String Comparison

Hi everyone,

I wanted to know if there was a way to do string or text comparison. I'm not talking about number of letters to number of letters, but letter for letter comparison, or my case, word for word and number for number.

Heres my situation:

I'm designing a moderation panel for a private game server we wish to set up and this program will be used to easily send SQL queries and receive SQL query result data from the database. Now, I've successfully been able to retrieve the information and data I need from the database, but I'm looking to make a log in process that goes based off the data from the server database, which coincidently happens to be a lot of text.

I want the log in process to verify three things:
Account ID (text)
Password (MD5 Hash/text & numbers)
Authority (text/1 letter)

Goal:
The moment I press the "Login" button, the program sends three SQL queries to the database and retrieves the data right after and places each query result into an edit box or string object (I've tried both to no avail). Once thats done, it starts to verify the account name, password (in MD5) and authority status based on the input given by the user for account and password. Authority would be checked by the program. I'm going to set it up so that if one authority status check fails, it will fall back to another and run down the list until the last one is checked and gives an error and stops the user from continuing.

Problem:
My current method of comparing the data results from the server to the data input from the user and the programs automatic authority check is to compare two general values. I figured this wouldn't work because it's looking for numbers, so it seems anyway. I can't compare two general strings because there is no such option, to the best of my knowledge anyway. I'm stuck.

In short:
Is there any way to compare two text strings or a mix of numbers and letters to see if they match perfectly? If so, how? @_@

I hope someone can help me with this or point me in the right direction.

Thanks everyone!

Jesse~

I'm not sure if I understand, but you can easily compare strings using the "Compare two general values". You just put the strings in the "". And both of the values must be string of course.
You can also convert string to value:

Code:

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Val("string")

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or value to string:

Code:

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Str$(0)

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By the way, I think downloading such data as login and password into the client is kinda unsafe. People can easily read them then. I would suggest sending the input data into a PHP file and then the PHP script would connect with the MySQL database and check if the data is correct.

The data would only be sent to the program if the data is correct. The SQL queries sent to the database only send back data if it's correct. If any of it is incorrect, you get blank data. Also, a lot of people know the database queries as they are freely available, but the program will only send out the queries already coded into it. Plus, access to the actual moderation area will only be available if certain criteria is met, compared and verified.

Now, as for your reply, here's the thing. I'm trying to compare strings to strings inside of edit box objects. I don't know if the same would apply. I've done:

Code:

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Edittext$("example1") = Edittext$("example1_verify"): Set Global Value A to 1

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Now, when it tries to compare the text and it's the same (I've been using test outputs to check the data on-screen), the Global Values don't change. Basically, once the comparisons pass the checks and set their respective global values to 1 and all three pass, they let you proceed.

So, any ideas?

EDIT:
Nevermind, your idea to turn the strings into values worked beautifully. Thanks for the info.

EDIT2:
The edit boxes will be off-screen and hidden. As long as the values go into them, they'll work. They are out in the open only for testing.

Jesse~

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jesse

EDIT:
Nevermind, your idea to turn the strings into values worked beautifully. Thanks for the info.

---

Eh, what? You shouldn't turn strings into values if the strings aren't numbers.

Yeah, in actuality, after further testing, if the authority is compared, they are both one letter and the check fails. It lets anyone on as long as their name and password match to whats on the database.

Okay LB, then what do you suggest? Still need a way to compare strings to see if they match perfectly.

Jesse~

i'm not sure why a direct comparison of equal strings wouldn't be working unless they're getting junk characters added in somewhere

I dunno why either. I'd give you the program I'm working on, but you'd have to have the same database I'm working on, as well as all the plugins I'm using.

Jesse~

There are two possible reasons for this:

Either you didn't do it right - which is unlikely, you seem like an intelligent person

or

The string comparison is failing because the strings aren't exactly the same. I presume this is the problem. Check for extra spaces or characters in your string. Databases usually add some in the reply.

If that is the case, I recommend removing whatever character it is using a substring replacer before comparing it.

Set a couple string objects on frame to "conetent of the database" and "the content of the edit box" to see what they are. The quotes will help you to see space better.

Fimbul and LB, thanks for your replies.

I went ahead and added the ability to view the output of each query result to string objects instead of edit boxes seeing as the edit boxes were not multi-line. I found out it's adding a new line character (not command) to the output in MMF2, so I'm trying to figure out how to get rid of it or bypass it completely.

I'm gonna try several things to see if they work. This will also help me with learning to develop better in MMF2 since I don't get a chance to use it often and this will be a great learning experience, mostly in the area of application development.

Again, thanks guys and I'll post again if I need further assistance.

Jesse~

For whichever one is ourputting a new line, try this:

Left$( >Enter output string here<, Len( >Enter output string here< ) - Len( NewLine$ ) )

LB, thanks bunches. I had to modify your code a bit get rid of "" instead of "NewLine$" and it worked flawlessly. Now that the unneeded junk is out of the way, it was able to compare text properly and the checks are working as they should.

Tested with two different accounts within the table data on our database, an Administrator account vs a player account, and the Administrator account passed all three checks while the player account only passed the account name and password check. Authority check didn't pass on the player account which is just what I wanted.

Thanks to everyone for your replies and help. I gained quite a bit of knowledge with this and will continue to do my best to learn more about developing in MMF2 as well as actual programming. You all are great.

Thanks, Jesse~

It's what this community is here for :)