Site_Feedback

Topic Updating GameTZ to UTF-8

bill

14-Feb-2023(#1)

I'm planning to update GameTZ to use UTF-8 character encoding on Monday, February 20th.

It will probably happen in late morning or early afternoon (US/Eastern time). The site will be down for about 10 minutes while I convert the database to UTF-8. Then, I'll release the software changes I made and restart the site.

If all goes well, it will just work and you won't even notice a difference. If you do notice problems (especially garbled characters), please let me know.

I have been evaluating this change to UTF-8 on my test server, but you never know with something like this once it hits the live site with lots of people using it doing different things. I plan to make a backup of the database beforehand, just in case things go very badly.

I'll post again on Monday before I start.

GameTZ is running on fairly old technology. While this change won't fix that, it will help modernize it a bit.

History that led to me realizing I needed to do this UTF-8 upgrade :
https://gametz.com/Site_Feedback/quote-apostrophe-...
https://gametz.com/Site_Feedback/updating-gametzs-...

Boss

14-Feb-2023(#2)

Sounds good.

MrBean

14-Feb-2023(#3)

image

loztdogs

14-Feb-2023(#4)

Good luck!

nonamesleft

14-Feb-2023(#5)

I already noticed some changes on the non mobile site. I'm guessing they're related to the current transition?

bill

14-Feb-2023(#6)

what changes?

nonamesleft

14-Feb-2023(#7)

bill wrote:

> what changes?

When you send an offer, you fill in the boxes of what you're sending and what gets sent to you. Those boxes used to have a clear outline. Now the outline isn't nearly as noticeable as it used to be. (On the PC site, old layout)

willyum

* 14-Feb-2023(#8)

Thanks for all the hard work Bill!

image

bill

15-Feb-2023(#9)

@nonamesleft I didn't intentionally change that. I don't think it could be character set related (what I've been working on [though I mostly haven't released it]).

Checking the offer creation page myself now, I don't see what you mean about it being more or less noticeable. I see that if I click on a text-entry box, it gains a blacker outline. Could that be it? Otherwise, I don't know what to make of what you're saying.

nonamesleft

15-Feb-2023(#10)

bill wrote:

> @nonamesleft I didn't intentionally change that. I don't think it could be character

> set related (what I've been working on [though I mostly haven't released it]).

> Checking the offer creation page myself now, I don't see what you mean about it being

> more or less noticeable. I see that if I click on a text-entry box, it gains a blacker

> outline. Could that be it? Otherwise, I don't know what to make of what you're saying.

Maybe it is that. I went back and checked. I did update my browser very recently though. Could a browser update have an effect on how a page is presented?

bill

15-Feb-2023(#11)

Possible but not likely. Maybe you could pm me with the specific page you are using and how it looks off? Whatever it is, I don't think it's related to the UTF-8 stuff.

nonamesleft

15-Feb-2023(#12)

bill wrote:

> Possible but not likely. Maybe you could pm me with the specific page you are using

> and how it looks off? Whatever it is, I don't think it's related to the UTF-8 stuff.

It's really not a big deal at all. Not even a small deal. It's just something I noticed, and I was wondering if it was related to the change.

Sure. I'll PM some details.

bill

20-Feb-2023(#13)

Today is the day that I'll do this UTF-8 update.

I'll start in an hour or two. You may notice the site being down. I'll post when I'm done or if I have problems, etc.

bill

20-Feb-2023(#14)

OK, here goes...

bill

20-Feb-2023(#15)

It is done.

Let me know if you notice any problems (especially garbled characters).

Foxhack

* 20-Feb-2023(#16)

Not sure if this is a bug or if something happened on the other trader's end: I just pended a trade with Snappy, I got a message from them and the email I got had garbled text. The text said,

> Hey m8, Iâ€™ll go for the 8.30 and PayPal you

But on the site, it said this:

> Hey m8, I’ll go for the 8.30 and PayPal you

Seems the email encoded the character he used in the offer incorrectly. It seems it's supposed to be this: https://www.compart.com/en/unicode/U+2019

bill

* 20-Feb-2023(#17)

Thanks for letting me know. I think it may be a bug or at least something I may be able to fix. It definitely seems related to the UTF-8 changes too.

I was able to easily reproduce this. So, that should help me fix it as well.

bill

20-Feb-2023(#18)

I should note that the app is also garbling special characters badly (worse, I think). I'm looking into that as well.

bill

20-Feb-2023(#19)

Hm, yeah... email notifications may not work well until I fix this. I'm seeing cases of email just not going out because of it. The module I use to send email does not seem to be utf8 aware...

bill

21-Feb-2023(#20)

I think I have that email garbling of special characters fixed.

I sent you a test message @Foxhack...

Foxhack

21-Feb-2023(#21)

The message looked fine here! I'm on mobile so I'm not sure what you did, but it wasn't garbled.

bill

21-Feb-2023(#22)

I was hoping you'd get an email notification for the pm I sent. I'm pretty sure it's fixed now (from my own testing). You may not have email notifications on for pms, though.

