I've got a chat system running, but how can I make it more streamlined? (Flowchart included)

Hello!
I've made a chat system, which has worked well so far. However, I wish I could make this more streamlined.

Currently, it seems to me that any client to server communication, has to go via the very first "Player" object you spawn with the NetworkManager, is this correct?

In this case, I wish I could just go directly via the Chat Relay object when sending a message, but I can't seem to run commands on objects that the client doesn't own.

Any ideas?

Cheers

 

Hi !
Apparently you are right, in the manual it is written:

You can create your own network message and send it to the server
You can take a look in this page: http://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/UNetMessages.html

 

Thanks!
Seems like exactly like what I need.

I do have another question though - in that example in the documentation, it says:

Code (CSharp):

1.    public void Init(NetworkClient client)
2.     {
3.         m_client = client;
4.         NetworkServer.RegisterHandler(MyBeginMsg, OnServerReadyToBeginMessage);
5.     }

But Init is not called automatically. Where and when do I call this, and where do I get the NetworkClient from?
I tried getting it in Awake, from NetworkManager.singleton.client, but it appears to be null.

 

You have to extends the NetworkManager class: http://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/UNetManager.html

Override this function

Code (CSharp):

1. public virtual void OnServerReady(NetworkConnection conn)
2. {
3.      GameManager.RegisterServerHandlers();
4. }
5.  
6. public class GameManager
7. {
8.     [Server]
9.     public static void RegisterServerHandlers()
10.     {
11.         // here we register our network message handlers.
12.     }
13. }

 

You can use all of the Messaging System without using the NetworkManager (which is just a utility class that implements some default behaviour). All you need to do is handle the Client/Server Connections yourself.

 

Alright! I'm still not sure where I would get access to the NetworkClient that I need though, if I use the code above

 

@Necromantic
You are right. It is just to simplify the example without explain how to start a server and a client !

@Acegikmo
if you are using the NetworkManger you can access to it via NetworkManager.client or you can take a look on this page http://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/UNetClientServer.html

 

After some help from the kind people at #unity3d-unet, I got a message-based chat up and running instead, which is much cleaner

Here's the code, in case anyone else needs it!

Code (CSharp):

1. using UnityEngine;
2. using UnityEngine.Networking;
3. using UnityEngine.Networking.NetworkSystem;
4. using System.Collections;
5.  
6. public class ChatRelayer : NetworkBehaviour {
7.  
8.     const short CHAT_MSG = MsgType.Highest + 1; // Unique message ID
9.     public Chat chat; // Separate, non-networked script handling the chat window/interface/GUI
10.     NetworkClient client;
11.  
12.     void Start() {
13.         NetworkManager netManager = GameObject.FindObjectOfType<NetworkManager>();
14.         client = netManager.client;
15.         if( client.isConnected )
16.             client.RegisterHandler( CHAT_MSG, ClientReceiveChatMessage );
17.         if( isServer )
18.             NetworkServer.RegisterHandler( CHAT_MSG, ServerReceiveChatMessage );
19.    
20.     }
21.  
22.     public void SendChatMessage(string msg) {
23.         StringMessage strMsg = new StringMessage( msg );
24.         if( isServer ) {
25.             NetworkServer.SendToAll( CHAT_MSG, strMsg ); // Send to all clients
26.         } else if(client.isConnected ) {
27.             client.Send( CHAT_MSG, strMsg ); // Sending message from client to server
28.         }
29.     }
30.  
31.     public void ServerReceiveChatMessage( NetworkMessage netMsg ) {
32.         string str = netMsg.ReadMessage<StringMessage>().value;
33.         if( isServer ) {
34.             SendChatMessage( str ); // Send the chat message to all clients
35.         }
36.     }
37.  
38.     public void ClientReceiveChatMessage( NetworkMessage netMsg ) {
39.         string str = netMsg.ReadMessage<StringMessage>().value;
40.         if( client.isConnected ) {
41.             chat.AppendMessage( str ); // Add the message to the client's local chat window
42.         }
43.     }
44.  
45. }

 

Thank you, helped me alot!