Arma 3 Attendance Tracker
Setup
Set Up a Database Engine
You will need a running MySQL or MariaDB instance.
If you do not have a MySQL or MariaDB instance, you can use one of the following:
- MySQL Community Server (free)
- MariaDB (free)
- Docker (free)
The tested and recommended database engine is MariaDB version 11.0.2.
Create a Database
You will need to create a database in your instance. You can do this using your preferred MySQL client or one of the following:
- phpMyAdmin (web based)
- HeidiSQL (Windows only and simpler)
- MySQL Workbench (feature rich but heavy)
- DBeaver (feature rich but heavy)
You could also use a CLI client such as the mysql command line client to run the following command:
CREATE DATABASE `arma3_attendance`;
Mod Installation
- Download the latest release from the releases page.
- Extract the .zip and move
@AttendanceTrackerto your Arma 3 server's root directory. - Inside of
@AttendanceTrackeryou will find anAttendanceTracker.config.example.jsonfile. Copy this asAttendanceTRacker.config.json. Open this new file and configure it to your circumstances. See the Configuration section for more information. - Add the mod to your server's startup parameters. For example:
-serverMod="@AttendanceTracker;"
At next run, the Arma 3 server will launch with the mod running.
Configuration
The configuration file example is located at @AttendanceTracker/config.json.example. This should be copied to @AttendanceTracker/config.json and edited to suit your circumstances.
The following table describes the configuration options.
| Key | Type | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| sqlConfig.mySqlHost | string | The hostname of your MySQL instance. | localhost |
| sqlConfig.mySqlPort | integer | The port of your MySQL instance. | 3306 |
| sqlConfig.mySqlUser | string | The username to use when connecting to your MySQL instance. | root |
| sqlConfig.mySqlPassword | string | The password to use when connecting to your MySQL instance. | root |
| sqlConfig.mySqlDatabase | string | The name of the database to use. | arma3_attendance |
| armaConfig.dbUpdateInterval | string, time.Duration Go type |
The number of seconds between disconnect_time updates per user. | "90s" |
| armaConfig.debug | boolean | Whether or not to enable debug logging. | false |
| armaConfig.traceLogToFile | boolean | Whether or not to enable trace logging to the addon folder's log file. | false |
Usage
The extension uses GORM for database access and will automatically create the schema in the database you specify in the configuration file.
Important Notes
Logging
"debug": true: The extension will log ERROR and WARN events to the Arma 3 server's RPT file, which can be found in the server's profile folder.
"debug": false: The extension will log ERROR, WARN, INFO, and DEBUG events to the Arma 3 server's RPT file, which can be found in the server's profile folder.
All events will always be logged to @AttendanceTracker/attendanceTracker.log in log line format.
Timezone
All times will be logged as UTC time. This is to ensure that all times are logged in a consistent manner, regardless of the timezone of the server. Because these are DATETIME fields, they will not be adjusted to your local time when viewing them in a database client.
To do so, you can use the following function in your queries:
CONVERT_TZ(<field>, 'UTC', 'US/Eastern')
A full list of timezones available to your database can be found this way:
SELECT *
FROM mysql.time_zone_name
Performance
The extension will update the disconnect_time field for each player every dbUpdateInterval seconds. This is to ensure that the disconnect_time field is updated in the event that the server crashes or the mission ends without a disconnect event.
These calls are threaded in the Go runtime and will not block the Arma 3 server while processing. The default value of 90 seconds should be sufficient for most servers. Each period begins when a player connects to the server or connects to a mission, which provides a natural offset.
Server Crash Time Filling
In the event that the server crashes and a user has not been in the mission longer than dbUpdateInterval and therefore has a NULL disconnect_time_utc value, upon next launch the extension will update the row procedure:
- If more than
dbUpdateIntervalhas passed since the row'sjoin_time_utcvalue, the row will be updated with adisconnect_time_utcvalue ofjoin_time_utc + dbUpdateInterval. - If less than
dbUpdateIntervalhas passed since the row'sjoin_time_utcvalue, the row will be updated with adisconnect_time_utcvalue of the current time.
