XML thing for chars

[ArcticWolf]

Originally Posted by Yest

Nice! UML isn't required, but I think it will make developping easier.

This is a small, very small project, so I think UML isn't so vital... In fact, we developed the entire ROLGps project without a single diagram

[ArcticWolf]

Originally Posted by Xephandor

This is a small, very small project, so I think UML isn't so vital... In fact, we developed the entire ROLGps project without a single diagram

...And that's why ROLGps needs a complete rewrite now.

I'm being serious on that. The old program used plain text files which were hard as hell to update massively, and that's why I'm trying to implement XML.

As you may noticed, this sounds a little bit offtopic. Well, this introduction is just a mere excuse to post the code of a simple file parser I made to test the new engine (it's working pretty fast for a parser). THIS IS JUST A ROOKIE'S EXAMPLE:

Java:

    public static Vector questData(String id){
        Vector result = new Vector();
        try {
            DocumentBuilderFactory factory = DocumentBuilderFactory.newInstance();
            DocumentBuilder docbuild = factory.newDocumentBuilder();
            Document doc = docbuild.parse("quests.xml");
            Element root = doc.getDocumentElement();
            NodeList quests = root.getElementsByTagName("quest");
            for(int x=0; x < quests.getLength(); x++){
                Element quest = (Element)quests.item(x);
                if(id.equals(quest.getAttribute("id"))){
                    result.addElement("tag:name");
                    NodeList nombre = quest.getElementsByTagName("nombre");
                    result.addElement(nombre.item(0).getTextContent());
                    result.addElement("tag:description");
                    NodeList descripcion = quest.getElementsByTagName("descripcion");
                    result.addElement(descripcion.item(0).getTextContent());
                    NodeList npcs = quest.getElementsByTagName("npc");
                    result.addElement("tag:npcs");
                    for (int z = 0 ; z < npcs.getLength(); z++){
                        result.addElement(npcs.item(z).getTextContent());
                    }
                    result.addElement("tag:rewards");
                    NodeList recompensas = quest.getElementsByTagName("recompensa");
                    for (int z = 0 ; z < recompensas.getLength(); z++){
                        result.addElement(recompensas.item(z).getTextContent());
                    }                    
                    break;
                }
            }
            
            
        } catch (SAXException ex) {
            ex.printStackTrace();
        } catch (IOException ex) {
            ex.printStackTrace();
        } catch (ParserConfigurationException ex) {
            ex.printStackTrace();
        }
        return result;
    }

The XML file:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
<quests>
    <quest id="1">
        <nombre>Aguas envenenadas</nombre>
        <npc>Tipo uno</npc>
        <npc>Tipo dos</npc>
        <npc>Tipo tres</npc>
        <recompensa>Mil de oro</recompensa>
        <recompensa>Espada vieja</recompensa>
        <descripcion>breve descripción</descripcion>
    </quest>
    <quest id="2">
        <nombre>Aguas envenenadas2</nombre>
        <npc>Tipo uno2</npc>
        <npc>Tipo dos2</npc>
        <npc>Tipo tres2</npc>
        <recompensa>Mil de oro2</recompensa>
        <recompensa>Espada vieja2</recompensa>
        <descripcion>breve descripción2</descripcion>
    </quest>
    <quest id="3">
        <nombre>Aguas envenenadas3</nombre>
        <npc>Tipo uno3</npc>
        <npc>Tipo dos3</npc>
        <npc>Tipo tres3</npc>
        <recompensa>Mil de oro3</recompensa>
        <recompensa>Espada vieja3</recompensa>
        <descripcion>breve descripción3</descripcion>
    </quest>
</quests>

The result for number one:

tag:name
Aguas envenenadas
tag:description
breve descripcion
tag:npcs
Tipo uno
Tipo dos
Tipo tres
tag:rewards
Mil de oro
Espada vieja

NOTE: The "tag:" thing is just an internal code thingie, used just for parsing the Vector inside the code. Mind the details.
Why did I used an element as the name and not as an attribute? AVOID attributes, they're ugly. I just used them for the index (again, an internal code thing).


So... Why am I posting this? Just because I couldn't find any other example on this forum about xml parsing, and you could find it interesting for any kind of app. I'm using the DOM standard, and it's quite similar to the php examples... Of course you would need to rewrite your app, but this may be helpful if you do so.

For the sake of completeness I'm going to say that the ID will be a hidden field to the user and it will be used like the primary key field on a MySQL database. I recommend you to keep this in mind if you think you may replace your xml files with a database on the future. It makes things easier.


Now back to the topic. Having this code as a "Proof of Concept" example, when do we begin coding?
I bought a PHP book. It's simple, but I think it will help me to understand what you're doing while I play with java :P

[_dracus_]

Oh god no! Please stop showing Java code to me, it's so bad for my mental sanity. I think Java should be a banned language in schools.

[arlick]

Originally Posted by gph

Oh god no! Please stop showing Java code to me, it's so bad for my mental sanity. I think Java should be a banned language in schools.

hahaha

why? java is really easy, i think...

[_dracus_]

Java is not very functional

In fact I don't like the Objects paradigm. It's just my humble opinion on the subject, and I don't think it's the good place to discuss about that.

[arlick]

Originally Posted by gph

Java is not very functional

In fact I don't like the Objects paradigm. It's just my humble opinion on the subject, and I don't think it's the good place to discuss about that.

well your are right, do u wanna open a thread to discuss about programing languages?

[ArcticWolf]

Originally Posted by gph

Oh god no! Please stop showing Java code to me, it's so bad for my mental sanity. I think Java should be a banned language in schools.

Please, PLEASE don't make a flame out of this post...

I'm starting a new topic so you can tell me why it should be banned.

[_dracus_]

Originally Posted by Xephandor

Please, PLEASE don't make a flame out of this post...

I'm starting a new topic so you can tell me why it should be banned.

To get back on the topic, your idea is great. I hope NGD will have the time and ressource to answer to this request. After implementation language is just a tool (you can like it or not, it's up to you).

[ArcticWolf]

Originally Posted by gph

To get back on the topic, your idea is great. I hope NGD will have the time and ressource to answer to this request. After implementation language is just a tool (you can like it or not, it's up to you).

Thanks!! The idea is to improve the current rolgps and to make it more universal, so if we have to update or add something to the file it would be matter of minutes to adapt the program. I'm starting to think that DOM isn't the best idea, I should use SAX to make it faster.

It takes 4 seconds to parse, search, fill the vectors and display the information. Totally unacceptable for me, because DOM iterates over the file several times.