MSDPGROUP PARSER

[*juggleblood*]

Apparently mudlet 3.0 has some kind of native variable handler that sposed to let you easily parse msdpgroup. But I'm using mudlet 2.1 cuz I'm stubborn and don't fully trust the new version ever since it destroyed so many of my scripts. So if you're not using 3.0 or can't figure out how to use the variables, here is how I parsed MSDP group into tables.

The capital "O" which appears throughout is not actually an "O" it's the weird characters that you have to cut and paste, which by the way sometimes appear differently on your screen than when you cut and paste them into notepad. The weird characters makes this a pain in the ass for people to adopt, so anyone who wants to clean this up and post something people can use, feel free.

When you are done, you will have separate tables for all the data, so to see sochi's mana for example you would use groupMana['Sochi'] or groupMaxMana['Sochi'], etc..

If you have a better way please post. Thanks.

function updateGroup()
groupString=atcp.MSDPGROUP
memberTable={}
groupTable={}
groupMana={}
groupHp={}
groupMaxMana={}
groupMaxHp={}
groupMove={}
groupMaxMove={}
groupPosition={}
groupStatus={}
groupClass={}
groupLevel={}
groupString=string.gsub(groupString,"

OO
M","
OM")
groupString=string.gsub(groupString,"NAMEO","")
groupString=string.gsub(groupString,"HITPOINTSO","")
groupString=string.gsub(groupString,"MAX_HITPOINTSO","")
groupString=string.gsub(groupString,"MANAO","")
groupString=string.gsub(groupString,"MAX_MANAO","")
groupString=string.gsub(groupString,"MOVESO","")
groupString=string.gsub(groupString,"MAX_MOVESO","")
groupString=string.gsub(groupString,"POSITIONO","")
groupString=string.gsub(groupString,"STATUSO","")
groupString=string.gsub(groupString,"CLASSO","")
groupString=string.gsub(groupString,"LEVELSO","")
groupString=string.gsub(groupString,"MAX_","")
groupString=string.cut(groupString,groupString:len()-2)
groupString=string.reverse(groupString)
groupString=string.cut(groupString,groupString:len()-8)
groupString=string.reverse(groupString)
groupTable=groupString:split("MEMBER")
for i=1,#groupTable do
memberTable[i]=groupTable[i]:split("
O")
--display(memberTable)
end
groupTable={}
for i=1,#memberTable do
groupTable[i]=memberTable[i][2]
groupHp[memberTable[i][2]]=0+memberTable[i][3]
groupMaxHp[memberTable[i][2]]=0+memberTable[i][4]
groupMana[memberTable[i][2]]=0+memberTable[i][5]
groupMaxMana[memberTable[i][2]]=0+memberTable[i][6]
groupMove[memberTable[i][2]]=0+memberTable[i][7]
groupMaxMove[memberTable[i][2]]=0+memberTable[i][8]
groupPosition[memberTable[i][2]]=memberTable[i][9]
groupStatus[memberTable[i][2]]=memberTable[i][10]
groupClass[memberTable[i][2]]=memberTable[i][11]
groupLevel[memberTable[i][2]]=0+memberTable[i][12]
end
end

[*juggleblood*]

Ok. That was stupid of me. Apparently cutting and pasting those special chars from the mud into your script xml file causes it to corrupt, something I knew, but forgot. I guess I have to breakdown and install 3.0 and figure out out to access the group msdp vars there. Any advice welcome.

[*Breeze*]

check your email

[*juggleblood*]

Ok, mudlet 3.0 has the same issue as 2.1 regarding special characters. The box symbol that is used in the msdpvars is an illegal character in xml. So what happens is you write a nice script that works in mudlet, but then when you close mudlet and reload from your xml file, everything in your scripts below the special character vanishes.

The workaround is to use string.cut to chop the special chars off the ends and then string.gsub with a wildcard character "." to sub out the special character for a comma.

Here is what I have that works without saving any illegal characters into your profile:

