What's New in Director 8.5 > Multiuser Server-Side Scripting > Multiuser server-side scripting overview |  |

Multiuser server-side scripting overview

Version 3 of the Shockwave Multiuser Server includes the ability to add Lingo scripts to the server. Because they run on the server computer itself, these scripts enable you to write simpler multiuser movies. The client movies only need to include the simple logic for sending and receiving messages and reacting to their content. The Lingo running on the server can handle the tasks of tracking the state of each client movie and broadcasting information to all of the clients. Without server-side Lingo, each client movie must include more complex Lingo that handles both of these responsibilities.

In addition to making it easier to author multiuser Lingo, server-side Lingo helps protect multiuser movies from errors. For example, because the server can run Lingo and keep track of client movie states, it is much easier to prevent client movies from getting out of sync with one another.

While server-side Lingo makes it easier to create multiuser movies, using it requires a strong fundamental knowledge of the Lingo language. See the Writing Scripts with Lingo chapter in Using Director.

Server-side Lingo is enabled by the LingoVM (Virtual Machine) Xtra, found in the server's Xtras folder. This Xtra contains the server's Lingo engine. When the server starts up, it loads the LingoVM Xtra, which then reads certain script files from the scripts folder.

The scripts folder is located next to the server application. It contains the two primary script files required by the server. These script files, Dispatcher.ls and Scriptmap.ls, are text files that the server reads and uses to set up the server-side scripting environment.

Each Director movie ID that you want to use server-side scripts must have a script file of its own in the server's scripts folder. In addition to the Dispatcher.ls and Scriptmap.ls files, the server will read each movie's script file. Once these files have been read by the server, it is ready to execute server-side scripts.

The Chat movie uses the Lingo inside the ChatScript.ls file.

For an example of server-side scripting, see the example Director movies in the Director 8.5/Learning/Lingo_examples/Multiuser_examples folder.