Author Topic: Urban Dictionary for Metis (Read 11217 times)

Pri · « **on:** July 19, 2010, 09:30:19 am »

This script enables you to look at content from the official urbandictionary.com

http://www.mxpulse.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=240

Personally the site isn't for me it's a bit juvenile but it was requested by a lot of people and I'm happy to oblige. The page above includes a full rundown of features, commands and so on. It includes the level of polish that you've come to expect from my releases

']['affy · « **Reply #1 on:** July 19, 2010, 12:51:47 pm »

thx pri, seen it being used in your room, nice script

Pri · « **Reply #2 on:** July 19, 2010, 01:50:05 pm »

Actually the one in my room was written by Josh in .net I just re-did it for Metis as that's what people use

You're welcome!

RebelMX · « **Reply #3 on:** July 19, 2010, 03:38:53 pm »

Just a quick query Pri? Why do you do that "check" thing in all your scripts to pull out the & and " symbols?
In your script it says

Quote

// Download some special characters required for this to function (Metis by itself doesn't allow these characters inside the code so they have to be loaded as varibles)
<out type="push" extdata="Special_2" condition="==" lvalue="$Special_2$" rvalue=""><operator type="readweb" nvalue="http://urban.mxpulse.com/metis.assistant.txt" lvalue="l" rvalue="2"/></out>
<out type="push" extdata="Special_1" condition="==" lvalue="$Special_1$" rvalue=""><operator type="readweb" nvalue="http://urban.mxpulse.com/metis.assistant.txt" lvalue="l" rvalue="1"/></out>

However both those characters work perfectly in their xml entity values of " and &
The best version of Metis for ensuring that the entities are correctly managed is 2.8b1m4 modified by Bide&Musique. I believe this is in the WMW archive and would save bandwidth pulling those characters from your server for each user.

Give it a go.

Pri · « **Reply #4 on:** July 19, 2010, 04:08:06 pm »

I've not been able to get them to work reliably. I have similar issues with many Metis parts a lot of the documented things just don't work reliably or at all. I don't know if these issues are caused by the Metis versions I've been testing these scripts with I just downloaded the one that had the latest version number in the WMW archive. Another issue I have is using %PARAM% in readweb, writing to file, reading from files. Pushing it to a variable first works and using %PARAM% in conditions works but it just seems to fail in operators. Could this also be due to the Metis version I'm using?

In any event the burden of downloading these characters is like 20KB for a year it's really a small amount of data being download. You'll notice in the code I use the character replacement for < and > as I never have any problems with those, just the & and " ones.

RebelMX · « **Reply #5 on:** July 19, 2010, 08:50:46 pm »

I was actually meaning your bandwidth not users!

It could be down to the Metis version as i never used the basic 2.8a1/b1 as i found a fair few bugs in it at the time and decided 2.8b1m4 had some fixed and to me was therefore the closest to a fully working Metis we have! That said, the fact that 2.8b1m4 handles xml entities CORRECTLY can break many scripts written prior to this as they have various work arounds and such like that will break.

As a developer/script writer i think you would prefer the modified one as it does what it says on the tin and handles the characters correctly rather than having to guess/trial and error to test scripts.

Pri · « **Reply #6 on:** July 20, 2010, 06:00:10 am »

Quote from: RebelMX on July 19, 2010, 08:50:46 pm

I was actually meaning your bandwidth not users!

So was I. The 20KB is like how much it takes to deliver those two characters to all the users for a year. My server that I host my site on isn't in my home or something it's in a data center with 'unlimited' bandwidth (probably around a few TB in the FUP). Really takes very little bandwidth. What I do with the scripts is, I save those characters in the variables and they are only re-downloaded if the variables are blank and the same variables are used across all the scripts so as soon as a user uses one of the scripts in their room they have it saved until they reboot the bot. I considered saving them locally and then loading them from that but I just decided not to. A few of the scripts require the server to be on to function anyway so if that goes down the scripts are toast regardless of if the user has those special characters or not.

But I would like to assure everyone my Server domain and hosting is paid up until like September 2012 so it's not like I'm going anywhere and if I was I'd release new versions that will work 100% without any server assistance.

RebelMX · « **Reply #7 on:** July 20, 2010, 06:11:31 am »

Unfortunately being the pessimistic person i am i do not see a need in making the scripts run through your server if they dont need to!
You said that you would make a version that doesnt need to, so why not do that from the beginning?

