Dreamcast Now! Service Usernames

[Xiden]

can dreampi detect when you're requesting a certain IP, like the master list for Q3A or CCR or AFO and depending on what IP its requesting set that as its game its on? (Just speculating how it could work)

[tmjwid]

Im on it, only for android, hope to finish it before Xmas. My lack of time and known of android are making the thing slow, but works for now. It includes a simple progran and a optinal widget that tell the current online users with a number, very primitive but works. I want to add:
-Friends list
-Alarm if someone plays to your favourite game (Not viable for now because DreamPi sometimes dont show what you are playing.
-Alarm if is available some player.
-Alarm or warning for events.
-Make an easy but beautifull interface.
-Some options like skin select, refresh rate...

But like i said for now, its more a tool than a app.
Soon i will show a bit of it

EDIT: I remember that my main wall of this was the "parsing" of the web info (DreamcastNow), what way to choose, better than raw reading from source web. Who is the main creator/owner/admin of this service? If the thing works with .xml better, if it is other way like database, a bit more work will be needed.

I scraping the site atm on my server, with an api that then exposes the data in json, this way I can cache the site so it's not accessed all the time the app connects and I can keep a record of people's time and amount of times online for stats and what not. I'll be working on this on the weekend and possibly adding notifications as well.

Shall we pool our efforts into one app? What you made yours in?

[Xiden]

I think as a work around if you guys aren't able to detect what game someone is on, then at a minimum please put a drop down list of current online games that we can select from and say we are on

That way you no longer have to rely upon the dreampi to auto-detect your game, the user can just tell you what game they are currently playing online

[tmjwid]

I think as a work around if you guys aren't able to detect what game someone is on, then at a minimum please put a drop down list of current online games that we can select from and say we are on

That way you no longer have to rely upon the dreampi to auto-detect your game, the user can just tell you what game they are currently playing online

We are parsing whatever dreamcast.online/now says, so it'll tell people when they're online and what game just like the site does. We could add an override in the app but it wouldn't update on dcnow with Kazade doing some work to accept the override.


Sent from my D5803 using Tapatalk

[scaryred24]

I like where this is going. Having a companion app for a system that was discontinued for 15 years like how games like Battlefield and Grand Theft Auto 5 sounds like something that wouldn't have thought would be even possible by 1998 standards. I will be eager to see where this goes in the near future.

[Jako]

I think as a work around if you guys aren't able to detect what game someone is on, then at a minimum please put a drop down list of current online games that we can select from and say we are on

That way you no longer have to rely upon the dreampi to auto-detect your game, the user can just tell you what game they are currently playing online

We are parsing whatever dreamcast.online/now says, so it'll tell people when they're online and what game just like the site does. We could add an override in the app but it wouldn't update on dcnow with Kazade doing some work to accept the override.


Sent from my D5803 using Tapatalk

Hi Guys!!! Nice to see that is not a bad idea, i started it ago 2 months and comented on Dreamcast.es, I purposed to user to make this app or finish a OpenBOR game. Sadly people voted the second . And that OpenBOR is doing some progress but rested all the time to the "DreamcastNow! App" (to call it in someway...).
Friends, to be in context, I work in a software & consulting company and i luckyly are part from the lab, between the techs and the development department, with a very close contact and help of all because i am the link of them, good resources hehhe . Im not a developer, im not only a technical and a better programer (not the same than developer). Usually my main job is to get ready linux enviroments and and try or improve the performance between linux, our software, the servers, and the devices atached. I take care too about all the servers of the interprise (soft & hard) and the comunications, internal and link with our customers (+800). I admin the webpage too XD
I enjoy so much with my job and can improve or try many things. I say all that boring stuff XD... to be in context about on what i can help. Im not expert in nothing but have enough experience to do anything.

What i had working is a simple script on one of our servers (with help of a developer of our department) that reads only the first line of the body of DreamcastNow! web page, easy because is static, the only variable there is the "X Players Online". This is the data that is generated in a .txt on our ftp server. With that job done by my dev friend and available on our local ftp, here enters my "cheap/ugly" like me (im Mr. Floppy, what did you expect?) first Android Studio Project. Mi first steps was to make .apk's and see whats appends, colours, simple things to learn a bit of it. Mainly is a anycolourthatyouwantscreen that shows in a line the "X Players Online" and under it a check that allows to make a widget that is a simple black square with a white number, the online players. Like i said before, a tool more than an app for today.

Like you see, is a simple concept and i see in my job at my unlocked phone how many people are playing during the week at job, for curiosity, etc... and the hope to win some time (im really f^%|ñ6 busy sorry ). But the thing is pretty viable or factible (i dont know if are the correct words sorry). I love tmjwid idea of the api (an open heaven for me jajaj, spanish expression...), is a center point that the app could aims and share some info between app users, and a very simple database (i hate them sorry, agg) with some message "wanna-plays".

Another big reason to dont hurry up in the part of recolecting so much data from the web of DCNOW is that:
I see the hard job of the devs making the servers and optimizing their job. Maybe is not a priority for now to improve that web-service, but anyday soon could see a improve and that api will miss thing to show or implement other things, holly ignorance from my part. Ansewring at the same time @Xiden's ask, i rode and someone confirmed me that DreamPi says one game online or another depending of the dns, but i never understood it entirely, maybe my lack of english.

Ok @tmjwid, tell me how your api works, etc etc, and with your work i will try to see what android studio puts on the table. The first and main goal is from my part to aim to something on internet and show it on the format that i want. With this done, the next will be faster .

Sorry for my bad english, Saludos!!!

[BaffleBlend]

I'm on, and I like it, but... freaking Gravatar, why display everyone else's but not mine? It's never given me this problem before. >_>

[kazade]

Guys, I'll build you a JSON API, you don't need to scrape anything!

If games aren't showing up then please let me know which ones and I'll fix it.

[Jako]

Super Kazade to the Rescue!!! Thanks for the help!!!
***Games that fails to show in DremcastNow (im Pal User, if this minds):
-Next Tetris
-Alien Front Online
-PBA Tour Bowling 2001
-Quake III Arena
-Toy Racer
(Maybe one more that I don't find now)

***Don't shows right (if that helps)
-Starlancer (If you play it, the "tag" is blank, but if you play another game (dont remember what sorry) starlancer appears in your played acount.
-Sonic Adventure (For some users worked, but i used Pal GD or bakcup of it to browse internet and my "tag" is blank)
-With other games like Sega GT or any Japanesse Game web browsers that "tag" is blank too, but with others like MSR or Crazy Taxy worked.

I dont know if dreamcastnow stores any info about connections, but i tried many games, i hope that my account serves at reference to fix something.

I put the "" on the word tag because im not sure if this is the right term for it. Sorry.

Thanks again and a nice sunday for all!!!

[mazonemayu]

I like everything I read here, except the purging idea. Not everyone has the free time to play online all the time, some of us don't play at all during summer, etc...