Handling MySQL Data Retrieval for Cross-Browser Game Leaderboards
I tried several approaches but none seem to work. I'm migrating some code and Currently developing a multiplayer game where player scores need to be fetched from a MySQL database for a leaderboard feature. The goal is to ensure compatibility across different web browsers. I want to retrieve scores efficiently, and I've set up a basic MySQL table like this: ```sql CREATE TABLE leaderboard ( id INT AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY, player_name VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL, score INT NOT NULL, created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP ); ``` Using PHP with PDO for database access, I've written the following code to fetch the leaderboard: ```php try { $pdo = new PDO('mysql:host=localhost;dbname=game_db', 'username', 'password'); $pdo->setAttribute(PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE, PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION); $stmt = $pdo->query('SELECT player_name, score FROM leaderboard ORDER BY score DESC LIMIT 10'); $leaderboard = $stmt->fetchAll(PDO::FETCH_ASSOC); } catch (PDOException $e) { echo "Connection failed: " . $e->getMessage(); } ``` Although this works fine in Chrome, I'm noticing that in Firefox and Safari the loading times can be inconsistent, especially with high traffic. I've tried adding an index to the `score` column to improve query performance: ```sql CREATE INDEX idx_score ON leaderboard(score); ``` Unfortunately, this hasn't resolved the issue completely. Additionally, I've implemented AJAX calls from the front end, using jQuery, to avoid full page reloads: ```javascript $.ajax({ url: 'get_leaderboard.php', type: 'GET', success: function(data) { // Update leaderboard display }, error: function(xhr, status, error) { console.error('Error fetching leaderboard:', error); } }); ``` Despite these efforts, I'm still observing sporadic delays on the leaderboard update, particularly on Safari. Is there a recommended strategy for optimizing this MySQL data retrieval process further? Perhaps there are caching mechanisms or other best practices I should consider for smoother performance across all browsers? I'm using Php latest in this project. Thanks for any help you can provide! Is there a better approach?