Server Preferences

Version History

Build Version	Change Date	Change Type	Description
676042	2025-06-21	stable	Current version

Overview

The ServerPreferences module provides client-side management of server display preferences, including profanity filtering for server names and descriptions, and user-controlled visibility settings. This system allows players to customize their server browser experience while maintaining persistent storage of their preferences.

Class Structure

ServerPreferences Class

Status: stable

Description: Main class responsible for managing server display preferences and profanity filtering settings.

Properties:

• persistdata (table): Persistent storage for server-specific preferences
• profanityservers (table): Runtime cache of servers flagged for profanity
• dirty (boolean): Flag indicating if data needs to be saved

Core Methods

ServerPreferences:Reset()

Status: stable

Description: Resets all server preferences to default state and clears persistent data.

Parameters: None

Returns: None

Example:

-- Reset all server preferences
local prefs = ServerPreferences()
prefs:Reset()

ServerPreferences:ToggleNameAndDescriptionFilter(server_data)

Status: stable

Description: Toggles the visibility filter for a specific server's name and description. This allows users to manually hide servers they don't want to see in the browser.

Parameters:

• server_data (table|string|nil): Server information containing name and description, or just server name as string, or nil for current server

Returns: None

Example:

-- Toggle filter for a specific server
local server_info = {
    name = "My Test Server",
    description = "A private server for testing"
}
prefs:ToggleNameAndDescriptionFilter(server_info)

-- Toggle filter using just server name
prefs:ToggleNameAndDescriptionFilter("Simple Server Name")

-- Toggle filter for current server
prefs:ToggleNameAndDescriptionFilter(nil)

ServerPreferences:IsNameAndDescriptionHidden(server_data)

Status: stable

Description: Checks whether a server's name and description should be hidden based on user preferences or profanity filtering.

Parameters:

• server_data (table|string|nil): Server information to check

Returns:

• (boolean): true if the server should be hidden, false otherwise

Example:

-- Check if server should be hidden
local server = {name = "Test Server", description = "Description"}
local should_hide = prefs:IsNameAndDescriptionHidden(server)

if should_hide then
    print("Server content is filtered")
else
    print("Server content is visible")
end

ServerPreferences:RefreshLastSeen(server_list)

Status: stable

Description: Updates the last seen timestamp for servers in the provided list. This is used for data expiration management.

Parameters:

• server_list (table): Array of server data tables

Returns: None

Example:

-- Update last seen timestamps
local servers = {
    {name = "Server 1", description = "Desc 1"},
    {name = "Server 2", description = "Desc 2"}
}
prefs:RefreshLastSeen(servers)

Profanity Filtering Methods

ServerPreferences:ClearProfanityFilteredServers()

Status: stable

Description: Clears the runtime cache of profanity-filtered servers. This resets automatic profanity detection.

Parameters: None

Returns: None

Example:

-- Clear profanity filter cache
prefs:ClearProfanityFilteredServers()

ServerPreferences:UpdateProfanityFilteredServers(servers)

Status: stable

Description: Updates profanity filtering status for a list of servers. Servers containing profanity in names or descriptions are automatically flagged if profanity filtering is enabled.

Parameters:

• servers (table): Array of server data tables to analyze

Returns: None

Example:

-- Update profanity filtering for server list
local server_list = {
    {name = "Clean Server", description = "Family friendly", owner = false},
    {name = "Bad Server", description = "Contains profanity", owner = true}
}
prefs:UpdateProfanityFilteredServers(server_list)

ServerPreferences:UpdateProfanityFilteredServer(server)

Status: stable

Description: Updates profanity filtering status for a single server or the current server if nil is passed.

Parameters:

• server (table|nil): Server data to analyze, or nil for current server

Returns: None

Example:

-- Check single server for profanity
local server = {name = "Test Server", description = "Clean description"}
prefs:UpdateProfanityFilteredServer(server)

-- Check current server
prefs:UpdateProfanityFilteredServer(nil)

Persistence Methods

ServerPreferences:GetSaveName()

Status: stable

Description: Returns the filename used for saving server preferences. The name varies based on the current branch.

