Clientside Swear Filter

[Tigairius]

As you may or may not know, I am one of the pioneers in removing foul language around Graal. I don't like to read it, I don't like to write it, I don't want to hear it, I don't want to see it.

However, I believe that people should have the choice as to whether or not they want to see the text or not.

So, I have devised a quick clientside swear filter for those of you who agree.

It probably needs to be improved in the future to run more efficiently, but this is a nice step in the right direction. You will still have to filter your PMs using the default graal rules.txt which is highly recommended, but now you can add a choice to whether or not the player wants to filter the swear words.

Here is the weapon script:

PHP Code:

//#CLIENTSIDE
function onCreated() {
  this.swearwords = {
    {"testing", "*******"},
    {"test2", "*******"},
    {"damn", "****"}
  };
}

function onPlayerChats() {
  switch (player.chat) {
    case "filteron":
      client.swearfilter = true;
      player.chat = "Swear filter is now on!";
    break;
    case "filteroff":
      client.swearfilter = false;
      player.chat = "Swear filter is now off.";
    break;
  }
}

function onRemotePlayerChats(obj, chat) {
  if (client.swearfilter) {
    for (temp.s = 0; temp.s < this.swearwords.size(); temp.s ++) {
      if (obj.chat.pos(this.swearwords[temp.s][0]) >= 0) {
        obj.chat = replacetext(obj.chat, this.swearwords[temp.s][0], this.swearwords[temp.s][1]);
      } 
    }
  }
}

// edited version of my replacetext function in the code gallery
// http://forums.graalonline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=79538
// this one is not case sensitive
function replacetext(text, oldtext, newtext) {
  temp.oldlen   = oldtext.length();
  temp.textdiff = newtext.length() - temp.oldlen;
  
  for (temp.p: text.lower().positions(oldtext.lower())) {
    temp.pos = temp.p + temp.textdiff * (temp.index ++);
    text = text.substring(0, temp.pos) @ newtext @ text.substring(temp.pos + temp.oldlen);
  }
  
  return text;
} 


As you can see, I added an example of how to turn on/off the sear filter by using the commands "filteron" and "filteroff."

I'd like to start seeing these sort of methods used around Graal to prevent foul language.

[fowlplay4]

Neat, I'm just confused by that continue.

On Zodiac, players can right click the target and ignore the players chat entirely.

[Tigairius]

Originally Posted by fowlplay4

Neat, I'm just confused by that continue.

I was going to add some more stuff under it but I decided not to and just never removed the continue, I've removed it now though.

Originally Posted by fowlplay4

On Zodiac, players can right click the target and ignore the players chat entirely.

That's a nice feature. I thought about adding something like that to GK but figured it might be a little excessive.

[cbk1994]

Nice, I like it better than a mandatory filter.

However, it would be better if it cached filtered text, e.g. something like...

PHP Code:

if (this.cache.(@ pl.chat) != null && pl.chat != null) {
  pl.chat = this.cache.(@ pl.chat);
} else {
  // filter chat and save to cache
} 


Only problem is it could potentially become a huge cache. Could help by using a single character to represent chat that doesn't need to be removed, rather than storing every single chat tidbit. I'm sure you'll think of something.

It just seems really inefficient to filter every single players chat twenty times a second.

[Tigairius]

Originally Posted by cbk1994

Nice, I like it better than a mandatory filter.

However, it would be better if it cached filtered text, e.g. something like...

PHP Code:

if (this.cache.(@ pl.chat) != null && pl.chat != null) {
  pl.chat = this.cache.(@ pl.chat);
} else {
  // filter chat and save to cache
} 


Only problem is it could potentially become a huge cache. Could help by using a single character to represent chat that doesn't need to be removed, rather than storing every single chat tidbit. I'm sure you'll think of something.

It just seems really inefficient to filter every single players chat twenty times a second.

Yes, I also thought of some nice innovative ways of remaking it, but this sample is supposed to be about as simple as possible so it will hopefully motivate people to build on top of it and make a nice filter system.

Also, usually when Graal is loading very long strings into vars it sometimes pauses the screen for up to 5-20 seconds depending on the size, which wouldn't be good.

[Loriel]

Ideally we would petition Stefan for a callback that gets fired if other players chat. I am not a huge fan of the timeout loop, especially since it keeps running even while the check is disabled.

[cbk1994]

Originally Posted by Loriel

Ideally we would petition Stefan for a callback that gets fired if other players chat. I am not a huge fan of the timeout loop, especially since it keeps running even while the check is disabled.

Timeouts in themselves are not really inefficient, and the code Tig is using if not enabled simply schedules an event in another twentieth of a second.

Keep in mind that computers these days are extremely fast, and running a single check for something that is already loaded into memory will cause virtually no performance drops.

