I’ll be honest. I don’t like XML. I don’t like SOAP (REST is far nicer in my opinion), since it manipulates the HTTP spec to do things it was never meant to do. Raw sockets and bit twiddling seem like a more logical extension, just that port 80 happens to be open on most corporate firewalls, so SOAP and CORBA have taken off. Inasmuch as I may dislike XML, though, it has its uses. Representing a datastream on for sets where CSV doesn’t really make sense, and YAML isn’t available, and it’s not that hard to deal with.
The ArmyBuilder developers seem to have squeezed SGML into an XML doctype somehow, and the roster files are littered with references I can’t quite make out. Yes, ArmyBuilder can export to XML, I guess, but it leads to XSL from hell. In some ways, I would have preferred to rip apart a binary format with a hex editor, as long as the data was formatted logically.
This, for instance:
<link id="dwWarCrew" count="1" actual="1" script="0" sequence="106" pseudo="no" totalcost="0" \
name="Crew" category="Equip" visible="no" sourceid="dwBoltThrw" sourceindex="1"></link>
Or this:
<ruleset context="dwSubtype" ruleset="dwDwarves" contextname="Army Subtype" rulesetname="Dwarf Army"/>
Is not formatted logically. The second record, as you can see, uses XML attributes rather than nodes for everything, which kinda defeats the point. XSL to parse ArmyBuilder’s XML output? Ahh…
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
185
| <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xsl:stylesheet version="1.0" xmlns:xsl="http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform">
<xsl:output method="html" version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" indent="yes"/>
<xsl:variable name="newlinefeed"><![CDATA[
]]></xsl:variable>
<xsl:variable name="statCountGlobal" select="count(document/definition/stat_def)"/>
<xsl:template match="/">
<xsl:variable name="namedModelCount" select="document/composition/@model_count"/>
<xsl:variable name="actualModelCount" select="sum(//regiment/@model_count)"/>
<xsl:variable name="actualPoints" select="sum(//regiment/@cost[not(contains(.,'['))])"/>
<xsl:value-of select="concat(/document/summary/@race_name,': ',$actualPoints, /document/definition/@points_abbrev,' - ',$actualModelCount,' ')"/> Models<xsl:value-of select="$newlinefeed"/>
<xsl:for-each select="/document/composition/comp_entry">
<xsl:variable name="groupName" select="@group_name"/>
<xsl:if test="/document/roster/top_level/regiment[@composition = $groupName]">
<xsl:variable name="unit" select="@group_name"/>
<xsl:for-each select="/document/roster/top_level/regiment[@composition = $unit]">
<xsl:apply-templates select="." mode="top_level">
<xsl:with-param name="regDepth">
<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when test="position()=1"><xsl:value-of select="count(/document/roster/top_level[regiment/@composition = $unit]//regiment)"/></xsl:when>
<xsl:otherwise>0</xsl:otherwise>
</xsl:choose>
</xsl:with-param>
</xsl:apply-templates>
</xsl:for-each>
</xsl:if>
</xsl:for-each>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="regiment" mode="top_level">
<xsl:param name="regDepth">
<xsl:value-of select="count(..//regiment)"/>
</xsl:param>
<xsl:variable name="statCountLocal" select="count(stat)"/>
<xsl:variable name="fsib" select="preceding-sibling::node()"/>
<xsl:variable name="composition" select="@composition"/>
<xsl:if test="$regDepth > 0">
<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when test="not($composition = $fsib/@composition)">
<xsl:value-of select="$composition"/>(<xsl:value-of select="/document/composition/comp_entry[@group_name = $composition]/@percentage"/>)<xsl:value-of select="$newlinefeed"/>
</xsl:when>
</xsl:choose>
</xsl:if>
<xsl:value-of select="concat('[',@model_count,'] ')"/>
<xsl:variable name="itemcost">
<xsl:if test="@cost"><xsl:value-of select="@cost"/></xsl:if>
</xsl:variable>
<xsl:variable name="retinuecost">
<xsl:call-template name="getRetinueCost">
<xsl:with-param name="retinuecostSum" select="0"/>
<xsl:with-param name="current" select="regiment[position()=1]"/>
<xsl:with-param name="rest" select="regiment[position()!=1]"/>
</xsl:call-template>
</xsl:variable>
<xsl:variable name="transportcost">
<xsl:if test="regiment[@stat_set = 0]/@cost"><xsl:value-of select="substring-after(substring-before(regiment[@stat_set = 0]/@cost,']'),'[')"/></xsl:if>
</xsl:variable>
