RE: TOAW XML Editor (Full Version)

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Lobster -> RE: TOAW XML Editor (11/5/2018 9:28:16 PM)

Here is the correct shot. Shows turn of arrival in deployment:




[image]local://upfiles/45799/15E8844E3CE946A6A87382278EA787A4.jpg[/image]



rbeeler81 -> RE: TOAW XML Editor (11/5/2018 9:50:07 PM)

May I ask what is the TOAW executable? I am having similar issues to the ones you have posted.



Lobster -> RE: TOAW XML Editor (11/6/2018 12:28:10 AM)

Current one is Opart4 v4.1.0.4.



76mm -> RE: TOAW XML Editor (11/6/2018 11:32:09 AM)

Thanks, very heplful, I will check these issues out. I've changed a couple of things since the last draft, might have fixed it, but I will check. With the enormous number of scenarios out there, there always seem to be issues that crop up in one scenario or another.

For instance, I've also found that scenarios with non-standard characters (eg, SS runes) crash the program (actually, it crashes XML, which then crashes the program). Dealing with all of these oddball situations will suck up some time.



76mm -> RE: TOAW XML Editor (11/6/2018 11:52:47 AM)

Lobster, sorry, I don't understand your last post with the 68th Inf Div--what is the issue there? Your previous screenies show a different unit (270th Inf Div)?



Lobster -> RE: TOAW XML Editor (11/6/2018 1:02:25 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: 76mm

Lobster, sorry, I don't understand your last post with the 68th Inf Div--what is the issue there? Your previous screenies show a different unit (270th Inf Div)?


Sorry that's what happens when your wife is nagging you to do something while trying to do things infinitely more important. Deleted that shot and rewrote the post with the proper screen shot.

What it all boils down to is your tool has a drop down with deployment states. That is not appropriate for units arriving on a turn. It needs to be able to display a turn number, not just deployment states. Also, when looking at the xml, when a unit arrives on a turn the format is a bit different. Maybe that's why it produces an error?



76mm -> RE: TOAW XML Editor (11/6/2018 1:26:53 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Lobster
What it all boils down to is your tool has a drop down with deployment states. That is not appropriate for units arriving on a turn. It needs to be able to display a turn number, not just deployment states. Also, when looking at the xml, when a unit arrives on a turn the format is a bit different. Maybe that's why it produces an error?

I think that I can fix most of the issues with Reinforcements; it turns out there is one "deployment" code for "Reinforcments by Turn" and a different one for "Reinforcements by Event", and the location format needs to be tweaked for reinforcements--so far so good...

The problem so far is that so far I cannot find where in the XML file (or anywhere else), the turn for reinforcements is indicated. This seems odd, and I have not yet had time for an exhaustive search, but it is definitely not in the two places where I would expect it (the XML data for the unit itself or maybe in the Events data). I need to spend more time digging through existing scenarios to see if I can figure it out, and if that doesn't work I will probably have to see if Ralph could shed any light on this.

In any event, I should be able to stop the errors, but until I find the reinforcement turn in the XML, I won't be able to incorporate that data.

I haven't dealt with Divided Units either, they have some of the same issues.



Lobster -> RE: TOAW XML Editor (11/6/2018 1:50:18 PM)

A reinforcement. You can tell because it says GOINGTOX and Y. Also ENTRY="31" indicates turn of arrival.

<UNIT ID="549" NAME="19 SU AT" ICON="Antitank" ICONID="15" COLOR="90" SIZE="Brigade" EXPERIENCE="untried" CHARACTERISTICS="20000" PROFICIENCY="50" READINESS="75" SUPPLY="75" GOINGTOX="64" GOINGTOY="70" EMPHASIS="Minimize Losses" PARENT="549" STATUS="1" ENTRY="31" REPLACEMENTPRIORITY="0">

Deployed at the start of the scenario. A definite X,Y location is given and there is no ENTRY given.

<UNIT ID="544" NAME="86 SU Art" ICON="Artillery" COLOR="90" SIZE="Brigade" EXPERIENCE="untried" CHARACTERISTICS="20008" PROFICIENCY="55" READINESS="60" SUPPLY="65" X="64" Y="70" EMPHASIS="Minimize Losses" PARENT="544" STATUS="8" REPLACEMENTPRIORITY="0">

The reinforcing unit is validated by this screen shot that shows the Soviet 19 AT unit entering on turn 31.



[image]local://upfiles/45799/531E6B7504354C66A106EB497C885D43.jpg[/image]



76mm -> RE: TOAW XML Editor (11/6/2018 2:09:13 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Lobster
Also ENTRY="31" indicates turn of arrival.

