Multiplayer Interactive-Fiction Game-Design Blog

DatabaseBackup

You can use this function to make nightly backups of the database.

This first saves the database (essentially callying DatabaseSave()), and then copies all the database files to a backup directory.

Parameter Name	Description
Directory	Name of the directory where to backup to, such as "c:\\my backups\\monday".
Return value description	Returns TRUE if the database was backed up, FALSE if there was an error.

DatabaseObjectAdd

This adds the given object to the database (so it will be backed up to disk). It immediately checks out the added object.

Once an object has been added you will need to call DatabaseObjectCheckIn() when it's finished being used, before it's deleted.

Parameter Name	Description
DatabaseName	Name of the database. This cannot contain any spaces, and must be made up of letters, numbers (except the fist character), and underscores.
Object	Object to be added to the database.
Return value description	Returns TRUE if the object was added, FALSE if it couldn't be added (perhaps because it already exists in the database).

DatabaseObjectCheckIn

This checks in an object that was checked out. Every time DatabaseObjectCheckOut() is called to create an object, a call to DatabaseObjectCheckIn() must be called when the object is finished being used (just before it's deleted).

Calls to DatabaseObjectCheckIn() deletes the object from the virtual machine unless a parameter (DontDelete) is set.

The checked in object will (eventually) be saved to disk. To force a checked-in object to be saved right away, call DatabaseSave(); this can be a slow call since it will save everything in the database.

DatabaseObjectCheckOut

Checks out an object from the database.

Call this function to load an object from the database into the current virtual machine. Once an object is checked out you will need to check it in before the object is destroyed.

For example: If a monster (aka: object) is in a seldom-visited room then keeping it saved to disk until a player enters the room will save memory on the server. When the player enters the room, the monster would be checked-out. (The object ID can be gotten by calling DatabaseObjectQuery() to find all checked-in objects within the room.)

Parameter Name	Description
DatabaseName	Name of the database. This cannot contain any spaces, and must be made up of letters, numbers (except the fist character), and underscores.
Object	Object which is to be checked out.
Return value description	Returns TRUE if the object was added, FALSE if it couldn't be checked out (perhaps because the object is already checked out).

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