Database Schema
| Table Name | Description |
|---|---|
| worlds | Stores world information. |
| missions | Stores mission information. |
| Session | Stores rows that indicate player information and join/disconnect times. |
Worlds
The worlds table will store basic info about the world. This is used to link missions to worlds.
Missions
The missions table will store basic info about the mission. This is used to link attendance items to missions.
Sessions
The sessions table will store rows that indicate player information and join/disconnect times. This can be used to calculate play time per player per mission. Each row is also linked to a mission, so that these records can be grouped.
Useful Queries
Show missions with attendance
See Timezone for more information on converting times to your local timezone.
TODO
Contributing
Pull requests are welcome. For major changes, please open an issue first to discuss what you would like to change.
Development
Prerequisites
- Docker
Building Extension using Docker
You will need Docker Engine installed and running. This can be done on Windows or on Linux. However, you will need to use Linux containers if you're on Windows (specified in Docker Desktop settings).
Once it's built, copy the file from ./dist to the project root, then build the addon.
COMPILING FOR WINDOWS
docker pull x1unix/go-mingw:1.20
# version is semantic + build date + git hash
# e.g. 1.0.0-2021-05-30-1a2b3c4d
$versionSem = '1.1.0'
$dateStr = Get-Date -Format 'yyyyMMdd'
$version = "$versionSem-$dateStr-$(git rev-parse --short HEAD)"
# Compile x64 Windows DLL
docker run --rm -it -v ${PWD}:/go/work -w /go/work -e GOARCH=amd64 -e CGO_ENABLED=1 x1unix/go-mingw:1.20 go build -o ./dist/AttendanceTracker_x64.dll -buildmode=c-shared -ldflags "-w -s -X main.EXTENSION_VERSION=$version" ./extension/AttendanceTracker/cmd
# Compile x86 Windows DLL
docker run --rm -it -v ${PWD}:/go/work -w /go/work -e GOARCH=386 -e CGO_ENABLED=1 x1unix/go-mingw:1.20 go build -o ./dist/AttendanceTracker.dll -buildmode=c-shared -ldflags "-w -s -X main.EXTENSION_VERSION=$version" ./extension/AttendanceTracker/cmd
# Compile x64 Windows EXE
docker run --rm -it -v ${PWD}:/go/work -w /go/work -e GOARCH=amd64 -e CGO_ENABLED=1 x1unix/go-mingw:1.20 go build -o ./dist/AttendanceTracker_x64.exe -ldflags "-w -s -X main.EXTENSION_VERSION=$version" ./extension/AttendanceTracker/cmd
COMPILING FOR LINUX
docker build -t indifox926/build-a3go:linux-so -f ./build/Dockerfile.build .
# Compile x64 Linux .so
docker run --rm -it -v ${PWD}:/app -e GOOS=linux -e GOARCH=amd64 -e CGO_ENABLED=1 indifox926/build-a3go:linux-so go build -o ./dist/AttendanceTracker_x64.so -linkshared -ldflags "-w -s -X main.EXTENSION_VERSION=$version" ./extension/AttendanceTracker/cmd
# Compile x86 Linux .so
docker run --rm -it -v ${PWD}:/app -e GOOS=linux -e GOARCH=386 -e CGO_ENABLED=1 indifox926/build-a3go:linux-so go build -o ./dist/AttendanceTracker.so -linkshared -ldflags "-w -s -X main.EXTENSION_VERSION=$version" ./extension/AttendanceTracker/cmd
Compile Addon
First, move the compiled dlls from extension/AttendanceTracker/dist to the project root.
To prepare the addon, you'll need to download the HEMTT binary, place it in the project root, and run the following command:
./HEMTT.exe release
The PBOs and relevant files will be placed in the ./.hemmttout/build directory.