Well duh, not sure how I overlooked that, it must have been off the edge of my screen or something... Thanks!

Presumably same field for entry Event, although entry events will need to be changed in the Event Editor.



Lobster -> RE: TOAW XML Editor (11/6/2018 2:16:16 PM)

Yeah I wouldn't worry about anything concerning events until you start in on that nightmare. [;)]



John T_MatrixForum -> RE: TOAW XML Editor (11/6/2018 6:30:18 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: jakobscalpel


quote:

ORIGINAL: 76mm

quote:

ORIGINAL: John T_MatrixForum
...an event editor with graphical chaining so you actually see whats wrong.

Sorry, what does "graphical chaining" mean?



My guess is John is describing an event viewer/editor that uses nested conditionals instead of "gotos". If the events could be replayed, like in a debugger, so that the equivalent of unit tests could be run against an event set, that would be amazing too. Just guessing as to John's intention however.

I'm hoping that the event editor in TOAW can one day be converted to a scripting language, or (better yet!) allow for compiled plugins to be shipped with a scenario, with the events populated through a public API or dll.


Sorry for the delay but I had a go at it without success in PowerBI and Snowflake
(just because I like to learn those tools).

The ting I like to have is hierarchy or "network" so you can see how events affect each others.

Like
1.0.0 Event# 1: Theater option "Mobilization"
1.1.0 Event#2: VP 2 , +5
1.2.0 Event#3: News: "Sweden mobilizes"
1.3.1 Event#3: Unit Activated: "Unit Name1"
1.3.2 Event#3: Unit Activated: "Unit Name2"
Etcetera

And if the notation 1.2.3 would be replaced with lines in a graphical interface I think that would make it much simpler to follow a chain of events-

And then also look at it from the other side -be able to see that Unit 1 is activated by event #3, and not on gameturn 3.



The general problem is that the data structures used in the XML still uses the same internal "squeese an much data in few bytes" structures as needed in 1992.

So If you can just present the data in a more readable way it would be nice, now I tried to make sense out of the xml file to create the above SQL but got problems understanding what types what tag to what purpose.
(I'm not sure anyone made such a list?)
And actually to just add correct tags in the xml that explain what it is used for rather than
field four means Percentage on event type "x" and gameturn if event type "y"
(reasonable exlained in the scenario editor but not in the xml file)

But this would not be needed if we work with a nice tool.



Point two, to create a parser that generates the events from some form of IF-statements,
might not be that hard. Without thinking too hard (and thus finding all the traps, ifs and buts)
it seems that you could generate a few constructs that expands to a hand full of events.

Like:
IF 1 Occupies X,Y THEN
BEGIN
List of actions
END

Cheers
/John






76mm -> RE: TOAW XML Editor (11/6/2018 7:02:51 PM)

John, thanks for the helpful description... Will be a while before I can focus on the Event Editor, but jakobskalpel hopes to have time to take a look as well.



fulcrum28 -> RE: TOAW XML Editor (11/7/2018 12:04:48 PM)

great tool! it is amazing that TOAWIV still did not include something like that after 20 years.

I still got the same error as post #20. Just opening and gives me error, any way to bypass it?

on the other hand, if I reassign lets say a division to another corps or army, it may affects the scripted automatic removal of troops or reinforcement, specially in FITE or Directive 21 scenarios?
or as long as I dont change unit color patterns should it be ok?



Lobster -> RE: TOAW XML Editor (11/7/2018 1:16:04 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: 76mm

John, thanks for the helpful description... Will be a while before I can focus on the Event Editor, but jakobskalpel hopes to have time to take a look as well.



Maybe you could ask Curt Chambers (Opart Design and Debug (ODD)) or Andy Edmiston (aka parmenio (TOAWIII Equipment Editor/Scenario Viewer/Editor Beta)) how they handled some of this stuff.



76mm -> RE: TOAW XML Editor (11/7/2018 1:55:04 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: fulcrum28
I still got the same error as post #20. Just opening and gives me error, any way to bypass it?

Are you using the updated file in post #45? That might solve it... Another issue might be if you are trying to open a file with non-standard characters (SS runes, etc.). If so, you should be able to delete the file ("FilePath.txt") in the same directory as where you installed this program, and next time you open it, it will ask you to select a new *.gam file--try to select one without non-standard characters, just to see if it will open.

