Using sendRemoteCommand

#1 I had a hard time making it work too. I had failed to notice the extern and added my own extern in gameConnection.h (or whatever the header to the file sendRemodeCommand is in). Honestly, I think your problem sounds more like an include order problem or a clean and rebuild situation.

In my case, I was looking to simplify communications. I started with Client Exe to Client Script to Server Script to Server Exe (and back again). I used sendRemoteCommand to go from Client Exe to Server Script to Server Exe (and back again). Then I learned how to use NetEvents so I can go straight from Exe to Exe.

Obviously, each technique has its place, but sendRemoteCommand was the hardest to get working.

#2 Thanks James, I tried a clean and rebuild but with no luck.

NetEvents seems interesting though. Any suggestions for a good place to start learning? All I'm looking to do actually is enable clients to access/modify an array/hashtable on the server. Do you think NetEvents is suitable?

Thanks again,

Gordon

#3 Fortunately, there are examples of NetEvents everywhere in the forums and in the code. fx\lightning.cc has one. Basically, you define the contents of your message. Pack packages the message. Write is for recording and is usually the same as Pack. Unpack unpacks the message. Process is where the message is executed, and its arguement is the sending NetConnection which is handy in case you want to reply.

Fun fact: Typically unpack and process are done in two steps so you don't block the incoming message queue.

To send a message to the Server, do something like this:

NetConnection *conn = NetConnection::getConnectionToServer();
   AccountLoginEvent* pEvent = new AccountLoginEvent;
   dStrcpy( pEvent->accountName, argv[1]);
   dStrcpy( pEvent->password, argv[2]);
   conn->postNetEvent( pEvent);

Like I said, to reply, you've already got the connection in Process. If you know the ID of the client, you can also get his connection doing something like this:

NetConnection *conn = (NetConnection*)Sim::findObject( SimObjectId( clientID));

There might be a prettier way to do it, but that's the best I've seen so far.

Hope that helps!

#4 Cheers James, really useful. I'll delve into this tomorrow - it's 2am here now!

Thanks again, Gordon

#5 Can anyone help me with the following NetEvent problem?

I have constructed a very basic NetEvent called ChatChangeEvent. I can call this fine from the client side, and can see that the variables seem OK... however by the time unpack is called on the server, the variables are junked.

I think I am missing something vital in the packing/unpacking process, but I can't see what. My code is very simple... as below:

ChatChangeEvent::ChatChangeEvent()
{
talkText = new char[maxTextLen];
clientName = new char[maxNameLen];
}

ChatChangeEvent::~ChatChangeEvent()
{
//if (talkText!=NULL) delete talkText;
//if (clientName!=NULL) delete clientName;
}

void ChatChangeEvent::pack(NetConnection* con, BitStream* stream)
{
stream->writeFlag(true);
stream->writeString(clientName, maxNameLen); //writeFloat(mStart.x, PositionalBits);
stream->writeString(talkText, maxTextLen); //writeFloat(mStart.y, PositionalBits);
stream->writeFlag( false );
}

void ChatChangeEvent::unpack(NetConnection* con, BitStream* stream)
{
stream->readString(clientName);
stream->readString(talkText);

Con::printf("1 Recieved chat message %s from %s", talkText, clientName);
}

#6 You aren't reading the flags in the unpack method.

#7 Thanks, that did the trick!