Game Development

I have searched everywhere but I couldn't find my answer, is there a way to make an simple HTTP request? I want to request an PHP page / script on one of my website but I don't want to show the webpage. If possible I even want to do it in the background (in an BroadcastReceiver)

MickLH

@hasherr You still working on this?

Jon

yup. he is

sup mick

hasherr

Yeah

<?php
	$_GET["wow"] = "what";
?>

MickLH

6:09 PM

sup jon

hasherr

Just trying to figure out how to get that value in Android

MickLH

just finished waking up, I made breakfast while still asleep :D

@hasherr Last time I had to do that I used JSON

<?php
$o = array();
$o["red"]="thing";
$o["cat"] = "hat";
echo json_encode($o);
?>

hasherr

Yeah, I'm just trying to send that $_GET variable to my Android device

MickLH

Never write to $_GET or $_POST

Lasse

json_encode($_GET);

MickLH

6:12 PM

It has no effect except maybe confusing you later if you need the real parameter again

Lasse

that would send you back whatever you send to the server in get parameters

joapet99

@Jon the game notch made is so sad ;(

Jon

I know.. LOL

I stopped after a while... I was like... damn this is real life.. not a game

joapet99

I'm currently dead

Jon

oh lol

I could only click for so long before I got bored :)

joapet99

6:13 PM

Now I am going to be forgotten!

MickLH

Lol what's notch's new gimmick?

Jon

"I don't want to be a page is someone else's history book." -- Stanis

I linked it down here \/

game.notch.net/drowning/#

joapet99

I am now 50% forgotten

MickLH

@Jon lol I was looking for it and I found this

to which I am super down, if I can work from linux :P

Jon

found what>

joapet99

6:15 PM

now I'm 70% forgotten

hasherr

@Lasse Wait, what?

Can you explain this in more depth?

MickLH

@Jon XNA collab thing

Jon

ah

Lasse

the $_GET variable is special variable filled with values you send to the server via GET paramaters in the url

Jon

yeah.. i was willing to start a project with some people in here, for fun

MickLH

6:16 PM

I've been wanting to do that for a while

Jon

Let's do it

MickLH

:D

joapet99

I'm 90% forgotten oh no

Jon

I said XNA.. since it integrates well with bitbucket/VS

Lasse

that line I wrote just works like echo, it sends you back anything you send to the server

hasherr

6:17 PM

@Lasse Oh, in the URL?

Jon

but you like linux

Lasse

yeah

like index.php?hello=hi&wtf=lol

joapet99

Ther is nothing. Solve.

O.o

Jon

There is one major issue for me.... Work blocked this chat room...

So I can only chat on Chat.stackoverflow.com from work now

MickLH

@Jon I think I'm going to have to turn down a gamedev job I got offered because CryEngine didn't work right on linux

Jon

6:18 PM

I go to the c# chat room

MickLH

Awww wtf lol

Jon

@MickLH ?? seriously

hasherr

That's the whole point of this

@Lasse Okay, then, but then how do I receive it via Android?

Jon

Just get a windows box, and suck it up for the money

Lasse

you need to output something in the PHP

hasherr

6:18 PM

Via echo?

Lasse

$o["something"] = "yay";
echo json_encode($o);

MickLH

@Jon owwwww my ego, it hurts so bad

Jon

work is work.

not suppose to be fun

otherwise, it would be called super happy fun time

not work

Lasse

or just echo "hello world";

but JSON is better for data transfer :P

MickLH

I'm just playing anyways, I really need to get around to that

I even got another SSD I can install to put windows on

hasherr

6:20 PM

@Lasse Okay, so now I have this

<?php
$_GET["wow"] = "what";
echo $_GET["wow"];
?>

Lasse

don't write in the $_GET

you don't want to do that

hasherr

So just take out "what"?

MickLH

@hasherr <?="what";?>

optimized

Jon

@MickLH what is your programming language of choice?