I should be able to fix the non-standard character issue in due course, but it will take me a little while...

quote:

ORIGINAL: fulcrum28
on the other hand, if I reassign lets say a division to another corps or army, it may affects the scripted automatic removal of troops or reinforcement, specially in FITE or Directive 21 scenarios? or as long as I dont change unit color patterns should it be ok?

Good question! I haven't tried this, but my guess is that it won't cause a problem, because the event should be tied to the Unit ID, which does not change. Let us know if you try it, or I will try to do so next week.



76mm -> RE: TOAW XML Editor (11/7/2018 1:59:21 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Lobster
Maybe you could ask Curt Chambers (Opart Design and Debug (ODD)) or Andy Edmiston (aka parmenio (TOAWIII Equipment Editor/Scenario Viewer/Editor Beta)) how they handled some of this stuff.

OK, although honestly I have not looked at the Event Editor at all so far, and need to understand it before asking anyone questions about it.

Also, I was confused yesterday about not finding the entry turns for Reinforcing units--actually it was the release turn for static formations that I could not find in the XML file... Anybody know where that is?

I'm going away for several days and then need to work on some of these pesky issues, so you probably won't hear from me for a while, but I will be working on this stuff. In the meantime, please post with any additional bugs that you find, or feature requests.



Lobster -> RE: TOAW XML Editor (11/7/2018 3:46:01 PM)

Actually I was talking about everything in general, not just about the event editor. These guys dealt with everything you are going to. No need to reinvent the wheel. [;)]



76mm -> RE: TOAW XML Editor (11/7/2018 4:14:31 PM)

Sure I could reach out to them if anyone has their contact info. Are they still on the forum?



Lobster -> RE: TOAW XML Editor (11/7/2018 6:58:21 PM)

Andy: http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/showprofile.asp?memid=32504

Curt: http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/showProfile.asp?memid=767



VHauser -> RE: TOAW XML Editor (11/7/2018 8:05:44 PM)

76mm,

I noticed a checkbox for 'hexside rivers'. You can make that happen?



76mm -> RE: TOAW XML Editor (11/7/2018 8:53:21 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: VHauser
I noticed a checkbox for 'hexside rivers'. You can make that happen?

Abraca-pocus! Hex-side Rivers! That was easy! [:D]

I was wondering when someone would ask about that...it is indeed a data field in the XML file, but when I tried to change the setting I got some very strange visual effects in the game. I suspect that there is some code for hex-side rivers, but I have no idea if it is complete, and in any event there are no relevant graphics files, so as far as I can tell the setting is not usable at this point. At some point I'll ask Ralph about this, but I want to get through all of the basic stuff first.

In the meantime, if anyone wants to play around with that setting, let us know what happens!



Lobster -> RE: TOAW XML Editor (11/7/2018 9:46:24 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: VHauser

76mm,

I noticed a checkbox for 'hexside rivers'. You can make that happen?


Not sure exactly how long that has been present. It's also there in TOAWIII. If I recall Norm Koger put that in there back in the day.



76mm -> RE: TOAW XML Editor (11/17/2018 1:30:50 AM)

Hey guys, just wanted to let you know that I'm working on this stuff and have made a lot of progress on the stuff mentioned in this thread so far. Any more problems to report or feature requests?



rhinobones -> RE: TOAW XML Editor (11/17/2018 2:18:59 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL:

I noticed a checkbox for 'hexside rivers'. You can make that happen?



Hex side rivers and WEGO are the burning requests. Of course you are aware of these requests, so the question really is if the TOADs will ever implement the changes.

My feeling is that they will not since it requires massive changes to the TOAW code and the return on investment is questionable.

Regards, RhinoBones




76mm -> RE: TOAW XML Editor (11/17/2018 2:35:47 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: rhinobones
Hex side rivers and WEGO are the burning requests.

Hey, I'm a beginning programmer, not a magician! [:D]

I'm with you on both of these, especially hex-side rivers, but I'm just exposing the XML code that the game produces, I can't make any real changes to the game--just hopefully make the existing game a bit easier to use.



rhinobones -> RE: TOAW XML Editor (11/17/2018 2:44:35 AM)

76mm scores big on my board. In the end I guess we can only hope and pray for more!

Best Regards, RhinoBones



Lobster -> RE: TOAW XML Editor (12/16/2018 7:54:18 PM)

This is the test scenario I sent you. The 3rd Cadre is not deployed. In other words, it has not been placed on the map. So it has no hex location nor does it have a turn of entry. If it were a unit that started the game on map only the location of the unit would be filled in. If it were coming in after the start of the game the turn number and location hexes would be filled in. But because these fields are empty (null), when I click on save I get the unhandled exception error message.

