How could I have handled this network notification system better?

Garry's Mod coding
#1

I have a question about how I could have solved this problem better especially because my solution is not scalable in terms of Big-O. So on gmod there is this pointshop, It has a function that sends a notifications to the player:

simplified version for example purpose
SERVER

function Player:PS_Notify(…)
net.Start(‘PS_SendNotification’)
end

CLIENT

net.Receive(‘PS_SendNotification’, function(length)
displayNotification()
end

Now this works for 1 notification, but If i have different Icons or different styled notifications. I don’t want to have to create this

util.AddNetworkString(‘PS_SendNotification1 - version 1’)
util.AddNetworkString(‘PS_SendNotification2 - version 2’)
util.AddNetworkString(‘PS_SendNotification3 version 3’)

Different scenarios require different notifications. Is using this many network strings bad networking? Lucky I only had 3 notification styles because this solved my problem. I just feel kinda dirty. How could I have solved this better? Maybe I should have created a notification handler that activates the notification sequence but has logic that chooses which notification to launch? what would that involve, Local Booleans I’m guessing ?

:cake:

#2

Why not send “version” to the client as an integer and then call the notification that you need based on that “version”?

#3

Well, if I understand it right, if you pass less data to a message it will be more faster. So, different network string for each notification is more preferable if performance is important to you.

#4

But still, if you want to customize your notification from server you can do this.

Shared:

ICON_TYPE_NONE = 0
ICON_TYPE_WARN = 1
ICON_TYPE_ERROR = 2

Server:

util.AddNetworkString("PS_SendCustomizableNotification")
function PS_SendCustomizableNotification(ply, iconType)
    net.Start("PS_SendCustomizableNotification")
    net.WriteUInt(iconType, 2)
    net.Send(ply)
end
PS_SendCustomizableNotification(ICON_TYPE_WARN)

Client:

net.Receive("PS_SendCustomizableNotification", function(len)
    local iconType = net.ReadUInt(2) // 2 bits = [0..3]
    displayNotification(iconType)
end)

Same with messages, but you have to do this:

local messages = {
    [MSG_TYPE_HELLO] = "Hello, World",
    [MSG_TYPE_TEST] = "Test message",
}
net.Receive("PS_SendCustomizableNotification", function(len)
    local msgType = net.ReadUInt(1) // 1 bit = [0..1]
    local msgString = messages[msgType]
    displayNotification(msgString)
end)
1 Like
#5

We are talking here about 2 Bits when WriteUInt is used with a max value of 3

thats alot less than 3 entire netstrings
here why:

  • you can only have 2048 netstrings in total (may be increased in the future)
  • the netstring itself needs to be networked to client too

sending 2 bits more in a net message that may get sent sometimes is not worth the extra 2 netstring slot usage when you use different names instead (its basicly like creating a global variable: not good)

1 Like