What is a parser?

[Emrak]

OK, I know--generally speaking--what a "parser" is. It's a program of some sort which takes a data file (a PDF, say) and strips out important information and stuffs that important information into a database or perhaps into a differently formatted file.

So when I see various posts on the forums here about parsers, I'm assuming folks are using homebrewed parsers to strip info out of bought PDFs and use them in their FG2 games, right?

Well...can I get the parser for Pathfinder then? hahahaha
How would I go about downloading it? If it's an open-source project, is there a sourceforge page for it?

Thanks

[Zeus]

Try this thread (https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13878).

[Emrak]

To summarize what I think I've learned for Googlers in the future...

FG2 parsers scrape data from certain sites (such as the D&DI site for 4E and the PFSRD site for Pathfinder) and convert that info into mod files for use in your FG2 games. Why someone doesn't just do this once and then distribute the mods is because of copyright issues.

Holler if anything I said seems out of place.

[Leonal]

For 4E you have to do it yourself yes. For PF they can be shared and have been already, but I think you know that already. :)

[Griogre]

Good summary. To further elaborate for others, the FG parsers have two functions in that they first scrape from somewhere to get the data they then parse. The parser part is very reliable and the scrape part is equally unreliable.

This is because scrapers are very fragile since they are totally reliant on the data being consistent in form. Every update to the online data source of the scraper has the potential to break something.