PaulSonny

Hello; Apologies for not replying yesterday; I seen the messages but it was a fleeting visit and needed time to process; i'm actively communicating with everyone I need to today and doing my absolute best to catch up with everyone. If you don't hear from me, please reach out in case I've missed you out by accident. As already discussed, my personal and health issues have recently taken the better of me (again!) even making getting out of bed/to a computer difficult. These past 6 months have been a constant struggle which some of my clients know of but I'm feeling 100% better and hoping to get the all clear from the hospital on Monday morning. I'm sorry for everyone affected but I will do my best to remedy your inconveniences. Regards, Paul.

Hey Pepper! I've been working offline and didn't realise my Discord doesn't automatically open like my Skype does - i'll come find you now. Thanks, Paul.

NPC for Sale: $15 Comes with PSD.

Summer

I am holding a HALLOWEEN SALE between now and Friday! HTML5 Games I am selling 3 HTML5 Game Licenses for $100 (including free professional installation) You can choose from any of the following products! Word Craft Tetrimino Pumpkin Designer Holiday Tree Designer 2048+ This is a 2048 clone. Preview will be available once artwork is finalised. I can showcase game functionality privately. Jungle Swoop This is a flappy bird clone. Preview will be available once artwork is finalised. I can showcase game functionality privately. Wiggly Worm This is a snake clone. Preview will be available once artwork is finalised. I can showcase game functionality privately. psAdoptables psAdoptables is in active development I am offering 5x alpha early access at a heavily discounted price of $50. This includes a lifetime of free upgrades and support and with free professional installation. You will be able to shape the future of the product and have it "more tailored" to your needs. psAdoptables is a new product to market and will allow you to create your own adoptables site and will compete with the likes of the Mysidia Adoptables script. Interested? If you are interested in either of these offers please drop me a message and we'll go from there! I am also available for small commissions, rates negotiable. Regards, Paul.

I don't think you can beat good old plain PHP - but i'm getting more and more comfortable with frameworks like Laravel and can see the benefits...

How old you are. I’m 29 years old. 30 next April. What your gender is. Male. Where you live (can be general or exact). I live in the North East of England, UK. What you do / What you are studying. I’m a software/web developer. Not currently studying but I’m always learning. How many pets (and/or) kids you have. 2 dogs, a pommerian called Coco and a maltese/shitzu cross called Patch.

Great video for GitLabs.

Welcome to TGL!

Sorry hear that - I've done a similar thing in the past. That's why I use Github/Bitbucket to track all my changes. if you don't already do so I recommend you create an account and add your code to a repo, then in future the effect of something like this is minimal. Regards, Paul.

I was on VPL also - nice to see more people finding this place! Welcome!

Introductions Most of the sites you visit these days have some sort of database storage behind them. Most sites that use PHP will opt to use a MySQL database. You are able to interact with your MySQL database using the MySQLi class. MySQLi will only work with a MySQL database, whereas if you were to use PDO, it will work with various different database systems. MySQLi can be coded via objected oriented or procedural. Today I am going to be looking at the object orientated approach. PHP MySQLi Class Connecting Connecting to a MySQL database is done by instantiating a new instance of the MySQLi class. $db = new mysqli('localhost', 'username', 'password', 'paulsonny-demo'); if($db->connect_errno > 0){ die('Unable to connect to database [' . $db->connect_error . ']'); } The database name parameter is optional and can be left out. Please note, if you do leave the database name parameter empty then you will need to prefix all of your tables in your queries with the database name. Querying Let's assume we have a users table in our database and we wish to retrieve them all. $sql = "SELECT * FROM `users`"; if(!$result = $db->query($sql)){ die('There was an error running the query [' . $db->error . ']'); } The above will give you a $result variable that contains a mysqli_result object. Once we have the mysqli_result object we are able to loop through the results, perhaps displaying them to the user and then freeing up the result. Query Results If you wanted to loop through the results and show them to the user with each row being on a new line we'd do something like the following: while($row = $result->fetch_assoc()){ echo $row['username'] . '<br />'; } # of Returned Rows Each mysqli_result object that is returned from the database as a variable which is called num_rows. This can be accessed by doing the following: <?php echo 'Total results: ' . $result->num_rows; ?> # of Affected Rows When you are running an UPDATE statement, you may sometimes wish to know how many rows have been updated. The mysqli object has a variable called a affected_rows which can be accessed as follows: <?php echo 'Total rows updated: ' . $db->affected_rows; ?> Free the Result Once you have finished with your result set, it is recommend that you free the result. This would be placed after our looping over the records. $result->free(); This will free up some system resources, and is a good practice to get in the habit of doing. Escaping characters When inserting data into a database, it is recommended to escape it first, so that single quotes get preceded be a backslash. This will mean that any quotes won't break out of any that you use in your SQL. You should look to use the below method: $db->real_escape_string('This is an unescaped "string"'); However, because this is a commonly used function, there is an alias function that you can use which is shorter and less to type: $db->escape_string('This is an unescape "string"'); This string would now be safer to insert into your database through a query. Close Database Connection Don't forget, when you've finished with your database to make sure that you close the connection: $db->close(); PHP MySQL Class If you are using the functions mysql_connect() or mysql_query() then I would recommend swapping to the above. Any functions prefixed with mysql_ are actively discouraged by PHP themselves. In my next MySQLi Tutorial I will cover Prepared Statements. This tutorial and more like it can be found on my company website: P S Web Solutions Ltd. View full guide

