User talk:DarkRyder12754

Your bot

Thats a fantastic idea! I added my user to the list :) User:Tecnobrat/Sig 18:24, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

Thanks! The bot isn't "live" live yet (it isn't cronned), but your characters are already showing up in the test results, so you should be good to go when the switch is thrown. User:DarkRyder/Sig 18:31, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

APB - spaces in servernames?

how do i put the line if i have space in the servername i use? e.g. EU The Venture Co [charname], or do i use underlines? how do i so far know if it works? User:Taurmindo/sig 18:54, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

Spaces in server names are just fine as long as you do not change them to undelines. Because regions and character names cannot contain spaces, APB just strips those two off either end and uses everything between them -- spaces and all -- as the server name. User:DarkRyder/Sig 19:03, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

Categories

I see there is a <!-- Unrecognized region: "". --> in my APB Table, I imagine this is from the Category:User:Gryphon in my APB Config. Along with this note, I would like to see APB Table categorized with Category:User:Gryphon. Nice work --GRYPHON^tc 20:50, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

You are exactly correct -- having it ignore categories in the Config page is officially on my "to do" list. In the mean time, it produces that harmless (if also useless) comment in the source. I'm not yet sure how to handle categorizing the result (APB Table) page, but I'll put some thought into it. User:DarkRyder/Sig 20:54, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

The 3d cells are goofy in IE7 when professions are missing. --GRYPHON^tc 21:44, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

Shoot, I must have missed those two columns when I fixed that. I think I know where the problem is, though. User:DarkRyder/Sig 21:51, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

Looks good now, thanks --GRYPHON^tc 21:59, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

This is caused by a (bug? idiosyncrasy?) in IE7 by which empty table cells do not have their borders drawn. Now that those two columns are fixed, all cells in the APB tables which can be omitted will throw an &nbsp; in the cell to ward off evil. User:DarkRyder/Sig 22:03, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

spaces in /userlist for APB?

i use one list for my characters, and one for my 'guild', but the guild one didn't get an update (while the other got one, and i fixed them at the same time). i imagine the problem can be that the guild one is User:Taurmindo/Plunda Klub/APB Config, which i wrote Taurmindo/Plunda Klub, do i need to replace the space with an underline, or is there some other problem? User:Taurmindo/sig 15:37, 10 July 2007 (UTC)

Heh, good timing. I'm actually looking into that right now. The intent is for it to work exactly as you attempted it, but obviously something's off. User:DarkRyder/Sig 15:48, 10 July 2007 (UTC)

Well, I've determined that the cause is the size of the page being uploaded, though I still don't know *why* it's a problem. Unfortunately, the problem also causes APB to try eating the CPU, so I'm going to have to remove Plunda Klub from the users list until I get this figured out -- I don't want to get a nastygram from my hosting provider. User:DarkRyder/Sig 17:21, 10 July 2007 (UTC)

was a tad worried that the size of the list might turn into a problem. oh well, i'll hang around and wait for some better solution. could of course do several small versions and add them together, but i don't really have interest in making an effort on that right now. i'll keep out for info if you "manage to solve the problem". User:Taurmindo/sig 17:26, 10 July 2007 (UTC)

Template per character

Had an idea that it would be nice if each row was templated so a single character could be referenced elsewhere. Maybe store each row at {{ABP/US/Server/Char}}, then they could be used for the APB Table and anywhere else a user would like. --GRYPHON^tc 15:49, 10 July 2007 (UTC)

That actually occurred to me at one point, but it seems to have fallen out of my brain. It's back on the "things to consider" list, thanks. User:DarkRyder/Sig 16:12, 10 July 2007 (UTC)

Fixes for {{Grc}}

Please review User:Pcj/Sandbox and User:Pcj/Sandbox/GrcCheck as ideas to improve the variable check feature in order to reduce the number of red links your Grc template creates. Thanks! (fyi: you might not even need the extended "elf check", since when I was setting it up I noticed there were separate templates for variations in spacing) --Pcj (T•C) 15:37, 20 July 2007 (UTC)

Hey! I didn't know about the "Nightelf" and "Bloodelf" templates. That does simplify things.

While I hate having everything enumerated (it means that it has to be updated if/when new races/classes are added and that, e.g., Template:Grc doesn't work), but I don't think there's any other way to avoid red links. It will also make it possible to avoid {{Imagelink}}, so it's probably a good thing in the long run. Don't worry about the imagelink replacement, it's lower priority and requires even more of a rewrite (and I'll end up adding more races, too). I'll take care of it when I find time. For now, go ahead and post what you've got -- it's a definite improvement.

