PHP, master servers and STDOUT
Author
I'm writing a peer to peer game which needs a master server to keep track of all the games. I was thinking of using PHP and MySQl...so I could post it straight on to the web site where it will be downloaded from. This leads to my first question:
1)Is PHP and My SQL suitable for a master server or should I use another method?
Also...how can I get the table data to the sending computer?
2)could I use stdout and for loops to send the data to the computer who sent the HTTP request, and what is the prototype for STDOUT in PHP?
3)Finally...how do I receive this info...is there a good premade class or tutorial on this kinda stuff? I'm using Raknet but WinSock would also work.
Thanks in advanced...
If PHP runs as part of the web server, then anything you print will go out to the client computer.
If you want to make a HTTP request from a client computer, you might want to take a look at my lightweight HTTP-GET library.
If you want to do NAT punch-through introduction from your master server, however, HTTP and PHP is not the right solution, because you need to be listening on a UDP port.
If you want to make a HTTP request from a client computer, you might want to take a look at my lightweight HTTP-GET library.
If you want to do NAT punch-through introduction from your master server, however, HTTP and PHP is not the right solution, because you need to be listening on a UDP port.
PHP for the master server is fine, however, you'll need to be able to use the PHP sockets library.
When a server connects to the master server, you should connect back to it to make sure it's a real server (and not firewalled), before listing it in the server list. Otherwise, you'll end up with heaps of inaccessible servers in the list.
You should also make some kind of periodic job (Cron?) which checks that existing servers are still up, and if not removes them from the list.
There's no need to use stdout (I'm not even sure if you can) to write output to a HTTP client - you can simply use echo()
Mark
When a server connects to the master server, you should connect back to it to make sure it's a real server (and not firewalled), before listing it in the server list. Otherwise, you'll end up with heaps of inaccessible servers in the list.
You should also make some kind of periodic job (Cron?) which checks that existing servers are still up, and if not removes them from the list.
There's no need to use stdout (I'm not even sure if you can) to write output to a HTTP client - you can simply use echo()
Mark
Author
so would something like this work:
HTTP-GET: http://mygamesite/thegame/server.php?action=get
if($action==get)
{
echo($howmanyserves)
for(not end of database)
{
echo($name);
echo($type);
echo($IP);
}
}
and using the HTTP get Read() to get the return from echo?
also, how to I do timed test on servers and how often? (i.e every minute say 'are you there')
HTTP-GET: http://mygamesite/thegame/server.php?action=get
if($action==get)
{
echo($howmanyserves)
for(not end of database)
{
echo($name);
echo($type);
echo($IP);
}
}
and using the HTTP get Read() to get the return from echo?
also, how to I do timed test on servers and how often? (i.e every minute say 'are you there')
Quote:Original post by hplus0603
lightweight HTTP-GET library
What I need, when I need it. Thank you!!
Yes, that might work. You'd need to add some kind of separator between the server fields, though, or they'll all run together as simple text. I would probably return the data as XML, though, which is easy enough to print.
I would suggest that the servers tell the registrar about their existence every so often, instead. The server can then drop servers that it hasn't heard from in X minutes. If you keep a database, you'd just make the "current servers" query be "servers whose last timestamp is newer than (now - X minutes)", and keep the old records around. That way, you need no periodic task to remove things from the database just so you don't show old stuff.
I would suggest that the servers tell the registrar about their existence every so often, instead. The server can then drop servers that it hasn't heard from in X minutes. If you keep a database, you'd just make the "current servers" query be "servers whose last timestamp is newer than (now - X minutes)", and keep the old records around. That way, you need no periodic task to remove things from the database just so you don't show old stuff.
Author
how would I read the XML?
I have irrlicht, could I use IrrXML...or is there a better library?
And how would I read in the info?
I have irrlicht, could I use IrrXML...or is there a better library?
And how would I read in the info?
To print the info (using Postgres and PHP running inside Apache):
To read the data from the server, use something like HTTP-GET.
To parse the XML data once you've read it, use whatever XML parser you want. I don't know about IrrXML, but if it's an XML parser that can parse a text chunk in memory, then that should do it. An alternative is XMLSCAN, my ultra-lightweight, very fast XML parser.
Note that the code hasn't been compiled, so may have some typos in it.
<?phpprint( "<data>\n" );$r = pg_query( "select ip, name, lasttime from servers where lasttime > " . timeAsString(time()-5*60) );$nr = pg_numrows( $r );for( $i = 0; $i < $nr; ++$i ) { $a = pg_fetch_array( $r, $i ); print( "<server ip='$a[ip]' name='$a[name]' lasttime='$a[lasttime]'/>\n" );}print( "</data>\n" );?>To read the data from the server, use something like HTTP-GET.
To parse the XML data once you've read it, use whatever XML parser you want. I don't know about IrrXML, but if it's an XML parser that can parse a text chunk in memory, then that should do it. An alternative is XMLSCAN, my ultra-lightweight, very fast XML parser.
// simple utility functionXMLNode * find( XMLNode * p, XMLScanner::Token::Kind kind, char const * name ){ XMLNode * c = p->child( 0 ); while( c ) { if( c->token().kind == kind && c->token().keyIs( name ) ) { return c; } c = c->next(); } return 0;}// how to parse in-memory XML data of length xmlDataLength, // pointed at by xmlData.XMLDom * dom = new XMLDom( xmlData, xmlDataLength, 0 );if( dom->error() ) { throw runtime_error( std::string( "bad XML format: " ) + dom->error() );}XMLNode * root = dom->root();XMLNode * data = find( root, XMLScanner::Token::Tag, "data" );XMLNode * server = data->child( 0 );while( server ) { if( server->token().keyIs( "server" ) ) { XMLNode * ip = find( root, XMLScanner::Token::Attribute, "ip" ); XMLNode * name = find( root, XMLScanner::Token::Attribute, "name" ); std::string ipStr, nameStr; XMLUtil::ToText( ip, ipStr ); XMLUtil::ToText( name, nameStr ); doWhateverWithYourServerInfo( ipStr, nameStr ); } server = server->next();}delete dom;Note that the code hasn't been compiled, so may have some typos in it.
what about speed and fluidity of game play? does using a myswl server with php slow the gaming experience down?
data can only travel as fast as the script can connect with the db right?
thnx
data can only travel as fast as the script can connect with the db right?
thnx
You're talking about a server registration system, right? What does that have to do with gameplay? Once you're connected to a server, you don't need the server list anymore.
Even so, fluidity of the matchmaking doesn't matter, as long as you use non-blocking or polled (select()) I/O on the sockets, leaving the program free to do other things while waiting for the list server. HTTP-GET does this, btw (as it has a polled interface).
Even so, fluidity of the matchmaking doesn't matter, as long as you use non-blocking or polled (select()) I/O on the sockets, leaving the program free to do other things while waiting for the list server. HTTP-GET does this, btw (as it has a polled interface).
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