Shoutbox

Hello all,

I want to build a wlm bot, but don't know where to start. I've be research online for a about a month now and the amount of info is a little overwhelming. During my research I found MPL and thought this may be the solution I need. I downloaded the script documentation, but it was broken. Then I found mpscripts.net, which provides the basic info I need. One of my biggest problems is I don't know what language to use. I'm currently learning C# but I noticed that MPL scripts are written in Jscript, which is not a problem. What has me worried though is while reading through the Scripting forums, I'm seeing PHP, MySQL, AJAX, JSON being thrown around, and I'm like "dang, I'm a have to learn like 5 languages just to get my bot functional."

So I thought I'd post and see if any of you can help point me in the right direction for developing my bot, whether it be w/ MPL or otherwise. Based on the bot that I'm trying to build (description below), what languages would I need to learn and which one should I learn first. I'm eager to learn, I just need some direction.

Description:
Because I don't want to give away too many details about my bot away, I'll describe it to the best of my abilities.

I will have a website (blog) that my contacts will go to and create a user account for and their basic info will be stored in my database (MySQL?). The bot (script) I want to build will act as an interface to allow said contacts to update the database w/ info about themselves (i.e. changing their status to "Im available"), search the database for info on other users (search for other users who have the status "I'm available"), and the bot will provide them with that info. In addition, if User A searches my database and sees User B is avail, User A can send my bot a command that will send User B a request to participate in a event. User B will send my bot a command to either accept or deny, and if it accepted, my bot (or maybe another script running on my site that is linked to the bot) will create said event and will wait for both User A and User B to report the results of the event. Once both users have reported the results, the bot (or other script) will compare both results and update my database with that info.

That's pretty much the jest of it. I'm just a little discouraged (at least regarding MPL) because I've read some threads where it is said MPL scripts don't work well w/ MySQL. Is something like what I described possible? Can anyone help me? Feel free to ask any questions if I wasn't clear on anything.

Thanks in advance.

Rhythmik

you will most likely need to learn jscript, php and mysql...

jscript for the actual MP!L script... php for the website and database interaction... then the mysql for the database

really its not that much to learn a new language... you just need to get used to a new syntax and also the functions that it uses

And as for to other things you mentionned: JSON and AJAX are not programming languages, they are simply 'modern' (and way to much hyped) acronyms or methods which indicate a typical use of a programming language, usually Javascript (but it doesn't need to be Javascript though. Those very same methods can be used in any programming language!)...
Can't explain it better atm, sorry. See Wikipedia for detailed explanation.

JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is simply a data formatting syntax (like XML, or even plain text, etc). It is used to structure the returned data, comming from a call to a website, in a human readable form and yet easy to parse with programming without too much fuzz and extra and long winded libraries.

AJAX (Asynchronous Javascript And XML)) simply means using Javascript (or JScript, VBScript, or any other language tbh!) to post an asynchronous call to an URL, and maybe getting some data in return. This returned data doesn't need to be in XML formatting though.

AJAX is used all over the place. It's main use is to update websites with new info without reloading the page. eg: you clicking a button to update the weather info on a weather website without reloading the page. This is simply done by calling a Javascript function which posts a call to an URL. That URL will then return some data, the new forecast, in JSON format for example. That's "AJAX"... The Javascript function will then proceed in updating the HTML elements holding the forecast with the new info.

Without AJAX, stuff like Tweets on websites and such wouldn't be possible. That is: it would be possible, but it would require constant reloading of the entire website to see new Tweets... which would of course be über annoying...

But note that AJAX, JSON, and similar acronyms are nothing more than simple name inventions to give certain (very old) methods, which were already used looooong before those names were invented, a 'cool' name.

PS: in short, yes everything you said is possible. But no, you don't need to learn 5 languages... only the stuff NanaFreak said. Or... instead of PHP and MySQL, you could learn ASP/VBScript and use an Access Database, works just as well... It all depends on what you already know and what your host provides (and how much traffic you'd expect to get - if this is quite a lot (tens of thousands calls) then you better use a MySQL database instead of an Access database).

@Nanafreak, thanks. I'm a get started w/ Jscript asap.

@CookieRevised, much thanks for the clarification. I'm glad to know what I'm trying to do is possible. I can breathe a little easier now. I have a little programming experience, but still consider myself an infant in the world of programming. Time to get to work.

Although everything you want is perfectly possible, it is a massive programming job though...

Oh, ps:

quote:

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Originally posted by Rhythmik
because I've read some threads where it is said MPL scripts don't work well w/ MySQL.

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Other than bad programming, I see no reason why MPL scripts wouldn't work well with MySQL databases...

PS: what threads would that be?

Yeah, I would expect nothing less. But that's not a problem, I'm actually looking forward to undertaking this task.

and good look on clarifying the MySQL misconception.