Changes for page Mission Director Guide

Last modified by Klaus Meyer on 2025/03/31 16:39

From version 32964.1
edited by Daniel Turner
on 2023/08/24 10:08
Change comment: There is no comment for this version
To version 32957.1
edited by Daniel Turner
on 2023/08/22 19:09
Change comment: There is no comment for this version

Summary

Details

Page properties
Content
... ... @@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
22 22  This functionality is only available if the schema files **md.xsd** and **common.xsd** are in the correct folder. If you are editing the XML in the game folder directly, all is well and the files are loaded from the libraries folder. However, if you are editing in a separate folder, copy those XSD files from the libraries folder directly into the folder where your XML files are located.
23 23  
24 24  {{info}}
25 -Even if your script is free of XSD errors, that does not mean that the script syntax is correct. For example, there are XML elements that require at least one of multiple attributes, but this requirement cannot be reflected in a schema (apart from documentation text). Please notice the XSD documentation of the elements and attributes, e.g. displayed via tooltips in Visual Studio / Visual Web Developer. Please also note additional requirements for MD cue attributes in this guide (see [[Conditions>>doc:||anchor="HConditions" style="outline-width: 0px !important; user-select: auto !important;"]]).
25 +Even if your script is free of XSD errors, that does not mean that the script syntax is correct. For example, there are XML elements that require at least one of multiple attributes, but this requirement cannot be reflected in a schema (apart from documentation text). Please notice the XSD documentation of the elements and attributes, e.g. displayed via tooltips in Visual Studio / Visual Web Developer. Please also note additional requirements for MD cue attributes in this guide (see [[NULL|Conditions]]).
26 26  
27 27  To check for errors, please pay attention to in-game error messages that are produced while your script is imported, and run-time errors while the script runs. The XSD files can help you a lot, but you should not rely on the absence of XSD errors."
28 28  {{/info}}
... ... @@ -84,6 +84,7 @@
84 84  * **Waiting**: Either this is a root cue, or the parent has become active. The cue is checking its conditions and will become active when they are met.
85 85  * **Active**: The cue is about to perform the actions. Child cues have entered the waiting state.
86 86  
87 +
87 87  * **Complete**: The cue has finished performing its actions.
88 88  * **Cancelled**: The cue has been cancelled. This state cannot normally be reached but only if a cue actively cancels itself or another cue. No condition checks or actions are performed in this cue or any sub-(sub-)cue.
89 89  
... ... @@ -155,6 +155,7 @@
155 155  
156 156  * Use //onfail// if the conditions should be checked only once. The possible attribute values are "//cancel//" and "//complete//". If the conditions are met, the cue will activate and perform the cue actions. Otherwise it's a failure and the cue will be cancelled or completed, based on the onfail attribute. Typically //onfail="cancel"// is used to prevent any further action. //onfail="complete"// can be used to continue with the sub-cues even in case of failure (but skipping the current cue actions).
157 157  
159 +
158 158  * With //checkinterval//, you can specify a constant time interval between condition checks. The conditions will be checked regularly forever until they are met, unless the cue's state is changed explicitly by an external event.
159 159  
160 160  Additionally, you can use the attribute **checktime** to set the time of the first condition check (also possible in combination with //onfail//). The //checktime// can be an expression with variables and is evaluated when the cue is enabled (when the condition checks would normally start ΓÇô for root cues that happens at game start, otherwise after the parent cue becomes active).
... ... @@ -217,11 +217,11 @@
217 217  {{/code}}
218 218  
219 219  {{info}}
220 -Messages printed with <debug_text> are usually only visible when the "scripts" debug filter is enabled, see [[Script debug output>>doc:||anchor="HScriptdebugoutput"]]
222 +Messages printed with <debug_text> are usually only visible when the "scripts" debug filter is enabled, see Script debug output
221 221  {{/info}}
222 222  
223 -Script debug output
224 224  
226 +
225 225  Each child action in a <do_any> node can have a //**weight**// attribute, which can be used to control the random selection of an action node. The default weight of a child node is 1.
226 226  
227 227  Also available is **<do_if>**, which completes the enclosed action(s) only if one provided value is non-null or matches another. Directly after a <do_if> node, you can add one or more **<do_elseif>** nodes to perform additional checks only in case the previous conditions were not met. The node **<do_else>** can be used directly after a <do_if> or a <do_elseif>. It is executed only if none of the conditions are met.
