How to Create and Use Cloud Code

In this tutorial, you can follow an example and learn how to create and work with Cloud Code:

We'll use the Configurator to create an Event that will then trigger a simple piece of Cloud Code.
The Event will contain three attributes - a String, a Number, and a JSON field.
The Cloud Code (a piece of JavaScript) will manipulate these values and echo them back in the Event response.
We'll then use the Test Harness to try out the Cloud Code script and the Event.

Cloud Code Best Practices! Before you start to build out the Cloud Code for your game, we strongly recommend that you read the Cloud Code Best Practices guide. This will help you to avoid creating Cloud Code structures that might compromise your game's performance and suggests ways in which you can check and review your Cloud Code's performance and efficiency.

FAQs? You can review Frequently Asked Questions about creating and managing your Cloud Code scripts.

Create an Event

1. Go to Configurator > Events and click to Add an Event. The Add Event page appears.

2. Enter the Event details - Short Code, Name, and Description - and click to Save and Close:

You are taken back to the Events page where the new Event is listed.

3. To edit the new Event, click the Edit icon. The Edit Event page appears.

4. Next, on the Attributes panel click to Add an Event Attribute.

5. Enter the Event Attribute details:

Enter a Name for the Attribute.
The Short Code will be used as the key for the value that you post into the GameSparks platform from your game code.
Set the Data Type to String.
For Default Aggregation Type select Used in Script.

6. Click to Save the Attribute.

7. Repeat this step and create another two Attributes for this Event, one with Number for its Data Type, the other with JSON for its Data Type.

8. Click to Save and Close the editing changes you've made for the Event.

Create a Cloud Code Script

In this section, we'll create a Cloud Code script linked to the Event that we've just created.

Cloud Code Editor Shortcuts? For a list of the keyboard shortcuts you can use in the Cloud Code Editor, go here.

9. Go to Configurator > Cloud Code.

10. Select Events in the Scripts section.

11. Select the Event we've just created - CC_EVT. We'll now bind Cloud Code to it.

12. Copy and paste the following JavaScript code into the editor section.

    var eventAttr1 = Spark.getData().CC_ATTR
    var eventAttr2 = Spark.getData().CC_ATTR_2
    var eventAttr3 = Spark.getData().CC_ATTR_3
    Spark.setScriptData("eventAttr1", eventAttr1.toUpperCase());
    Spark.setScriptData("eventAttr2", eventAttr2 * 10);
    eventAttr3.won = true
    Spark.setScriptData("eventAttr3", eventAttr3);

13. Click Save at the bottom left-hand corner of the editor. Your page should now look like this:

Let's review this Cloud Code script:

The first three lines of the script use the Spark.getData function to access the attribute values of the incoming Event. Notice how these attributes match the values we entered for the 3 Event Attribute Short Codes in the previous section.
The remaining lines use the Spark.setScriptData function to add three new fields to the response that is delivered to the calling client:
- The first line takes the first Attribute and converts it to uppercase.
- The second line multiplies the second Attribute value by 10.
- The final two lines add a new property to an incoming JSON object and assign that to the response.

We're now ready to test the code via the Test Harness.

Testing the Cloud Code Script and Event

In this section, we'll:

Use the Test Harness to register a test player with the preview version of the game.
Authorize this player.
Post an Event that will trigger our Cloud Code script.
We'll then see the JSON requests and responses containing the data inserted by the script.

Register Test players

1. Go to Test Harness > Authentication and select RegistrationRequest.

2. Then change the displayName, password, and userName as shown here:

Note that in this example, we've removed "segments" from the RegistrationRequest.

3. To send this JSON request to the GameSparks platform, click Send Request. In this example for Player Ten:

The Inspector shows the request (in green text) that was sent to the GameSparks platform via the WebSocket and shows the response (in blue text).

Log Event

4. Go to Test Harness > LogEvent section and select the Cloud Code Event that we created above.

5. Set each of the Attribute values in the JSON request as below. Note that:

The key names are the Short Codes of the Event Attributes that we created at the start of the exercise.
Attribute data types:
- The first must be a String.
- The second must be a Number.
- The third must be a JSON object.

6. Click the Send Request to send the request to the GameSparks platform:

The response is displayed in the Inspector in blue text:

The scriptData property contains the fields that we added from within our Cloud Code script.
The keys are eventAttr1, eventAttr2, and eventAttr3.

Constructing a Script Message

Here's an example of how to construct a script message:

//Parameter is kept null if no custom script message is being used
var msg = Spark.message(null);
//Include player IDs of players you wish to receive message
msg.setPlayerIds([Spark.getPlayer().getPlayerId()]);
//Set the data object for the message
msg.setMessageData({"title":"I am testing title","body":"I am testing body"});
//Send message
msg.send();

To learn more about constructing messages and seeing an example use, please check out the chat tutorial.

Please review the Cloud Code Best Practices guide, which will help you to avoid creating Cloud Code structures that might compromise your game's performance and suggests ways in which you can check and review your Cloud Code's performance and efficiency