Hello everyone,

Now that DualBrain has fixed the HTTP notification (thanks DB), I would like to do something w/ it, but I can't figure out what.  I am asking you guys for suggestions, because you will be the one using it.  It will be a public service, hosted on my server.

Some posibilities:

• Tracking your Gamerscore (vs Others?) - Could be better than in XBF because you could share it with people
  
• RSS (kinda unreliable though)

Any other thoughts?

-Brian

P.S. DB, im not trying to take "business" away from you, but rather, compliment XBF

"P.S. DB, im not trying to "business" away from you, but rather, compliment XBF"

:-)

I would never take it that way... and you know this is exactly the reason why I added the notifications in the first place.  Besides, if you do something really interesting, cool, amazing, etc.; I'll probably be one of the first to utilize it!

And, like I said before, if you need any modifications, be sure to let me know (and, when I get a moment, I'll post all of the tags you can take advantage of in the HTTP notification url --- there's a few that aren't in the default example).  If I forget, be sure to ask in the forums about these and I'll get them posted.

One of the main purposes I see for this feature is the possibility of having a "clan list" that people could put on their websites.  Basically all the members could contribute to the real-time refreshing of this list by actively running XBF on their desktops.  The server could take this information (via HTTP Notifications) and combine it into one large list that could be viewed by everyone... even those not using XBF.  In addition, this information could be further utilized by recording various information regarding each member such as gamerscore tracking, gameplay duration and gameplay "history".  (And yes, XBF will be seeing this returning very soon; especially since the (I'm assuming due to the lack of posts) that the latest version is working pretty well for everyone.)

Hello HalfBrain & DualBrain,

I am going to use the HTTP notification to send an alert to my Nabaztag (www.nabaztag.com). I have run a quick test, and it works, except XBF keeps sending the same msg over and over, and the only way to stop it is to close the app. Am I doing something wrong?

It's so freeky having a white rabbit with moving ears telling you who's online and what they are playing !!

 
Thanks

 

Trebor ManUK
 

That is sooooooo cool.  I gotta get me one of those.

Are you sure that it's sending the exact "same msg"?

I don't think your doing anything wrong, I just tested it locally and had my webserver setup to beep every time it got an update and it's working as expected.  However, what you might be experiencing is the fact that upon initial startup it will send out a notification for every one of your friends.  After this initial push, it will send one based on any changes that occur.

If this is not the case, please let me know.

 

Unfortunately its definitely repeating the same "msg" over & over, when I used it for the first time it sent the same notification over 30 times before I exited XBF (I only have 24 people on my friends list). Every "msg" contained the same gamertag and status details. For info (if it helps) the URL I am using is as follows (# replacing sensitive info):

http://www.nabaztag.com/vl/FR/api.jsp?key=###########&sn=############&token=##############&voice=graham22&tts=<gamertag>+is+<status>+playing+<game>

If I use the same url (removing the <> tags) in Firefox I get the following info back from the nabaztag site:

"Your text was forwarded ; idMusic:#######."

That’s all that comes back, just the text inside the quotes, there is no html source behind what is displayed on return in firefox.

I'm gonna play around with the url formatting, and see if changing some of the query string parameter positions makes any difference, but any help you can offer would be appreciated.

I've only had the 'bunny' for 2 days now, and its very cool (also scares cats too!!).

 

Thanks

 

Rob

Ok bit more info....

I ran a packet sniffer (ethereal) & captured the traffic generated by XBF (from sign-in to exit of app). The log shows multiple http gets, containing the same gamertag info and status being sent to the nabaztag URL, with a 2 to 3 second delay between the get & and a 'successful' response. In-between each notification http get, XBF seems to be retrieving the 'next in the list' gamertag information, it then immediately sends a duplicate http notification. It always duplicates the information of whomever XBF decides is the 'first in the list' of my active friends.

Many Thanks

Rob

(Trebor ManUK)

 

Trebor,

I don't know about your problem, but one way to make your alert better would be to change the tts to tts=<gamertag>+is+<presence> because that will also work for things like offline and things like that (away, etc...)

-Brian 

Thanks for the tip HalfBrian! I'll give it a try.

DualBrain,

Just a suggestion; have you thought of opening a dialogue with Nabaztag, they openly state they are looking for useful ways of using the device, and linking it with XBF is very cool. There's no harm in asking, and you never know where it might lead ;-)

 
Just a thought!

Trebor

I just fired off an email to them seeing if they have some sort of test account and querying them on the possiblity of promoting them on this site.  Thanks for the heads up and I'll do whatever I can to a) get this working and b) extend the features accordingly. 

Right now I'm not in a position to purchase one of these units... but I can tell you that I sure love the idea; thus the reason why I'm seeing if there's some assistance I can get from them regarding a test account.  With it working directly with both IIS (Microsoft web server) and Apache web servers, it's difficult to determine what is going wrong <scratches head>.  So if they can provide me with a test account, it'd be helpful.

Sounds good, lets hope they are up for the idea..

 

In the mean time, if I can help in any way with testing, info, etc then please let me know.

 

Once again, thanks.

 

Trebor ManUK 

Ok, I promise this will be my last post on this topic.....;-)

I have created my own simple .net website (running locally on iis) to take the posts from XBF and then forward them onto NabazTag, this stops the duplication issue (XBF only sends 1 notification to my iis), plus I am able to add my own filters etc. In the unlikely event this could be useful to anyone else, let me know and I will provide the source, just don't expect anything flashy!!

 

Trebor ManUK 

 

 

Trebor,

As an existing customer with Nabaztag, can you contact them regarding the problem... and the fact that you've come up with this particular work around.  I explained in my email that what I'm doing works fine with IIS and Apache and inquired regarding whether or not they have some sort of test account.  I have yet to receive an answer, but maybe if more than one of us contacts them, then they may take the inquiry more seriously.

Out of curiosity though, how are you filtering the data?  I'm always looking for new ideas. ;-)

It appears the Nabaztag guys are coming through for me and I'll have a test account soon.  After I get this, I'll work to get XBF working directly with it and work to improve the overall usage between the two.  So any ideas you have, send them my way.

That’s great news!!

 

I have improved my little app since my last post, it currently does the following:

 

Global Game Alert Filters - Stops any alerts going for games you do not play or have no interest in.

Game Alert Phonetic Translations – Enables games to be read out correctly by the Nabaztag ie Chromehounds becomes Krome Hounds

GamerTag Alert Filters - Stops any alerts going for GamerTags you specify.

GamerTag Phonetic Translations - So GamerTags are read out correctly by the Nabaztag ie xX J3nny Xx becomes Jenny

GamerTag Game Filters - Stop alerts going for chosen games, for specific GamerTags.

 

This is all done in vb.net using xml for storage.

 

All of the xml data is captured & created dynamically, so the user does not have to pre-program the system for new games or GamerTags.

To set filters and phonetic translations, the user can amend the contents of the xml file accordingly. I intend to write a small front-end to do this (when I get Time).

 

I am currently trying to catch the msgId returned by Nabaztag when you send an alert. For info, whenever you send a text to speech msg

the nabaztag site turns this into an MP3 to send to the device. Each MP3 has its own unique ID, so my aim is to capture this id, and then when the same alert is sent via XBF, my app asks Nabaztag just to resend the MP3 again. The logic is working but the app falls over when trying to process the response from

Nabaztag. I believe this is because of the way they send the info back, the return string is full of tabs, carriage returns and other useless crap.

I think this is what is causing my problem (maybe yours too?).

 

Happy to share if its any use to you...