MickLH

@Jon Well I feel most comfortable in C++ or Javascript

Jon

6:21 PM

I guess I could learn SDL

MickLH

But I'll work in basically anything at all, although I don't enjoy LISP style things

Lasse

@hasherr yes, just take the whole line out, and it will output the value you send to it with GET param "wow"

index.php?wow=what

hasherr

<?php
$_GET["wow"];
echo $_GET["wow"];
?>

MickLH

I do actually love C# I know that sounds crazy :P

Lasse

<?php
echo $_GET["wow"];
?>

Jon

6:22 PM

C# is my language of choice nowadays

hasherr

Oh take it all out

Bagofsheep

Hey guys, do you see anything wrong this code? Debugging reveals that difference is for some reason becoming a NaN:

public void turnToFacePoint(Vector2 p)
{
float distanceX = p.X - position.X;
float distanceY = p.Y - position.Y;

float targetRotation = (float)Math.Atan2(distanceY, distanceX);
float difference = MathHelper.WrapAngle(targetRotation - Rotation);
//Clamp the difference to the maximum rotational speed.
difference = MathHelper.Clamp(difference, -1f, 1f);

Rotation = MathHelper.WrapAngle(Rotation + difference);

Jon

its what I use in my day job.. so I have the most XP in it

MickLH

lol, ironically, PHP is what I have used most for work

but it's one of the ones I hate the most

Jon

What is WrapAngle @Bagofsheep

hasherr

6:23 PM

@Lasse I think there's some confusion here

Lasse

@MickLH same here

hasherr

We're receiving a message from the server

MickLH

but I totally understand the XP, I leveled so many times that I can code it faster than other languages I love lol

hasherr

Not sending one

Lasse

@hasherr what exactly you want to do

Bagofsheep

6:23 PM

@Jon msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/…

hasherr

new NetworkingTask().execute("http://thisiscomputor.net16.net/index.php?wow=hi");

Jon

hehehe

Lasse

yes

hasherr

So that is just going to change the value on the site

But Android isn't getting anything back

Jon

@Bagofsheep probably something to do with your Rotation variable

set a watch on it, and see what happens to it

Lasse

6:24 PM

I have no idea where the problem would be

Bagofsheep

Well Rotation becomes NaN as well but not until after difference has become a NaN.

Because Rotation is involved in math with the difference.

hasherr

@Lasse What is Android getting from this?

Nothing from what I can tell

Lasse

it should be getting "hi"

MickLH

@Bagofsheep what is MathHelper?

hasherr

Well, first of all, I need to figure out how to print that information out

But second of all, all it is getting is what I am telling it to get

Bagofsheep

6:25 PM

It is a static class in .NET.

not .net

Oh.

I think it is XNA

It isn't in base visual C#?

Jon

No.

hasherr

6:26 PM

@Lasse My PHP script has a variable called "Wow" and I want for my Android app to say "Hey, I want the contents of that 'wow' variable that the PHP has."

Jon

Pretty sure it comes with XNA libs

MickLH

Is it safe to assume it absolutely works?

Jon

Namespace: Microsoft.Xna.Framework

hasherr

But instead, we're just saying "Oh, I already know that it says hi, so give me the contents of wow"

Jon

yup.

MickLH

6:27 PM

wow maaajor lag

Bagofsheep

Yes, it is safe to assume that it works.

Let me try watching the Rotation variable.

Lasse

$o["wow"] = "hello";
echo $o[$_GET["giveme"]];
index.php?giveme=wow

Jon

Are you altering Rotation anywhere else?

MickLH

@Bagofsheep so what are the targetRotation and Rotation values?

Bagofsheep

targetRotation is the angle it wants to be at and Rotation is its current angle.

MickLH

6:28 PM

right after the arc tangent

I mean the numerical values

Jon

NaN typically means Infinity

Bagofsheep

I don't think I am altering the player's base rotation anywhere else.

Right after the arc tangent?

MickLH

atan2

Bagofsheep

Do you mean the arc tangent's parameters?

MickLH

no, I mean insert a debugging break after the atan2 line

Bagofsheep

6:29 PM

Alright, one second.

Jon

I think Mick is on the right track.

Bagofsheep

Alright, targetRotation (after atan2 is passed) is equal to targetRotation -2.3561945 float

MickLH

and regular Rotation ?

at the same spot

Bagofsheep

Rotation 0.0 float

The player hasn't rotated yet.

hasherr

@Lasse Can I just say "http://thisiscomputor.net16.net/index.php?wow" instead of "http://thisiscomputor.net16.net/index.php?wow=hi"

Bagofsheep

6:31 PM

If I pass through a second time they become:
targetRotation NaN float
Rotation -1.0 float

And that's only having the breakpoint on the line right after atan2.

