Xanders/MM/Volo XML tags

[Ken L]

I was about to pick up some of the 5e modules here on FG, but ended up picking up the books in digital form from DnD Beyond as I needed system portability (I DM using multiple VTTs). DnD Beyond as an explosion of home-brew content, as well as offical which an Importer can make use of.

I'm planning on releasing a built-in standalone 5e monster and spell importer for FG, but I'll need to dig into the the 5e purchased modules for spell reference and items so those who own those modules can have some expected import behavior.

What are the XML tags FG uses internally for spell lists and item lists? What XML hierarchy can I expect?

[Moon Wizard]

Are you talking about the paths for the items and spells?
If so, they are located at "reference.equipmentdata" (for mundane items), "reference.magicitemdata" (for magic items), and "reference.spelldata" (for spells). The data path is required to be the same in order for the ruleset to be able to find all records of a given type.
The data structure for individual item and spell records is exactly the same as they are stored in the campaign database.

If you are talking about the lists that are built,
For spells, they are currently using the "reference_colindex" display class and storing in the "reference.spelllists" data path by class.
For magic items, they are currently using the "reference_colindex" display class and storing in the "reference.magicitemlists" data path by class.
The data path is not required to be the same. It was just chosen to be similar to the record data paths.

The data format for "reference_colindex" is:

<list_record>
  <description type="string">...
  <groups>
    <group_record1>
      <description type="string">...
      <index>
        <spell_record1>
          ...
        </spell_record1>
        ...
      </index>
    </group_record1>
    ...
  </groups>
</list_record>

We are looking at switching over to using the new "reference_list" display class (to list all of a single record type), and the "reference_groupedlist" (for grouped, multi-column display of a record type) which have been enhanced further in v3.3.4.

You can create a master record type index as a link in the Library for a module using a link with a class of "reference_list" pointing to a list record with a single data field of <recordtype type="string">, and everything else is automatically handled.
You can create your own grouped, multi-column list using "reference_groupedlist"; but that's a bigger description. I think it's in another post, or we can follow up separately.
For v3.3.4, I added list views built into the ruleset, so that consistent views of common formats can be used across modules. In that case, you just need to specify a link with a class of "reference_groupedlist" with two data fields, <recordtype type="string"> and <listview type="string">. The list view must already be defined in the ruleset. For 5E, these are the list views in v3.3.4.
* npc (byletter, bycr, bytype)
* item (armor, weapon, vehicledrawn, vehiclemount, vehiclewater)

We have not addressed how to build spell class lists programmatically yet, because the class list data is not included with the spell records. So, there is no simple way to build a class spell list only using the spell data.

Hope that answers what you were looking for.

Regards,
JPG

[Ken L]

That's most of what I need. The last is the qualified module names as seen in the extension.xml for each.

Given I don't own these modules it'll be a bit of a blind grasp here till I get someone who does have them to test it.

[Ken L]

Absent of the module names, I'll just only support my custom library curated from DnD Beyond.