Tag Archives: MVC

Sep 02 2013
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WebMUCK

Designing MyFirstChatroom

So to start with I’m making a chatroom. I’m calling the project MyFirstChatroom since it kind of is, and it’s simple.

There’ll be an AJAX/JQuery View, a PHP Script Controller and Model covering a MySQL Database. For this version of the chatroom I’ll be recording a log of the last, let’s say two hundred things said on the chatroom. When I convert it to a MUCK I’ll probably just fill the user’s view with whatever is posted in their vicinity instead, so that they can carry it with them room to room.

I’ve hit my first problem with the design. I’ll be keeping a database of previous paragraphs up to two hundred. But, as they pass that and are deleted, the id of the stored paragraphs will keep going up, eventually running out. So, I’ll have to set it up to recycle ids after it gets to two hundred.

Hmm… If I’m going to be saving chat lines, that’ll be seperate from the chatroom itself, and eventually the users. So, I’ll have to make a model for chat paragraphs as well.

The way I’m thinking about it now, I’m pretty sure I’m violating database rules. Maybe 1st Normal Form…

I talked about it with my brother some, and he thinks I should be good to just make the model an array of entries representing the one table. So I’ll give that a go.

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Sep 02 2013
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WebMUCK

WebMUCK

Well Ludum Dare didn’t go so well, I spent the whole weekend trying to get my tools to work. Hopefully I’ll be better prepared next time.

I’m starting a new project today, something I should be able to put proudly into my portfolio. I’m going to make a Web based MUCK. MUCK stands for Multi User Chat Kingdom. They’ve been around since the internet stone age and haven’t changed much since then. In form, they’re like a series of linked, themed chatrooms representing a virtual space. Unfortunately they’re so old that you have to connect to them with a dedicated client, and interact with people using arcane text commands.

I’ve decided to make a web based MUCK system. Linked chatrooms should be simple enough to do quickly and complex enough to show my skills, I hope.

To begin with, I’ll make a simple chatroom. Then I’ll add in the account system, and finally set up connections. I can build other MUCK features on top of that; they usually have programmable objects in MUCKs that say or do things when you interact with them. Though, I might just expose the client interface, so that people can make chatbots to do that with whatever they’re familiar with. But one step at a time.

My first chatroom will be done MVC Style. The Model and Controller will be PHP classes while the view will be done with JQuery and AJAX.

I’ll post more on here when I hit a stumbling block but for now I’m just setting up the basics.

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