... ... @@ -239,6 +239,7 @@
239 239  {{/info}}
240 240  
241 241  
244 +
242 242  Library cues are written like normal cues, they are also defined in a <cues> node, just with the difference that the XML tag is called library instead of cue:
243 243  
244 244  {{code language="xml"}}
... ... @@ -289,9 +289,11 @@
289 289  {{/code}}
290 290  
291 291  {{warning}}
292 -These examples are definitely **__not__ **examples of good scripting style.
295 +These examples are definitely <u>not</u> examples of good scripting style.
293 293  {{/warning}}
294 294  
298 +
299 +
295 295  So when writing the library, you don't have to worry about name confusion, just use the names of cues in your library and it will work as expected when the library is used. Names of cues that do not belong to the library will not be available in expressions (see Foo in the example above), however, names of other libraries in the file are available when referencing them in the ref attribute.
296 296  
297 297  Notes:
... ... @@ -361,6 +361,8 @@
361 361  This sub-section requires basic knowledge of script expressions.
362 362  {{/info}}
363 363  
369 +
370 +
364 364  In case of instances with sub-instances, you will often want to access a related instance from the current one. Like in the non-instance case, you can simply write the cue name in an expression to reference that cue. However, you should be aware of the pitfalls that are accompanied by this.
365 365  
366 366  When you use a cue name from the same script in an expression, it will always be resolved to some cue - usually a static cue, even if it is still in the disabled state, but it can also be an instance, if it is "related" to the current one.
... ... @@ -396,7 +396,7 @@
396 396  
397 397  * **Conditions with results:** If the instantiating cue has conditions with results, those results are stored in variables - but in the variables of the static cue, not of the instance! So in the <actions> you have to access the variables via the **static **keyword:
398 398  
399 -{{code language="xml"}}<debug_text text="static.$foo"/>{{/code}}
406 +{{code language="xml"}} <debug_text text="static.$foo"/>{{/code}}
400 400  It may even be necessary to copy the variables over to the instance because the static variables can be overwritten by the next condition check:
401 401  {{code language="xml"}}<set_value name="$foo" exact="static.$foo"/>{{/code}}
402 402  
... ... @@ -417,6 +417,8 @@
417 417  Since octal numbers are hardly ever used (usually unknowingly), the parser is will produce a warning if an octal number is encountered."
418 418  {{/info}}
419 419  
427 +
428 +
420 420  You can write string literals by putting the string in single quotes:
421 421  
422 422  * {{code language="xml"}}'Hello world'{{/code}}
... ... @@ -494,10 +494,10 @@
494 494  |true|constant|{{code language="xml"}}null == 0{{/code}}|{{code language="xml"}}true{{/code}}|Integer value 1, useful in Boolean expressions
495 495  |pi|constant|{{code language="xml"}}2 * pi{{/code}}|{{code language="xml"}}6.2831853rad{{/code}}|╧Ç as an angle (same as 180deg)
496 496  |()|delimiter|{{code language="xml"}}(2 + 4) * (6 + 1){{/code}}|{{code language="xml"}}42{{/code}}|Parentheses for arithmetic grouping
497 -|[]|delimiter|{{code language="xml"}}[1, 2, 2+1, 'string']{{/code}}|{{code language="xml"}}[1, 2, 3, 'string']{{/code}}|[[List>>doc:||anchor="HLists" style="outline-width: 0px !important; user-select: auto !important;"]] of values
498 -|table[]|delimiter|{{code language="xml"}}table[$foo='bar', {1+1}=40+2]{{/code}}|{{code language="xml"}}table[$foo='bar', {2}=42]{{/code}}|[[Table>>doc:||anchor="HTables" style="outline-width: 0px !important; user-select: auto !important;"]] of values
506 +|[]|delimiter|{{code language="xml"}}[1, 2, 2+1, 'string']{{/code}}|{{code language="xml"}}[1, 2, 3, 'string']{{/code}}|[[List>>MediaWiki.NULL]] of values
507 +|table[]|delimiter|{{code language="xml"}}table[$foo='bar', {1+1}=40+2]{{/code}}|{{code language="xml"}}table[$foo='bar', {2}=42]{{/code}}|[[Table>>MediaWiki.NULL]] of values
499 499  |{}|delimiter|{{code language="xml"}}{101, 3}{{/code}}|{{code language="xml"}}'Some text'{{/code}}|Text lookup (page ID and text ID) from TextDB
500 -\\(Note: Braces are also used for [[property lookups>>doc:||anchor="HValueproperties" style="outline-width: 0px !important; user-select: auto !important;"]])
509 +\\(Note: Braces are also used for [[property lookups>>MediaWiki.NULL]])
501 501  |+|unary|{{code language="xml"}}+21 * (+2){{/code}}|{{code language="xml"}}42{{/code}}|Denotes positive number (no effect)
502 502  |-|unary|{{code language="xml"}}-(21 * -2){{/code}}|{{code language="xml"}}42{{/code}}|Negates the following number
