Character creation is broken

[Qyasogk]

I brought this up once before, but apparently not much attention was given. The character creation page does not work at all in Google Chrome. Since mostly only new players have to deal with the character creation page, it makes sense that the Devs wouldn't notice if it's not working, but since its the first thing new players have to deal with and BM desperately needs all the new players it can get, it should still be a priority.

The "new" character creation page doesn't work in Chrome (after you select a world, the Realm list does not populate with realms from that world so you can't go any farther), so I always have to use the "old" character creation page, and now it's not working either. Once you pick what world you want to be in, I picked South Island, I am trying to join a specific duchy so I selected "show full list" (I went back and tested the other options and got the same error), and then I immediately got the following error:

Choose the duchy that you wish to start in. Your starting region will be randomly chosen from the regions in that duchy:

Error during database query
Please report the following error to the bugtracker, together with a short statement on when it occurred, especially on which page or action:
You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near ') order by D.Name' at line 1

Query was: select D.ID, D.Name, R.Icon, R.ID as RealmID, R.Name as RealmName, R.Glory from Duchies D JOIN Realms R ON D.Realm=R.ID where R.ID in () order by D.Name

Calling script: /CharacterCreation.php

[Qyasogk]

I tested all the errors that I reported above in Internet Explorer as well and got all the same problems in the new character creation page as well as the old character creation page.

[Cren]

IE is not a browser for all that matters. I always use firefox and it never fails. Can you try with firefox and see if you are getting the same errors or not?

[Indirik]

I created my south island character last week using chrome. Maybe something broke recently.

[Qyasogk]

IE is not a browser for all that matters. I always use firefox and it never fails. Can you try with firefox and see if you are getting the same errors or not?

While I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "not a browser for all that matters", the point was I tested it in multiple browsers to rule out the error being browser specific.

A rendering of text on a page should be something that BM can do on any browser. But I'm not going to install Firefox just to use BM, and the Devs should know if the 78% of the internet that doesn't use Firefox can't create a character.

[Anaris]

A rendering of text on a page should be something that BM can do on any browser.

It may look like "a rendering of text on a page" to you, but there is more that goes on behind the scenes in the character creation process.

Do you have an ad blocker or any restrictions on Javascript enabled for the BattleMaster domain? Because those could prevent it from working.

[Qyasogk]

It may look like "a rendering of text on a page" to you, but there is more that goes on behind the scenes in the character creation process.

Do you have an ad blocker or any restrictions on Javascript enabled for the BattleMaster domain? Because those could prevent it from working.

You asked me this last time, the answer is still no. I just tried the same character creation page on my iPad. The "new" method does not respond to the (next) button when selecting the world. The "old" method gives me the same SQL error I posted above. That's THREE browsers your character creation script does not work on, and they error out all in identical ways. The problem is NOT the browser.

Error during database query
Please report the following error to the bugtracker, together with a short statement on when it occurred, especially on which page or action:
You have an error in your SQL syntax; check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near ') order by D.Name' at line 1

Query was: select D.ID, D.Name, R.Icon, R.ID as RealmID, R.Name as RealmName, R.Glory from Duchies D JOIN Realms R ON D.Realm=R.ID where R.ID in () order by D.Name

Calling script: /CharacterCreation.php

[Anaris]

The problem is NOT the browser.

Since I can get it to load up just fine in Chrome and on my iPad, I have to agree with you. However, since I can get it to load up just fine, the problem is clearly NOT that my code is broken and horrible and useless, either. So clearly, there is some kind of problem specific to your situation.

Because I can't actually reproduce your problem, and you can't demonstrate it for me (since I'm not at your house), I really am sorry that you're having problems, but right now, there's not much I can do. I don't have any magic way to determine what, exactly, is breaking the character creation process for you, but, as should be quite obvious, it's not broken on Chrome, or the iPad. I don't have a Windows computer handy to test it on, but frankly, I don't give a crap whether it works on Internet Explorer, as that browser is actively discouraged by BattleMaster in general for various good reasons.