<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when test="$retinuecost and @model_count=1 and @composition='HQ'">
<xsl:value-of select="concat('[',$itemcost - $retinuecost,'] ')"/>
</xsl:when>
<xsl:when test="$transportcost != ''">
<xsl:value-of select="concat('[',$itemcost - $transportcost,'] ')"/>
</xsl:when>
<xsl:otherwise>
<xsl:value-of select="concat('[',$itemcost,'] ')"/>
</xsl:otherwise>
</xsl:choose>
<xsl:value-of select="substring-before(name,' (')"/>
<xsl:if test="@model_count=1 and @composition='HQ'">
<xsl:text disable-output-escaping="yes">(IC)</xsl:text>
</xsl:if>
<xsl:text disable-output-escaping="yes">: </xsl:text>
<xsl:for-each select="item">
<xsl:variable name="namedItem" select="name"/>
<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when test="count(../item[name=$namedItem]) > 1"><xsl:value-of select="concat($namedItem,'(x',count(../item/name[.=$namedItem]),');')"/></xsl:when>
<xsl:otherwise><xsl:value-of select="concat(name,';')"/></xsl:otherwise>
</xsl:choose>
</xsl:for-each>
<xsl:for-each select="choice"><xsl:value-of select="concat(name,';')"/></xsl:for-each>
<xsl:value-of select="$newlinefeed"/>
<xsl:for-each select=".//regiment[not(../@category = 'Wargear Item')] ">
<xsl:apply-templates select="." mode="regiment" />
</xsl:for-each>
<xsl:value-of select="$newlinefeed"/>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template match="regiment" mode="regiment">
<xsl:variable name="statCountLocal" select="count(stat)"/>
<xsl:variable name="depth">
<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when test="../../@stat_count=1"><xsl:value-of select="number(@depth)-1" /></xsl:when>
<xsl:otherwise><xsl:value-of select="@depth" /></xsl:otherwise>
</xsl:choose>
</xsl:variable>
<xsl:value-of select="concat('[',@model_count,'] ')"/>
<xsl:variable name="itemcost">
<xsl:if test="@cost"><xsl:value-of select="substring-after(substring-before(@cost,']'),'[')"/></xsl:if>
</xsl:variable>
<xsl:variable name="transportcost">
<xsl:if test="regiment[@stat_set = 0]/@cost"><xsl:value-of select="substring-after(substring-before(regiment[@stat_set = 0]/@cost,']'),'[')"/></xsl:if>
</xsl:variable>
<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when test="((../@composition='HQ' and @depth = 1) or (@depth = 0)) and (regiment[@stat_set = 0])">
<xsl:value-of select="concat('[',$itemcost - $transportcost,'] ')"/>
</xsl:when>
<xsl:when test="@stat_set = 0">
<xsl:value-of select="concat('[',$itemcost,'] ')"/>
</xsl:when>
<xsl:when test="../@composition = 'HQ' and ../@stat_count > 1">
<xsl:value-of select="concat('[',$itemcost,'] ')"/>
</xsl:when>
</xsl:choose>
<xsl:call-template name="formatName"><xsl:with-param name="strName" select="concat(name,': ')"/></xsl:call-template>
<xsl:for-each select="item[not(name = preceding-sibling::item/name)]">
<xsl:variable name="namedItem" select="name"/>
<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when test="count(../item[name=$namedItem]) > 1"><xsl:value-of select="concat($namedItem,'(x',count(../item[name=$namedItem]),');')"/></xsl:when>
<xsl:otherwise><xsl:value-of select="concat(name,';')"/></xsl:otherwise>
</xsl:choose>
</xsl:for-each>
<xsl:for-each select="choice"><xsl:value-of select="concat(name,';')"/></xsl:for-each>
<xsl:value-of select="$newlinefeed"/>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template name="getRetinueCost">
<xsl:param name="retinuecostSum" />
<xsl:param name="current" />
<xsl:param name="rest" />
<xsl:variable name="curCost">
<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when test="contains($current/@cost,'[')"><xsl:value-of select="substring-after(substring-before($current/@cost,']'),'[')" /></xsl:when>
<xsl:otherwise><xsl:value-of select="$current" /></xsl:otherwise>
</xsl:choose>
</xsl:variable>
<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when test="$current">
<xsl:call-template name="getRetinueCost">
<xsl:with-param name="retinuecostSum" select="$retinuecostSum + $curCost"/>
<xsl:with-param name="current" select="$rest[position()=1]"/>
<xsl:with-param name="rest" select="$rest[position()!=1]"/>
</xsl:call-template>
</xsl:when>
<xsl:otherwise>
<xsl:value-of select="$retinuecostSum" />
</xsl:otherwise>
</xsl:choose>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template name="halfCost">
<xsl:param name="itemCost"/>
<xsl:value-of select="round($itemCost div 2)" />
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template name="formatName">