Jon

ah.. what is your distancxX and Y after 2nd pass?

MickLH

^

Jon

probably super big

Lasse

@hasherr you need to use $_SERVER['QUERY_STRING'] for that

google it up and check the manual how it works

hasherr

Ugh...

Bagofsheep

6:32 PM

Both NaN for some reason, but if I pass a third time they go back to real numbers.

Jon

your problem is your Position

Bagofsheep

On the third pass distanceX and Y are:
distanceX -658.0 float
distanceY -492.0 float

Jon

Ohhhh

I know what the problem is

:)

Bagofsheep

What is it?

Jon

Look at p

Bagofsheep

6:33 PM

By the way, they point the player is trying to face is the world position of the mouse.

- p {X:2542 Y:2708} Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Vector2

That is P right now as of the 3rd pass.

Jon

what is p on second pass?

Bagofsheep

Let me restart it.

Jon

show me the code you use to call this function

hasherr

@Lasse Okay, hold on, that was irrelevant anyways. My PHP scripts has a value, my Andorid phone has a button that when pressed, receives the value.

Bagofsheep

+ p {X:NaN Y:NaN} Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Vector2

Jon

6:34 PM

to calculate p

hasherr

Do I even use $_GET?

Bagofsheep

Hmmm, that is the second pass.

hasherr

Or do I use $_POST?

Lasse

@hasherr eh?

MickLH

suspicions confirmed

bad input

Bagofsheep

6:35 PM

@Jon Alright, this is the method call in the player's update method:
turnToFacePoint(mouse.WorldPosition);

I will get the mouse.WorldPosition code.

Lasse

@hasherr I have no idea how the android stuff works, do you display webpages on it or are you using some other method of fetching the data from the server

hasherr

@Lasse I'm just confused now on what we're doing. Are we sending information from Android to the server, or from the server to the Android?

Lasse

both

hasherr

I should've been more specific

Bagofsheep

Code in mouse update:
inverseViewMatrix = Matrix.Invert(camera.ViewMatrix);
WorldPosition = Vector2.Transform(new Vector2(mouse.X, mouse.Y), inverseViewMatrix);

MickLH

6:36 PM

@hasherr it's always both with HTTP

Lasse

you send
GET index.php?giveme=wow
and the server responds
hello

hasherr

Request/response is a two-way thing obviously, but is Android sending a string to PHP or is PHP sending a string to Android?

MickLH

both

hasherr

Nooo

Jon

what is the difference between a quid and a pound?

MickLH

6:37 PM

I think quid is just slang

rolfl

British currency? nothing ... quid is slang for a pound.

Jon

ah ok

watching a british show... was wondering what a quid was

rolfl

You pay a taxi in quid, you pay for a car in pounds.

hasherr

@Lasse "http://thisiscomputor.net16.net/index.php?wow=hi"

Shit

Bagofsheep

Any idea why the input is becoming NaN on second pass after seeing that code?

Jon

6:38 PM

more code @Bagofsheep show me the call

hasherr

That's just cheating, because we already know what the server is going to responsd with

Bagofsheep

The call of what?

I posted code above, not sure if you missed it.

Lasse

@hasherr I already pasted you a script where you can give the android app what you want

11 mins ago, by Lasse

$o["wow"] = "hello";
echo $o[$_GET["giveme"]];
index.php?giveme=wow

hasherr

$o["wow"] = "hello";
echo $o[$_GET["giveme"]];
index.php?giveme=wow

MickLH

@Bagofsheep Can you debug these variable for us?

Bagofsheep

6:39 PM

The matrix or the worldPosition?

MickLH

both

the matrix will be 4 floats, not too bad to look at manually

Bagofsheep

Alright, one second.

Jon

inverseViewMatrix = Matrix.Invert(camera.ViewMatrix);
WorldPosition = Vector2.Transform(new Vector2(mouse.X, mouse.Y), inverseViewMatrix);

reposted.. for me

Bagofsheep

Alright lol.