503 503  |not|unary|{{code language="xml"}}not (21 == 42){{/code}}|{{code language="xml"}}true{{/code}}|Yields true if the following expression is false (equal to zero), false otherwise
... ... @@ -507,7 +507,7 @@
507 507  \\{{code language="xml"}}typeof 'Hello world'{{/code}}|
508 508  {{code language="xml"}}datatype.null{{/code}}
509 509  \\{{code language="xml"}}datatype.integer{{/code}}
510 -\\{{code language="xml"}}datatype.string{{/code}}|Yields the [[data type of the following sub-expression>>||anchor="typeof" style="outline-width: 0px !important; user-select: auto !important;"]]
519 +\\{{code language="xml"}}datatype.string{{/code}}|Yields the [[data type of the following sub-expression>>MediaWiki.NULL]]
511 511  |sin|unary|
512 512  {{code language="xml"}}sin(30deg){{/code}}
513 513  \\{{code language="xml"}}sin(pi){{/code}}|
... ... @@ -552,9 +552,9 @@
552 552  ge
553 553  \\>=|binary|
554 554  {{code language="xml"}}1 ge 3{{/code}}
555 -\\{{code language="xml"}}1 >= 3{{/code}}|{{code language="xml"}}false{{/code}}|Greater than or equal to
564 +\\{{code language="xml"}}1 <= 3{{/code}}|{{code language="xml"}}false{{/code}}|Greater than or equal to
556 556  |(((
557 -
566 += =
558 558  )))|binary|{{code language="xml"}}1 + 1 == 2.0{{/code}}|{{code language="xml"}}true{{/code}}|Equal to
559 559  |~!=|binary|{{code language="xml"}}1 + 1 != 2.0{{/code}}|{{code language="xml"}}false{{/code}}|Not equal to
560 560  |and|binary|{{code language="xml"}}true and false{{/code}}|{{code language="xml"}}false{{/code}}|Logical AND (short-circuit semantics)
... ... @@ -568,6 +568,7 @@
568 568  \\{{code language="xml"}}'T'{{/code}}|Conditional operator ("inline if")
569 569  )))
570 570  
580 +
571 571  === Operator precedence rules ===
572 572  
573 573  You can group sub-expressions using parentheses, but if you don't, the following order of operations is applied, so that 5-1+2*3 == 10 as you would expect. The order is the same as in the table above, but there are operators with the same precedence - these are applied from left to right.
... ... @@ -582,6 +582,7 @@
582 582  * or
583 583  * if/then/else (lowest precedence)
584 584  
595 +
585 585  === Type conversion ===
586 586  
587 587  When a binary arithmetic operator is used on numbers of different types, they will be converted to a suitable output type. The resulting type depends on whether a unit data type is involved (types that are not plain integers or floats). The following cases may occur:
... ... @@ -623,8 +623,12 @@
623 623  * Unlike != and ==, the comparison operators <, <=, >, >= are only supported **for numeric values**, **difficulty levels**, and **attention levels**. Comparing other non-numeric values will result in an error and an undefined result.
624 624  * <, <=, >, >= cannot be used in XML directly, so lt, le, gt, ge are provided as alternatives. In some cases you won't have to use them, though - using [[range checks>>MediaWiki.NULL]] with additional XML attributes can be more readable.
625 625  
626 -== (% id="categorybroken_macroanchorstrings-and-formatting" %)Strings and formatting(%%) ==
627 627  
638 +(% id="categorybroken_macroanchorstrings-and-formatting" %)== Strings and formatting==
639 +
640 +
641 +{{{==}}}
642 +
628 628  You can concatenate string literals using the + operator, but there is also a printf-like formatting syntax, which is easier to use than concatenating lots of small pieces:
629 629  
630 630  * {{code language="xml"}}'The %1 %2 %3 jumps over the %5 %4'.['quick', 'brown', 'fox', 'dog', 'lazy']{{/code}}
... ... @@ -683,16 +683,19 @@
683 683  * null cannot be used as table key (but the number 0 is valid)
684 684  * Lists, tables, groups and buildplans cannot be used as table keys
685 685  
701 +
686 686  These restrictions only apply to the keys, there are no restrictions for values that you assign to them. For example:
687 687  
688 688  * {{code language="xml"}}table[]{{/code}} ⟹ creates an empty table
689 689  * {{code language="xml"}}table[{0} = null]{{/code}} ⟹ creates a table that maps the number 0 to null
690 690  
707 +
691 691  * {{code language="xml"}}table[{'$foo'} = 'bar']{{/code}} ⟹ a table that maps the string '$foo' to the string 'bar'
692 692  * {{code language="xml"}}table[$foo = 'bar']{{/code}} ⟹ exactly the same, just a shorter notation for string keys
693 693  * {{code language="xml"}}table[foo = 'bar']{{/code}} ⟹ error, 'foo' does not start with a '$'
694 694  * {{code language="xml"}}table[{1} = [], {2} = table[]] {{/code}} ⟹ a table that maps 1 to an empty list and 2 to an empty table
695 695  
713 +
696 696  Just like lists, tables are stored as references, so it's possible that multiple variables reference the same table (see above).
