[XML] Loading level layouts into tile based Flash Game

Introduction

I am starting the XML stuff for my wizards game from scratch. Yesterday after trying several methods of getting multiple levels to load, I found out about using XML to load in data to a flash file.  I used several websites to help me understand the concept (Emanuel Feronato,8 Bit Rocket and by far the most useful and easy to understand, Kirupa).

 

Anyway, thinking I had learnt completely how to use it, I dived straight in to adding the code into my project.  This sort of worked.  I am still unsure why it DIDN'T work completely.  I managed to load in the level and display it on the screen, but I couldn't work out why it wasn't showing properly (the tiles were all the same, as oposed to showing the correct tile based on the number in the XML file). 

 

So, this is my blog of doing all the XML walkthrough stuff in a blank project, without any of the other code or anything else confusing me.  It's also sort of a tutorial, so follow it if you like.  It may not be the best way of doing the thing I am trying to acheive, but I will try and explain what I am doing as I go along. 

 

 

PHP (2) - MySQL Database

PHP/MYSQL TUTORIAL/PROGRESS BLOG


Comments/Guest Book

Xampp phpMyAdmin

One thing I like about XAmpp is the built version of phpMyAdmin, which is an easy to use front end for MySQL. This can be accessed by going to "http://localhost/xampp" and following the link to phpMyAdmin under the tools section of the left hand navigation, on the XAmpp front page (http://localhost/phpMyAdmin).

CREATING A NEW DATABASE
A new database can be created easily using the Create new database field:


CHOOSING TABLE NAME AND NUMBER OF FIELDS
I have named my database "test1", on the next page choosing "example1" as the new table on the database. I chose five for the Number of fields (different bits of information that will be entered into the table). When creating a database it is best to plan what information is going to be entered into the table and entering the Number of fields accordingly. Both the database and table name should be relevant to what it is going to be used for so you can remember what is what when you have multiple databases and tables.

FIELD NAMES, TYPES AND LENGTHS

For this Database table I chosen field names which would be used on a comments page or guest book; Name, Subject, Comment and URL, as well as ID which will be the comments number (1 for the first comment, 2 for the second, etc). I have set the field type for ID to INT, with the others as VARCHAR. For the Length/Values, I have chosen numbers which I think will be about right for these field inputs.

I have also chosen for the ID field to be set to 'Primary' and 'auto-increment', which makes it the primary field as well as automatically increasing the number in the field as required for the ID field. Choose the Collation you want (chosing none defaulted to latin1_swedish_ci for me, so I chose to use ucs2_bin).



CONNECT TO DATABASE WITH PHP
Now to the coding. Bring up your text editor and enter the following:
$dbhost = 'localhost';

$dbuser = 'root';
$dbpass = '';

$conn = mysql_connect($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpass) or die ('Error connecting to mysql');

$dbname = 'test1';
mysql_select_db($dbname);
?>

Things you may have changed which may be causing you problems: If you have set up a username and password for your database, change these accordingly under "$dbuser = " and "$dbpass = ". Also, if you didn't call your database "test1" then type whatever you did call it under "$dbname = ". Also ensure there are ";"'s at the end of every line where it is needed.

Save this file as a php file (I named mine connectphp.php) in C:\xampp\apache\htdocs (or the relative location if you put it somewhere else). Access the page in your web browser (http:\\localhost\connectphp.php in my case) and it should be blank, which is a good sign that it hasn't caused an error.


Information/help from:

Collin Jensen
php.net
php mysql tutorial



©Chris Guiblin 2008
URL: www.guiblin.com/chris/
EMAIL: chris@guiblin.com

PHP (1) - Hello World

PHP & MYSQL TUTORIAL/PROGRESS BLOG

Comments/Guest Book

PAGE 1 "HELLO WORLD"

Introduction

For this tutorial bog I am using Xampp running all the available services included with it on a home computer not running as a web server. Most of the information is going to be the same whether or not you are using Xampp. One thing to note is that not all webspace providers support php and mysql. If you are using a service like this, check whether php and mysql are supported with them before attempting any sort of php /mySQL project.

This tutorial is as much a documentation of what I am doing than teaching how to do it. Although I have some previous experience with web servers, programming and a very small amount with PHP and mySQL, this is a learning experience for me, I just thought it might be useful to write how I am doing it, for anyone else who might be attempting this and has come across this page. If you spot anything wrong then please send a comment or email me and I will check it out.

DOWNLOAD AND INSTALLATION (windows)

Firstly, install XAMPP from
http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html. I first tried the ZIP file
and tried installing the windows version on my computer. However this
failed, I think because I am using vista and the version wasn't made
for that. So probably best using the installer. Follow the installation
(don't install to program files if in vista, as it will tell you),
enabling the services you want. You must enable php for the above to
work. I have installed everything as I will be dabbling with mysql and
possibly other services later on.




VIEWING/EDITING THE INDEX PAGE



In your web browser go to "http://localhost". This brings up
the yellow and orange xampp page with information and demos, etc. This
will take you to "http://localhost/ampp". Change it to
"http://localhost/index.html to view the index page, which will display
the text "It works!"



To get to where this page is actually stored in your computer,
go to the directory where you installed Xampp ("C:\Xampp" in my case).
You should see a folder named "htdocs". This is where the pages are
stored which will actually be accessible through the web server. In
here you will find a file "index.html", which is the page displayed
when you go to "http://localhost/index.html".



To edit the content of the page, open the file with notepad,
dreamweaver, or any other text editor/web design software. If you don't
understand any of what has come up, you should probably go searching
Google for help or buy a book on basic html. All you need to do to
change the text on the page is to change the text between the tag



Once You have done this, save the text file and reload the page in your browser to display the change.



PHP

Since PHP works differently to html, we will need to change
the file in a few ways to make it work using php. Php in itself is not
built into browsers like html is, therefor it is up to the server to
deal with the php code, and that is why php needed to be installed as a
service earlier.

To create a php document, you must start with "<h&gt;" to show that this is the end of the php code.

To create the words "Hello World" or "It works!" you use
the command "echo" which just means to display the value of something.
In this case you just want to display a string value, so you just need
to type the following:

<?php
echo "Hello";
?>

notes: you must put ";" at the end of echo "Hello" to show
that this is the end of the line of code, and to allow the action to be
performed.


Information/help from:

Collin Jensen
php.net
php mysql tutorial


©Chris Guiblin 2008
URL: www.guiblin.com/chris/
EMAIL: chris@guiblin.com