Inverse View Matrix:
+ inverseViewMatrix { {M11:NaN M12:NaN M13:NaN M14:NaN} {M21:NaN M22:NaN M23:NaN M24:NaN} {M31:NaN M32:NaN M33:NaN M34:NaN} {M41:NaN M42:NaN M43:NaN M44:NaN} } Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Matrix

hasherr

@Lasse Okay, okay, now I understand, but now I don't know what to Google for figuring out how to get that string using apache's Http library...

Jon

6:41 PM

LOL

Bagofsheep

That looks like weird jargon.

MickLH

@Jon lol I totally missed it too

Jon

ok... your camera matrix is fucked

MickLH

@Bagofsheep lol Thurs yer prallem

Lasse

@hasherr what? apache's http library? what is that?

Jon

6:41 PM

@Bagofsheep hold on

Bagofsheep

LOL why in the hell is it all NaN?

WorldPosition:
+ WorldPosition {X:NaN Y:NaN} Microsoft.Xna.Framework.Vector2

MickLH

@Lasse It's a depreciated thing you should NOT use!

Bagofsheep

Wtf.

hasherr

@Lasse I just need to figure out how to print out the variable that is "wow"

Bagofsheep

Lol.

MickLH

6:42 PM

In android we're supposed to use URLConnection for all new and future apps

Jon

Vector2.Transform(pos, Matrix.Invert(camera.ViewMatrix));

MickLH

Please do not develop new apps on depreciated APIs

Lasse

@hasherr the script I gave you does that already

hasherr

index.php?giveme=wow <---- I need to print the value from "wow"

Jon

try it like that.. in one line @Bagofsheep

Lasse

6:42 PM

yes

that's what it does

hasherr

We're not talking about the script anymore, we're talking about Android

I don't know what to google to print that out

I can't explain what I'm trying to say

Jon

If that fails.. it means your camera matrix is getting messed up.... are you multithreading here?

Lasse

I have no idea how the android part works

MickLH

@hasherr hold on a second, I think I've got something for you

launching eclipse :'(

hasherr

barfs

Jon

6:43 PM

farts

Bagofsheep

@Jon Like this?
WorldPosition = Vector2.Transform(position, Matrix.Invert(camera.ViewMatrix));

Jon

where position is mouse position. yeah

Bagofsheep

Yeah, alright.

You mean the mouse's screen position right?

Jon

Vector2 position = new Vector2(Mouse.GetState().X, Mouse.GetState().Y);

like that

Bagofsheep

Yeah.

MickLH

6:45 PM

String downloadFile(String url) {
	String out="";
	try {
	    URL url1 = new URL(url);
	    BufferedReader in = new BufferedReader(new InputStreamReader(url1.openStream()));
	    String str;
	    while ((str = in.readLine()) != null) {
	    	out+=str+"\n";
	    }
	    in.close();
	} catch (MalformedURLException e) {
	} catch (IOException e) {
		e.printStackTrace();
	}
	return out;
}

Downloads a text file from the internet lol, it's shitty but easy to use

Jon

@Bagofsheep are you multithreading at all?

hasherr

@MickLH Riight...

Not really what I was looking for, I don't think

MickLH

@hasherr You just said a fucking second ago that you don't know what you're looking fory

You just did to me, what androidmaster did to you the other day that you went ALL CAPS about lol

ttyl :D

hasherr

I know it's not that.

Sorry :(

Jon

ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH

"YOU FOUND A GLINCH"

MickLH

6:48 PM

@hasherr You've described extremely clearly that you would like to communicate with a webservice in your android app

If your webservice is hosted over HTTP, then you're going to have to poll, period

hasherr

Right, but my webservice does not involve text documents.

Bagofsheep

Ok, the player's rotation is still ending up as an NaN.

MickLH

You were talking about JSON earlier, which is a very good way to send structured data, and it's always text

Bagofsheep

@Jon And no, I don't think I am multithreading, I don't know how to multithread.

MickLH

@hasherr But even with binary data, you should be using URL APIs instead of Apache APIs

Apache APIs are depreciated on android

DEPRECIATED

Jon

6:49 PM

@Bagofsheep Ok, so your camera is messed up.

Anko

(I'm confused. How many conversations are these and who's in which one?)

