CODEWITHSUNDEEP
javaandroidnetwork-programmingframeworks
user1770011
user1770011

Reputation: 253

How to go about setting up a Java server and database for a multiplayer Android application

I want to make a multiplayer Android game and am an absolute novice at anything and everything networking. I have some knowledge of socket programming in C and Java, however from what I understand, it is not that simple when communicating from an Android device to a remote server. Basically, I am just unsure of how to go about setting up server-side components of this project. I've been told to look into frameworks, but am not really sure exactly how they would be used in my particular case.

Here is a breakdown of how my application works and how I want it to communicate to the server. The client application will send a request to the server whenever a user wants to login, create game, make a move, check statistics, etc. The server will update or retrieve information from a database(somehow) and send it to the client. If the player is to make a move, the server is responsible for doing all calculations, storing the gamestate, and pushing the updated game to both players.

I was hoping somebody could shed some light on how I would go about starting this. Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

Upvotes: 2

Views: 1464

Answers (1)

Brandon K
Brandon K

Reputation: 761

Essentially you want to set up a Socket Server program listening on your server for connections from the client. You can achieve this through any number of ways, but it seems like you are going to want to tap into a database (such as MySQL) running server side in order to handle authentication of users logging in, etc. Since you say you have familiarity with Java already, and Android is Java based, I would suggest you go with Java for the server application. A few things to look into to get started would be:

Socket Programming in Java: http://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/networking/sockets/index.html

Chat Client/Server Examples in Java here: http://pirate.shu.edu/~wachsmut/Teaching/CSAS2214/Virtual/Lectures/chat-client-server.html

Also look into Java JDBC tutorials on Oracle's website (for interfacing Java with a MySQL server), and you will likely find that Android AsyncTask class will come in handy when you implement your Android client. It might be better to start with a pure Java client to get the server aspect working first and then move to an Android-based client. Once you establish some code you can make more refined posts here and gather more specific answers. Hope that helps and good luck.

Upvotes: 3

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