User:DarkRyder/Sig 16:13, 20 July 2007 (UTC)

APB Lost One

In todays update it lost a character though my config hasn't changed. --GRYPHON^tc 20:56, 23 July 2007 (UTC)

I'm troubleshooting that right now. For whatever reason, the site which hosts APB is rejecting the first DNS request. That's usually for the user list, which prevented it from running at all for the last three days. Now that I've switched it for an IP address, the first character it looks up -- yours -- gets the same problem looking for the Armory. I'll re-run the update once I come up with another solution. User:DarkRyder/Sig 21:06, 23 July 2007 (UTC)

Grumble. The only fix that stuck was changing all the hostnames for IP addresses. As an added bonus, though, I've put in a quick fix for the Category issue as well. User:DarkRyder/Sig 21:39, 23 July 2007 (UTC)

Ugh...more red links from APB...

Please examine Special:Whatlinkshere/Guild: (Ravenholdt US). Thanks. --Pcj (T•C) 22:48, 8 August 2007 (UTC)

Well, I've been staring at this for over an hour and I think I'm stumped. The only place that "Guild:" is in the following code from User:ArmoryProfileBot/Row, expanded for clarity:

{{#if:
	{{{11|}}}
|
	{{#ifexist:
		Guild:{{{11}}} ({{{6}}} {{{5}}})
	|
		[[Guild:{{{11}}} ({{{6}}} {{{5}}})|<span style="color:black">{{{11}}}</span>]]
	|
		<span class="plainlinks">[http://armory.
		{{#switch:
			{{{5}}}
		|
			US=worldofwarcraft
		|
			EU=wow-europe
		}}
		.com/guild-info.xml?r={{urlencode:{{{6}}}}}&n={{urlencode:{{{11}}}}} <span style="color:black">{{{11}}}</span>]</span>
	}}
|
	 
}}

As you can see, the {{#ifexist:}} which must be causing the problem is wrapped in an {{#if:}} which skips that block when the guild (arg 11) is missing or empty. My only guess is that {{#if:}} executes/evaluates both branches, regardless of which it uses (edit: confirmed). I think, perhaps, the real solution is to fix {{#ifexist:}} so that it doesn't cause red links, as this seems a perfectly reasonable thing to be doing with that function. It looks like it would be as simple as commenting out the $parser->mOutput->addLink( $title, $id ); line in the "ifexists" function in ParserFunctions.php, but I'm no MediaWiki hacker. User:DarkRyder/Sig 00:39, 9 August 2007 (UTC)

I don't know if #switch or #ifeq suffer from the same fate (they probably do), but you might look into them as alternatives. Alternatively, you could just let there be a red link (get rid of the #ifexist altogether) and make the armory into a smaller link. --Pcj (T•C) 03:22, 10 August 2007 (UTC)

Actually, I had a brainstorm on how to fix several problems with APB at once. I'll start work on it tomorrow, but if it works, APB'll never generate another red link again. User:DarkRyder/Sig 03:24, 10 August 2007 (UTC)

Armory

The armory url has changed to www.wowarmory.com and eu.wowarmory.com fyi --GRYPHON^tc 19:22, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

Ugh... when I first saw that on their site, I thought it was going to be a more gentle transition. Instead, they appear to have changed some very fundamental things and successfully broke APB in a number of minor ways. Fortunately, it's all working again now, though. User:DarkRyder/Sig 21:37, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, I see they moved the skill info, now my parser needs to fetch three pages per character to obtain all the data I make use of (q.q) --GRYPHON^tc 19:18, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

Coordinates and zone map notes

Hey,

I was looking at WoWWiki talk:Village pump/Archive20#Zone Map Notes and came up with the idea to create hover tooltips based on your idea. This feature is now functional (using something like ^[20, 30]) and I just wanted to thank you for your work on getting those maps uploaded. If you have any comments or ideas to enhance it, let me know. --Pcj (T•C) 05:22, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

New poisons icon for APB

I made File:APB Skill Poisons.png, in case you need a poisons icon. -- Fandyllic (talk · contr) 10:06 PM PST 10 Dec 2007

Heh. When I made APB, I completely forgot that poisons and lockpicking are implemented as skills. Goes to show how little "rogueing" I've done. (In fact, I went to include an Armory link to my level 11 rogue, but it's been so long since I've played him that he's fallen out of their list.) I don't think I can justify adding a rogue-only column to the current APB, wide as it already is, but I'll definitely include poisons and lockpicking in my informal poll to determine which stats should be displayed for which classes. (I'm tired of showing strength for mages and intellect for warriors...  :-)

Thanks! User:DarkRyder/Sig 14:49, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

Herbalism

I notice that the icon for Herbalism is broken, as can be seen at User:Gourra/APB_Table. Is it broken just for me, or is it in general?--gOurra 09:32, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