Over the course of the next few weeks I am going to be showing you the Phaser framework and building a simple HTML5 game. This game will run on a mobile phone but it's important to point that Phaser is not a framework specific to the mobile domain, many developers, myself included are creating browser based HTML5 games to run on a desktop computer. As with any development, when using HTML5 to build a game you need to keep the performance limitations of the browser in mind, whether it be a mobile browser or a desktop browser. Using HTML5 to build a 3D game with HD graphics and loads of animations isn't a great idea - but if you want to build reasonably simple games like Candy Crush or Flappy Bird then this framework is a great choice. I've found Phaser to be one of the current most popular HTML5 game frameworks and is by far the most active framework on sites like www.html5gamedevs.com and is still being actively developed by Photon Storm. Considerations As we are developing for a mobile we need to consider the challenges that are unique to mobile when designing the game. Things such as: Although mobile is the intended device, different devices such as tablets and desktops with different screen sizes and resolutions can stll be used. The primary input method for the game will be touch. Consider how the user will play the game? Will the user be blocking most of the interface with their thumb when playing? Processing power will be very different to that of a desktop computer, there is also a difference between mobile phones these days. We will have access to features that the desktop may not, such as GPS and motion for example. If you apply these considerations to your game, the most obvious issue that springs to mind most of the time is do with movement. Will there be a need for the user/character to move in any direction, usually this is easily solved with a keyboard, but with a touch enabled device, that is no longer possible, therefore, our options then may include: Control the character by dragging with gestures. Create your own directional controls on the screen. Use the device to control the movement by tilting the device. There are a multitude of obstacles to overcome, such as dealing with the changing size of devices and how that will affect your game, hopefully over the course of this series we will be able to combat most of these issues. Now, let's get started! Configuring Your Environment We will discuss and deal with these issues as we get to them, but it's good to think of these things and consider potential approaches from the start. To start off with, I want to help you get your environment setup.Phaser needs to run on a web server and the best way to do this in your local machine. Once your web server is up and running, you will be able to store all your files locally and access them through http like: http://localhost/my-first-game instead of through the file system like this: file://C:/Users/Your-Username/my-first-game Using the file:// protocol will not work as it is much more restricted than the http:// protocol. There are various options available for getting a web server to run on your machine which you will be able to find via Google, but a great option and the one I always use is WAMP. If you are a Mac user, I hear XAMPP is a great alternative. Download and Install WAMP Once you have WAMP installed, please launch it and make sure all services are running by using the Control Panel in your system tray. A green W means everything is ok. Orange or Red signifies there is a problem that needs to be rectified. Anything you wish to able to access through localhost in your browser needs to be placed with the www of your install. On a default windows installation this is usually located at: C:\wamp64\www Download Phaser Phaser is very easy to download and setup. Once you get into the swing of development I would normally recommend you create a custom build that only includes the elements you need which is a great way of keeping the file size down but for now we will be downloading the full phaser installation. Go to the download page. Download the the js or the min.js version of Phaser. I personally recommend the js file as it can make debugging and error detection much easier. Creating a Game Skeleton Now you are up and running, it's time to get on with the first lesson. I am going to take you through setting up a skeleton for your Phaser project. This will be a generic set of files that can be used for just about any game. Once we are finished, I recommend you take a copy and keep this for future projects. A state in Phaser is JavaScript that runs a specific state within the game. For example a state might be the game title screen, another would be the game itself, and another would be the game over screen. In a more complicated game you may also have different states for different levels of the game. As well as the examples above, we also have states for booting and loading the game. The states you will be creating in your skeleton game are as follows: Boot This is the very first state as is invoked as soon as the game is launched/started. This is primary used to scale the dimensions of the game and to call the second state. Preload This is the second state and is used to load in any assets such as images, fonts, audio that the game needs to function. Once all the assets are loaded, the next state is triggered. MainTitle The MainTitle state is used to display the game title. This will usually display the title of the game and maybe a graphic that says Play or Start that acts as a button. As you get more comfortable with development you could expand this further and add an instructions button that would open a popup or perhaps a Tutorial state. Main The Main state contains all the juicy parts of the game and allows for actual game play. GameOver Once the player dies/wins they will automatically trigger the GameOver