# Configuring `save.php` iFractions is developed to run mainly on the client side. However, it communicates with a **MySQL** database to save information about the player's progress after each level. There's a **PHP** file called `save.php` that manages the connection between the game and the database. Also, the asynchronous communication is stablished using **XMLHTTPRequest**. # How to set up the database connection correctly First you'll need a **MySQL** database installed on the server (more info in https://www.mysql.com). Now, in order for iFractions to successfully establish a connection to the database you must: 1. create and set up the database for the game. 2. update `./php/save.php` 3. update `./js/globals/globals_functions.js` ## 1) Creating the database for iFractions Considering the **database name** to be `db_ifractins` and the **table name** to be `ifractions`, you can setup the MySQL database as follows: CREATE DATABASE db_ifractions; USE db_ifractions; CREATE TABLE ifractions ( line_id int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT, line_hostip varchar(255) DEFAULT NULL, line_playername varchar(256) CHARACTER SET latin1 COLLATE latin1_general_ci NOT NULL, line_datetime varchar(20) CHARACTER SET latin1 COLLATE latin1_general_ci NOT NULL, line_lang varchar(6) CHARACTER SET latin1 COLLATE latin1_general_ci NOT NULL, line_game varchar(10) CHARACTER SET latin1 COLLATE latin1_general_ci NOT NULL, line_mode varchar(1) CHARACTER SET latin1 COLLATE latin1_general_ci NOT NULL, line_operator varchar(5) CHARACTER SET latin1 COLLATE latin1_general_ci NOT NULL, line_level int(5) NOT NULL, line_mappos int(5) NOT NULL, line_result varchar(6) CHARACTER SET latin1 COLLATE latin1_general_ci NOT NULL, line_time varchar(20) CHARACTER SET latin1 COLLATE latin1_general_ci NOT NULL, line_details varchar(120) CHARACTER SET latin1 COLLATE latin1_general_ci NOT NULL, PRIMARY KEY (line_id) ) ENGINE = InnoDB AUTO_INCREMENT = 1 DEFAULT CHARSET = latin1; Note that each column has the prefix `line_`. ## 2) `save.php` You have to set values for the following variables in `./php/save.php` to match the database's: $servername = "localhost"; // INSERT MySQL server $username = "your_db_username"; // INSERT MySQL user name $password = "your_db_password"; // INSERT MySQL password $dbname = "db_ifractions"; // INSERT database name (default=db_ifractions) $tablename = "ifractions"; // INSERT table name (default=ifractions) ## 3) `globals_functions.js` Inside `./js/globals/globals_functions.js` there's a global function called `sendToDatabase()`. When the player's information is collected after each game, the game file sends it as a parameter to `sendToDatabase()`. It makes an asynchronous call to `./php/save.php`, that executes the connection to the database. const data = 'line_ip='// INSERT the IP of the machine where the MySQL was set up + '&line_name=' + // player's name + '&line_lang=' + // selected language for the game + // data received from the game as parameter to this function # Where do we use the database in the code? There is a function `postScore()` in every game file: * `./js/games/squareOne.js` * `./js/games/squareTwo.js` * `./js/games/circleOne.js` After each level is completed (with the player's answer being correct or not), before going back to the level map, the function `postScore()`, is called. It joins all the player's progress information into a string (as can be seen below), that is sent as a parameter to `sendToDatabase()`, from `./js/globals/globals_functions.js`, that sends it to the database. const data = '&line_game=' + // collect game shape + '&line_mode=' + // collect game mode type + '&line_oper=' + // collect game math operation type + '&line_leve=' + // collect the selected difficulty for the game + '&line_posi=' + // collect the players position on the map + '&line_resu=' + // collect status for players answer (correct or incorrect) + '&line_time=' + // collect time spent finishing the game + '&line_deta=' + // collect extra details specific to current game