TalkPHP - View Single Post - World of Warcraft Armory xml Grabber with cURL

Krik · 03-07-2009, 07:47 AM

Now that I have a touch more time to respond I thought maybe I would try to give you some things to get you started. Be warned this post could get real long, sorry.

First, I do understand your desire to build it all yourself. But with no experience in programing you are quite limited it what you can do. At minimum you need a beginner knowledge of both PHP and MySQL (database) to even get basic functionality. I know for myself shortly after learning just few nice tricks in php I got the opportunity to set up a e-commerce site. And since my knowledge was so inadequate I bought a package. That was were I really got myself into php. So don't turn away something that is already made as learning to modify it will really get you off the ground the easy way.

I saw you asked about a calendar script and I think I can get you started there. Now the calendar I have built has features like being able to scroll backwards and forwards through months, the ability for users to mouse over scheduled events to get details and then click on it to sign up. Then the admin side has the ability to schedule events approve signups or put the signup on stand by. As well it ties into a DKP system so as to associate and event with what was spent or earned. The script is so complex you would be lost in seconds.

So what I can give you is how I learned to write such a calendar. The truth is my first one 5 or 6 years ago came from a free script off http://www.hotscripts.com. Since then I have rewritten it 4 times (for different usages) to be what it currently is. And I suspect if you look on http://www.hotscripts.com you will find something that can get you started.

Now I mentioned MySQL. This will be key to any functionality. If you want to schedule and event you have to store that data, if you want to have a roster on your web site you will need to store that data. So grab a quick tutorial on MySQL because being able to store and retrieve that data will make your life so easy. And a basic script is very simple to setup.

Now that is just some basics if you must do it yourself. But if you are willing to get some free code, there is tons. You have to think there is 10 million WoW players, there is good chance people have done all the work for you.

So were to look well there is three packages you will need to know about. Joomla, PHPNuke, and Wordpress. Each has several WoW addon modules for them so just do a google search for each and WoW (ie. "Joomla WoW") and you will find some nice stuff.

Here is a few links I found that had more to do with just rosters. And you will notice 2 wordpress modules and a phpbb module.

http://www.wowroster.net/

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wow-armory/

http://timsworld.nfshost.com/wordpre...ory-wp-plugin/

http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewt...203255&start=0

Anyway there is tons of free stuff for anyone that doesn't have all the skill or time to build their own. And it is very good way in my opinion to begin learning how to make your own.

On side a note, my site will not be using any of these packages or modules I mentioned even the forums are built by myself. I should also point out I started my project 6 months ago and still it is maybe at best half done. So while building it yourself is nice you should note that it takes a lot of time to do that. So I encourage the do it yourself approach but you will need to first get your feet wet with something that has most the hard work done for you and in time you will be able to do it all if you have the desire and time to.

03-07-2009, 07:47 AM	#54 (permalink)
Krik The Contributor Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 65 Thanks: 0	Now that I have a touch more time to respond I thought maybe I would try to give you some things to get you started. Be warned this post could get real long, sorry. First, I do understand your desire to build it all yourself. But with no experience in programing you are quite limited it what you can do. At minimum you need a beginner knowledge of both PHP and MySQL (database) to even get basic functionality. I know for myself shortly after learning just few nice tricks in php I got the opportunity to set up a e-commerce site. And since my knowledge was so inadequate I bought a package. That was were I really got myself into php. So don't turn away something that is already made as learning to modify it will really get you off the ground the easy way. I saw you asked about a calendar script and I think I can get you started there. Now the calendar I have built has features like being able to scroll backwards and forwards through months, the ability for users to mouse over scheduled events to get details and then click on it to sign up. Then the admin side has the ability to schedule events approve signups or put the signup on stand by. As well it ties into a DKP system so as to associate and event with what was spent or earned. The script is so complex you would be lost in seconds. So what I can give you is how I learned to write such a calendar. The truth is my first one 5 or 6 years ago came from a free script off http://www.hotscripts.com. Since then I have rewritten it 4 times (for different usages) to be what it currently is. And I suspect if you look on http://www.hotscripts.com you will find something that can get you started. Now I mentioned MySQL. This will be key to any functionality. If you want to schedule and event you have to store that data, if you want to have a roster on your web site you will need to store that data. So grab a quick tutorial on MySQL because being able to store and retrieve that data will make your life so easy. And a basic script is very simple to setup. Now that is just some basics if you must do it yourself. But if you are willing to get some free code, there is tons. You have to think there is 10 million WoW players, there is good chance people have done all the work for you. So were to look well there is three packages you will need to know about. Joomla, PHPNuke, and Wordpress. Each has several WoW addon modules for them so just do a google search for each and WoW (ie. "Joomla WoW") and you will find some nice stuff. Here is a few links I found that had more to do with just rosters. And you will notice 2 wordpress modules and a phpbb module. http://www.wowroster.net/ http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wow-armory/ http://timsworld.nfshost.com/wordpre...ory-wp-plugin/ http://www.phpbb.com/community/viewt...203255&start=0 Anyway there is tons of free stuff for anyone that doesn't have all the skill or time to build their own. And it is very good way in my opinion to begin learning how to make your own. On side a note, my site will not be using any of these packages or modules I mentioned even the forums are built by myself. I should also point out I started my project 6 months ago and still it is maybe at best half done. So while building it yourself is nice you should note that it takes a lot of time to do that. So I encourage the do it yourself approach but you will need to first get your feet wet with something that has most the hard work done for you and in time you will be able to do it all if you have the desire and time to.