Parameters: None

Returns:

• (string): Save file name

Example:

-- Get save file name
local filename = prefs:GetSaveName()
print("Preferences saved to:", filename)
-- Output: "server_preferences" or "server_preferences_dev"

ServerPreferences:Save(callback)

Status: stable

Description: Saves current preferences to persistent storage. Automatically expires old data based on USER_HISTORY_EXPIRY_TIME.

Parameters:

• callback (function): Optional callback function called with success status

Returns: None

Example:

-- Save preferences with callback
prefs:Save(function(success)
    if success then
        print("Preferences saved successfully")
    else
        print("Failed to save preferences")
    end
end)

-- Save without callback
prefs:Save()

ServerPreferences:Load(callback)

Status: stable

Description: Loads server preferences from persistent storage.

Parameters:

• callback (function): Optional callback function called with success status

Returns: None

Example:

-- Load preferences
prefs:Load(function(success)
    if success then
        print("Preferences loaded successfully")
    else
        print("Failed to load preferences")
    end
end)

ServerPreferences:OnLoad(str, callback)

Status: stable

Description: Internal method that processes loaded preference data string. Handles JSON decoding and data validation.

Parameters:

• str (string): JSON string containing preference data
• callback (function): Optional callback function

Returns: None

Example:

-- This method is typically called internally
-- Manual usage would be:
local json_data = '{"ID_12345": {"hidename": true, "lastseen": 1640995200}}'
prefs:OnLoad(json_data, function(success)
    print("Data processed:", success)
end)

Data Structure

Server ID Generation

Server IDs are generated using the MakeServerID function:

-- Server ID format
local server_id = "ID_" .. tostring(smallhash(tostring(server_name)))

Persistent Data Format

-- Example persistdata structure
{
    ["ID_12345"] = {
        hidename = true,           -- User chose to hide this server
        lastseen = 1640995200      -- Unix timestamp of last update
    },
    ["ID_67890"] = {
        lastseen = 1640995300      -- Only timestamp if no hiding
    }
}

Profanity Server Cache

-- Example profanityservers structure
{
    ["ID_12345"] = true,    -- Server is hidden due to profanity
    ["ID_67890"] = false    -- Server contains profanity but is owner's server
}

Usage Patterns

Basic Server Filtering

-- Initialize preferences
local prefs = ServerPreferences()

-- Load existing preferences
prefs:Load(function(success)
    if success then
        print("Preferences loaded")
    end
end)

-- Check if server should be hidden
local server = {name = "Test Server", description = "Test Desc"}
if prefs:IsNameAndDescriptionHidden(server) then
    -- Don't display this server
    print("Server is hidden")
else
    -- Display server normally
    print("Server is visible")
end

Manual Server Hiding

-- Toggle visibility for a server
local server_data = {
    name = "Unwanted Server",
    description = "Server I don't want to see"
}

-- Hide the server
prefs:ToggleNameAndDescriptionFilter(server_data)

-- Save the change
prefs:Save()

Profanity Filter Management

-- Update profanity filtering for server list
local servers = GetServerListFromNetwork()
prefs:UpdateProfanityFilteredServers(servers)

-- Clear profanity cache when needed
prefs:ClearProfanityFilteredServers()

-- Check individual server
for _, server in ipairs(servers) do
    if not prefs:IsNameAndDescriptionHidden(server) then
        DisplayServer(server)
    end
end

Integration Points

Profile System Integration

The module integrates with the Profile system to check profanity filtering preferences:

-- Profanity filtering is enabled based on profile setting
if Profile:GetProfanityFilterServerNamesEnabled() then
    -- Perform profanity checks
end

Network Integration

Works with TheNet for server information:

-- Get current server information
local name = TheNet:GetServerName()
local desc = TheNet:GetServerDescription()
local is_owner = TheNet:GetIsServerOwner(user_id)

Stats Integration

Reports filtering actions to the stats system:

-- Metrics are sent when toggling server filters
Stats.PushMetricsEvent("toggleservernamefilter", user_id, data)

Constants

Data Expiration

• USER_HISTORY_EXPIRY_TIME: Controls how long server preference data is retained

Save Configuration

• ENCODE_SAVES: Determines whether save data should be encoded
• BRANCH: Current game branch affecting save file naming

Related Modules

• Profile: User profile settings including profanity filter preferences
• Stats: Metrics reporting for user actions
• JSON: JSON encoding/decoding for persistent storage
• ProfanityFilter: Content filtering system