Requesting Auto-Generated Mod Web

[SinbadEV]

http://www.planetannihilation.com/aa/guide60/index.htm

I don't see why you couldn'y build a cgi scripts that would read the contents of a folder and display it as a Series of pages like that... is their anything like that out there yet?

[Maelstrom]

If there isnt it cant be THAT hard to make. Ill see what I can do, if there is nothing out there.

[SinbadEV]

I could probably help with this kind of project... if you don't find anything out... I'll poke around with CGI again to see if I can still make it do stuff...

[Gnomre]

I'll continue prodding Wolfy to see what the status of UnitUniverse is... he was working on an uploader for units/mods, which could very easily be adapted for Spring stuff (since they share so much in common)... he rarely ever talks, though...

[Maelstrom]

Well, if you want to help, I will be making it in either Visual Basic, so that it spits out a bunch of HTML files, or in PHP, so it dynamically creates them upon request. I dont know anyh other programming languages, so if you want to help you would have to know one of those. Unless you want to make it in C++ or something, and I can just offer general advice?

[Kuroneko]

I remember finding a program that does that ages ago. *goes to find it*

-e-

pfft, the name is on the page "TAExtract"

http://kuroneko.gotdns.com:27018/ta/taextract1.0.ae.zip

[SinbadEV]

FOXPRO!!! HOW DO YOU EXPECT ME TO LEARN VISUAL FOXPRO!!!

well... we'll se what happens here then I guess...

Also it's not really geared for Spring and will need to be completely redone anyways... it's a good frame to look at however

I don't know any programming language well enough to do any of this stuff... grr... I'll metacode what I think should happedn jabascoop

... I made that word up...

[SinbadEV]

#Include Stuff for dealing with text files
#Include Stuff for dealing with 7zip and ZIP files
#Include Stuff for dealing with folders/subdirectories
#Include Stuff fof dealing with images

main void () {

check for command line parameters;
if there are no command line parameters THEN bring up windows asking people to choose the file to map;

make a temporay directory;
extract the contents of the package to the directory, including packages within packages;
check modinfo.tdf for dependencies and extract the files that are missing from the current tree;

make a big ugly complex object out of the files with tdfs being converted to objects with variables etc. convert and references to image files and such to directory locations

make sure no referenced files are missing

delete all the 3dos and make variabls in the big ugly object show the size and if possible face count of the objects

convert BMPs to JPGs and adjust the references

delete everything all the tdfs and such from the folders as they are now in the big ugly object

move all the images to an "images" folder

use download.tdf files to build a hierarchy tree of all units in a big Pretty object and then move all the ugly data over to it (if possible you might want to start with the download.tdf to make the objects)

make HTML pages for all of the units linking to who builds it and who can it build with images read from the unit FBI files and all the contents of the FBI files prettyfied and links to weapons/explotions pages... and descriptions... also note weapons used by units in this process and store them,

when finished take the list of weapons and link them back to the units, check the armor.txt and stuff to make mention of what units weapons have modified strength against.

[Maelstrom]

I had a look at the program Kuroneko pointed out, and I say, make a new one from scratch. Neither of us know Foxpro, and it is totally geared towards OTA. It will be alot easier just to start again.

Is there any modders in here that would like to assist? Cause, while I can program, I have no idea how the FBI, TDF, and whatever files are layed out. I will also need a COMPLETE list of every tag that the Spring engine accepts. This should be gotten from the source code itself, so that we make sure we dont miss anything.

And, should it be PHP or VB?


Just noticed your post Sinbad. Didnt realise there was so much to do...
Well for now I wont be implementing 7aip support. That comes later. It will require ALL data to be in the mod directory all ready. For now at least.

[Kuroneko]

I have a good handle on php, and have been using to help debug some things in KuroTA

http://kuroneko.gotdns.com:27018/ta/tools/buildmenu.php - Fix menu conflicts
http://kuroneko.gotdns.com:27018/ta/tools/names.php - Figure out what unit is in what file
http://kuroneko.gotdns.com:27018/ta/tools/category.php - Slim down the number of catagories being loaded

[SinbadEV]

I say Kuro and Maelstrom do it in PHP, I have nothing but HTML knowledge to add and I know y'all can do that part easy

[Gnomre]

Here's an older version of the PHP script UU used to use and the current version is based on: http://www.tauniverse.com/forum/attachm ... entid=9794

It's usable locally, at least, but it's not as clean as the current incarnation (which isn't distributed afaik).

[Caydr]

Darkyouth over at PA has a really good system set up like you describe, he just prefers to hoard it. Ass. I made a template for it and everything, he says "ok, I'll let you know"... So every other week for 6 months I bother him about it and finally he starts bitching about how he leads an uncommonly difficult life, etc, etc...

[Dragon45]

"everyone" wrote a darn good script for this a ways back, didnt he?

Edit: Found it

http://www.tauniverse.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28153

[Caydr]

Haven't actually looked at Everyone's thing yet, so I can't be sure, but DarkYouth's one sure kicked ass. The way he has it set up (I don't think it's public yet), most of the information is useless fluff that nobody needs. But it's very customizable. Basically you just insert something like:

[unitname]

And so on, and it replaces these tags with the applicable information, etc. Any FBI tag can be used... I could probably dig up one of the "in-progress" links he showed me, but then again he's probably kill me if I did that... so... it's just really good looking. It also has support for boolean values, basic math, etc.

I was going to make one that looked even better just to get back at him for hoarding it, but then I started working on AA Spring and never really got around to it...

[Gnomre]

"everyone" wrote a darn good script for this a ways back, didnt he?

Edit: Found it

http://www.tauniverse.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28153

Good job at reading my post!

Anyway, the UDB one can be set to display any information any way you please as well, and it's public, so...

[Maelstrom]

Well thats kinda put me out of a job then hasnt it?

Stuff it, ill try to make one where you can just point to the sd7 file and it goes away and does stuff for you. Will be in VB. Will be quite customisable by the end. Hopefully.

[Maelstrom]

*bump*

Good news! Ive actually started work on this. So far it automatically decompresses a .sd7 file you point the program to and then loads in the modinfo.tdf and sidedata.tdf files. It still has a long way to go, and will not be finished for quite a while, but I have started so be happy!

[Storm]

I'm eager to see the developement of this. As soon as you have a rough, semi-working shape, I could cut in and try to develop based on existing data.

[Maelstrom]

The version I currently have is not even worth the bother of uploading yet. All it does is unzip a file, grab the modinfo.tdf, then grab the sidedata.tdf. It has no output, and doesnt really do anything. Its about time for another total rewrite of the whole code, because the code is in peices, after being hacked together out of about 3 different programs I have made over time.

But once there is a version that has even the most minimal bit of output, I will release it to keep the raving masses at bay for a while



Oh and did I mention that this will be totally customisable? So customisable infact, that it COULD be hacked quite easily to work with OTA content?