Q: What is SmartFoxServer Lite?
Q: What SmartFoxServer Lite can do?
Q: What are the limitations of SmartFoxServer Lite?
Q: Is SmartFoxServer Lite free?
Q: What do I need to run SmartFoxServer Lite?
Q: Are the examples compatible with Flash MX2004?
Q: Will SmartFoxServer Lite slow down my computer?
Q: Do I need to be an expert programmer to follow the SmartFoxServer tutorials?
Q: Do I need to know Java in order to learn from the articles?
Q: There are many multiuser servers out there.
     Why should I learn how to use this one?
Q: I use a personal firewall on my computer. Can this create problems?
Q: Can I use SmartFoxServer Lite in a production environment?


Q: What is SmartFoxServer Lite?
The idea behind SmartFoxServer Lite is to provide a free educational tool that will help Flash developers to learn the concepts of multiuser applications and games.
You will find, together with the server, several step-by-step tutorials that will guide you from the very basics up to the creation of fully functional applications and games.
We also plan to update the section in the future, adding more tutorials and articles and we would also like to publish your creations and articles done with SmartFox!




Q: What SmartFoxServer Lite can do?
SmartFoxServer Lite will enable you to easily and quickly create all kind of multiuser applications, games, chats, whiteboards...

It is made of three main parts:

1) The Java server
2) The Flash API component called SmartFoxClient Lite
3) The online tutorials and demos

Here's a list of features:

- Create Zones (groups of Rooms)
- Create Rooms (groups of Users)
- Create Game Rooms
- Server side variables: User Variables and Room Variables
- Exchange structured Actionscript objects transparently
- Users can join multiple rooms at one time
- Server keep all users synchronized about other users, rooms and zones event.
- Simple event-driven programming model
- And much more ...




Q: What are the limitations of SmartFoxServer Lite?
Being an educational tool it lacks of some advanced features such as direct database access, custom server side extensions and administration tools.
However most of these functionalities are used by expert multiplayer developers
while SmartFoxServer Lite is targeted to a less advanced audience.
The maximum amount of concurrent connections is limited to 50.




Q: Is SmartFoxServer Lite free?
Yes, you can download SmartFoxServer Lite for free and freely redistribute it.




Q: What do I need to run SmartFoxServer Lite?
SmartFoxServer Lite
is a pure 100% Java application, so it can run on all platforms capable of running the JRE version 1.4.2 or higher.
It will run on any Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/2003, Linux and MacOS X (10.3 and higher). To downlad the latest Java Runtime please check this url.

The minimum hardware requirements are:

300Mhz CPU
32Mb of RAM
5Mb of free disk space




Q: Are the examples compatible with Flash MX2004?
All the examples provided were created using Flash MX and exported for the Flash player 6. All the source files will work under Flash MX2004 without problems.
After you have downloaded and installed SmartFoxServer Lite you will find a folder called "API Components" containing two versions of the SmartFoxClient extension, one for Flash MX and the other for Flash MX2004.
Just double click on the one you want to install and you're ready to use it!




Q: Will SmartFoxServer Lite slow down my computer?
SmartFoxServer Lite is not a resident software, nor it runs in the background.
In our tests SmartFoxServer handled 500 clients and about 6-8Mbit of network traffic on a low-end P2-350 consuming little cpu time (around 15-20%)
It will only use very little resources when it's running, and since it will handle a maximum of 50 concurrent connections it will consume almost no cpu resources and very little memory.




Q: Do I need to be an expert programmer to follow the SmartFoxServer tutorials?
The tutorials that you will find in these pages will guide you step by step through the basics up to the creation of fully functional applications and games.
In order to be able to grasp all the concepts some good Actionscript foundations are required. You don't need to be a guru, but if you have just moved the first steps in coding with Flash then you should take your time to learn all the basics before proceeding with these multiuser articles.




Q: Do I need to know Java in order to learn from the articles?
No Java knowledge is needed. The sample applications are all written in Flash and that's the only tool you should know to follow the tutorials.




Q: There are many multiuser servers out there. Why should I learn how to use this one?
SmartFoxServer Lite
was created with simplicity in mind and as a learning tool it's not as complicated as a full-fledged multiplayer server.
We've tried to keep everything as easy as possible implementing powerful commands that will enable you to start learning multiplayer applications quickly and easily.
Through our set of tutorials you will be learning the basics and intermediate concepts that are common to all multiuser games and apps, so moving to another server technology will not be too difficult as you already know the problems involved in the development of such applications.




Q: I use a personal firewall on my computer. Can this create problems?
Not necessarily but it may give some problems: it depends alot on its configuration.
SmartFoxServer Lite accepts connection on TCP port number 9339 so you must ensure that your firewall will not block network traffic on that port.
If you are behind a firewall in a LAN you should then ask permissions to your network administrator.




Q: Can I use SmartFoxServer Lite in a production environment?
SmartFoxServer Lite is a stable server but it was not done for production.
The main reasons are that it lacks a number of security checks (flood filters, request validations etc...) and it doesn't have any administration tool.
Even if there's no problem with running your own test applications and games we wouldn't recommend to use it for production.

There are 2 commercial SmartFoxServer versions available for production environments and with a lot more features:

- unlimited number of concurrent connections (handle several thousands users on a single CPU server)
- high performance and scalability by using the latest Java 1.4 NIO libraries
- multiple RDBMS support through JDBC drivers
- extension framework that will allow developers to write server-side logic and server-extensions very easily using different languages, not only Java.
- Advanced administration graphical interface
- Anti-flood filters
- and much much much more ...

You can check them at www.smartfoxserver.com


Download SmartFoxServer LITE
current version: 0.9.7

Download SmartFoxServer BASIC
current version 1.5.5

Download SmartFoxServer PRO
current version 1.5.9

 
 

Installation notes
F.a.q
 
 

Introduction
Connecting to the server
Simple Chat part 1
Simple Chat part 2
Advanced Chat part 1
Advanced Chat part 2
Avatar Chat
Sending Objects
Board game part 1
Board game part 2

SmartFoxServer BASIC tutorials :
www.smartfoxserver.com
Custom Login
Room Variables
Buddy List
MultiChat
Advanced Board Game

SmartFoxServer PRO tutorials :
www.smartfoxserver.com
Introduction to Extensions
Simple Extension
Simple Database Extension
Advanced Db Extension
Login Extension
Realtime Maze
Java objects in Actionscript
SmartForTris PRO
 
 

» ASwing Simple Chat
by Firdosh Tangri
[2006-05-08]
» Multiplayer Letter Game
by Chris Lindsey (aka DebuggerCLL)
[2006-03-04]
» Game Programming Patterns
by Zack Booth Simpson
[2005-07-24]
» XML Sockets: the basics of multiplayer games
by Marco Lapi, a.k.a Lapo
[2003-12-11]
 
   

We have a new section in our forums dedicated to the Multiplayer Central.

 
 

Also check the official SmartFoxServer forums
 
   
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