function updateGroup()
groupString=atcp.MSDPGROUP
memberTable={}
groupTable={}
groupMana={}
groupHp={}
groupMaxMana={}
groupMaxHp={}
groupMove={}
groupMaxMove={}
groupPosition={}
groupStatus={}
groupClass={}
groupLevel={}
groupString=string.gsub(groupString,"NAME.",",")
groupString=string.gsub(groupString,"HITPOINTS.",",")
groupString=string.gsub(groupString,"MAX_HITPOINTS.",",")
groupString=string.gsub(groupString,"MANA.",",")
groupString=string.gsub(groupString,"MAX_MANA.",",")
groupString=string.gsub(groupString,"MOVES.",",")
groupString=string.gsub(groupString,"MAX_MOVES.",",")
groupString=string.gsub(groupString,"POSITION.",",")
groupString=string.gsub(groupString,"STATUS.",",")
groupString=string.gsub(groupString,"CLASS.",",")
groupString=string.gsub(groupString,"LEVELS.",",")
groupString=string.gsub(groupString,"MAX_","")
groupString=string.cut(groupString,groupString:len()-2)
groupString=string.reverse(groupString)
groupString=string.cut(groupString,groupString:len()-8)
groupString=string.reverse(groupString)
groupTable=groupString:split("MEMBER")
for i=1,#groupTable do
memberTable[i]=groupTable[i]:split(",")
for j=1,#memberTable[i] do
memberTable[i][j]=string.cut(memberTable[i][j],memberTable[i][j]:len()-1)
end
--display(memberTable)
end
groupTable={}
for i=1,#memberTable do
groupTable[i]=memberTable[i][2]
groupHp[memberTable[i][2]]=0+memberTable[i][3]
groupMaxHp[memberTable[i][2]]=0+memberTable[i][4]
groupMana[memberTable[i][2]]=0+memberTable[i][5]
groupMaxMana[memberTable[i][2]]=0+memberTable[i][6]
groupMove[memberTable[i][2]]=0+memberTable[i][7]
groupMaxMove[memberTable[i][2]]=0+memberTable[i][8]
groupPosition[memberTable[i][2]]=memberTable[i][9]
groupStatus[memberTable[i][2]]=memberTable[i][10]
groupClass[memberTable[i][2]]=memberTable[i][11]
groupLevel[memberTable[i][2]]=0+memberTable[i][12]
end
end

[*juggleblood*]

Ok, finally discovered the missing piece of the puzzle. Thanks Splork, Breeze, and Linx.

sendMSDP("REPORT", "GROUP")

will store the data as an msdp table and to access the data:

msdp.GROUP
msdp.GROUP.MEMBER0
msdp.GROUP.MEMBER0.MANA

etc..

[*juggleblood*]

I think I still might end up parsing atcp.GROUP myself because of the way msdp.GROUP table is set up:
msdp.GROUP={
MEMBER0={ MANA=1,
POSITION=....etc }
MEMBER1={ ... etc

}

Unless I'm missing something, this makes the data hard to access. Would it not be easier to work with if
msdp.GROUP={
Sochi={ MANA=1,
POSITION=... },
Crumbs={ ... }
}

Or can someone show me how to easily get from msdp.GROUP to a table called groupMana that contains names and mana, so that I can just use groupMana['Name'], etc...

One of the things giving me trouble with this btw is this: Why does "msdp.GROUP[1][1]" not work? With regular tables you can put the number of the value in brackets to identify it. I was going to use this to make a loop that sorts thru msdp.GROUP and puts the value in tables, but there must be some other kind of syntax for these kind of tables for some reason? lua msdp.GROUP[1] shows nothing, as well as lua msdp.GROUP[1][1]. I would thing that lua msdp.GROUP[1][1] should show me "MEMBER0", but it doesn't seem to work like a regular table.

It's not crucial, so don't spend time on it if you don't know. I've already gotten this far on parsing the atcp string, so I'll get it done one way or another.

[*juggleblood*]

Well it's a done deal. I'm just sticking with atcp vars until i understand msdp tables better. Everything is working now so no sense touching it again.

One thing I'm noticing tho is that msdp.GROUP.MEMBERX.POSITION options have some vagueness regarding the leader. Leader is either "leader" or "pleader" (point leader), but if leader is not point, then we dont know from msdp whether he/she is in the front or back row.

It's not a big deal, but since position is included, then for completeness i would think leader needs to be "pleader", "leaderf" (leader front row) or "leaderb" (leader back). This would be in case someone wants to manage the front / back row using msdp or if leader wants to track his/her own position via msdp.

[Dragoth]

This is unrelated, but is there a way to only receive the requested msdpvar once ?

From what I understand, when we use sendmsdp REPORT, we actually ask the server to start sending us reports on value change in that particular msdpvar and in huge groups coupled with loads of active affects this just loads up the subchannel and you get lagged, i would really love to only receive each msdpvar as I request it, not when the server notices a change in it.


What went on:


What was going on behind the scenes:

[*Splork*]

@Dragoth
Sorry but we won't be altering the MSDP code in this manner.

If a person's group gets so big that it causes them a bit of lag, they will need to remove that variable from their report list or deal with it!

It might be possible to create other group variables and cut down on the amount of information we are sending, that would probably help...

[Dragoth]

I'm not really asking for anything to be altered, but Is it not possible to create an additional subchannel command, say REQUEST in addition to REPORT, where it does the function of reporting requested msdpvars only once ?

[*Splork*]

I am sure its possible but its not something we will be doing.