I just cant see the advantage in doing so both from your view-point and from a users! Surely anything thats left your hands is best made so it runs as a standalone product? That would then avoid you having to monitor and ensure your api is not being abused and misused?

Pri · « **Reply #8 on:** July 20, 2010, 06:23:56 am »

For a few reasons.

1. All the scripts now include update notifications. They check the site to see if a new version has been released. If the server is down Metis displays a warning to the user in a GUI text box and the script does not continue to load the rest. This isn't intentional it is just the way Metis reacts to servers being down. If I removed that code then two of the scripts like Wikipedia and Urban would work without my server but then users wouldn't know when bugs are fixed or when new features are added.

2. Some of the scripts use my server API's or other resources. These include IMDB, Proxy Blocker, Pulse Protection. Wikipedia has its own API thus I didn't need to write one in PHP and Urban Dictionary has a very simple layout (html wise) which uses basic httpget requests to query content which is easily compatible with Metis thus it also didn't need an API.

If I were to make IMDB not rely on my API it would be a lot slower as it would need to query 2 separate pages. It slows it down about 100%. But also I just want to remind people that if I were to dissapear the source code is right there. You yourself can modify them to remove the update notifications and to supplement the & and " issues by upgrading to a beta version of Metis 2.8. It's not like with FXServe or ZCS or another abandoned piece of software as the source code isn't available but with all the Metis scripts it is and I heavily comment everything so it's clear to see what's going on

For Wikipedia and Urban Dictionary the only changes to make them work 100% offline would be to remove the update notifications (obviously if I'm not here no more, no more updates so don't need that) and the & and " thing can be solved by upgrading your Metis and putting them in as & and " the other scripts like Proxy Blocker, Pulse Protection and IMDB would require a coder to alter for them to work. Pulse and Proxy rely on a server regardless they can't be worked offline.

Bieb · « **Reply #9 on:** July 20, 2010, 08:37:39 am »

Honestly if you don't like the features RebelMX (whoever the hell you are. Birdman on another name or whatever floats your boat) simply don't use it. Pri worked hard on it and is sharing it with the community. He didn't ask for assholes to criticize every move he makes.

Perhaps this is why development for WinMX has slowed as much as it has... ungrateful people who will find any loose thread to pick at.

Max™ · « **Reply #10 on:** July 20, 2010, 09:04:31 am »

Quote from: Pri on July 20, 2010, 06:23:56 am

upgrading to a beta version of Metis 2.8. It's not like with FXServe or ZCS or another abandoned piece of software

May i just add, Metis 2.8b1 IS the last one and IS an abandoned piece of software, Bender is no longer making BendMx, RoboMx or Metis
No other bot has the power of Metis and until someone makes a new one, Metis 2.8b1 will remain the last and bes.

reef · « **Reply #11 on:** July 20, 2010, 09:16:35 am »

Keep it friendly please Simba. RebelMX has asked a question and Pri has answered. You are correct if he doesnt like it going through Pri's server he doesnt have to use the script. Nice script as usual Pri, keep up the good work.

Pri · « **Reply #12 on:** July 20, 2010, 09:35:54 am »

Quote from: Max™ on July 20, 2010, 09:04:31 am

Quote from: Pri on July 20, 2010, 06:23:56 am
upgrading to a beta version of Metis 2.8. It's not like with FXServe or ZCS or another abandoned piece of software
May i just add, Metis 2.8b1 IS the last one and IS an abandoned piece of software, Bender is no longer making BendMx, RoboMx or Metis
No other bot has the power of Metis and until someone makes a new one, Metis 2.8b1 will remain the last and bes.

What I meant was, my scripts are open source (as are all Metis scripts, they have to be) so if I abandon them others can update them to work without my servers being online. With FXServ and ZCS the code is closed source so if bugs are discovered in these pieces of software you won't get any fixes for them as the Developers have left. (Although I think Zenar would probably release a new version to fix security issues even though his left MX development).

I didn't mean to say that Metis hasn't been abandoned as obviously Bender and the others in the Metis project have left, I really only meant my scripts specifically

~~Blitzen~~ · « **Reply #13 on:** July 20, 2010, 09:47:37 am »

@ Simba i dunno who rebelmx is its not me under a diff name. But i had made my feelings clear on previous Pri scripts that i did not like the idea of them running via his server and indeed i do not use any script that pri has as much as looked at and never will that is indeed my choice and one i will not be changing anytime soon. I think it is a power and control thing for him and if that rocks his boat then great. Many many good scripts have been wrote over the years, games etc and non follow the same route that Pri throws out. They run as mentioned above standalone.

