[DayZMod] Do you have an API?

[mbainrot 4]

Hey @mbainrot, Some good notes, we are quite aware of how to handle this but there is still a lot up for discussion internally about whether this will happen and what kind of support would be given for it. Right now there are bigger priorities being worked on, so I wouldnt expect to be able to hook via web platform to generate your data signatures just yet.

As DayZ is constantly updating and changing rapidly in the background, it is very difficult to host an fetch API right now as it would require updating a lot of the time and we cant exactly allow people to view the database with open eyes! (personal opinion there).

In my opinion, it will be heavily cached datasets, there will be no direct database access or anything that can be queried to the database. It would be an API that handles pre-cached (over periodic times) data. This means data load is not a problem as it can takes a fraction of a second to complete.

Coolies :) Thats understandable seeing the game is in alpha and there would be a lot of tinkering going on to make it as fast and as fun as possible.

+Agree with scope limited :) we don't want bandits knowing what we have in our backpacks without having to kill us first to find out

I am so fucking lost it's pathetic. Can someone explain this to me, pretending that I am about as computer illiterate as can be, and then stop pretending. Thanks!

API = application programming interface, think of it like a plug to a socket. A socket is like an API in that it allows an external entity ala the plug, to get stuff from the system that the socket is apart (e.g. your standard power outlet in your house is like an api in that it permits the easy interfacing to the electrical wiring of your house to power your appliances :) )

Dataset = Dataset is combination of data linked together with other related data (e.g. having one spreadsheet with first, last names, email and username and another spreadsheet with first and last name (which would allow linking to the first sheet) and say postal address) It can be just one spreadsheet (aka table) or multiple tables.

Web platform = website or http based method. APIs can be others (for example the master server query protocol used by ArmA II is GameSpy v3 and it's a UDP based protocol, some games use http, others use tcp, etc) For example an api web platform would be you hit xyz page on a website with/without parameters and it spews out data :)

"Changing in the background" refers to work in the backend environment (aka the "hive" or master server), this game like many games is based on whats known as a client server architecture. What this means is in order for the client to work as intended it has to talk to the server and if the server fails the client stops working properly (in the case of ArmA 2 you have single player and armory but they are not as fun as DayZ).

Data caching basically means that the data is pulled from xyz server once, and then when you access it again, (depending on the mechanism) if the data hasn't expired you will be accessing the cached version. Your web browser will prob do some caching to speed up page load times etc.

Okies, basically the idea of an API is to allow software developers like me and many others to plug in and to create more richer data (depending on what is available of course).

For example in EVE online I wrote a basic script that measured traffic through the solar systems and allowed us to determine how busy places were. Additionally (another EVE example) things like EVEMon and EVEHQ allow people to monitor their training queue and insure their queue never ran out.

I guess the main reason a lot people want an API is that it will allow us to do things like showing our friends what we got in our packs (if available), seeing visually on the map the level of activity over cherno (region) (heat maps of like most zombies killed, most people killed by people, people killed by zombies. I have to admit that most heatmaps would be biased towards cherno and electro but none the less it would be interesting)

Hopefully that is some help and I haven't confused you or patronized you (which is not my intention if I have)

[Razzle Dazzle 49]

So is it the arma 2 crap engine causing all the dsyncs in my server every 10 minutes or is it the database

[eggster 1]

Stats API access would be awesome to have!

[silenced (DayZ) 5]

Whenever I read stuff like: 'That's as in EvE or in WoW or Vanguard or whatever' ... you never played UT'99 then, back in THAT time, ngworldstats was something great, and it already delivered in very near real time.

If done right you won't even have any security issues, which are, from my view as a former database admin, not really existant.

[daymo 0]

Sorry for this but how do i post my own thread?

[steveoice 1]

You probably wouldn't want the XML files coming directly from the database mirror, something like an hourly extraction of the data and hosting it on a different server would be necessary. I don't think anyone wants realtime data.

Thank god someone said this

[raandom 2]

The Delay would disable the Player Hunting too, if it is big enough.

Edited August 14, 2012 by Raandom

[gwbrewer 49]

Allowing servers to run their own private database fixes nothing. It would eliminate cross server persistency, and that's not something you want. What happens when the guy paying for your DayZ server decides he doesn't want to shell out the cash anymore, or the admin crashes the box? You'll lose your character for good. On a private hive, your at the mercy of that server admin.

So if.. no not if.. when the current "database" crashes or doesn't save who are we at the mercy of? Oh what if the items don't save or the autos.. Who are we at the mercy of? Oh wait we already are at the mercy of.. a failed Hive. None of this currently works right.

Anyone want to login and spawn on the coast? Great DB going on here.

Edited August 14, 2012 by gwbrewer

[SteveMac555 37]

Whilst on the subject of API and Data - I posted this earlier in Suggestions which I think could be a useful idea for developing third party applications/plugins.

http://dayzmod.com/forum/index.php?/topic/72223-dayz-standalone-data-outputrealtime-api-from-the-game/

[shadow_moses 50]

Currently there is no such API like feature.

At the current point in time I personally don't see such a service becoming available as it could put up the risk of a performance hit to the central database where DayZ character data is stored and if the database server takes a performance hit it could disrupt and degrade DayZ game play.

Maybe in the future we can offer such a service but at the current point in time no such feature is available.

You could do a data base replication to another data base server and pull the information from there. You could do the data base replication one a week or month that way the real DB does not take a hit and cause issues with the players,

[BL1P 252]

wooo alot of peeps typing we this and we that and only one reply from an actual fucking dev :)

[WM.Zach 8]

I look forward to future possibility with this as it would be a nice signature thing an people could get a better feel for who you are an what you have done an not just here say etc

[Cupim 0]

Eh hello hello.

DayZ developers could just allow us to check/see/distribute the following information from Arma II DayZ Mod databases:

> User name

> Where is the user at (server IP or server name)

> What bag is he wearing

Location in map and the items owned by the user are personal things and we would be breaking the user's privacy if API allowed us to distribute this information...

Anyway. Great idea.

Kind Regards

[maetexce 0]

Hello. And Bye. cvvc btretyer

[spidey 7]

Anything new from this? Would love to see my character in forums.