This would only occur with a scenario that is under development. Where units have not been placed on the map. For a completed scenario there would be no problems because all of the fields would be filled. AS it stands there is no way to use this on a scenario that has no units on the map because the location and/or turn fields would never be filled. If the user did fill those fields and tried to save the error would pop up and nothing would be saved.


[image]local://upfiles/45799/294D3C47AE2D4BCEA2FF63BE0D3311C2.jpg[/image]



76mm -> RE: TOAW XML Editor (12/16/2018 8:43:53 PM)

Not sure what is going on, because those units work fine for me after the changes I made this morning, which were intended to deal with this missing data. Here is a screen shot:
[image]local://upfiles/11887/8E250666119F44F68A0FFD985F518BDA.jpg[/image]

The missing turn and hex data is replaced by "--" for such units; I don't get any errors for any of the units missing entry turns or locations.




76mm -> RE: TOAW XML Editor (1/3/2019 1:04:30 AM)

`Guys, here is the latest version of TOAWxml. I've added a few things since the last version, including copying formations/units, and adding/deleting/editing depots and objectives. I've also added data validation for most fields. If something is greyed out, it probably means that I don't understand what kind of data is required, so have disabled editing to prevent players from entering invalid data. I've also fixed many bugs, although I'm sure there are many more waiting to be found...there are many, many scenarios/issues for TOAW, and it is not possible for me to test for all issues/configurations. If an issue comes up, please let me know with as much detail as possible, and I will try to resolve.

Please use this application with caution, and save your original work!

Next I'll start looking at how to add brand-new formations and units; not sure how quickly that will go. In the meantime let me know if you have suggestions for other features.

Here is the revised manual:
************
v1.8
Current Features:

Revise Force, Formation, and Unit Settings: Change any of the enabled settings. Be careful, because I have not yet added any data validation, so if you enter data in the incorrect format, etc., it will probably break your *.gam file. IF YOU CHANGE ANY SETTINGS, BE SURE TO PRESS THE “SAVE CHANGES” BUTTON OR THE CHANGES WILL BE LOST WHEN YOU LEAVE THAT SCREEN!!!

Transfer (Drag-and-Drop) Unit within Tree: Select unit in treeview, left click on unit and drag to formation to which it should be transferred, release mouse button. It will become the last unit in the selected formation.

Transfer (Drag-and-Drop) Equipment within Tree: Select equipment in treeview, left click on equipment and drag to unit to which it should be transferred, release mouse button. It will become the last equipment line in the selected unit.

Change Position of Formation, Unit or Equipment within Tree: Right-click to select Move Up or Move Down, or use the indicated key shortcuts (Ctrl-Up and Ctrl-Down, respectively). Note that in the in-game editor, units are ranked by index number and so will not be in the same order as in TOAW XML.

Delete Unit: Right-click, select Delete, or use the key shortcut (Ctrl-Del). Confirmation is required for deletion, but there is no “un-do”, so be careful with deletions!

Propagate Settings: Right-click, select Formation Propagation or Unit Propagation, as appropriate. On the form which appears, uncheck any settings which you do not want to propagate.

Copy Formation, Unit: Right-click, select Copy, or use the key shortcut (Ctrl-C).

Add, Delete, Revise Depots: . Select relevant force, then press “Next” button in right panel. Click on Supply Depots button to open Depots form. Right-click to add or delete depots, or select relevant cell to revise. Depots IDs cannot be revised.

Add, Delete, Revise Objectives: Click on relevant formation in Tree, then see Objective screen in right panel. Objective tracks can be selected via the dropdown box. Right-click to add or delete objectives, or select relevant cell to revise. Objective IDs cannot be revised.

[EDIT: SEE FIRST POST FOR LATEST VERSION]



76mm -> RE: TOAW XML Editor (1/3/2019 1:26:54 PM)

I should mention that one thing you need to watch out for when using TOAWxml is stacking limits; here are a couple of issues to watch out for:

1) If you are just creating a scenario and have not assigned locations to units, in TOAW they are all assigned to hex 0,0, which could crash the game if you load a scenario in TOAW with more than 9 units in 0,0. So best to assign some location to these units, so that not all are in 0,0; or

2) If you are copying formations, or units, unit locations are copied as well, so you could end up with more than 9 units in one location. So if you copy units/formations, be sure to edit the locations so that there are not too many units in any particular hex.

Just to clarify, you can have as many units in one hex as you want in TOAWxml, but when you import back into TOAW itself, you need to make sure that stacking limits are observed.



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