Pri · « **Reply #14 on:** July 20, 2010, 10:04:53 am »

Blitzen I thought you didn't use WinMX anymore?

Also my scripts mostly use the web so they can't be standalone. I don't see you releasing anything? And that comment about Power and Control is such a load of rubbish. People ask me to release things because I am happy to do so. I don't even like Urban Dictionary but I made and released it upon request from Wavparty and Shakey. I made it quite clear that I had to include the code from the server due to a bug in my versions of Metis that I tested this with and I want people to have the latest versions of the scripts at all times. Just today I released an update to the IMDB script to fix a bug due to IMDB adding lots of new content to their pages. Yesterday I released an update to Wikipedia to get around a WCS 1.8.8 bug. Without the update notifications people wouldn't know these things had been fixed.

You can criticize all you want but people see straight through.

~~Blitzen~~ · « **Reply #15 on:** July 20, 2010, 10:14:41 am »

As you well know Pri i had standalone web based scripts running in my room for IMDB, and many other sites. Many games such as wordfinder, bingo, Ascai hangman, scrabble and quiz came from my room all shared openly and freely with no "get them from my site" and "they will only work while my server is running and while i decide they can" so please do not try to bang the you aint released anything drum

Pri · « **Reply #16 on:** July 20, 2010, 10:17:28 am »

Yes but you never released them Blitzen and I have to notify people of new versions. You can horde all the stuff you want and run them offline but you're not producing things for other peoples consumption. Also I saw your IMDB and it took over a minute to query any data which just reaffirms the need for a dedicated server to assist with the work.

Where is your IMDB script? huh? oh that's right.

And what I said quite clearly was, the scripts need a slight modification to work. To put the AMP and Quote in, and to remove the update notifications in the eventuality that my server went down. Is it that hard to understand?

Bieb · « **Reply #17 on:** July 20, 2010, 10:23:20 am »

Quote from: Blitzen on July 20, 2010, 09:47:37 am

@ Simba i dunno who rebelmx is its not me under a diff name....

Oh I'm sorry birdman... my mistake...

Richy should go back to his own forum and write his own metis scripts... isn't that what his website is about anyways?....

~~Blitzen~~ · « **Reply #18 on:** July 20, 2010, 10:24:42 am »

All the games were released, the web based scripts were not released and the loading time was during a peak time throttle period from the isp and did not take a minuite to query. End of the day iam not going to argue with you i do not like the way you create scripts and tie them down to your server that may suddenly dissapear leaving scripts useless, thats my opinion and was already stated so i was not even going to comment here but Simba brought me into this convo via faulse acusation.

Pri · « **Reply #19 on:** July 20, 2010, 10:26:32 am »

Also I just wanted to comment on something Blitzen said here: "get them from my site"

Which is obviously you saying that I'm coming here to post my scripts to drive traffic to my site right? -- The reason I started doing that was because after you post something here you couldn't edit the post. If I came up with a new version I couldn't edit the post to remove the old one and put the new one in its place, that is the whole reason I did that and now that I can edit my posts after I've made them I've just decided to continue to put all the scripts on my site in one central location. I host all the stuff I make there and I think that is fair.

I really don't understand where this self entitlement stuff comes from I don't have to release anything at all if you'd prefer? or is that what you are trying to accomplish? Run me off so people can't have what they want which is well made and well supported software?

And your IMDB was slow not because it was peak or being throttled. First of all when searching for something it gave you a ton of results that it thought the movie was and then you had to pick one out of that selection. It was hardly peak time in the AM was it. And it did take over a minute as I typed it and thought your bot had crashed and you said it just takes a while. I wasn't very impressed. And when I made my IMDB way before that I had the same problem with it being slow to read several pages of content. That is the whole reason I use the web based API as it's much quicker. It's all about performance.

And some of my scripts simply can't be run completely standalone. The IMDB as I just said for performance reasons. Pulse Protection relies on a dedicated server for it's exact functionality and the Proxy Blocker also relies on me to supply it with definition updates. The only scripts that can work completely on there own are Wikipedia, Urban Dictionary, Ascii Output and Hostname Blocker. The Ascii Output and Hostname do not use my server at all, they don't need readweb functionality or Metis 2.8.