AltArc: source code released

[Nexx]

Something must be done about the login page. I don't know what, but all that empty space is horrid. D: At least give the table some more spacing.

I like the login page! But then again, I'm at 1024x768. I could see how at a higher res it could look bad.

Also, does "submit to NUMA" work? I feel like trying it but I'm a bit wary.

One more thing:

Also, there are no actual hard numbers that can tell you how many faves a map has received, although AltArc is capable of sorting maps by number of favorites.

Could you elaborate on this a bit? How can you sort by something if that something doesn't involve any hard numbers?

EDIT:
More problems with the site. :(

I don't know where Life247's map went - is there even a delisting feature? (You can see the map by typing in the address manually, though.) In any case, I submitted a new one but I can't access it. Both the title and the thumb just link back to the AltArc homepage. Typing in the address manually (it's map 3) generates error #8 - map does not exist.

[incluye]

Just noticed this. PROBLEM

[Fraxtil]

Something must be done about the login page. I don't know what, but all that empty space is horrid. D: At least give the table some more spacing.

I like the login page! But then again, I'm at 1024x768. I could see how at a higher res it could look bad.

I suppose I could make the table a little bigger. Other than that, I don't know what to do either.

Also, does "submit to NUMA" work? I feel like trying it but I'm a bit wary.

It doesn't work at the moment. I haven't even started to work on that function. :/

One more thing:

Also, there are no actual hard numbers that can tell you how many faves a map has received, although AltArc is capable of sorting maps by number of favorites.

Could you elaborate on this a bit? How can you sort by something if that something doesn't involve any hard numbers?

It has hard numbers, it just doesn't display those numbers. They're kept internally.

EDIT:
More problems with the site. :(

I don't know where Life247's map went - is there even a delisting feature? (You can see the map by typing in the address manually, though.) In any case, I submitted a new one but I can't access it. Both the title and the thumb just link back to the AltArc homepage. Typing in the address manually (it's map 3) generates error #8 - map does not exist.

...I'm still waiting for AltArc to load. Looks like nxserve is slow too. :/

Edit: I made the same blunder as last time, deleting all the users who registered after the public beta. I honestly don't know how it happened this time, because I thought I had taken precautions to prevent it from happening again. Needless to say, I'm going to make a thorough backup before updating AltArc each time in the future.

Speaking of updates, mappacks are now fully functional, and I've changed the behavior of browser cookies. There were originally two cookies, 'user' and 'pass', where 'user' stored the plaintext username and 'pass' contained the md5 hash of the password. Not very secure, you say? I agree. That's why I changed it to a single, heavily encrypted cookie. I'm not going to reveal any details on the new system, for obvious reasons.

Also, @incluye: I know I haven't made any style changes AGAIN. I'll fix the stuff you mentioned in the next update (probably Friday night), 'kay?

[Nexx]

AltArc is teh downzorz.

And has been all day, to my knowledge.

[Aidiera]

I don't know where Life247's map went - is there even a delisting feature? (You can see the map by typing in the address manually, though.)

What was my map number? On a similar note, how is the URL set up?

I have many more comments and suggestions but I'll get to them on IRC tomorrow. #altarc is still available, right?

[Nexx]

What was my map number? On a similar note, how is the URL set up?

As Gforce mentioned many posts ago, the map URLs are the same as NUMA's. So, Life247, your map used to be altarc.sector-five.net/2. And usernames are the same as maps but with a tilde in front of the username, I think. So you'd be altarc.sector-five.net/~Life247. And mappacks have a caret (^) in front of them, but I don't know if they go by name or number. Which is it, Gforce?

[Fraxtil]

What was my map number? On a similar note, how is the URL set up?

As Gforce mentioned many posts ago, the map URLs are the same as NUMA's. So, Life247, your map used to be altarc.sector-five.net/2. And usernames are the same as maps but with a tilde in front of the username, I think. So you'd be altarc.sector-five.net/~Life247. And mappacks have a caret (^) in front of them, but I don't know if they go by name or number. Which is it, Gforce?

They go by the name of the mappack. Also, his map number was nonexistent. That's why it went to the home page. I don't recall exactly what caused that, but the bug has been fixed.