697 697  
698 698  == Value properties ==
... ... @@ -717,6 +717,7 @@
717 717  * {{code language="xml"}}[].{'count'}{{/code}} ⟹ 0
718 718  * {{code language="xml"}}table[{21} = 42].{21}{{/code}} ⟹ 42
719 719  
738 +
720 720  In most cases the property key is a fixed string, like "name" or "class". You can write this like above:
721 721  
722 722  * {{code language="xml"}}[42].{'count'}{{/code}}
... ... @@ -724,6 +724,7 @@
724 724  * {{code language="xml"}}$ship.{'class'}{{/code}}
725 725  * {{code language="xml"}}table[$foo='bar'].{'$foo'}{{/code}}
726 726  
746 +
727 727  But it is easier just to write the property key without braces, which is equivalent:
728 728  
729 729  * {{code language="xml"}}[0].count{{/code}}
... ... @@ -731,6 +731,7 @@
731 731  * {{code language="xml"}}$ship.class{{/code}}
732 732  * {{code language="xml"}}table[$foo='bar'].$foo{{/code}}
733 733  
754 +
734 734  (In this case, $ship is a variable. All variables start with a "$", so they cannot be confused with keywords.)
735 735  
736 736  A list has even more properties:
... ... @@ -764,6 +764,7 @@
764 764  
765 765  * {{code language="xml"}}$table.keys.list{{/code}}: Yields a list of all keys in the table (reliably sorted by key if all keys are numeric)
766 766  
788 +
767 767  * {{code language="xml"}}$table.keys.sorted{{/code}}: Yields a list of all keys in the table, sorted by their associated values (which requires that all values are numeric)
768 768  * {{code language="xml"}}$table.keys.random{{/code}}: A randomly chosen key (which requires that the table is non-empty)
769 769  
... ... @@ -779,6 +779,7 @@
779 779  * {{code language="xml"}}$list.{5}?{{/code}} ⟹ true if $list exists and has the property 5, false otherwise
780 780  * {{code language="xml"}}$table.$key?{{/code}} ⟹ Analogously, true if $table exists and has the string property '$key'
781 781  
804 +
782 782  The question mark can even be applied to variables:
783 783  
784 784  * {{code language="xml"}}$list{{/code}} ⟹ The value stored under the name $list, or an error if there is no such variable
... ... @@ -844,8 +844,6 @@
844 844  \\faction.argongovernment|Factions
845 845  )))
846 846  
847 -{{id name="typeof"/}}
848 -
849 849  {{info}}
850 850  With the ''typeof'' operator you can get the datatype of any expression and compare it with what you expect, for example:
851 851  
... ... @@ -869,9 +869,11 @@
869 869  * player.**money**: The money in the player's account
870 870  * player.**ship**: The ship the player is currently on (not necessarily the player's ship), or null if the player is on a station
871 871  
893 +
872 872  * player.**primaryship**: The player's own ship (but the player is not necessarily on board)
873 873  * player.**entity**: The actual player object
874 874  
897 +
875 875  * player.**zone**, player.**sector**, player.**cluster**, player.**galaxy**: Location of the player entity
876 876  * player.**copilot**: The co-pilot NPC
877 877  
... ... @@ -898,6 +898,7 @@
898 898  * {{code language="xml"}}$money.formatted.{'formatstring'}{{/code}}
899 899  * {{code language="xml"}}$money.formatted.default{{/code}} (using default format string '%s')
900 900  
924 +
901 901  * {{code language="xml"}}$time.formatted.{'formatstring'}{{/code}}
902 902  * {{code language="xml"}}$time.formatted.default{{/code}} (using default format string '%T')
903 903  
... ... @@ -921,6 +921,7 @@
921 921  * %Cr: Localised "Cr" string
922 922  * %%: A % sign
923 923  
948 +
924 924  Examples:
925 925  
926 926  * {{code language="xml"}}(1234Cr).formatted.{'%s'}{{/code}}⟹{{code language="xml"}}'1,234'{{/code}}