state. This screen is used to display the final score and give them an opportunity to start a new game. The reason I like to use states as it prevents all the code in one giant state. This allows us to make it more modularised, more readable and organised. It also makes future updates a hell of alot easier. Setup Your Game Start by createing a new called game-skeleton in your web server root. Inside that folder create two more folders: assets js Copy the downloaded phaser.js/phaser.min.js files into the js folder create above. Now you have the above structure, we will begin creating each of the states we discussed above. Create the Boot State Create a file called boot.js inside of your js folder and copy the following to it: var Boot = function(game){ }; Boot.prototype = { preload: function(){ }, create: function(){ this.scale.scaleMode = Phaser.ScaleManager.SHOW_ALL; this.scale.setScreenSize(true); this.game.state.start("Preload"); } } This state will set the screen size to fit the device that you are using and then trigger the "Preload" state. The boot state will only run when the game is first launched and will only run once. Create the Preload State Create a file called preload.js inside of your js folder and copy the following to it: var Preload = function(game){}; Preload.prototype = { preload: function(){ }, create: function(){ this.game.state.start("MainTitle"); } } This will state will would normally have more code that will load in the assets required for your game. For the time being we will just be calling the next state. Create the MainTitle State Create a file called maintitle.js inside of your js folder and copy the following to it: var MainTitle = function(game){}; MainTitle.prototype = { create: function(){ }, startGame: function(){ this.game.state.start("Main"); } } The MainTitle state has a create method that will run when the state is triggered. This will be used to create the title screen which will contain some form of graphic and a start/play button that calls startGame function which triggers the Main state. Create the Main State Create a file called main.js inside of your js folder and copy the following to it: var Main = function(game){ }; Main.prototype = { create: function() { }, update: function() { }, gameOver: function(){ this.game.state.start('GameOver'); }, }; The Main state is where all the magic of your game happens. It is responsible for the running of the game. A gameOver method is for triggering the next state when we are ready. You will notice this state has a new update method that will constantly loop every frame refresh. The initial state of the game will be done in the create method, but alot of the logic will be in the update method. The update method will be used to call the gameOver method, for example if a player is colliding with an enemy. Create the GameOver State Create a file called gameover.js inside of your js folder and copy the following to it: var GameOver = function(game){}; GameOver.prototype = { create: function(){ }, restartGame: function(){ this.game.state.start("GameTitle"); } }; This is the final state. We use the create method which will create the Game Over screen as well as an additional method that will allow the user to restart the game. When we leave the state and come back to it later it will be refreshed. Moving between states destroys anything created previously, it is like starting a fresh each time a state is called. However, it is possible to create some persistence throughout the game using local storage, which i'll be sure to cover at a later date. Bring it all Together Create an index.html file in the root folder of your project and add the following code: <!doctype html> <html lang="en"> <head> <meta charset="UTF-8" /> <title>I Hate Squares</title> <script type="text/javascript" src="js/phaser.min.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="js/boot.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="js/preload.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="js/gametitle.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="js/main.js"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="js/gameover.js"></script> <style type="text/css"> body { margin: 0; } </style> <script type="text/javascript"> (function() { //Create a new game that fills the screen game = new Phaser.Game(window.innerWidth * window.devicePixelRatio, window.innerHeight * window.devicePixelRatio, Phaser.AUTO); //Add all states game.state.add("Boot", Boot); game.state.add("Preload", Preload); game.state.add("MainTitle", MainTitle); game.state.add("Main", Main); game.state.add("GameOver", GameOver); //Start the first state game.state.start("Boot"); })(); </script> </head> <body> </body> </html> The Javascript is responsible for initialising the game. To create an instance of a Phaser game we call Phaser.Game() and supply it with the width and height of our game, as well as the rendering engine we wish to use. As well as providing a height and width, we can also supply the devicePixelRatio which is handy for mobile games as it allows the game to scale properly. As I mentioned, we also supply which rendering engine we want to use to the Phaser.Game() call. This can either be WebGL or Canvas, if we set it to AUTO then it will use WebGL if available, but fall back to Canvas if it is not available. Once we have initialised our game, we add all of our states to the game and trigger our first state. This will then start the chain reaction of calling the states we created before: Boot calls Preload which calls MainTitle which calls Main which calls GameOver which then calls MainTitle once more. This is the end of Part 1 and you now have a blank skeleton application that you could use for just about any game. Feel free to Follow Me to get notified for the next installment. This tutorial and more like it can be found on my company website: P S Web Solutions Ltd. View full guide

