissions, but the $simple flag is being enforced so that it=
=20
only returns true/false. This is because I have yet to see any application=
=20
of receiving the permission back. If it is needed later, a new function=20
*_get() will be added that will serve the same purpose as the *_can=20
functions serves right now without the $simple flag. Don't see it needed=20
though.=20

The multi-lingual functionality is still being hotly debated in my head as=
=20
to determine the best way of going about this. I want it to be accessible t=
o=20
the templates so that every single string that is displayed to the user can=
=20
be translated. These 'words' will be saved in language files, that to save=
=20
on memory I think will be dynamically loaded as needed.

If it hasn't been noticed by now, there is now a Q_user class. This will=20
handle things like user data and user preferences. It was a possible host o=
f=20
the language system (code is there still), but as I already said I am still=
=20
trying to decide the best way to do this.=20

As an addend to our potential flash/php programmer. If we wanted later on w=
e=20
could instate 'actual' 'realtime' player vs player battles. I don't think=
=20
flash is a good idea for most fighting, but p vs p might be worthwhile=20
looking into. Of course with AJAX, we could probably work it out to. Though=
=20
this stuff is far from where I am dedicated to working on so no decisions=
=20
are coming from me concerning this.

Re: [Shadowsrising-devtalk] What have I done?!?

[Pádraic B. <mau...@ho...>]

Matt,

Thanks for the update - currently hip deep in a 2000 page reference volume 
on "International Financial Reporting Standards". It's painful...very 
painful...;)

On translations - the core segment (ie the game) was going to utilise a 
sub-template directory. So you would have templates_en, templates_fr, etc. I 
want to avoid the extra-processing imposed by line for line parsing to 
replace lines with translated versions.

The game engine already uses a fairly standard set of Constants to hold 
language values for text in the PHP.

Sole exception would be database content, which would have to be parsed. The 
good side, is that parsing would be performed only on the Smarty variable 
which holds all template variable values. It would not be performed over a 
long file of HTML and text. Should be pretty fast with a simple function. 
This and the template sub-divisions have not been set up yet (it was one of 
those low priority gigs while the game was pre-alpha). Probably I'll set it 
up for QS soon-ish. So may port it at that time.

Something similar might work for the backend/frontend. But I don't mind 
experimenting with something different - I don't have a monopoly on good 
ideas...:) My main concern in the game was speed - so I sacrificed 
simplicity and will be adding a more complex system that should be a lot 
faster (since only needs to parse tempate variables for database content).

I agree Flash is of limited use. It might be useable somewhere but there 
would to be a strong case for it. I can't see it being used to wrap any 
functional elements - that would add a dependency on Flash and I have this 
habit of surfing the web from a remote server using Lynx (much faster when 
you want text, not images and other "extras" - my main connection is too far 
from my local exchange to enable broadband).

Even the current dependency on javascript is but a temporary 
situation...shouldn't need more than the minimum to play the game with JS 
being a bonus for users etc.

AJAX work in any case is largely Theme dependent - the PHP side can be 
handled by a separate class.

On languages - any settings should lead us at some stage to the standard en, 
fr, es references (in turn used in directory and file names). One thing I 
really need to look at in the future is internationalising. I know most 
files specify UTF-8 as the character type - but in reality most are an ISO 
set. This could be a real pain for anyone using a non-roman character set. 
It may be a simple process, but I've never had to delve into this before...

Some maybe good news is that I have started creating clan functionality for 
QS. It's being designed as a "Shared Clan Module" (a fancy name for a new 
directory ;)) but the overall effect should be that it will be easily 
portable to Shadows Rising. It's going to be a lot different than the usual 
QS implementation - doing this from scratch lets me add in a lot more useful 
features. It will require access to a clan forum - so I might package with a 
flat forum until you get to look into that at some stage.

I think our learning curve on these PHP games is starting to level off ;)

Later,

Padraic


-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-
Pádraic Brady

aka Maugrim The Reaper
http://www.quantum-star.com/
http://www.shadowsrising.net/
-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-



