Is it bad practice to write code which consists of php, javascript and ajax in the same piece of code? For example:
<?php
$randNum = rand(1,10)
if ($randNum <= 5) {
echo "Enemy got the jump on you! <script> enemyTurn() </script>";
}else {
echo "You got the jump! <script> playerTurn() </script>";
}
?>
enemyTurn(), playerTurn() are javascript functions which contain jQuery and AJAX.
It is, as it would be a bad practice to wash the dishes in the bathtub: you can still do it, but it will be a pain to have a shower when you need it.
Concerns should stay as decoupled as possible, an example would be:
PHP
<?php if ($randNum <= 5): ?>
<div data-function="enemyTurn">Enemy got the jump on you!<div>
<?php else: ?>
<div data-function="playerTurn">You got the jump!<div>
<?php endif; ?>
JS
$(function(){
var yourFunctions = {
enemyTurn : function(){ // some stuff },
playerTurn : function(){ // some stuff }
};
$('[data-function]').each(function(){
yourFunctions[$(this).data('function')].call(this);
})
});
This way your js code is decoupled from HTML. Nevertheless I smell you can do all the logic of a game client side, using the server just for login / data save purposes.
<div data-function="enemyTurn"> really different from <script>enemyTurn();</script>?This comes down to a question of design philosophy. If I was to write code like that, I'd probably have a class to add a message to, as well as a script call. It might look like this:
class BrowserAction {
public function __construct($message, $javascript) {
$this->message = $message;
$this->javascript = $javascript;
}
protected $message;
protected $javascript;
public function setMessage($message) {
$this->message = $message;
}
public function printMessage() {
return $this->message();
}
public function setJavascript($javascript) {
$this->javascript = $javascript;
}
public function printJavascript() {
return '<script type="text/javascript">' .
$this->javascript() .
'</script>';
}
public function toString() {
return $this->printMessage() . $this->printJavascript();
}
public function echo() {
echo $this->toString();
}
}
and use it like this:
<?php
$randNum = rand(1,10)
if ($randNum <= 5) {
$msg = new BrowserAction("Enemy got the jump on you!", "enemyTurn()");
}else {
$msg = new BrowserAction("You got the jump!", "playerTurn()");
}
$msg->echo();
?>
That would give you more flexibility in adding or extending your application later on. See how I simply added the type="text/javascript" to all scripts in the application by just inserting it in one place?
For this particular example, it's acceptable. In fact, what would you do otherwise to achieve the desired effect?
You could achieve the same desired effect in Javascript with something like this:
if((Math.round(Math.random() * 10 + 1) % 2) === 0)
{
enemyTurn();
document.getElementById('status').innerHTML = 'Enemy got the jump on you!';
}
else
{
playerTurn();
document.getElementById('status').innerHTML = 'You got the jump!';
}
That way there's no need for unneeded server calls.
mt_randit's more random than the default libcrandand rougly 5x faster. Also, you could do this in Javascript without the need of PHP.