GamesExplorer

Ooh it's been a while since i've been in this forum...

*Blows dust of keyboard*

I want to use the gamesexplorer to look through my own or my opponents games. To see what I have done most in previous games and more importantly to investigate easily my opponents most played openings etc.

It would also help me because I play a variety of openings and it could help me see where i need to practice and which lines aren't working for me.

I would usually just download my games and create a database but I have no computer to call my own at the moment and all the games are already held on the servers surely it could be done by further filtering the games already in the database.

Ok, feel free to shoot down this idea in flames... 3... 2... 1... GO! GO! GO!

Locked, ready and load: Hasta la vista, motherhugger!

I like the idea.

Addition:
There is the "My Games"-link, but for me it says that no games progressed
from the initial setup. 😕😵

I simply haven't made a single move since I got here.

Ahhhhh - I see's it I does.

It doesn't look like it's been updated for a very long time as I've only got less than half my games in there. It probably hasn't been updated since you joined!

Anyway, if the option is already there to filter your own games it shouldn't be any trouble at all to have a text box for the desired opponents site name to be entered and filter the results by their name.

Originally posted by cadwah
...it shouldn't be any trouble at all to have a text box for the desired opponents site name to be entered and filter the results by their name.

Moreover, to keep the thing updated should be a piece of cake. All it takes
is a cron script and a separate database for gamesexplorer.

Originally posted by Jigtie
Moreover, to keep the thing updated should be a piece of cake. All it takes
is a cron script and a separate database for gamesexplorer.

So my idea is feasible and it would only take one of these 'cron' scripts and seperate datab..... hold on, wouldn't a seperate database be more expensive for the site, essentially you would be storing the same data twice?

Originally posted by cadwah
So my idea is feasible and it would only take one of these 'cron' scripts and seperate datab..... hold on, wouldn't a seperate database be more expensive for the site, essentially you would be storing the same data twice?

It would be more expensive in terms of space, but it wouldn't cost
anything in terms of performance. If the gamesexplorer would use the
real games database, then it would put a heavy load on the same
database that we use to play games, in effect putting the site to a halt.

For some reason, they quit updating the gamesexplorer database. Why,
I don't know. In any case, gamesexplorer could actually be located on
its own server which would query back into the original database ones
every 24 hours (cron script) to update its own database. That way, it
wouldn't put much load on the site at large, and it would be very
responsive when we use the gamesexplorer.

I guess the main issue is: How many of us uses gamesexplorer (and for
this purpose), to justify the cost of an extra machine on the side?

Originally posted by Jigtie
It would be more expensive in terms of space, but it wouldn't cost
anything in terms of performance. If the gamesexplorer would use the
real games database, then it would put a heavy load on the same
database that we use to play games, in effect putting the site to a halt.

For some reason, they quit updating the gamesexplorer database. Why,
I don't ...[text shortened]... gamesexplorer (and for
this purpose), to justify the cost of an extra machine on the side?

I use it, isn't that justification enough.

I think that the reason that it is not directly advertised on the site by a link is because it would put too much load on the site server.

Maybe seperate servers and your 'cron' script would allow the site to publicise and use this feature as a selling point for the site instead of it being some forgotten ginger stepchild.

Originally posted by Jigtie
It would be more expensive in terms of space, but it wouldn't cost
anything in terms of performance. If the gamesexplorer would use the
real games database, then it would put a heavy load on the same
database that we use to play games, in effect putting the site to a halt.

Surely if you set up a cron for it you'll be pulling all the data from the games db to save in the new games explorer db. Which means when you're doing the update you'll be slowing the performance on the normal games db.

Originally posted by Daemon Sin
Surely if you set up a cron for it you'll be pulling all the data from the games db to save in the new games explorer db. Which means when you're doing the update you'll be slowing the performance on the normal games db.

You could be right, depending on the number of moves made per day.
Though it should be noted that most database tables are optimised for
read operations, rather than write operations. That means, the load on
the database server will be considerably less if you read the moves
made since the last update (not the entire database) into a
temporary table, and then write to the separate gamesexplorer
database, as opposed to read and write into the same database.

Another solution is to have a mirror server, where every change made to
the real games database is sent over to the mirror server. This would
happen in the background during idle time, so it wouldn't affect the
performance of the site, and the cron script would then have a complete
copy of the real games database to work with on the side.

I'm saying there are solutions to this problem, but whether they're worth
the time, cost and effort, I would assume is dependant on how many
people will actually use this feature.