Also, I updated the system again, and this time didn't overwrite the user databsae! :D Mappacks are now fully functional, as well as the private messaging system. Next on my list is the batch-download function.

Edit: WTF, the user database just deleted itself! O__O I still have that same old backup, but it looks like one person who re-registered will have to do so again.

Maybe people should just wait until AltArc is stable. I would be pissed off at this point if my registration was deleted three times.

[Nexx]

Maybe people should just wait until AltArc is stable. I would be pissed off at this point if my registration was deleted three times.

That's probably a good idea. But why isn't it stable? And if you don't know why the database is erasing itself, how can you guarantee it won't do that in the future?

EDIT: Speaking of instabilities, I just submitted a map. For whatever reason, it's map 2. But more importantly, the comments I made on map 2 from two databases back are sitting right there on my newly submitted map (the old map was Life247's). Very strange.

EDIT 2: Another big problem: I click on "users" and it takes me to a page with only one user box, and it doesn't even have any information in the fields - name is blank, under that it says "maps:", then "avg rating:N/A", etc. Total messed-up-ness.

[Fraxtil]

Maybe people should just wait until AltArc is stable. I would be pissed off at this point if my registration was deleted three times.

That's probably a good idea. But why isn't it stable? And if you don't know why the database is erasing itself, how can you guarantee it won't do that in the future?

EDIT: Speaking of instabilities, I just submitted a map. For whatever reason, it's map 2. But more importantly, the comments I made on map 2 from two databases back are sitting right there on my newly submitted map (the old map was Life247's). Very strange.

EDIT 2: Another big problem: I click on "users" and it takes me to a page with only one user box, and it doesn't even have any information in the fields - name is blank, under that it says "maps:", then "avg rating:N/A", etc. Total messed-up-ness.

It's just unstable because it's not yet complete. It's not thoroughly tested yet. Also, I'll eventually find the problem with the database being wiped. If it's happening on the public version, it's probably happening on my development box, and if it's solely the public version, I'll just make sure to do a clean wipe of the old system next time.

I got the same problem with the first map being #2. It seems to just affect the very first map submission, though. I'll look into it.

As for the "users" being one blank box.... that's because the user db erased itself again. :/ I think it happens when maps are submitted. I'm working on it as we speak.

EDIT: The problem has been identified. One line fixed the problem. I forgot to make a variable inside a function global. I'm an idiot. :| So... AltArc is stable once more, and the old user database will be restored soon.

[incluye]

I'm guessing you're aware of the fact that Users are Not Found when clicking on their name...for example, http://altarc.sector-five.net/~Destiny doesn't exist.

[Destiny]

yeah, I totally submitted a map. It rocked.

[Fraxtil]

I'm guessing you're aware of the fact that Users are Not Found when clicking on their name...for example, http://altarc.sector-five.net/~Destiny doesn't exist.

I haven't gotten around to restoring the user database yet. I came to a rather startling realization that AltArc is seriously inefficient with sorting maps, and since then I've been trying to get it to be faster. With 40 maps in the database, it takes a full second to process a search query, and that number increases proportionally (think 10 seconds to search through 400 maps, 1 minute 40 seconds to search through 4000 maps...), so I can't leave it alone.

[incluye]

Oh, yeah, that's probably not good. Is that why the site is down? Maintenance?

[Fraxtil]

Oh, yeah, that's probably not good. Is that why the site is down? Maintenance?

*nods*
I've begun to make it more efficient, and so far I've gotten the lag down to about 60% of what it originally was. That's still unacceptably slow, but I have plans to make it even faster.
Here's an idea of how the original system worked:
- First, create an array containing all the maps in the entire database.
- Generate the appropriate HTML code for every map and store it in the same array.
- Filter results based upon the search query and date.
- Sort the filtered results by the user's preference.
- Display the first ten of those results (or whatever count=x is).
Obviously this was bad. Now it still creates an array of every map, but it only stores the necessary information (map ID and the sort parameter, such as the map's rating, votes, favorites, or whatever).

[LittleViking]

Oh, yeah, that's probably not good. Is that why the site is down? Maintenance?

