Okay, so this is something I've been cooking up over the last couple of days. Primarily my time has been spent debugging errors, 90% of which I would at the time insist furiously were "IMPOSSIBLE!!!1111" until realizing, "...oh."

Anyway, this is a little something I'd like to share with the community here. It's a bit lacking graphically let me be the first to admit. And the layout of the table might not be the most intuitive...if there's any webpage design gurus out there I'd be willing to collaborate on this. I can do the coding easy...it's the creative layout and graphical aspects that evade my grasp.

So I'm sure you're wondering what "this" is that I'm going on about. I realized that these forums don't offer a method of editing your posts (EDIT: I LIED!...but still!), and I seem to keep wanting to let everyone know every single card that I have... ...lol. So I designed this web page to keep track of it for me. And because of the type of person I am when it comes to these things, I wanted for everyone else to be able to take advantage of it too!

Once you're registered you will be able to establish your own page where everyone can see what cards you have in your collection, what cards it is you're looking for, what cards you're willing to trade to get what you want...all in one convenient location! You just go through each set and enter in how many of each card you have and the rest is done for you! You can include/exclude any set and the tracker also includes the promo cards and even the tip cards and the X-card!

Without further ado ladies (??? are there any? haha) and gentlemen:

The Kingdom Hearts Trading Card Game Tracker

In case you're wondering what it looks like, you can view my cards ...

NOTE: When you're registering it will ask you for your Forum ID . This should be taken from your profile, the "ecoid" and is used so the tracker can link back to your forum profile. For example, my Forum ID is 18693.

P.S. You'll be assigned a user ID when you register. You'll need to know what it is to link people to your cards. You can get your ID as well as the full link URL by logging in and then selecting the "View" link.

And BTW, mad props to Card_Breaker who's YouTube video helped me compile the list!

This is really awesome! Thanks!

Though I had some trouble putting in a User ID. First I tried "Card_Break" (t'was all I could fit) but it said I needed a numerical ID. So I then tried "0000000000" but it still said invalid... But then I tried "601373" (my school ID number) and it worked... so I guess you have to put in a number that can't be rounded? because 0000000000 = 0 but 601373 = 601373.

EDIT: oh and you can edit. For regular posts, you have 5 minutes and thats it. However, if you are the topic creator, then in your first post (the one that gets displayed on every page at the top), you may edit in the first 5 minutes and you may also edit everytime you post in the topic for, again, five minutes.

EDIT2: I have one request. Can you possibly make any cards that are lower than or equal to the trade limit turn to red font? That would be awesome.

EDIT3: Nevermind! I pressed the view button and it is switched, but that's fine!

EDIT4: I discovered a glitch. When I update promos, all the foils are reset to 0...

Sorry if it was a bit unclear. The "Forum ID" is meant to be the numerical user ID taken from the forums. You can get this by viewing your profile. It's the "ecoid", mine is 18693 for example. It's used so that I can create a link to your forum profile.

Yes, I have any cards exceeding the trade limit in red when you actually view the card tables for your user.

As far as the promos...they shouldn't operate any differently than any of the other sets....I will look into it though! Oh, and if you'd like I can update your Forum ID so it will properly link to your forum profile. Again, sorry about the confusion.

Edit: (Thanks for the info)...I do see that whenever I try to set the [FOIL] cards to anything it is resetting to 0. I'm going to try replacing the [] brackets with () parentheses and see if that makes any difference. It may be due to the way php interprets brackets in strings (possibly making a new array index instead of simply reading it as a string). Actually...as a matter of fact...I'm 99% certain that's what's happening. I shall let you know.

Urgghhhh...my host's server seems to be ill right now. It's not loading anything right now. I shall keep trying!

Oh well, my computer won't let me load the site....

My host has been having some difficulties lately it seems. I keep getting "Connection reset" errors from FireFox. I'll be discussing it with my host but if you give it time it seems to resolve itself albeit a recurring issue....

Edit: Also the issue with the [FOIL] promos was corrected by switching to parentheses. Thanks again for the report Card_Breaker.

Oh and CB as well as Darkwing Duck, I've updated your Forum IDs for you, so profile links should now work from the tracker. I also modified the page so it will let people know what it's supposed to be!

Update : I've made a couple of revisions to the tracker. First off, the tables are now printed in a more logical order, by column first instead of rows. Having to read across was bugging the hell out of my eyes. Also, the tracker now uses GREEN for cards exceeding the trade limit, BLUE for cards equal to the trade limit, and RED for cards below the trade limit. This makes it easier to see what someone wants and what they've got for grabs. I also made the font for the table slightly smaller so it would be more easily readable. One last notable change is that if you're not logged in, you can now see a list of everyone who is registered (including a link to their cards). Yay!

