Viewing ingame chat on PHP file

[xps400mediacenter]

Hello all,

 

I'm trying to make a php file display real time chat from a game. This is what I have.

 

<?php

$file ='games_mp.log'; //This is the auto-updated chat log

 

$searchfor = 'say'; //Searches for a line with the word "say"

 

$contents = file_get_contents($file);

 

$pattern = preg_quote($searchfor, '/');

 

$pattern = "/^.*$pattern.*\$/m";

 

if(preg_match_all($pattern, $contents, $matches)){

  echo "<b>Chat:</b><br>";

  echo implode("<br>", $matches[0]);} //If found displays it.

 

else{

  echo "<b>Nobody said anything yet</b>"; } //If no one chatted

 

?>

 

Games_mp.log is updated by server in real time. There's other stuff in the file, so the above code filters out everything but the chat (say). It also displays the filtered results. What I want is (a.) have the chat lines limited to the last 10 or 20 lines in the file and (b.) have the text that's printed from games_mp.log refresh every second or less, without refreshing the page. Basically a live update on the php page, so I don't have to manually refresh the page. Also, is there a way to only print part of a line in the log file?  For example a sample chat line from games_mp.log would be

"39:23 say;01100001fdbfd223;3;Player 1;Hello Guys"

The first block of numbers is time, I don't really need that. the say lets me know they typed it. Dont need that, the next is the UID, don't need that, since this is just for chat. All I want diplayed on the php page is "Player 1;Hello Guys".

Hopefully this all makes sense, and I appreciate any response.

 

[phpaid]

To do what you want you will need to do AJAX and use javascript.  I have a good example on this site

 

Ajax Shoutbox

[xps400mediacenter]

So there's no way do to any of what I want with PHP? The link you sent me is on the right track, but it don't want to save the chat anywhere. It's already in a file and I want it displayed in real time..

[PaulRyan]

Hello xps400mediacenter.

 

Phpaid is heading you in the right direction using AJAX, if you could maybes send me the full URL to the chat log file I could possibly come up with something for you, it won't be a fully fledged usable feature but I'll put the basics in there for you, then you can mess around with it to get it right

 

Regards, Paul.

[xps400mediacenter]

Paul, thanks for the informative reply. At the moment, my webserver is down, and I don't have access to it. When it comes back online at ~4:00 CST, the address for the chat log is http://isnipeserver.dyndns-server.com/games_mp.log. I've also attached a log file for you to view in the meantime. Thanks again for your help.

 

[attachment deleted by admin]

[PaulRyan]

Hey xps400mediacenter, I have some code for you

 

Like I said it's basic but will put you on the right tracks, try it out tell me whatcha think.

 

Regards, Paul.

 

[attachment deleted by admin]

[xps400mediacenter]

Paul,

Thanks for the code. It looks really promising. Unfortunately, I'm extremely new to php, so I have no Idea what I'm doing. Is there things I need to fill in? Because right now, it's not displaying correctly . (http://isnipeserver.dyndns-server.com/chattest/chat.php) Sorry for being so bothersome, but I need more help.

 

Thanks

[jcbones]

Try making the opening php flag a long flag.  Paul Ryan did the carnal sin and used short tags in the script.  A lot of servers have short tags set to OFF, therefore you will see the PHP code.

 

So, at the top of chat_messages.php find:

<?
//and change to:
<?php

 

And see if that helps.

[xps400mediacenter]

Yes, Thanks so much. That was it. I remember now on my other php pages I needed <?php, I just thought the problem was something that I needed to add. Thanks again for your help Paul, much appreciated.