Game update

Today we did some updates on the three games :

- sudoku : add an interface in order to choose the level

- hangman : some bug correction and victoryDisplay !!

- arithmetic trainer : design improvement, implement of the checking algorithm and interface in order to choose the level

And some modifications of the menu content.

Login and creation of accounts working fine

We have solve a little problem with the error messages, nothing important, but now is working well.

We have checked that the google database (Google Base) is working fine, we can add users and check the DB, so we think that we can go on with this DB.

Reading the google docs about GWT we found out that the first call to the database is slow, so it's normal that we need to wait a little time wen we want to connect with the DB the first time. Once that the first connection to the DB has been stablished, it works quick.

Login widget improvement

Now that we change our Database and see that it is functionning, we were able to link the login module with the database.

The connection is not instanteneous so we put a animated GIF in order to show to the user that the system is working at checking his ID and that he has to wait !

We add some status/error messages in the module ("checking ID", "username wrong"...)

The "Add new account" is linked with the database too.

Changes in the DB server

We have had problems with our database in db4free.com, working with GWT and an external database (a free database) seems to be a bad idea.

So, we are focusing now in using google Base, we hope to have it working well soon.

Hangman and sudoku update

The hangman has been added to the application and is working.

No particular problem... after the sudoku which was programmed very statically, the hangman is generated more dynamically !

That's why we change a little bit the structure of the sudoku.

Work on the field checking (different error message when a field is empty, wrong, not valid...)

Design with bright color !

As the website is mainly for kid, lets try to put some nice color on it !

Work on the header, footer and with the background color.

The design will probably be improve with the time especially because it is so easy with CSS !

New Account and Password recovery

Today we work on the user management. First the module which enable the user to register on the website :

- creation of a new class with a form (login, password, name, birth year, email...)

- integration in the structure

- check the data given by the user (valid email, login exists already, confirm password...)

Second a module which enable the user to receive a new password if he lost his first password.

Working on the DB

We have started to manage a DB (in http://db4free.net/ ).

We have a simple design, of the DB, only for manage the users. Later we will add more tables and data.
Now we are starting to do some functions for the user login.

Working on the Sudoku

Today the first version of the sudoku is appearing on the website !

First we have done a 9 * 9 table... but than we remember the age of the kid, between 7 and 12 !! So we did a 6 * 6 table and maybe we will do even some 4*4 table !

Working on the sudoku, some problem appears on the login management ! Finally it was only a problem in the order of widget declaration.

SVN working!!!

Finally we can work with SVN and Eclipse. We have had many problems with this, because we didn't know how to work, and also because we had some problems with the SVN directory in google code.

Now we have fixed all the directory problems and we can work well, all is working fine with SVN.

Kind regards!

Working on the design

We are currently working on the structure and the design.

It takes time because we are discovering at the same time the possibilities of GWT.

We don't just work on the design but use this time in order to do tests too !

Subversion System

Although subversion System are incontrovertible system, we both never really worked with it !

So the beginning was arduous ! We spent a lot of time in order to set up it. We use google Code and the subeclipse plugin.

We had some issues with the sharing of the eclipse project : all the project, only the source file, the war folder !?

Development software and deployment

After testing eclipse we thought that it was a little bit to slow and so we looked for other solution. We tested netneans, the interface is better and the software seems more powerful and reliable.

We wanted to deploy our website on a 1and1 account, but we had some issue with the deployment of a war file. So we decide to use Google App.

The next issue was the MySQL database... we have two different databases on different webserver, but none of them are accessible from the google app server. So we study the possibilities with the google app database but finally we chose for the moment to use a free mysql provider : DBFree.

With netbeans the deployment with google app is not automatically done and moreover we discover a nice plugin in eclipse for the interface : GWT Designer. So we decided to use Eclipse.

Summary :

- Eclipse

- DBFree provider for the database

- Google App

Testing the different technologies

We already have worked with PHP in the past so we wanted to discover something else.

After testing the jquery library and look for documentation for all the javascript and AJAX library we did different HOWTO with the Google Web Toolkit !

Java is a famous langage and google is a stat of the art company... so learn how to use this toolkit is important !

Summary : we will use GWT !

Frozen Minds blog up!

Hi!
This is the first post of the Frozen Minds blog. We have our blog up. We need to change a little the style, but we are on it.

At the moment we are configuring the blog, choosing the developing tools and thinking about the website design.

More news soon!