4e Parse Catalog Creation

[Doc_Waldo]

I have not had any trouble creating mod's from the parse tool; however, I can not seem to create a catalog without getting errors. I have downloaded the latest parse tool, yet still I am having trouble. Would someone be willing to walk me through the catalog creation process, i.e. creating a master catalog of all powers from the mod's I have created (or point me in the right direction). Thanks.

[Zeus]

I have not had any trouble creating mod's from the parse tool; however, I can not seem to create a catalog without getting errors. I have downloaded the latest parse tool, yet still I am having trouble. Would someone be willing to walk me through the catalog creation process, i.e. creating a master catalog of all powers from the mod's I have created (or point me in the right direction). Thanks.

What errors are you getting? Creating a catalog should be as simple as naming it and making sure its pointed at your modules folder.

Typical errors include malformed 4E modules (i.e. not a proper ZIP file) and permission errors.

[Doc_Waldo]

I will again try tonight and post a screen shot of the error.

Currently I have followed the steps below:
1- Opened and pointed to my mod folder (default for FGII)
2- Name it and click catalog.
3- Error pops up.
** I have mods that are from different versions of 4e parser.

My trouble shoot:
1- I am creating three player handbooks mods from scratch with v.118 of 4E Parser (following steps from this forum).
2- I will then drop three mod's into the folder.
3- I will then try and run the catalog from the three freshly created mods.

Hopefully this works.

[Doc_Waldo]

Oh, one more questions for the group. Does anyone know where I can find a "help" file for the 4E Parser. I am hoping to get a breakdown of what each tree/line in the Parse does.

[Doc_Waldo]

Another few questions I am hopeful may be answered concerning the parsing 4e tool.

1) Can you actually combine player handbooks or any similar books utilizing the "append" selection. (I tried but for whatever the reason, it didn't seem to grab weapons, amor, races and I had them selected.

2) When using a catalog, do the actual mods have to be opened when accessing the power?

Thanks.

[Zeus]

Oh, one more questions for the group. Does anyone know where I can find a "help" file for the 4E Parser. I am hoping to get a breakdown of what each tree/line in the Parse does.

A comprehensive guide to the syntax the Parer uses for the different content type is included with the program. The file is called ParserDocument.txt and should be in the Programs directory. A link to the file can also be found in the Start Menu under the 4EParser folder.

[Zeus]

1) Can you actually combine player handbooks or any similar books utilizing the "append" selection. (I tried but for whatever the reason, it didn't seem to grab weapons, amor, races and I had them selected.


Yes, however the append function is for scraping data from multiple sources into common source files. Once you have all the source content scraped you just parse as normal to create your super module.


2) When using a catalog, do the actual mods have to be opened when accessing the power?

Thanks.

Yes, the catalog just contains reference links.

[Doc_Waldo]

Thanks you. I am working on making sure all my mods are up-to-date and are pretty straight forward for my group.

I did come across an interesting problem with the 4E catalog (I got it to work, thanks). I've attacked a picture showing an error of a "hidden" title--it is the same with all the headings. Basically the first line gets caught up in the title area. You can sort of see the top line where the arrow is pointing.

I suspect there is a way to go into one of the files and add a space for the top lines of all the topic headings? Also is there a way to change the font of the list? Thanks.

[Doc_Waldo]

12/31/2010 4:32:10 PM : ERROR:System.Xml.XmlException: The '<' character, hexadecimal value 0x3C, cannot be included in a name. Line 131521, position 21.

<flavor type="formattedtext"><p><i></i></p></flavor>
<effect type="string">one creature; Intelligence vs. Reflex; 3d8 + Intelligence modifier psychic damage, and ongoing 5 psychic damage (save ends).</effect>
<instinctiveeffect type="string">If you haven’t given your true dream form any commands by the end of your turn, it uses one of your psionic at-will attack powers that has the implement keyword against an enemy of your choice. It can’t augment the power.</instinctiveeffect>

</grantedTrueDreamForm-StandardAction_1>
*** <itemBarkskinArmor<spanClass=_milevel_>Level10UncommonPower-Daily>
<name type="string">Barkskin Armor<span class="milevel">Level 10 Uncommon Power - Daily</name>
<recharge type="string">Daily</recharge>
<action type="string">Minor Action</action>
<source type="string">Item</source>
<description type="formattedtext"><table><tr><td><b>Effect:</b>Gain a +2 power bonus to AC until the end of the encounter. Each time an attack hits your AC, reduce this bonus by 1 (minimum 0).</td></tr></table></description>


Does anyone know what or why this error would happen? I am trying to combine the 3 player handbooks into one master player handbook. I did this by scraping the 1st handbook, then appending 2 and 3 to it, then I went and tried to create the mod which then gave me this error.

[Zeus]

Does anyone know what or why this error would happen? I am trying to combine the 3 player handbooks into one master player handbook. I did this by scraping the 1st handbook, then appending 2 and 3 to it, then I went and tried to create the mod which then gave me this error.

The current state of the Compendium is not very good with many entries containing malformed HTML. Its pretty impossible for the Parser to handle all cases of the malformed HTML as it is difficult to predict where/when it will occur, this is made worse by the fact that the the data is inconsistently loaded in by Wizards. Tenian does his best to keep up with Wizards but its an impossible task to get right 100% every time.

Regarding your error, it looks like the magic item entry for Barkskin Armor is whats causing the error. Check the scraped data in mi.txt and remove any offending HTML tags and erroneous data.

[Griogre]

I did some "refresh" parsing today and the magic items all had the same span tag in them. I just mass find and replaced the tag with a space character, after that the module parsed fine. Neither the parser or FG care about extra spaces.

Though for some reason with the latest parser the modules aren't be actually written to my module folder in Win7 so I'm building them by hand.

[Doc_Waldo]

Just a little education here, the <span> html should not be in the xml (scraped data in the txt file) prior to parsing? One of the reasons I ask is because I don't know what is offensive html.

[Doc_Waldo]

Is there anyway to add a "space" or "line break" after the headings in the 4E catalogs created with the 4e parser? Currently it hides the top line under each collapsable heading, so you lose the first line.

[Griogre]

Just a little education here, the <span> html should not be in the xml (scraped data in the txt file) prior to parsing? One of the reasons I ask is because I don't know what is offensive html.
In this case *all* HTML is offensive. There should be no HTML, or XML for that matter, inside the scraped text files. The parser does not expect it so it causes it to make screwed up XML files or crashes it. The problem is the unexpected HTML tags or XML elements cause the parser to create invalid elements when it's generating the FG XML files.

[Jharii]

Blech. Ignore.