Wow. I just discovered a major bug in the script. If you're logged in, please don't view anyone else's cards but your own. Apparently it's loading the other user's data into yours if you do this. I'll update once this is corrected.

Okay everyone you can stop panicking! The world is saved!...erm...I mean...tracker...is...debugged! YAY!

Basically I was just updating the user data if you were logged in, no matter who's cards you were looking at. A rather silly, bothersome, and worrying thing for me to have been doing, but it was a simple fix once the problem was identified.

I'm sure you were all super concerned about it. But for now I have to go to work. I'll update my cards (again) when I get back home.

Thanks!

Wow missed a lot... today was great... I had a one day trip from NJ to Boston, and back to NJ...lol

EDIT: I have a request. Can you make a checkbox under the one for link to profile that says "Updating?". Then when checked, anyone who views the list will see "This user is currently updating." on the top.

Ex. [1] Tip Card #5
[5] X-Card

[X] Link to profile?
[X] Updating?

[1] Trade limit (0 for no trades) - This is the number of each card you want for your collection before you will trade any of them off.

(Update)

|
|
|
V

This user is currently updating.
This player is requesting 1 copy of each card for his/her collection, and is willing to trade any of the items marked in green below.
Any items marked in red are cards the player is looking for!

...(list of cards)...

Also, Herc's Shield is glitched. Same as the foil promos used to be, so maybe ' can't be used either...

Of course I'll get that taken care of. Good suggestion.

I've also discovered another bug! YAY! Haha. Apparently it's impossible to set Herc's Shield . Something to do with the apostrophe (') no doubt driving PHP and/or MySQL insane.

Ah yes Card_Breaker I see where you just posted that. Hehe.

I think it should be a simple matter, but I shall have to look into it.

This is so much fun.

The issue with Herc's Shield was easily identified and defeated. It was actually in the way that PHP was handling the POST data being sent through by the form. I'll have to modify the actual database to include the "Updating..." link so I'll take a moment to test that out and then upload the modified page.

Hmmm, interesting.

I'll have to sign up shortly.

If you still need help with the graphical design and web design then give me a shout. Web Design and Hardware were the only courses I passed at college anyway...(Not that the hardware thing is relevant)

And if I can't help, I just happen to know a graphics designer who owes me a few favours...

Okay I uploaded the version where you can now set Herc's Shield properly. Also I added the "Updating?" checkbox so you can let everyone know if you're in the process of updating your sets. Slightly modified the style sheet, added spacing between sets while updating, other minor changes. Added User list link if you're logged in so you can now view everyone's cards even if logged in! Hooray!

And Trothael that sounds great. Like I said, I can do the scripting part of it. Basically all I would need is a mock-up image. You don't even have to create a mock-up page. Of course if you wanted to make a mock-up page...

Of course while I was just testing it before I post...Herc's still not working. Urgh...I'll get that taken care of.

Edit: Got it. Told you I'd get it. For some reason on my local machine using PHP's addslashes worked but on my live server it didn't. So I just use urlencode instead. Simple enough. Lol I wonder if anybody has any clue what I'm talking about with this techy stuff haha.

One last request (lol, sorry for so many). Is it possible to create a "Keep me logged in" button for when I log in? Because I like coming back to a website and not have to bother to log in.

monkey_05_06 said:

Gotcha.

Give me 2 days, maximum.

@Card_Breaker: I can definitely look into it. However I'm 99% certain it wouldn't work if you have a Dynamic IP address (which isn't uncommon) simply because I'm storing the IP address ( hashed ) as part of the cookie. I could consider removing the IP address altogether though that would make the whole system less secure. Not that I'm expecting problems with security but there's always the wannabe troll-hax. I'll look to see what I can determine about this. As-is, the cookie should remain valid as long as 1) you keep the same IP address and 2) you keep the browser window open.

@Trothael: Awesome!

And the latest is: I've modified the way the page writes its cookies. The cookies could possibly be hijacked from your computer, but it would be very hard for anyone to actually recover any information from it.

Trothael is working on the new site design. And I've got a couple more things planned for this thing before the day is through. Possibly I'll even update my cards again. Heh.

Unfortunately it would seem that the FFG forums don't allow any type of signature images. This pretty well means that you won't be able to take advantage of the new tracker feature I just added. Dynamic imaging is awesome.

