Basic warzone .txt editor (not released yet)
Posted: 24 Sep 2008, 22:25
For fun, I was playing around with a VERY basic editor for the warzone .txt-files (after reading some topics on this board). It is in no way like WZCK - Not nearly as good I mean. But it's a lot better than editing the text files by hand. The tool was made using VB .NET 2005. I know there are a lot of linux folks on this forums, so if development continues I'd rather use Java. .NET is still my primary choice for RAPID application development.
Here's what the program does and how it works (technical):
- It contains no hard-coded warzone-specifics, so in theory it would be an editor for any kind of file that stores properties the warzone-way.
- Workflow:
1) You load a file, for example body.txt
2) The program scans the file quickly. Determines automatically which values are strings, integers, filenames, enums. Determines all possible values for enums, a minimum and maximum value for integers, etc. It just analyses the existing values in the file to do this.
3) Program displays all the entries (e.g. the bodies) in a list, with a column that shows if the entry has unsaved changes.
4) The program 'connects' the names of the parameters from http://wiki.wz2100.net/Txt_Editing BodyName, techLevel, size, buildPower,... to the values in the file.
5) If you select one of the entries, you can just edit the properties, e.g. like in the visual studio property editor. The program uses lists for enum values, a browse function for 'file' values (the .pie files), trackbar/textbox for integers, and textboxes for text. So you can select T1/T2/T3 from a listbox, adjust BodyPoints with a slider, etc.
6) That's it. For saving/opening/etc, it's just operated like any other application.
One major advantage of this approach is that it requires none to very little changes when a newer warzone version comes out, except from importing the propertynames from the wiki. The downside is off course that it's not that user friendly, especially for file that refer to each other. I'm rather busy these days with school etc, so I'm not really developing it (yet), and the program is not in a usable/releasable state right now. And this is an understatement. But I'm curious what you guys think. I think it has the potential to be a handy tool for editing warzone textfiles until a real WZCK-like tool becomes available. I will provide some more info and maybe a screenshot or two if anyone is interested.
Here's what the program does and how it works (technical):
- It contains no hard-coded warzone-specifics, so in theory it would be an editor for any kind of file that stores properties the warzone-way.
- Workflow:
1) You load a file, for example body.txt
2) The program scans the file quickly. Determines automatically which values are strings, integers, filenames, enums. Determines all possible values for enums, a minimum and maximum value for integers, etc. It just analyses the existing values in the file to do this.
3) Program displays all the entries (e.g. the bodies) in a list, with a column that shows if the entry has unsaved changes.
4) The program 'connects' the names of the parameters from http://wiki.wz2100.net/Txt_Editing BodyName, techLevel, size, buildPower,... to the values in the file.
5) If you select one of the entries, you can just edit the properties, e.g. like in the visual studio property editor. The program uses lists for enum values, a browse function for 'file' values (the .pie files), trackbar/textbox for integers, and textboxes for text. So you can select T1/T2/T3 from a listbox, adjust BodyPoints with a slider, etc.
6) That's it. For saving/opening/etc, it's just operated like any other application.
One major advantage of this approach is that it requires none to very little changes when a newer warzone version comes out, except from importing the propertynames from the wiki. The downside is off course that it's not that user friendly, especially for file that refer to each other. I'm rather busy these days with school etc, so I'm not really developing it (yet), and the program is not in a usable/releasable state right now. And this is an understatement. But I'm curious what you guys think. I think it has the potential to be a handy tool for editing warzone textfiles until a real WZCK-like tool becomes available. I will provide some more info and maybe a screenshot or two if anyone is interested.