This is a basic tutorial for creating a very basic highscore table.

Requirements:

• A webserver with PHP/MySQL support
• Basic PHP and MySQL understanding
• Basic understanding of how Construct works

The Construct part:

I made a .cap file in case my directions might be a little hard to understand so you can check out a working example.

Download it here

Create a new Direct-X project and add a variable named "Clicks" with a starting number of zero. Create an Edit Box and set the initial text to something like "Enter your name". Now create two buttons, rename them to "Click" and "Submit", change the text for "Submit" to "Submit" and go to the event sheet editor. Create a new "Always" condition and add an action for the "Click" button to set button text to "round(global('Clicks'))".

Note: "set button text to "round(global('Clicks'))"" makes the button display the number of times it has been clicked.

Note: global('<variable name>') is used for global variables.

Note: round() removes all decimals, this isn't really necessary but just to make sure that the submitted score looks like 1234 and not like 1234,00.

Create a new event for when the "Click" button is clicked and a new action that adds 1 to the "Clicks" variable. Go back to the layout editor and create a new HTTP object, then return to the event sheet editor.

Note: The HTTP object enables communication over the internet, at least one-way. I have yet to discover how to create a working both-way connection.

Create another event for when the other button is clicked and add a condition to check that "Clicks" is not zero. Then add a few actions for the HTTP object. Add two strings, one with the argument name "name" and the argument "EditBox".

Note: It is very important to not add the quotes to "Editbox" since it will use the contents of it for the variable.

The other string should have a name of "score" and an argument of "round(global('Clicks'))". The next last action to add is the post request action, set it to submit to your PHP file.

Mine is "http://localhost/scores.php?submit", you might want to change it later when we've set up the PHP file.

Lastly, add an action that resets the score when it has been submitted, that way a person can't send their score twice. You might also want to add something that indicates that the score has been submitted, but that's not necessary.

The PHP Part:

For this to work you will need a webhost who supports PHP and MySQL, I recommend WAMP if you want to set up your own.

Create a file called score.php containing:

Note: This is the file that displays the highscore, and also the file that you should link to in your game.

<?
	// mySQL details
	$host = "localhost";
	$user = "root";
	$pass = "";
	$db = "highscores";
	
	// Checks if everything has been submitted
	if (isset($_POST['name']) && isset($_POST['score'])) {
		
		$name = $_POST['name'];
		$score = $_POST['score'];
		
		// Stores the IP adress of the submitted score (in case of cheating)
		$ip = $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'];
		
		// Connects to the database
		$connection = mysql_connect($host, $user, $pass) or die ("Unable to connect!");
		mysql_select_db($db) or die ("Databasen kunde inte hittas!");
		
		// Submits the info
		$query = "INSERT INTO highscores(name, score, ip) VALUES('$name', '$score', '$ip')";
		$result = mysql_query($query);
		
		// Closes the connection
		mysql_close($connection);
	}
	
	// Connects to the database
	$connection = mysql_connect($host, $user, $pass) or die ("Unable to connect!");
	mysql_select_db($db) or die ("Database not found!");
	
	// Retrieves the info and sorts it
	$query = "SELECT * FROM highscores ORDER BY score + 0 DESC LIMIT 10";
	$result = mysql_query($query);
	$count = 1;
	
	// Displays names and score
	if (mysql_num_rows($result) > 0) {
		while($row = mysql_fetch_row($result)) {
			?>
			<b>#<?= $count ?></b> | Name: <?= $row[1] ?> | Score: <?= $row[2] ?><br />
			<?
			$count += 1;
		}
	}
	
	// Closes the connection
	mysql_close($connection);
?>[/code:147dh0cl]

It won't work just yet, it will need a database to submit to. Open up your favorite MySQL manager and execute the following code:

[code:147dh0cl]CREATE DATABASE `highscores` DEFAULT CHARACTER SET latin1 COLLATE latin1_swedish_ci;
USE `highscores`;

CREATE TABLE `highscores` (
  `id` int(11) NOT NULL auto_increment,
  `name` varchar(255) NOT NULL default '',
  `score` varchar(255) NOT NULL default '',
  `ip` varchar(255) NOT NULL default '',
  PRIMARY KEY  (`id`)
) ENGINE=MyISAM  DEFAULT CHARSET=latin1 AUTO_INCREMENT=24 ;[/code:147dh0cl]

This [i]should[/i] work, It worked when I tested it with the latest version of Construct (v96.3) but if it doesn't work for you I'll happily answer all questions in this thread.

Hi all, is there a way to check if a file exists? I'm trying to make a game were you could optionally add a mp3 file to the same location as the exe and play it in-game. My problem is that I don't want the pause/play controls to show if no music exists.

I'm quite new with Construct but it should be possible, my guess to how would be that it should load the levels from a folder and save the new ones there as well.