Cheat Engine

[jonaskp]

Hi,

I have made a Cheat table where I record values, that I then need to use in an Excel sheet, to Update values there. The purpurs is that I run a tournament, so I need the resultat ind the Excel.

Currently I have it working with a LUA script that copies the entitet table to clipboard every Half second. Then in Excel I run a script where I paste the clipboard (with the values from the cheat table) and then I use it from there.

This is not the best Way, as it Blocks the clipboard from any other use, and it also has some other issues, as the copy/paste sometimes switches focus.


Ideally I would like to have cheat engine put the values into a database, that Excel then Can pull data from. I run a local mariaDB database (SQL), so if that Can be used, it would be ideal.

I also thought about exporting cheat table to a .txt file (I have seen examples of this in the Forum), but as I need to write to the file every 0,5-1 second, and read it at the same rate, it doesnt Seem feasible.


Is the database connection something that Can be Done in LUA? Or is there some other approach that could work, that I have not thought of?

[Dark Byte]

ce lua can connect to sqlite3 database and to databases configired with an odbc connection

check out celua.txt for more info on this.

i can't currently given an example as i can't use a pc right now, but ask specific questions on hiw to use the database functiond and i'll try to help out.

Do you understand sql queries ? If not, perhaps lua tables might be easier to work with and a custom save/load functions

[jonaskp]

Thanks for the answer.

I have been using SQL queries for a while now, so I have an ok understanding of it.
I am quite good with VBA, and have dabbled with HTML, php, javascript.

LUA is completely new to me, and the only thing I have done with it, is the script I am using now, which is completely copy-paste from this forum, with a few modifications that I asked for help for.


The database I currently have running is a MariaDB (which is similar to MySQL as far as I know), and I am using SQL Queries to interface it with Excel.
In my VBA code in Excel, I am using "driver={MySQL ODBC 8.0 UNICODE Driver}" in the connection string, so I guess it should be possible using ODBC from CE LUA as well.
I am sure I can figure out that part, from the database side.


The actual problem:

I have a Cheat Table with around 900 "rows"/values in it.
For each of these "rows", I need to export the Description-field and the value-field.

My idea is that the database will have 2 fields/columns: "description" (primary key) and "value".
The LUA script will then upload the values from the Cheat Table, to the database, so that the database will contain these 900 rows.
This will repeat every 0,5 - 1 second, overwriting the existing values (I just need the most current value in the database, not a historic record)


As I said, I can write the SQL queries and I can code stuff in VBA, but I don't know LUA, so this is the part I need help with.


I don't know if the above is specific enough or if it is even possible to give an example of it (or some guidance on how to research it myself, without necessarily having to completely learn LUA) - without spending enormous amount of time on it.

Any help would be appriciated

[Dark Byte]

the addresslist can be read out using the AddressList object

e.g

[jonaskp]

That LUA engine tip was very helpfull, thanks.

The addreslist is something I already used in the current script, just a bit different I think.


After playing around a bit, I now have a script that can create the SQL Query that I need. The query works fine when I manually run it on the database

This is what I have so far:

[jonaskp]

So, other stuff happened, but I am finally able to get back to this.

I have looked around (on the forum and in celua.txt), but am completely stuck.
I have found mention of "CreateODBCConnection(owner)", but have no idea how to use it in code.


My status so far:

What I have:
- An SQL Query (see post above)
- Connection the my SQL Database setup in ODBC Data sources (windows)

What I need:
- An example of how to make a connection to a mySQL database (ie. using ODBC) where I can then run the above SQL Query.


I hope someone is able to help with this. I don't necessarily need a finished code example (though i would be nice ), but all mentions I have found so far is just somethin along the line of "use createODBCConnection(owner) and set it up correctly" - and I don't know how to use it or set it up...

[Dark Byte]

ai never tried the odbc connection myself and only exposed whatbis available in lazarus so not sure

right now I still can not get behind a computer to test (perhaps next week)


but how about working with an sqlite3 database?
With lua you can creat3 an sqlite3 database and also do sql querries to fill it.
Once you get that working it's a lot easier to switch out the connection component

[jonaskp]

[jonaskp]

So, I am getting closer to when I need this working, and still I have not gotten any further. Looking into this, I have come up completely empty:

- I tried looking at the "celua.txt", but I don't really think that explains how "createODBCconnection" should be implemented.

- I tried searching the forums, but there is barely any mentioning of "createODBCconnection" and no working solutions.

- I looked in the Wiki, but all the pages regarding database connection is empty.


Dark Byte, if you have had time to look into this, or have more suggestions, I would be grateful.
The database-stuff is implemented in CheatEngine, so it must be possible to get it working.

I just lack the knowledge on how to do it, without more guidance than what is currently in the "celua.txt" file.

[EDIT]
Apparently I can't double post, so I'll add this to this post instead:

To recap what I need:

- I have gotten the script to write a SQLQuery to the variable "strSQLCommand"

- What I need help with, is getting Cheat Engine to run this SQLQuery on my database.
Preferably through an ODBC-connection, but for now I can live with hardcoding credentials directly into the LUA script, as this will only run locally under my supervision (and is not "mission critical" for anything important).


Any help would be greatly appriciated.

[ParkourPenguin]

There's a lot of stuff in CE that you'd only find by reading the source.
https://github.com/cheat-engine/cheat-engine/blob/master/Cheat%20Engine/LuaSQL.pas

[Dark Byte]

Oops, looks like I forgot to document some parameters

lets say you have an ODBC datasource named "mariadbtest"
then you can create an ODBC connection using:

[jonaskp]

[EDIT]I am having some issues. See bottom of post...
You guys are AWESOME!!

Finally managed to get it all working today.

@ParkourPenguin: Thanks for guiding me to the source code.
I didn't understand what you meant at first. It wasn't until after Dark Byte posted his replied, that I somehow realised, that you were referring to the example at the very beginning of the Source Code.
I had been searching for "ODBC" and looking there...


I managed to reverse-engineer the Code example down to this:

[jonaskp]

I have done more testing, but haven't found a solution yet.

I think the issue lies somewhere with my code in LUA.
If I use the same ODBC connection to pull data into Excel, the characters show up fine (if they were correct in the Database). So atleast when using "SELECT", the ODBC driver is not doing some weird conversion.

If I copy the SQL Query string made by Cheat Engine, and run it manually on the Database (through SQLyog), the characters show up fine.

But when I run it through Cheat Engine and LUA (using ODBC), the special characters are getting messed up.


Am I missing a parameter somewhere in my LUA script, that forces the Query to use utf8mb4?

[Dark Byte]

the functions ansiToUtf8 or utf8ToAnsi might help somewhat?

CE gui components are in UTF8, so first convert the UTF8 to ansi, and then use the ansi odbc connection


Also, where does the formatting go wrong? In during insert, during select , or when rendering to a GUI control in CE?

[jonaskp]