Tenian's Parser - Version 4.1.1.1+ Beta

[zapoqx]

Hmm...
But if I recall, it probably won't even be available until 2013 at the very least.

[Griogre]

Yeah, but ask the 3.5 guys how long those few online 3.5 Dragon and Dungeon Mags stayed up once 4E came out. And just how smooth did the transition from a downloaded character builder to an online one go? WotC is not exactly sterling in the way they transition from "old" to "new."

The other issue is that after EugeneZ releases the last update to the parser if DDI changes the database so something doesn't show up and if you don't have the old scrapes you are going to be out of luck. It might be good to give DrZuess' module decompiler a plug here.

[primarch]

Yeah, but ask the 3.5 guys how long those few online 3.5 Dragon and Dungeon Mags stayed up once 4E came out. And just how smooth did the transition from a downloaded character builder to an online one go? WotC is not exactly sterling in the way they transition from "old" to "new."

The other issue is that after EugeneZ releases the last update to the parser if DDI changes the database so something doesn't show up and if you don't have the old scrapes you are going to be out of luck. It might be good to give DrZuess' module decompiler a plug here.

Hi!

I think the important point is to download what you can now and save it and do so again once the updated parser is out to do the same.

Better to have most of the data, no matter how incomplete than to risk the data being pulled and not having had the opportunity to scrape it.

Primarch

[Bleak Midwinter]

Has anyone got this working on a Mac?

[primarch]

I thought I had the thing in the bag, but after running a few more test parses I noticed why the fix for items I put into my most recent build wasn't always working. Still a little work left to do. Coming soon, coming soon...

As for Smiteworks aquiring the code, that's up to Tenian, not me. However, a few things I'd like to point out:

• Tenian's code is NOT written to be maintained by other developers. This thing is tens of thousands of lines of code across over a dozen files, all very function-driven. Long story short, I don't think ANYONE except for Tenian would want to seriously maintain this codebase. If Smiteworks was interested in obtaining this code, I think everyone involved would be better off if they just wrote their own parser from scratch (possibly using Tenian's code as a reference for edge cases -- but frankly I'm not sure it would be a good resource for that either).
• The scraper component of the parser (which this thread indicates is its primary use-case) relies completely on the Compendium. With WotC starting playtests for DnD Next, there is the very serious question of whether the 4e content will even be available via the Compendium in the future.
• Along the same lines, when DnD Next is released, even if WotC decides to keep the 4e Compendium around, demand for this scraper will drop. Solutions will be needed for Next content instead.

The reality is that this next patch to the parser that I will release will likely be the last. My interest in maintaining the code was entirely motivated by my own desire to fix the handful of issues it had/has for my own use. Once this patch is released, the scraper will work enough for my purposes (and hopefully the purposes of most of its users). Tenian has no desire to continue working on it (or play DnD in general, at the moment). So for any further work to continue on the parser, there would need to be someone out there interested in making changes (see my first point above for why this is unlikely) AND Tenian would need to be okay with them having his code. I believe both are extremely unlikely.

Hi!

Eugenez any news on the update?

Sorry for bugging ya, but I'm itching to get it and update my whole library.

Thanks for updating this, we all appreciate it!

Primarch

[EugeneZ]

I'm gonna take another run at the code tomorrow evening (Tuesday). I'll post an update afterwards.

[iowyn]

Hey all, sorry if this is covered, but I'm having trouble with a lot of traps, I assume it's only the ones with secondary triggers, but the only reference I saw about having:
Trigger 1
Secondary Trigger 2
Wasn't very clear, I messed around and couldn't get it right, an tips?

Also, is there any hope for an ETA on the items? It's fine to do that bit of work manually, but would be nice to have it parse over.

Thanks for your awesome and massive ongoing contributions EugeneZ. Hopefully for yourself you won't need to make another update and can have a breather (in that WotC don't mess with the format again).

[iowyn]

...and of course just read your last post. sorry, already had it in my head.

[iowyn]

Has anyone got this working on a Mac?

I'm sorry, I think because EugeneZ is stuck trying to handle it for PC, he's got enough work cut out for him.
It'd either be find a PC to run it on, or get one, because of the requirements from Net 4.0 to run and install the parser in the first place.

[EugeneZ]

I made some progress Tuesday but I still don't have a final solution nailed down that doesn't break anything. Hoping to take another swing at it tonight.

As for Mac compatibility, in theory, it might be possible to get the parser/scraper working in Mono. The biggest roadblock is the UI, but it's already pretty much just working from flatfiles (the save files), so it wouldn't be that hard to drop the GUI requirement. That said, there may be other incompatible libraries being used, I don't know. Maybe I'll look into it, but definitely not at any point in the near future.