>From: ProgrammerMatt <pro...@gm...>
>Reply-To: ProgrammerMatt <pro...@gm...>
>To: sha...@li...
>Subject: Re: [Shadowsrising-devtalk] What have I done?!?
>Date: Fri, 17 Jun 2005 15:30:34 -0500
>
>Okay, new updates. I am feeling up for a good, long post here.
>
>First, I have 2 prospective devs that I am actively engaged in talking to.
>One is a flash/PHP coder, but at this time we have (I believe) little need
>for any flash in our game. With AJAX and our current 'roadmap' I do not see
>any need for flash, but I think him to be competent in PHP so we shall see.
>The other is a German (from Munich). His English isn't great, but he is
>easily able to communicate. The biggest benefit that I can see coming from
>him is a German translation (started adding something more complicated for
>languages, similar to phpBB's method. changes coming here as I took a step
>back to look at long-term plans for SR while being forced to paint my house
>:().
>
>I have, as you probably have noticed, another developer by whose name
>currently escapes me and I am just too lazy to look it up. He has dropped
>out of contact for awhile so I sent an email checking up with him. I hope 
>to
>see contributions coming from him soon. UPDATE: His mother was admitted to
>the hospital and he has been looking after her.
>
>I was wondering again at the many other devs that are assigned to this
>project and was hoping for some form of a status on them. I have no
>intention of cutting them out as I know they were very active in early
>theory and design and much of what we have comes from them, but I was just
>wondering why they seemed to have dropped out.
>
>As for a nice status update, today I plan to move some files around, change
>a core concept of the permission system, and change how forums will be
>handled completely. The old, independent file method, as I see it now, was 
>a
>bad choice. Instead, new files will be added to the back end with functions
>like 'draw_forum' and 'draw_forum_at'. Then, for displaying the forums,
>files with names like 'viewtopic' and 'viewforum' will be put into 'core/'
>and 'qcms/' and will serve as wrappers for those functions. A moderator
>control panel and user control panel will be handled similarly.
>
>As to the core concept change of the permission system. First, as opposed 
>to
>being read from a file, the permissions will be instead read from the DB.
>Permissions will switch to lower case with prefixes 'f_' (forum perms) 'g_'
>(game perms) 'c_' (cms perms) 'u_' (user perms) 'a_' (admin perms). Each
>category will also have a 'hidden' permission written as the prefix (for
>example, 'a_' will be its own permission). This 'hidden' permission will be
>a toggle if any of the 'child' permissions are 'yes', then the toggle will
>be 'yes'. This way we can easier deduce control panel stuff.
>
>In addition, the *_can functions of the permission system will no longer
>return the permissions, but the $simple flag is being enforced so that it
>only returns true/false. This is because I have yet to see any application
>of receiving the permission back. If it is needed later, a new function
>*_get() will be added that will serve the same purpose as the *_can
>functions serves right now without the $simple flag. Don't see it needed
>though.
>
>The multi-lingual functionality is still being hotly debated in my head as
>to determine the best way of going about this. I want it to be accessible 
>to
>the templates so that every single string that is displayed to the user can
>be translated. These 'words' will be saved in language files, that to save
>on memory I think will be dynamically loaded as needed.
>
>If it hasn't been noticed by now, there is now a Q_user class. This will
>handle things like user data and user preferences. It was a possible host 
>of
>the language system (code is there still), but as I already said I am still
>trying to decide the best way to do this.
>
>As an addend to our potential flash/php programmer. If we wanted later on 
>we
>could instate 'actual' 'realtime' player vs player battles. I don't think
>flash is a good idea for most fighting, but p vs p might be worthwhile
>looking into. Of course with AJAX, we could probably work it out to. Though
>this stuff is far from where I am dedicated to working on so no decisions
>are coming from me concerning this.

Re: [Shadowsrising-devtalk] What have I done?!?

[ProgrammerMatt <pro...@gm...>]

Okay, new update.

First off, where have you been? Kinda fallen out of contact.

Second, I have started implementing phpDocumentor functions for two reasons=
.=20
1: It doesn't hurt 2: If we decide to use phpDocumentor they will be in=20
place. They are overall good descriptors of what a function can do with an=
=20
'autodoc' air to them.=20

Finally, I was thinking more on the whole modular game thing. This is what =
I=20
am thinking:

You said that we couldn't name the tables generically because fields might=
=20
change and such. It hit me the other day that those tables would still=20
remain extremely static. So, I think it might be advisable to start thinkin=
g=20
about putting them in something similar to 'ini' files (php has a built-in=
=20
function for reading them, and they aren't very hard to make them) and have=
=20
the module makers make their own dirs or similar with the ini files they=20
need in them. This just hit me a moment ago and I am in the middle of=20
programming so this idea isn't very developed nor thought out, but the=20
greates benifit would be a global `characters` table, which is what would b=
e=20
somewhat helpful. Any thoughts on this idea?