*nods*
I've begun to make it more efficient, and so far I've gotten the lag down to about 60% of what it originally was. That's still unacceptably slow, but I have plans to make it even faster.
Here's an idea of how the original system worked:
- First, create an array containing all the maps in the entire database.
- Generate the appropriate HTML code for every map and store it in the same array.
- Filter results based upon the search query and date.
- Sort the filtered results by the user's preference.
- Display the first ten of those results (or whatever count=x is).
Obviously this was bad. Now it still creates an array of every map, but it only stores the necessary information (map ID and the sort parameter, such as the map's rating, votes, favorites, or whatever).

How many parameters are going to be available for searching and sorting? I'll help you flesh out an indexing system if you're interested.

[Fraxtil]

Oh, yeah, that's probably not good. Is that why the site is down? Maintenance?

*nods*
I've begun to make it more efficient, and so far I've gotten the lag down to about 60% of what it originally was. That's still unacceptably slow, but I have plans to make it even faster.
Here's an idea of how the original system worked:
- First, create an array containing all the maps in the entire database.
- Generate the appropriate HTML code for every map and store it in the same array.
- Filter results based upon the search query and date.
- Sort the filtered results by the user's preference.
- Display the first ten of those results (or whatever count=x is).
Obviously this was bad. Now it still creates an array of every map, but it only stores the necessary information (map ID and the sort parameter, such as the map's rating, votes, favorites, or whatever).

How many parameters are going to be available for searching and sorting? I'll help you flesh out an indexing system if you're interested.

Searching includes title, author, type, and tags. Sorting includes number (aka date), rating, votes, views, and favorites, in ascending or descending order.

[Pikman]

I can't register for AltArc. I get "Error on page" as soon as I hit the button and submit.

[incluye]

I can't register for AltArc. I get "Error on page" as soon as I hit the button and submit.

I'm guessing this is because the user database isn't back up yet—have you been reading this thread?

[Fraxtil]

I just got an idea, possibly inspired by what LV was saying. What if all the major search queries were cached, and regenerated each time a map's metadata is changed (e.g. someone votes)? That way the lag would only occur when somebody performs an action on a map, and not when simply browsing maps without making modifications?

[incluye]

Sounds good to me (and we all know how much my opinion in coding counts).

Also, I was only slightly bored and decided to make a few buttons for AltArc, with which hopefully you'll be able to replace regular old text links on the map pages.







(Instead of just using the images, you might want to make a class for each link and set these as the background: once other themes are made for AltArc there will need to be other buttons to go with them)

[Fraxtil]

Good news, everyone!
But seriously. I found the bottleneck that was slowing down AltArc's map-searching function. It was a function I had written before I even started AltArc that works with XML, and it was used as many as ten times per each map in the database, for every search query. There was a plethora of features in that function that I never used, so I stripped most of them out and compacted everything into a two-line function that's equally functional, but at a very small fraction of the original speed. A 1000 map database now loads in slightly over half a second, and sorting them by rating doubles that figure. It's still too slow to be considered acceptable, but compared to a full second to load a 25 map database, it's an unbelievable improvement.

Also, incluye: Thanks for the images, I'll be sure to implement them into the theme when I get the chance.

[incluye]

Do you have the source files? I'm working on another theme and they would be extremely helpful.

[Fraxtil]

No, I don't. I deleted them and started working from scratch again.

I'll PM you with the files later today.

[Destiny]

That sounds painful. I had to do that making a simple game of hangman, because I hadnt stored each letter of a guess as an array and it was all very messy. Obviously that is much smaller a job, but i remember what it felt like to have wasted all that effort ;_;

[Fraxtil]

That sounds painful. I had to do that making a simple game of hangman, because I hadnt stored each letter of a guess as an array and it was all very messy. Obviously that is much smaller a job, but i remember what it felt like to have wasted all that effort ;_;

I hope you know I was being sarcastic, because I'm not sure if you're doing the same or not.

Descriptions and comments now support multiple-line input, and avatar support is also complete. In addition to these updates, users can now customize their default search preferences.

Edit: Does this look like a good default avatar to everyone else? I think the max size will be 80x80 pixels.