According to the MSDP Spec which can be found at http://tintin.sourceforge.net/msdp/

REPORT
"The REPORT command can be used by either side, but should typically be used by the client. After the client has received a list of reportable variables, or already knows which variables are supported, it can request the server to start reporting those variables. When receiving a REPORT request the server should send the requested variables to the client, and re-send each individual variable whenever it changes. Instead of sending MSDP_VAR "REPORT" MSDP_VAL "HEALTH" MSDP_VAR "REPORT" MSDP_VAL "HEALTH_MAX" it is allowed to string values together for command-like variables, in this case: MSDP_VAR "REPORT" MSDP_VAL "HEALTH" MSDP_VAL "HEALTH_MAX".

Maybe we can figure out a better option when we have tons of data tied to the same variable...

[Dragoth]

Thanks for the link Splork, this is very in-depth and it solved my issue.

Turns out the command is already built-in, instead of REPORT client should use SEND and the server will send the requested msdpvars only once.

No more subchannel overload for me!

[Dragoth]

Btw since MSDP varlist is incomplete in helpfiles, here is the full list I was able to retrieve from the server

CHARACTER_NAME
SERVER_ID
SERVER_TIME
SNIPPET_VERSION
WHO_LIST
AFFECTS
STRING_AFFECTS
STRING_PERM_AFFECTS
SPELLS
ALIGNMENT
EXPERIENCE
EXPERIENCE_MAX
EXPERIENCE_TNL
HEALTH
HEALTH_MAX
HEALTH_REGEN
LEVEL
LEVEL_SEC
LEVEL_TER
LEVEL_QUA
LEVEL_QUI
LEVEL_HEX
LEVEL_SEP
LEVEL_OCT
LEVEL_AVA
CITIZEN
CLASS
CLASS_SEC
CLASS_TER
CLASS_QUA
CLASS_QUI
CLASS_HEX
CLASS_SEP
CLASS_OCT
CLASS_AVA
MANA
MANA_MAX
MANA_REGEN
BANK
PRACTICE
MONEY
HONOR
DRACHMA
MOVEMENT
MOVEMENT_MAX
MOVEMENT_REGEN
HITROLL
DAMROLL
AC
STR
INT
WIS
DEX
CON
STR_PERM
INT_PERM
WIS_PERM
DEX_PERM
CON_PERM
OPPONENT_HEALTH
OPPONENT_HEALTH_MAX
OPPONENT_LEVEL
OPPONENT_NAME
TANK_HEALTH
TANK_HEALTH_MAX
TANK_LEVEL
TANK_NAME
AREA_NAME
ROOM_EXITS
STRING_ROOM_EXITS
ROOM_NAME
ROOM_VNUM
ROOM_RNUM
TERRAIN
CONTINENT
WORLD_TIME
CLIENT_ID
CLIENT_VERSION
PLUGIN_ID
ANSI_COLORS
XTERM_256_COLORS
UTF_8
SOUND
MXP
WEAPON_DAM
WEAPON_DAM_CAP
STAB_DAM
STAB_DAM_CAP
UNDEAD_CONT
UNDEAD_CONT_CAP
SPELL_BONUS
SPELL_BONUS_CAP
HEAL_BONUS
HEAL_BONUS_CAP
CHARISMA
CHARISMA_CAP
FLAILDAM
KICKDAM
HAND_DAM
HAND_DAM_CAP
DAM_RED
DAM_RED_CAP
SEX
HUNGER
THIRST
WORSHIPS
POSITION
GROUP_LEADER
COORD1
COORD2
COORD3
COORD4
COORD5
COORD6
COORD7
COORD8
COORD9
COORD10
COORD11
COORD12
COORD13
COORD14
COORD15
COORD16
COORD17
COORD18
COORD19
COORD20
COORD21
COORD22
COORD23
COORD24
COORD25
ROOM_NORTH
ROOM_EAST
ROOM_SOUTH
ROOM_WEST
ROOM_UP
MSDP_ROOM_DOWN
WEAR_LIGHT
WEAR_FINGER_R
WEAR_FINGER_L
WEAR_NECK_1
WEAR_NECK_2
WEAR_BODY
WEAR_HEAD
WEAR_LEGS
WEAR_FEET
WEAR_HANDS
WEAR_ARMS
WEAR_SHIELD
WEAR_ABOUT
WEAR_WAIST
WEAR_WRIST_R
WEAR_WRIST_L
WEAR_WIELD
WEAR_HOLD
WEAR_TWO_HANDED
WEAR_LOADED
WEAR_INSTRUMENT
WEAR_EMBLEM
GROUP

[*Splork*]

Great find(Forgot about SEND) and nice list!

We have updated the helpfile. Please remember -> do NOT request variables you are not using!!!

[*juggleblood*]

Very cool. Thanks for both the list and the tip.