Best posts made by grapenut

The MUSH Portal is an integrated web platform for PennMUSH servers (PennMUSH v1.8.7p0 or higher required). The Javascript web client runs entirely in your own browser and is built with a responsive mobile-friendly UI. It features a fully customizable 256-color terminal emulator with a window manager that enables you to manage multiple chat spawn windows and integrated MUSH apps like a reader/composer for @mail and Myrddin's BBS. The configuration editor allows the user to define custom taskbar buttons, text triggers, command macros, automatic timers and key bindings. This is the initial beta release, so I would greatly appreciate feedback and suggestions.

For players: try it live on my very minimal demo server at http://www.mushportal.com, or try it on your own favorite PennMUSH v1.8.7p0 or higher game like the M*U*S*H development server at http://www.mushportal.com?mush.pennmush.org:4201. Works great on mobile!

For admin: add the MUSH Portal to your own website using the Github link above. Also included is an example implementation of the softcode event handler and global command object that integrates with the web client using the JSON API. This allows you to exchange information with the client behind-the-scenes so you can build your own custom apps like CharGen, +sheet, combat, friends list, etc. Please contact me if you need assistance or are interested in creating your own integrated apps. I would love to help!

If you have any suggestions or feedback please feel free to open an issue on the Github repository, or leave a message on the dev server at node.grapenut.org:2000.

Hello PennMUSH Wizards,

In case you hadn't heard, the latest github version of PennMUSH now supports webclients connecting directly from a user's web browser using HTML/Javascript and websockets. Your website can use the simple example client to allow guests to connect, or you can create a completely unique client made of HTML/CSS and controlled using Javascript. I have provided an example client javascript library that implements xterm256 color. With wizard or pueblo powers you can enhance your room parents and +sheet commands with safely embedded HTML and clickable "Pueblo"-like command links only seen by webclients. It is also possible for the MUSH to send JSON to the clients, telling clients to show popup dynamic maps, status displays or anything else you could imagine displaying in a web page using information from the MUSH.

My example client can be found at https://github.com/grapenut/websockclient.

Any updated PennMUSH can quickly and easily integrate the example client into their own website to allow guests to try out the game with full xterm256 color support. There is no complicated setup like a Flash client, and users connect from their own IP address allowing sitelock rules to remain effective.

Any games with a skilled HTML/Javascript wizard that are interested in extending the example client to uniquely support their game, please contact me and I will help you get started. Softcode wizards can see 'help websockets' for more information on the new functions added to send HTML and JSON, along with the existing Pueblo functions that still work.

Cheers,
-grapenut

@arkandel said in Site access blocked due to password being sent unencrypted.:

I won't have to do actual work to implement Let's Encrypt here.

https://certbot.eff.org/

It takes about 30 seconds using Certbot to setup Lets Encrypt for the web server of your choice. Handles all of the config updates for you. Handles automatic renewals for you.

@kumakun said in What's out there now and what has been attempted? A codebase discussion.:

@arkandel I wholeheartedly agree. I was /thinking/ of telnet because I wanted to make it approachable for people stuck to their telnet clients.

It would be interesting to define a websocket protocol to standardize server/client communications so someone so inclined could make a ws based client capable of connecting to multiple servers. I entertained a webRTC data connection for a second, but, overkill.

You will be happy to know that a websocket protocol and browser-based clients already exist for the latest PennMUSH release, with basic support for RhostMUSH in a private fork as well. The newest client can be found at https://github.com/grapenut/mush-portal with a live demo at https://node.grapenut.org. It already integrates with the basic stuff like room navigation/contents, @mail and Myrddin's BB. I'm currently working on per-game customization and integration for things like chargen, character sheets, or even browsing logs/wiki.

It features a full 256 color terminal with support for inline HTML/Pueblo and out-of-band JSON communication. There is a built-in windowing system which powers the @mail and +bb apps. Something like chargen or +sheet could spawn it's own fully interactive window. Some of the planned features include custom events, triggers, macros and keybinds. These could be used to create separate chat windows, for instance, where your channels and/or pages are displayed with custom coloring, etc. Your game's wiki could be accessed simultaneously through text in-game or formatted with HTML/CSS in a popup window.

There's no reason to choose one or the other. All of this runs on a standard PennMUSH server, so you can support the traditional telnet users while at the same time offering an enhanced experience for Web users. It comes with an event handler object that eases integration, but also works reasonably well for an updated PennMUSH without any server-side changes. It's built with JavaScript and ReactJS (like Facebook!), so there is a HUGE framework of tools available and it's pretty easy for people to modify to suit their needs. This is still very much a work-in-progress and I'm currently looking for help making it more mobile-friendly, with a possible native mobile app down the line.

@nymeria I'm so glad you like it!

You'll need to be good with Javascript in order to do much else with the minimal example client. I kept the HTML/CSS very basic so you can copy and paste it into your own website. A little spit and polish on the styling will go a long way towards blending with your theme.

I've been working on a more advanced example that's bundled with a window manager to allow for multiple panels, e.g. a detachable channel window or a dynamic map. I hope to make it a little more straight forward for MUSH Wizards to use JSON to drive those displays without needing to know any Javascript.

I'm also looking to make it more mobile-friendly with better CSS. I'm very much open to ideas and suggestions for improvement!

I have been working on an idea for turn-based 2d combat using the web client to draw an overhead view of the tilemap and characters. I was thinking a smaller 16x16 grid within each room, like the original Zelda.