[Qyasogk]

Since I can get it to load up just fine in Chrome and on my iPad, I have to agree with you. However, since I can get it to load up just fine, the problem is clearly NOT that my code is broken and horrible and useless, either. So clearly, there is some kind of problem specific to your situation.

So then why does the error message plainly state that "you have an error in your SQL syntax"?

I've tried the new character creation method on Macs and Windows and iPads, on Chrome and Internet Explorer and Safari. I've tried doing at my university computer lab and my computers at home, and I get the same non-functional behavior in every situation. That you're able to create a character using either method on your ipad and I can't on mine, makes the least amount of sense at all, since both browsers are identical and they can't be mussed up with plugins or blockers (none of which I use anyway.)

I must say convincing someone that the problem on their end, when I've ruled out all normal possibilities of the problem being on my end, and the evidence suggests there is some kind of programming error is not my idea of fun.

[Indirik]

I will try later tonight to see if I can duplicate the problem.

Anaris: were you trying on live or dev?

[Qyasogk]

I just installed Firefox on my computer and see identical behavior.

The new character creation method is unresponsive when any of the "next" buttons are pushed. Let me try and give you some more info: the whole page loads at once all steps are displayed. None of the javascript buttons seem to be responsive at all. Selecting the World and hitting NEXT does not populate the next step. I only have a slot to create a character on the South Island, so that is the island I am trying to create a character on.

The page LOADS fine, but I am not able to create a character using either method in three different browsers.

I am extremely tech savy, there must be someway for the two of us working together to isolate what seems to be a pretty clear problem. Can you think of any reason for how I would receive a syntax error for an SQL call in your php page and that problem be on my end?

[Anaris]

So then why does the error message plainly state that "you have an error in your SQL syntax"?

That's the old process. I know it has issues, and it's not my top priority, because, for me, and everyone else I've talked to, the new process works.

I've tried the new character creation method on Macs and Windows and iPads, on Chrome and Internet Explorer and Safari. I've tried doing at my university computer lab and my computers at home, and I get the same non-functional behavior in every situation. That you're able to create a character using either method on your ipad and I can't on mine, makes the least amount of sense at all, since both browsers are identical and they can't be mussed up with plugins or blockers (none of which I use anyway.)

This seems to leave the possibility of the problem being something specific to your user account. I will try to test this in my development environment when I get the chance—can you give me your family name? (If you've already posted it, I apologize...)

[Anaris]

I just installed Firefox on my computer and see identical behavior.

The new character creation method is unresponsive when any of the "next" buttons are pushed. Let me try and give you some more info: the whole page loads at once all steps are displayed. None of the javascript buttons seem to be responsive at all.

Oh. That means that you are not loading or running the Javascript. Whether or not you're deliberately running a script blocker, one way or another, not allowing Javascript is the way you can end up with all the steps showing at once and none of the buttons working.

[Qyasogk]

Oh. That means that you are not loading or running the Javascript. Whether or not you're deliberately running a script blocker, one way or another, not allowing Javascript is the way you can end up with all the steps showing at once and none of the buttons working.

Well okay, let's start there. Is the character creation page the ONLY page in all of BM that uses Javascript? I'm not even aware of how to disable Javascript in Chrome, but it does have the Javascript console. When I turn that on and go to the character creation page I get an immediate error:
Uncaught SyntaxError: Unexpected identifier CreateCharacter.php:64

When I click on the detail I get this line hi-lighted: var unitName = 'Ji'Ardan Guards';

And there you go! I have an apostrophe in my name, and because you didn't check for that type of input, that apostrophe breaks your character creation page! We found the problem, and it also explains why it was only not working for me (and anyone else with an apostrophe in their name).

[Anaris]

And there you go! I have an apostrophe in my name, and because you didn't check for that type of input, that apostrophe breaks your character creation page! We found the problem.

Aha! Excellent!

I do check for it in several places, but apparently not that one. Let me fix that.

...OK, that should now be fixed. Please give it another try.