<xsl:param name="strName"/>
<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when test="contains($strName,' (')"><xsl:value-of select="substring-before($strName,' (')"/></xsl:when>
<xsl:otherwise><xsl:value-of select="$strName"/></xsl:otherwise>
</xsl:choose>
</xsl:template>
<xsl:template name="doReplaceCar">
<xsl:param name="text"/>
<xsl:param name="replace"/>
<xsl:param name="by"/>
<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when test="contains($text, $replace)">
<xsl:value-of select="substring-before($text, $replace)" disable-output-escaping="yes"/>
<xsl:value-of select="$by" disable-output-escaping="yes"/>
<xsl:call-template name="doReplaceCar">
<xsl:with-param name="text" select="substring-after($text, $replace)"/>
<xsl:with-param name="replace" select="$replace"/>
<xsl:with-param name="by" select="$by"/>
</xsl:call-template>
</xsl:when>
<xsl:otherwise>
<xsl:value-of select="$text" disable-output-escaping="yes"/>
</xsl:otherwise>
</xsl:choose>
</xsl:template>
</xsl:stylesheet> |
No, I am not writing a stylesheet like that again, and the one to parse the roster files would be far more complicated.
The problem with the roster file, fundamentally, is that it’s too tightly linked with ArmyBuilder. That makes sense, in a way, but is still irksome. The <link> elements don’t have any nodes under them, just assloads of attributes, and it’s not easy to figure out which ones I am interested in:
<link id="HeavyArmor" count="1" actual="1" script="0" sequence="26" pseudo="no" totalcost="0" name="Heavy Armor" category="Equip" \
abbrev="Hv" description="5+ Armor Save" equipment="yes" footnote="yes" sourceid="dwWarrVet" sourceindex="5"></link>
Versus ones I’m not interested in:
<link id="ItemCost" count="1" actual="1" script="0" sequence="28" pseudo="no" totalcost="0" name="Item Cost Worker" category="Equip"\
visible="no" sourcetype="3" sourceid="Globals" sourceindex="1"></link>
Without passing a long hashlist of element.attribute[$thing] values, or specifically excluding anything with “Helper” or “Worker” or whatever in the name, etc. Not to mention it’s formatted as:
<document>
<squad>
<!-- unit name and cost is here -->
<entity>
<!-- unit stats are here, along with composition and whatnot -->
<link>
<!-- sometimes there's nothing of note in the link tags -->
<entity>
<!-- this might be a magic item, warmachine crew, magic banner, champion, and probably other stuff, but is not easily \
identified, and there may be more than one -->
<link>
<!-- might be info for whatever is in entity, might be a helper which I don't want -->
</link>
<unitstat>
<!-- if it's crew, champion, whatever, stats would be here, but this node may not exist -->
</unitstat>
</entity>
</link>
</entity>
</squad>
</document>The problem with some of these is that by the mantra of whoever wrote ArmyBuilder, champions fall into the “Equip” category. There is, in fact, a “isunit” attribute, but it isn’t set to yes anywhere. Only set to “no” for items, which I can’t figure out (unless there’s some kind of magic item which qualifies as a unit you can add? I don’t know).
I’ve got a parser that works in Ruby written, but I haven’t converted it to C# yet. Also, I’ve not tested it against anything that might have more complicated schema than dwarves: mounted units, chariots, to check if it’s undead/daemon/greenskin and see if special rules apply (since not everything in the army is guaranteed to be), embedded assassins, magic, et al. Sadly, the only roster I’ve got at work is for dwarves, so I’ll have to dump some more output from ArmyBuilder and run the parser against it to see how it handles it.
Any other niche cases either of you can think of that may have specific rules? I’m going to try to stabilize the parser and get it to properly validate every army type, then move it to .NET
Also, thinking about it, I’m utterly convinced that snapping things to some kind of a grid is the only real feasible solution. Querying the object via System.Drawing or GDI might work, but I’m not sure how accurate the pixel mapping is. At any rate, for things like the Lance Formation, line of sight on skirmishers, determining base contact for champions/characters embedded, reforming the unit, and templates, a grid seems like the only way to go without doing occlusion detection (for the templates). Convert inches to millimeters, and make it 1mm x 1mm squares or something.