Introduction This is the second tutorial in my ‘MySQLi for Beginners’ series. If you haven’t already done so I would recommend starting with Part 1. MySQLi for Beginners Part 1 Prepared Statements Prepared statements can be complex to get your head around at first, but they’re really useful and can help remove a lot of potential issues when escaping user input. Prepared statements essential work by placing a ? where you want to substitute in user input, whether it be string, integer, blob or double. Prepared statements substitute the value into the SQL query so the issues with SQL injections are mostly removed. Define a Statement Let’s assume we want to write a query that returns all of the usernames from the users table where they have a name of Paul. Firstly, we’d define the SQL that we’re going to use: $sql = $db->prepare("SELECT `username` FROM `users` WHERE `name` = ?"); As you can see, that question mark is were we’re going to by assigning the name ‘Paul’ to. Bind Parameters We are going to use the bind_param method to bind a parameter to the $sql object. You must specify the type as the first parameter and then the variables as the second parameter. For instance we’d use ‘s’ as the first parameter for string, and the $name variable as the second parameter. $name = 'Paul'; $sql->bind_param('s', $name); If you have multiple parameters to bind which are of varying types we do the following: $name = 'Paul'; $age = '29'; $sql->bind_param('si', $name, $age); Please note the types are not separated like the variables are. Execute the Statement To execute the statement we would do the following. Not a lot to it really. $sql->execute(); Iterating over results To iterate over results we would first bind the result to variables, this can be done using the bind_result() method which allows us to specify the variables to assign the results to. If we assign the returned ‘username’ to to the variable $returned_username we’d do the following: $sql->bind_result($returned_username); Doing exactly as before, if you have multiple variables to assign to, you are able to comma separate them. Once you have bind the result variables, you want to go ahead and fetch the results. This is as simple as I have done in my MySQLi for Beginners tutorial – we’d use the fetch() method, which returns the values into the binded variables. while($sql->fetch()){ echo $returned_username . '<br />'; } Close $sql Once you are finished with your sql statement, it’s good practise to free the result to keep your code neat, clean and lean! $sql->free_result(); In my next MySQLi Tutorial I will cover MySQLi Transactions. This tutorial and more like it can be found on my company website: P S Web Solutions Ltd. View full guide