Though it does make me wonder...will the FFG forums reload the image as it's updated? Or are they only going to capture the image as-is now...well...let's see!

Good! The image is still dynamically loaded for my post anyway. In case you don't know what I'm talking about, the stats in the above image will dynamically be updated to match my tables in the tracker. You can get the link for your own images on your page at the tracker!

Urgghh...on your page at the tracker it's only showing the images properly if you're logged in and viewing your own images. Let me fix that!

There. Done with that. Reading the user information from the wrong place is bothersome...lol. But it works now!

Good news!
I've got some mock images done, they're all quite choppy though (I'm still pretty new with Photoshop, but I'mma tryin' mah bestzors)

I also saw your MiniProfs and an idea jumped into my head, it's pretty simple but it looks somewhat like Roxas (from Deep Dive) with the KH TCG logo superimposed over the top.

I'm currently fading parts of it for the text to be placed.

If I could remember how to post images here, I would.

Cool idea: make a small messaging system that allows a user to request an item(s) on another person's list and an item(s) in return for it. Then make a response form that allows the user to say yes or no:

Example form:

__________________________________
|---TRADE REQUEST-----------------------------|
|-----My: [textbox allowing input]----------------|
|---------------------~FOR~---------------------------|
|-----Your: [textbox allowing input]-------------|
|-------[sEND]----------------[CANCEL]-----------|
|_________________________________|

Example form for response:

_________________________________
|---TRADE RESPONSE--------------------------|
|-----My: (Whatever requested)-----------------|
|---------------------~FOR~---------------------------|
|-----Your: (Whatever requested)---------------|
|--------[YES]---------------------[NO]---------------|
|_________________________________|

If yes, an email can be attached to the response to undergo the trade.

Example after yes is clicked:

_________________________________
|---TRADE RESPONSE--------------------------|
|-----My: (Whatever requested)-----------------|
|---------------------~FOR~---------------------------|
|-----Your: (Whatever requested)---------------|
|--Email: [textbox allowing input]---------------|
|----[sEND]---------------------[CANCEL]--------|
|_________________________________|

If no, the original trade can be altered or can be an altogether no.

Example after no is clicked:

_________________________________
|---TRADE RESPONSE--------------------------|
|-----My: (Whatever requested)-----------------|
|---------------------~FOR~---------------------------|
|-----Your: [textbox allowing change]----------|
|--[_] No trade (checkbox)------------------------|
|------[sEND]--------------------[CANCEL]--------|
|_________________________________|

*********Make sure that when clicking [YES] or [NO], switch the content in my and your on both response forms.**********

Another idea: Add another page allowing shoutouts of cards that people want with a link next to the person who posted's shoutout going to their list.

Here, have an image for the dynamic text thing:

I'll upload the rest later.

Trothael said:

O.o You're awesome Troth! Where'd monkey go though?

Got bored, had 5 minutes free. So I editted that image.

Tell me what you think.

Sorry I disappeared...I've been looking into serialization of the data which was a concept I was not previously aware of. This would actually be absolutely essential to any type of messaging system.

Aside from taking the rounded corners off of the image, I don't see any other edits. I see from your screenshot that you have the KH TCG logo on a separate layer which is very good.

I'm trying to make modifications to the database where your information is stored without modifying/deleting/corrupting the existing data. I'll look into the messaging system and see what can be done about that...

There are a few other modifications, including the blending of some text, the fixing of a chunk I acciendtally removed from one of the buildings and if you look really closely at the 'Kingdom Hearts' text, you'll notice that it's darker at the top.

Pointless renovation <3

Okay the data serialization is completed. Basically what that means is that storing the data just got much simpler overall. Due to the fact that my local server doesn't support any of the GD imaging functions, and the fact I'm a lazy prat, I made the modifications to the live page...all existing data should have properly been saved in the serialization process.

If anything has gone missing you should be able to update it normally. Of course completely rewiring the way the page is storing the data does open up whole new realms of possibility for bugs and other errors. I've identified a couple of things that actually may still have been causing problems, but I think I got them worked out. My host is still having issues with frequent downtime apparently related to some type of server maintenance...

Anyway I'll be trying to test and make sure everything still functions properly before I change anything else.

Edit: At this point, everything appears to be functioning the same as it was previously. I'll be looking into CB's suggestion of some type of messaging system. And also I plan to offer a way of disabling images (allowing you to select whichever images you like). As I said, the serialization will make this process much easier.