MS.Net Framework with emphasis on online gaming Ed Mucker CS522 9 Dec 02

Overview Online Gaming MS.Net Framework.Net Framework Class Library Project Implementation

Online Gaming Architecture –Server/Client (request/response through one point) –Peer to peer (client responsible for sending all messages) Transport Protocol –TCP - connection with server –UDP - communication with other players (chat functions) Number of users –Dependent on hardware/operating system (hundreds/thousands) –Use of zones to distribute load (one zone per server) –Threading techniques used to accommodate multiple users

MS.Net Framework Java architecture for Windows –Common Language Runtime (JVM) –MS Intermediate Language (Java Byte Code) –Executable code machine dependent (MS OS only) CLR based languages –C# (very similar to Java) –VB.Net/Visual C++.Net/JScript.Net –Class interoperability between languages (CLS) CLR services –Automatic garbage collection –Assemblies/metadata (manifest)

MS.Net Framework Class Library Namespaces –Similar to packages in Java –Consists of subordinate namespaces and classes –Root namespace is “System” Common Subordinate namespaces –IO, Net, Threading, Runtime.Serialization, Windows.Forms Use within CLR languages –Syntax “using System.XXXX;” –Similar to import statements in Java –.Net/User defined

Project Implementation Client/Server Architecture Generate simple multi-user TCP socket program Implementation done in C# MS.Net Namespaces used –IO (reader stream) –Net (Network stream class) –Net.Sockets (TCP listener/client classes) –Threading (Thread class) Safe Code - Delegates (pointer to function) Asynchronous communication with multiple users

C# Programming Example - TCP Listener using System.Threading; public static void Main(){ //var declaration code TcpListener listener = new TcpListener(8080); listener.Start(); TcpClient client = listener.AcceptTcpClient(); ClientHandler cHandler = new ClientHandler(); cHandler.clientsocket = client; ThreadStart t = new ThreadStart(cHandler.RunClient); Thread clientThread = new Thread(t); clientThread.Start(); listener.Stop(); }

C# Programming Example - RunClient() using System.Text; using System.Net; public static void RunClient(){ StreamReader read = new StreamReader (clientSocket.GetStream()); NetworkStream write = clientSocket.GetStream(); string returndata = read.ReadLine(); System.Console.WriteLine(returndata);//write data to screen byte [] datawrite = Encoding.ASCII.GetBytes(returndata); write.Write(datawrite, 0, datawrite.Length); clientSocket.Close(); }

References Multi-Player Game Programming (Barron) Understanding.Net (Chappell) Professional.Net Network Programming (multiple authors) Mastering Visual C#.Net (Price)

Questions????