There have been 2 recent apps that I have decided to begin work on.
The first was(and will be) a program that runs side-by-side the MMORPG called Shaiya. The program will be a shared database allowing all users to add information about the game to assist other users playing the game. Information will include Maps of each of the regions with mob levels posted on them. There are a few listed out there, but this will simply make it more accurate and easy to search through. Next will be mob/drop combos. Details about each creature including estimated health, level (minimum gain to maximum gain), and their known loot/location. The next will be a detailed list of known items found in the game, their known basic stats, and their known bonus stats (items in the game usually have 1-4 basic stat differences, and "orange" stats that add on that) along with an auction price listing to estimate its overall value. The next, if you haven't guessed, will be an Auction house. Not directly linked to the game, but just a database of recently seen items on the auction house and their prices. Finally, a list of character builds (stats you should add in which mode of difficulty, as well as skills you should get specific to the method you want to play) which would cut down the questions anyone has about how to make a new character. This will be run by my own sql server and be editable by anyone running the program. Think of Wikipedia, but a smaller program and better organized?
App #2 is currently in progress, and making good way. The projects are linked since they will use the same server and use the same connect methods.
This app is going to be an Online Role-play forum housed in a Visual Basic interface. At this point, I've made the login form (which logs in using data on the SQL server). I wish to make a registry method here, but not sure if i should force it to have email confirmation (as i dont know how to do that just yet). The next window is a Forum list. A listbox detailing all the role-play topics currently stored, as well as who was the last person to update it, and how long ago it was (days, or hours, or minutes). Double-clicking opens a new window which checks another database for all the posts in the clicked topic, then runs a timer once per second to update the entire list. I will eventually need to convert this program to only update when something new was added. I'm trying to decide if i should make a socket server on my server to update each running user when something in a topic changes, cutting down on the network usage. This doesn't really have much more purpose than allowing my GF to chat with her friends without relation to time (nobody has to be on at the same time to role-play, and you never forget what the role play has been up to the point). The other objective was to get the system essentials down for the first app to get up and running.
There are a few questions and minor bits of assistance needed when programming this in terms of efficiency, so I decided to make this post here to get a few of the greater minds working with it. If you dont know how to run SQL, the only thing you need to understand, is that you make a request to the server like "SELECT [data columns] FROM [table] WHERE [column]=[value];" returns a dataset (think of an excel sheet) in which you can pull data in a loop, dump it in certain form object, or pull specific data. "INSERT INTO [table] (columns,...)(values,...)" simply adds a new row (item) into the said table. Doesn't return anything, failure results in a runtime error.
First up, Login. The login queries the login server, and returns (on success) the users nickname, and then stores it as the form name for easy query vie child forms. I need to make a Registry form, but I dont know if I really need the extra details such as birthday, last posted, and etc, as i dont know if it's going to be public enough for anyone to request that info. If not, a simple IP could limit the number of accounts. That or email verification can also limit it. There are always ways around both methods, the idea is to limit the availability, not kill em.
Next up, Forum Topics. Right now, its just a listbox, an Update button, and a Create button. The listbox works fine, Update works fine, but the Create button is still a work in progress. I was hoping to have a better interface than a listbox, since it only displays 1 string per line, but this works semi-efficiently for now. The create button im deciding on pulling the message window up with a title querried by a msgbox(), then actually created when the first message was made.
Last window is the message window. This contains 2 textbox's, one for history, one for input, a button to send it, and a timer to update it. Both textboxes are multi-line so you can see your messages and format them a little better for role-play story mode... This is already made and working 100%, but somewhat inefficient. The coding copies the window to a new Dim rMessage as new system.windows.form but this still only opens 1 window at a time. I'm trying to open several at a time to make this a little more like an instant messenger, but its having some difficulties to say the least.
The first was(and will be) a program that runs side-by-side the MMORPG called Shaiya. The program will be a shared database allowing all users to add information about the game to assist other users playing the game. Information will include Maps of each of the regions with mob levels posted on them. There are a few listed out there, but this will simply make it more accurate and easy to search through. Next will be mob/drop combos. Details about each creature including estimated health, level (minimum gain to maximum gain), and their known loot/location. The next will be a detailed list of known items found in the game, their known basic stats, and their known bonus stats (items in the game usually have 1-4 basic stat differences, and "orange" stats that add on that) along with an auction price listing to estimate its overall value. The next, if you haven't guessed, will be an Auction house. Not directly linked to the game, but just a database of recently seen items on the auction house and their prices. Finally, a list of character builds (stats you should add in which mode of difficulty, as well as skills you should get specific to the method you want to play) which would cut down the questions anyone has about how to make a new character. This will be run by my own sql server and be editable by anyone running the program. Think of Wikipedia, but a smaller program and better organized?
App #2 is currently in progress, and making good way. The projects are linked since they will use the same server and use the same connect methods.
This app is going to be an Online Role-play forum housed in a Visual Basic interface. At this point, I've made the login form (which logs in using data on the SQL server). I wish to make a registry method here, but not sure if i should force it to have email confirmation (as i dont know how to do that just yet). The next window is a Forum list. A listbox detailing all the role-play topics currently stored, as well as who was the last person to update it, and how long ago it was (days, or hours, or minutes). Double-clicking opens a new window which checks another database for all the posts in the clicked topic, then runs a timer once per second to update the entire list. I will eventually need to convert this program to only update when something new was added. I'm trying to decide if i should make a socket server on my server to update each running user when something in a topic changes, cutting down on the network usage. This doesn't really have much more purpose than allowing my GF to chat with her friends without relation to time (nobody has to be on at the same time to role-play, and you never forget what the role play has been up to the point). The other objective was to get the system essentials down for the first app to get up and running.
There are a few questions and minor bits of assistance needed when programming this in terms of efficiency, so I decided to make this post here to get a few of the greater minds working with it. If you dont know how to run SQL, the only thing you need to understand, is that you make a request to the server like "SELECT [data columns] FROM [table] WHERE [column]=[value];" returns a dataset (think of an excel sheet) in which you can pull data in a loop, dump it in certain form object, or pull specific data. "INSERT INTO [table] (columns,...)(values,...)" simply adds a new row (item) into the said table. Doesn't return anything, failure results in a runtime error.
First up, Login. The login queries the login server, and returns (on success) the users nickname, and then stores it as the form name for easy query vie child forms. I need to make a Registry form, but I dont know if I really need the extra details such as birthday, last posted, and etc, as i dont know if it's going to be public enough for anyone to request that info. If not, a simple IP could limit the number of accounts. That or email verification can also limit it. There are always ways around both methods, the idea is to limit the availability, not kill em.
Next up, Forum Topics. Right now, its just a listbox, an Update button, and a Create button. The listbox works fine, Update works fine, but the Create button is still a work in progress. I was hoping to have a better interface than a listbox, since it only displays 1 string per line, but this works semi-efficiently for now. The create button im deciding on pulling the message window up with a title querried by a msgbox(), then actually created when the first message was made.
Last window is the message window. This contains 2 textbox's, one for history, one for input, a button to send it, and a timer to update it. Both textboxes are multi-line so you can see your messages and format them a little better for role-play story mode... This is already made and working 100%, but somewhat inefficient. The coding copies the window to a new Dim rMessage as new system.windows.form but this still only opens 1 window at a time. I'm trying to open several at a time to make this a little more like an instant messenger, but its having some difficulties to say the least.