MickLH

That means that one day (soon) an update is coming out that will make your app crash on everyones device

Jon

What is your viewMatrix code @Bagofsheep

hasherr

@MickLH I would only need a poll if my service required it to be polling every x minutes or whatever. This service that I'm building only polls when the user hits a button

Bagofsheep

It seems like the matrix is only filled with NaN's with the game first starts, then goes back to normal. Could it be something to do with the mouse maybe?

Jon

6:50 PM

We need to go deeper

Bagofsheep

@Jon alright I will get the view matrix code.

hasherr

@MickLH Fuck.

Bagofsheep

Lol, DEEPER.

Grey

beneath the surface :o

Jon

@Bagofsheep update your camera first

MickLH

6:50 PM

@hasherr So what about you doing polling makes polling not what you're doing?

Jon

chances are you are updating your camera after

hasherr

@MickLH Depends on what kind of polling we're talking abut

MickLH

The polling kind

The kind where you poll for data...

Bagofsheep

Oh, update my camera first.

Alright, one second.

Jon

@Bagofsheep whatcha making anyways?

MickLH

6:52 PM

@hasherr To be completely honest, it seems like you're not completely sure what you're trying to accomplish

What is your end goal with this webservice stuff?

Jon

sounds like he is winging it :)

and getting pissed off

hasherr

I know what I'm trying to accomplish, just very new to webservice in general

@MickLH So I need a service which goes into a database and sends data to my android device

Bagofsheep

@Jon Hahaha it worked man, I was updating my camera last, after everything else.

@Jon Now to see if the actual method does what I want it to since I can see the damn player again.

Jon

good stuff bro

Bagofsheep

@Jon I am making a top-down shooter btw but it is so much more than that. It is kind of a secret.

Jon

6:53 PM

whatcha making?

MickLH

Well I'm not closing any doors for you that were not already closed, I'm just showing you that basically with webservice over HTTP, there's only 1 main "door", and if you're lucky there's a side door too but it's a pain in the ass

Jon

dual stick shooter?

hasherr

@MickLH Okay, well I'll move over to URL api

Bagofsheep

No, a PC game. I might make it compatible with controllers but mouse + keyboard are my priority.

Jon

@Bagofsheep make sure to share when you are done

MickLH

6:54 PM

I miss alex

Jon

So, stumbled upon this

Bagofsheep

I shall, but it's a massive project. It probably won't be done for a long time.

Jon

MickLH

sorry if I pulled an alex on you, @hasherr

Bagofsheep

Damn that's awesome pixel art.

Jon

6:54 PM

Game is called Ethereal

hasherr

@MickLH You're fine, I can be kind of irritating sometimes

Jon

Indie dev... looking pretty interesting up to now

hasherr

But I do appreciate the help

Jon

I miss alex

He had a crush on me i think

MickLH

@hasherr When you get to the database stuff on the PHP side, make sure you use PDO even if you want mysql

Bagofsheep

6:55 PM

Yes, the method works! Thanks again @Jon and @MickLH.

MickLH

Don't fall for the mysqli trap, PDO is still better

lol np @Bagofsheep I feel like @Jon did most of the work

Jon

PDO +1

William 'MindWorX' Mariager

So, UDP headers are 8 bytes in size. If I were to stream user input 60 timers per second, that's 480 bytes per second, requiring a ~4kbit connection, just for the headers. :P

Jon

UDP is like a shotgun

It'll hit the target most of the time

MickLH

That analogy makes me want to play Halo 1 multi-player

Shotty Snipers gametype

On sidewinder

hasherr

6:57 PM

@MickLH Now I have to figure out how to connect to the service via URL fuck >.<

Jon

Man.. shotgun was my weapon of choice on halo :)

shoot / smack in face

insta-death

MickLH

yessss BANG! skeetskeet

Jon

teabag that bitch

MickLH

I loved how tactical it got trying to handle FFA with 4 players on that map in that gametype

Jon

grocery run.. bbl

hasherr

6:59 PM

Is something like this what I'm looking for, @MickLH ?

    try
    {
        URL destination = new URL(url[0]);
        URLConnection connection = destination.openConnection();
    }

MickLH

It seems like it, I'm not expert on android APIs

Although, I think you can just hack my snippet from earlier

hasherr

URL isn't even Android API

MickLH

And use regular read instead of readLine

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