The image itself seems to be fine, but I'm unable to double-check the templates right now, as parserFunctions seems to be taking a holiday and all I can see for tooltips, APB tables, and the like are large listings of mangled code. I'll look into it more once I can see it. User:DarkRyder/Sig 16:21, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

Heh, no sooner said than done. Just as I replied, things started working again. I've taken a look at your APB Table and the herbalism icon looks fine. Perhaps the problem was related to whatever screwed up parserFunctions. User:DarkRyder/Sig 16:25, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

That's strange, it still doesn't show for me. How do I solve the problem of these "parserFunctions" you speak of?--gOurra 19:42, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

The problem with parserFunctions already appears to have been fixed; if you're still not seeing that picture, it's probably something to do with your browser. There's nothing unusual about that image compared to the others, so perhaps it's just a cache issue. Try doing a "force refresh" in your browser for any page which should have that picture -- in most browsers, you can do that by holding down the "Shift" key on your keyboard while clicking the "Reload" or "Refresh" icon in your browser's toolbar. User:DarkRyder/Sig 20:05, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

APB Template

I'm a fan of how your APB output looks, but would like to do manual character updates. Would you be okay with me copying just your designs, not your bot? Bury 09:08, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

Be my guest! Actually, you don't even need to copy them, just use the existing templates. APB does auto-updating based on who's listed on the users page, not who uses the templates. User:DarkRyder/Sig 16:20, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

Thanks! I'm not sure your suggestion would be useful in this particular case, because I've modified my columns a little :) Bury 17:54, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

Heh, that's not a bad idea. I've always wanted to improve APB's columnization, but never found anything I like better which is general enough to apply to any class. User:DarkRyder/Sig 18:00, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, finding universal stats in the Armory isn't really possible right now, especially with the various gear that a character can be wearing upon logout. It's too bad that the Armory doesn't give statistics like highest unbuffed resilience/health/heal/attack power/etc in last 30 days. But remember, your armory bot is still the best solution I've seen for someone who doesn't want to spend hours on their character table! Bury 21:56, 13 February 2008 (UTC)

Problems?

I've noticed that for the last three to four days my info has not been showing up from the Armory. Any ideas? Thanks. Autumnarya 15:06, 25 February 2008 (UTC)

APB is dependent upon the good moods of both the Armory servers and WoWWiki. Unfortunately, WoWWiki and the Armory appear to have been taking turns being cranky for the last week or so and you've been unlucky enough to have been caught by one problem or another every day. I've run a manual update for you (so that your list at least isn't empty), but I'm afraid there's not much I can do as a long-term fix until the servers improve their disposition. User:DarkRyder/Sig 17:25, 25 February 2008 (UTC)

Thank's for the info. I'm not super worried about it, just wondered why it was never there. And yes, the Armory is very touchy. Autumnarya 21:08, 25 February 2008 (UTC)

ArmoryProfileBot

What's the current status on your Armory bot? Will it go back live anytime soon?--g0urra[T҂C] 13:06, 10 May 2008 (UTC)

APB 2.0

Really good idea to have APB, was just wondering how far though you are with 2.0? RealmS (talk) 21:55, 26 May 2008 (UTC)

Sorry for the lack of progress updates; Real Life has been hectic recently.

As for APB, I've actually just today been working on getting the first round of live testing going (i.e. it will actually be talking to WoWWiki and not a placeholder) but have just now run out of time. I'll be back again tomorrow and have high hopes for being able to move on to the next -- and final -- phase of development after that. I don't want to commit to a timeline, in case more unexpected delays happen, but I believe I have less than a week of work left to do on the 'bot. DarkRyder (talk) 21:35, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the quick reply. Hope things in RL arn't stressing you out too much, I'm sure everyone here has experience of when Real Life gets in the way of things. Will keep a lookout for APB back online in the next couple of days then. Hope everything works out fine. RealmS (talk) 07:52, 28 May 2008 (UTC)

Speaking of unexpected delays... >.<

Unfortunately, I threw my back out less than a day after that "one week" estimate and have been completely unable to work on the 'bot since then. I'll be back on it tomorrow, but my schedule is getting busier (and my back still preventing me from sitting too long), so the going will be slower. Sorry.  :-( DarkRyder (talk) 04:43, 2 June 2008 (UTC)

Doh! Dam you DarkRyder ;D Hope your back's fine and up and running again like the bot soon ;D. RealmS (talk) 13:34, 2 June 2008 (UTC)

Would you be able to share the source that you have now? I too am a PHP junkie and am interested in working on projects. I recently (read: May 2007) got addicted to WoW and would like to see if I could poke the program a little bit. I found APB after you took it down. Kunzite1 (talk) 17:15, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

The source for the original bot is here, but the new bot is a complete rewrite in Python. DarkRyder (talk) 18:35, 7 June 2008 (UTC)