RSS feeds of character reports

[Thomas Pickert]

Yes, considering that any Cantr player with programming skills could write an RSS reader specifically for Cantr, ...

At least you're safe from non-Cantr players with programming skills then. =D

[Jos Elkink]

At least you're safe from non-Cantr players with programming skills then. =D

Is that a threat?

[Thomas Pickert]

You wish. :p

[Spillages]

There is a possibility of blocking ones access if they abuse it.

[Jos Elkink]

There is a possibility of blocking ones access if they abuse it.

I think that's not sufficient. I fear that someone can bring almost the entire server to a halt by overusing it ... it will be very hard to intervene at that moment and it would also require us to watch it all the time. We need some automatic, implemented protection.

[Spillages]

Yes, just like Cantr minutes, only allow a preset # of requests per day and deny acess if the number exceeds that.

[Solfius]

Yes, just like Cantr minutes, only allow a preset # of requests per day and deny acess if the number exceeds that.

Implementing a request limit would be a far less subtle approach, because each time the script is called, it would generate the page regardless of whether it needs to, and in order to prevent abuse, the limit would have to be so low as to render the whole feed useless.

We have to bear in mind, if this RSS feed isn't as easy to check, if not easier, than logging in, people will ignore it and simply log in instead.

By caching the feed, we decide when and how often we want it to update, while serving the most recent pre-generated version of the feed, therefore limiting the script execution, but not limiting users access

[SekoETC]

Why can't people just idle on their player page and refresh it until something happens? It would be more useful if people could set preferences to ignore common events like sneezing and people whispering to someone else than you, then there would be less "false positives" and the events page would get loaded less often.

[Jos Elkink]

I moved the topic to accepted, as it is half implemented already and I believe marol is working with Solfius on this one.

[marol]

I've made my first approach to standalone tray application this night and I'm looking for testers. Requires Windows and .NET Framework 2.0 or higher (if you have Windows, you probably have .NET framework too). No installer, just single file — download and run. Green face means new events, gray means no new events, red means error.

Download version 1.0 alpha (30kb)

And i've forgot about Solfius, my apologies. I will contact you soon.

[ceselb]

Thanks, I'm trying it out now.

[Solfius]

I'm running it, but it seems to have jinxed my characters... nothing has happened yet.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Out of interest, how often does it update?

[marol]

Every 30 seconds.

[ceselb]

This is very good, since when I tried to keep updating the char screen I kept forgetting to relogin and thus loosing 5 minutes each time. I did that about 5 times in two hours before giving it up.

I assume it will keep working when I login in my browser? Or do I have to relog in your app after each time?

[Pilot]

Testing