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-... 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?
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)
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?
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.
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, I’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 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.
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.
nonamesleft
* 21-Feb-2023(#25)@Bill
Testing characters:
Pokémon
∞
🍕
I've
🍎
🐍 🐉
nonamesleft
* 21-Feb-2023(#26)Pokémon
∞
🍕
I've
🍎
🐍 🐉
😎😂
😂
😎
🏈🥏
♟️
😋
🎁
€
¥
£
°
™
✓
π
§
∆
~♪
≠
✨
©
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.
nonamesleft
21-Feb-2023(#32)Thanks for doing all of this to improve the GTZ experience. Much appreciated!
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
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.
nonamesleft
21-Feb-2023(#42)Foxhack wrote:> Wait does this mean we can see emojis on desktop now
There used to be an issue where if you tried using emojis or certain special characters, at least via the app, the result would be an odd mix of characters instead.
nonamesleft
21-Feb-2023(#43)John wrote:> This still work...
>
>
> I̷̠̞̘͕̞̓̐̽̔̄ͦ͂͡ ̸̨̲̜̃̇͂̑͜å͚͕͓̮̘ͥ̔͒ͪͥ͠m̮͍͕̭̍̃ͥ͆̾̋͆ͤ ͙̪̖͓̫͎͔̘̬̾ͭ̄ͥ́̂̔́Ğ̞̠̠̲̯̪̳͈̄̇͐̒̆̍́o̵̟ͮ̍̐ͭẓ̈̚ě͓̬̬̯̘̓ͪ̇̊ͪͮř̸̛̭̬͈͉̩̗̺͈̱ͮ͟,̲͇͚̌͐̕
> ͐̇̾̔̔͒̾͠͏̙̫̪͜D͎ͦ̈̂͒̈̚͢ę͇̥͐͋̌ͣ́͜s̗̣̫̟̞̰͂̋̈́̄ͅţ̡̣̯͊ͭ͆̔̚ͅr̷̜̤̎͂̑ͯ̓ͮ̆̀ő̿͒͒́̾ͭ̀̚҉͇̮̮̺̞͎͖ͅy͓̺̰̖̠̋̈͗̃̈́̀̓̋̀̚ẽ̹̋̑͜r̗͍̗̼͔͙̘ͨ͛̀͘͝
> ̨̝̗̼͔͋͞ͅo̸̷̮̞̣̜̺̮̪̊̉͠f̨ͣͥ̔͋͗͛̉̚҉̷̦̳̪̳ ̝ͤ̀͝Ŵ̛̞̺̈́ͦ͜ǒͦ̑̌̉̾̿̚͏̜̹͎͚̺̳r̴̟̳̂̓͊̓͂̀̎͠l̴̵͎̞̈́̿͗ͦd̡̜̬͔̹ͭ͌̽̆̔͒ͣͧs̀͂̇͂ͮ̄̊͘҉̥̤̱͎.̠ͤ̒̐̓ͥ
>
>
> Edit: Yup.
What in the world? How'd you do that?
bill
22-Feb-2023(#45)Here's a summary of issues since the UTF-8 upgrade.
o The app was garbling special characters.
- I think this is now fixed (thanks again, nonamesleft )
o Emails had garbled special characters
- Fixed, (thanks again, Foxhack)
o Images on the site were a bit wonky. For example, games with names that end in '?' didn't allow for an image to be uploaded for the item page.
- I tracked this down to an image system I've used for decades. I'm not sure why, but it was unable to open files reliably. This morning, I switched it to an alternate image system that works fine. So, I think this is now fixed too.
Current Issues
o Server is getting wedged
- This is tricky to understand and I'm not sure it's even because of utf8, but the server has been getting into a state where it doesn't serve pages. I have a system in place that will restart it automatically after 5 minutes, so it's not terrible, but not as good as it was before. I don't see how this could be utf8 related, but it started since I went to utf8.
- I'm trying various changes to the server configuration to try to eliminate this.
o Some of the tables didn't convert to utf8. These were not important things, but I'd like to be 100% utf8.
- The tables are storing IP addresses as strings, and utf8 strings have some effects on them that prevent the conversion.
- I can store the IP addresses as an integer instead, though. So, that should get around utf8 and may even result in faster tables. But, it will take some work to convert over to using the integer-format ip addresses in my code.
Foxhack
10-Apr-2023(#54)ryanflucas wrote:> I’m seeing a fish?
That's the April Fools gag for this year. Guess Bill hasn't turned it off. :)
dunno001
11-Apr-2023(#55)Foxhack wrote:> ryanflucas wrote:
>> I’m seeing a fish?
>
> That's the April Fools gag for this year. Guess Bill hasn't turned it off. :)
I'm also guessing they only show up in your own posts?
Foxhack
11-Apr-2023(#56)Nope, I saw them in random posts by people over the past week.
ryanflucas
11-Apr-2023(#57)I was seeing them on everyone but me.
bill
11-Apr-2023(#58)@ryanflucas
https://gametz.com/?A=FunFun ...click a fish to get on the board, find them all! You get an icon with a percent.
Not many people found it on April 1st, so I extended its time on the site. I keep checking to see if people have stopped fishing, but it's still happening. So, I haven't shut it down yet. It will end by the end of the month either way.
Note that you can turn it all off if you click "April Fool's [on]" in the menus/footer.
ryanflucas
11-Apr-2023(#60)Should have said “it’s carp” instead of “it’s crap” in the flow chart.
bill
12-Apr-2023(#61)Foxhack wrote:>
> Title is glitched when browsing the forum (Pokemon displays as "Pokémon"), but
> shows up fine when you click on the actual topic.
I looked into this and here's where things seem to stand.
The New Layout has a first post preview feature. When you hover over a topic from the forum's list, it shows you a pop-up with the text from the first post previewed.
If the subject or first post contains special characters, they can get garbled (as you showed). There's your case where the subject of the topic has special-chars and they are shown in the list as garbled. Then, the other case I know of is if the post itself has special characters, they get garbled in the preview pop-up. I can fix either case, but it causes the other case to break.
A month or so ago, I "fixed" the case where the preview case garbled chars. But, this caused the topic list garbling you reported. So, I've reverted that (seems more important that the topic list looks right as previews are less seen).
I have no idea why this is happening, which is disturbing, but not the end of the world.
I'm tempted to simply remove post previews entirely. Most people use the Old Layout and Mobile layout anyway. And, I suspect not many New Layout users really care about the feature.
I'm still looking at it, so maybe I'll get a clue and really fix it, but it seems unlikely.