[Tigairius]

Originally Posted by Loriel

Ideally we would petition Stefan for a callback that gets fired if other players chat. I am not a huge fan of the timeout loop

I agree completely.

[Chompy]

Quite neat I must say.

I did a little edit to remove that timeout

PHP Code:

//#CLIENTSIDE
function onCreated() {
  this.swearwords = {
    {"testing", "*******"},
    {"test2", "*******"},
    {"damn", "****"}
  };
}

function onPlayerChats() {
  switch (player.chat) {
    case "filteron":
      client.swearfilter = true;
      player.chat = "Swear filter is now on!";
    break;
    case "filteroff":
      client.swearfilter = false;
      player.chat = "Swear filter is now off.";
    break;
  }
}

function onRemotePlayerChats(obj, chat) {
  if (client.swearfilter) {
    for (temp.s = 0; temp.s < this.swearwords.size(); temp.s ++) {
      if (obj.chat.pos(this.swearwords[temp.s][0]) >= 0) {
        obj.chat = replacetext(obj.chat, this.swearwords[temp.s][0], this.swearwords[temp.s][1]);
      } 
    }
  }
}

// DustyPorViva's replacetext function.
function replacetext(txt,a,b) {
  if (txt.pos(a)<0) return txt;
  temp.txtpos = txt.positions(a);
  temp.newtxt = txt.substring(0,txtpos[0]);
  for (temp.i=0;i<txtpos.size();i++) {
    newtxt @= b;
    newtxt @= txt.substring(txtpos[i]+a.length(),txt.substring(txtpos[i]+a.length()).pos(a));
  }
  return newtxt;
} 


[Gambet]

Originally Posted by Chompy

Quite neat I must say.

I did a little edit to remove that timeout

PHP Code:

//#CLIENTSIDE
function onPlayerChats() {
  switch (player.chat) {
    case "filteron":
      client.swearfilter = true;
      player.chat = "Swear filter is now on!";
    break;
    case "filteroff":
      client.swearfilter = false;
      player.chat = "Swear filter is now off.";
    break;
  }
} 


There is no need to use a switch() in this case and it's bad habit to do so. Not sure about how many other languages this applies to, but with Java you can't compare strings using switch(), so you wouldn't be able to apply the same method in Java. There are only select instances where it would actually make sense to use switch() instead of if-then-else, and this isn't one of them.

Also, it would benefit you to get into the habit of doing client.whatever = !client.whatever since it would save you an unnecessary clutter when doing something like this.

[Tigairius]

Originally Posted by Chompy

Quite neat I must say.

I did a little edit to remove that timeout

Oh, nice, there IS an event for it. Thanks

Originally Posted by Gambet

There is no need to use a switch() in this case and it's bad habit to do so. Not sure about how many other languages this applies to, but with Java you can't compare strings using switch(), so you wouldn't be able to apply the same method in Java. There are only select instances where it would actually make sense to use switch() instead of if-then-else, and this isn't one of them.

That's correct, Java's switch() statements only allow ints, but that doesn't mean I should model my code after the standards Java runs. You may notice that GScript2 utilizes strings much differently than most coding languages. Following that logic I should also declare all of my variables before using them even though they're automatically declared when they're not equal to NULL.

Originally Posted by Gambet

Also, it would benefit you to get into the habit of doing client.whatever = !client.whatever since it would save you an unnecessary clutter when doing something like this.

It really isn't necessary for this... if someone said filteron and it was currently on it would just switch it off. An extra line or two really isn't a big deal in my opinion.

[Rufus]

Originally Posted by Tigairius

I'd like to start seeing these sort of methods used around Graal to prevent foul language.

Why don't you try to get it added as a default feature, rather than some servers using it and others not?

[Tigairius]

Originally Posted by Rufus

Why don't you try to get it added as a default feature, rather than some servers using it and others not?

I'd like to try to, there will also need to be one for PMs and one for nick names (nick names are easy to do).

[Rufus]

Originally Posted by Tigairius

I'd like to try to, there will also need to be one for PMs and one for nick names (nick names are easy to do).

Well, I fully agree with the concept so I hope it is added. I think it'd be way more convenient if it was a part of the default Graal options, with the filter enabled by default of course. I believe that using asterisks represent the profanity too much though and it carries the negative/offensive connotation, just not as direct. A better way of conveying a more 'family friendly' message would be using random non-letter and non-punctuation (# & § @ %) symbols as a replacement like comic books do. With this you don't really notice that people are swearing, and unlike the current visual representation of obscenities, it no longer offends.

[fowlplay4]

Thanks to Chompy my filter script is now down to a couple lines!

PHP Code:

//#CLIENTSIDE
function onRemotePlayerChats(obj, chat) {
  if (obj.account in client.chatignorelist)
    obj.chat = ".CI."; 
}