Foxhack

21-Feb-2023(#23)

Yes I got the email, and it wasn't garbled. I meant that I can't check the exact characters you sent because I'm on my phone and not my desktop. It's cool.

bill

21-Feb-2023(#24)

Cool

nonamesleft

* 21-Feb-2023(#25)

@Bill

Testing characters:

Pokémon

∞

🍕

I've

🍎

🐍 🐉

nonamesleft

* 21-Feb-2023(#26)

Pokémon

∞

🍕

I've

🍎

🐍 🐉
😎😂
😂
😎
🏈🥏
♟️
😋
🎁
€
¥
£
°
™
✓
π
§
∆
~♪
≠

✨
©

bill

* 21-Feb-2023(#27)

those look right to me... both on my chrome/laptop and in the app.

nonamesleft

21-Feb-2023(#28)

bill wrote:

> those look right to me

Yeah, they do. Strange thing happened though. When I posted them, the input and output was the same, but then when I tried to edit and repost, odd things happened. I'll try to replicate and screenshot it.

bill

21-Feb-2023(#29)

ah, so edit is off.... that is a special case, I'll look into it.

bill

* 21-Feb-2023(#30)

⛑ testing

bill

21-Feb-2023(#31)

oh yeah, I think I just saw it. After the edit, it showed wrong, but refresh fixed it. ... looking into it... running out of steam today, though. maybe tomorrow... I think we're close, though. I just need to fix the update after edit part

nonamesleft

21-Feb-2023(#32)

Thanks for doing all of this to improve the GTZ experience. Much appreciated!

bill

* 21-Feb-2023(#33)

🐯🌧️🌍🤸🎏🎁🎀🎂

bill

21-Feb-2023(#34)

I think I fixed that edit case. Is it better?

nonamesleft

* 21-Feb-2023(#35)

🍎

🍐

🐉

nonamesleft

21-Feb-2023(#36)

bill wrote:

> I think I fixed that edit case. Is it better?

Yeah, the input and output are the same now. Cool. What'd you have to do to fix that?

Foxhack

21-Feb-2023(#37)

Wait does this mean we can see emojis on desktop now

bill

21-Feb-2023(#38)

I think emojis have worked before too, mostly... but it was by using a kind of trick (browsers translate them into html codes).

Now, I think, they are supported directly (no tricks).

John

21-Feb-2023(#39)

👍

John

* 21-Feb-2023(#40)

This still work...

I̷̠̞̘͕̞̓̐̽̔̄ͦ͂͡ ̸̨̲̜̃̇͂̑͜å͚͕͓̮̘ͥ̔͒ͪͥ͠m̮͍͕̭̍̃ͥ͆̾̋͆ͤ ͙̪̖͓̫͎͔̘̬̾ͭ̄ͥ́̂̔́Ğ̞̠̠̲̯̪̳͈̄̇͐̒̆̍́o̵̟ͮ̍̐ͭẓ̈̚ě͓̬̬̯̘̓ͪ̇̊ͪͮř̸̛̭̬͈͉̩̗̺͈̱ͮ͟,̲͇͚̌͐̕ ͐̇̾̔̔͒̾͠͏̙̫̪͜D͎ͦ̈̂͒̈̚͢ę͇̥͐͋̌ͣ́͜s̗̣̫̟̞̰͂̋̈́̄ͅţ̡̣̯͊ͭ͆̔̚ͅr̷̜̤̎͂̑ͯ̓ͮ̆̀ő̿͒͒́̾ͭ̀̚҉͇̮̮̺̞͎͖ͅy͓̺̰̖̠̋̈͗̃̈́̀̓̋̀̚ẽ̹̋̑͜r̗͍̗̼͔͙̘ͨ͛̀͘͝ ̨̝̗̼͔͋͞ͅo̸̷̮̞̣̜̺̮̪̊̉͠f̨ͣͥ̔͋͗͛̉̚҉̷̦̳̪̳ ̝ͤ̀͝Ŵ̛̞̺̈́ͦ͜ǒͦ̑̌̉̾̿̚͏̜̹͎͚̺̳r̴̟̳̂̓͊̓͂̀̎͠l̴̵͎̞̈́̿͗ͦd̡̜̬͔̹ͭ͌̽̆̔͒ͣͧs̀͂̇͂ͮ̄̊͘҉̥̤̱͎.̠ͤ̒̐̓ͥ

Edit: Yup.

John

21-Feb-2023(#41)

John wrote:

> This still work...

> I̷̠̞̘͕̞̓̐̽̔̄ͦ͂͡ ̸̨̲̜̃̇͂̑͜å͚͕͓̮̘ͥ̔͒ͪͥ͠m̮͍͕̭̍̃ͥ͆̾̋͆ͤ

> ͙̪̖͓̫͎͔̘̬̾ͭ̄ͥ́̂̔́Ğ̞̠̠̲̯̪̳͈̄̇͐̒̆̍́o̵̟ͮ̍̐ͭẓ̈̚ě͓̬̬̯̘̓ͪ̇̊ͪͮř̸̛̭̬͈͉̩̗̺͈̱ͮ͟,̲͇͚̌͐̕

> ͐̇̾̔̔͒̾͠͏̙̫̪͜D͎ͦ̈̂͒̈̚͢ę͇̥͐͋̌ͣ́͜s̗̣̫̟̞̰͂̋̈́̄ͅţ̡̣̯͊ͭ͆̔̚ͅr̷̜̤̎͂̑ͯ̓ͮ̆̀ő̿͒͒́̾ͭ̀̚҉͇̮̮̺̞͎͖ͅy͓̺̰̖̠̋̈͗̃̈́̀̓̋̀̚ẽ̹̋̑͜r̗͍̗̼͔͙̘ͨ͛̀͘͝

> ̨̝̗̼͔͋͞ͅo̸̷̮̞̣̜̺̮̪̊̉͠f̨ͣͥ̔͋͗͛̉̚҉̷̦̳̪̳ ̝ͤ̀͝Ŵ̛̞̺̈́ͦ͜ǒͦ̑̌̉̾̿̚͏̜̹͎͚̺̳r̴̟̳̂̓͊̓͂̀̎͠l̴̵͎̞̈́̿͗ͦd̡̜̬͔̹ͭ͌̽̆̔͒ͣͧs̀͂̇͂ͮ̄̊͘҉̥̤̱͎.̠ͤ̒̐̓ͥ

> Edit: Yup.

Quoting that for a reply is fun.