WML for Complete Beginners: Chapter 1 - Revision history

Celtic Minstrel: Use syntax highlighting

2023-01-29T19:35:08Z

Use syntax highlighting

Celtic Minstrel: Nicer index and navigation

2023-01-29T18:47:17Z

Nicer index and navigation

Atreides: /* Attributes */ typo

2021-05-17T01:01:14Z

‎Attributes: typo

Sapient: /* Attributes */

2017-12-16T21:14:30Z

‎Attributes

Sapient: /* Attributes */

2017-12-16T20:53:27Z

‎Attributes

Shadowm at 03:58, 12 August 2017

2017-08-12T03:58:46Z

Sapient: illegal spaces in tag name

2017-04-18T02:25:20Z

illegal spaces in tag name

Sapient: remove false requirement; clarify principle

2017-04-18T02:23:51Z

remove false requirement; clarify principle

Vanfans: /* Chapter 1: Syntax */

2017-03-16T19:29:01Z

‎Chapter 1: Syntax

William: /* Indentation and Levels */

2015-11-10T09:13:13Z

‎Indentation and Levels

@@ Line 29: / Line 29: @@
 :The opening and closing tag together are referred to as a '''tagset'''. A tagset always contains exactly two tags: the opening tag and the closing tag. For example, the "campaign" tagset would look like this:
- [campaign]
+<syntaxhighlight lang='wml'>
- [/campaign]
+[campaign]
 [/campaign]
 :So now we know how the WML engine knows where the beginning and end of a task are, and what syntax to use when writing them. These are the basics of tags in WML. Later on we'll go over the more complicated aspects of tags; for now though, make sure you understand the concepts introduced here.
@@ Line 48: / Line 49: @@
 :Attributes consist of two principal elements: ''keys'' and ''values'', and are written like so:
- key=value
+<syntaxhighlight lang='wml'>
 :The basic function of attributes is to store information that is needed by the WML engine. The ''key'' of the attribute specifies what kind of information is stored, and the ''value'' of the attribute is the actual data that is stored. All text to the left of the equals sign "=" is considered to be the key, and all text to the right of the equals sign is considered to be the value of the key.
@@ Line 55: / Line 58: @@
 :Let's say you wanted your friend to go to the grocery store and pick you up a loaf of bread. Would you just say to him, "Go"? Of course not! He wouldn't understand what you wanted him to do, which means you'd have no bread for dinner. Likewise, if you only write a tagset, that's equivalent to telling the WML engine to "do", but that's not enough. You will need to be more specific about exactly what the WML engine should do. If your friend were a human WML engine and you wanted him to go to the grocery store to get some bread, you might give him this code to read (''note'': this code isn't actually real WML, it is "pseudocode", i.e. made up code for the purpose of illustration. If I ever use pseudocode during this tutorial I will tell you that it is pseudocode before you read the example, like I am doing now.):
- [go]
+<syntaxhighlight lang='wml'>
-     where=grocery_store
+[go]
-     get=bread
+    where=grocery_store
- [/go]
+    get=bread
 :Tags tell the WML engine what to do generally (like telling your friend to "go"), but without attributes to specify ''exactly'' what to do (like telling your friend where and when to go, and what to do when he gets there), the WML engine won't be able to do anything because you haven't given it enough specific information. If you told your friend, "Go," he'd understand that you want him to go somewhere, but he'd be unable to actually perform the task because he doesn't know ''where'' to go or what to do when he gets there.
@@ Line 91: / Line 96: @@
 ::Although not strictly necessary, it is generally considered a good practice to include a space before and after the underscore that marks a string as translatable. For instance, if we were to assign the translatable string "Hello World!" to this key, it would be considered good syntax to write
- key= _ "Hello World!"
+<syntaxhighlight lang='wml'>
 ::rather than
- key=_"Hello World!"
+<syntaxhighlight lang='wml'>
 ::However, the game considers both of the above strings to be equivalent, and will therefore recognize both as translatable strings. Adding whitespaces just allows for better human readability in your WML code.
@@ Line 115: / Line 124: @@
 ::Directory paths are simply special strings that tell the game where to find a specific file or folder. Here is an example of a directory path:
- {data/add-ons/my_first_campaign}
+<syntaxhighlight lang='wml'>
 This directory path tells the game where the folder "my_first_campaign" is located.
@@ Line 125: / Line 136: @@
 :A fundamental aspect of markup languages is that you can use tagsets inside other tagsets. Tagsets located inside other tagsets are called nested tagsets. In the example below, the "side" tagset is nested inside the "scenario" tagset:
+<syntaxhighlight lang='wml'>
- [scenario]
+[scenario]
-     [side]
+    [side]
-     [/side]
+    [/side]
- [/scenario]
+[/scenario]
 :When referring to nested tagsets, the tagset located inside the other is called the ''child'' tagset, and the tagset that encloses the child tagset is known ast he ''parent'' tagset. To illustrate with pseudocode:
+<syntaxhighlight lang='wml'>
- [parent]
+[parent]
-     [child]
+    [child]
-     [/child]
+    [/child]
- [/parent]
+[/parent]
 :Tagsets that are not child tagsets of any other tagsets are called ''toplevel'' tagsets. In this next example, the [scenario] tagset is a toplevel tagset, because it is not the child tagset of any other tagset. The  [event] tagset is the child tagset of [scenario], because it is located inside the [scenario] tagset. The tagset [event] is also the parent tagset of the [message] tagset, because the [message] tagset is located inside the [event] tagset. That means that since [event] is the parent of [message], [message] is the child tagset of [event].
+<syntaxhighlight lang='wml'>
- [scenario]
+[scenario]
-     [event]
+    [event]
-         [message]
+        [message]
-         [/message]
+        [/message]
-     [/event]
+    [/event]
- [/scenario]
+[/scenario]
+</syntaxhighlight>
 ====Indentation and Levels====
@@ Line 164: / Line 177: @@
 :Indentation makes it much easier to see whether tagset is the child or parent of other tagsets. The amount of indentation before a tagset determines in what level that tagset is located. If the tagset is a toplevel tagset (i.e. has no spaces in front of it because it is not the child of any other tagset), that tagset is located at level one. Tagsets with an indentation of four spaces in front of them are located in level 2, because they are the children of the toplevel (level 1) tagset. Tagsets that are children of level 2 tagsets are called level 3 tagsets (and are indented 8 spaces), tagsets inside level 3 tagsets are called level 4 tagsets (and are indented 12 spaces), etc. As a general rule, all the attributes of a tagset, along with any child tagsets of that tagset, are indented one level deeper than that tagset. To illustrate in pseudocode:
+<syntaxhighlight lang='wml'>
- [toplevel_tagset]
+[toplevel_tagset]
-     level_2_attribute=value
+    level_2_attribute=value
-     [level_2_tagset]
+    [level_2_tagset]
-         level_3_attribute=value
+        level_3_attribute=value
-         [level_3_tagset]
+        [level_3_tagset]
-             level_4_attribute=value
+            level_4_attribute=value
-         [/level_3_tagset]
+        [/level_3_tagset]
-     [/level_2_tagset]
+    [/level_2_tagset]
- [/toplevel_tagset]
+[/toplevel_tagset]
 :Indenting tagsets and attributes into levels like this makes it much easier for you (and others) to read, fix and maintain your code. It is strongly recommended that you indent exactly four spaces for each new level, although you can also use tabs instead of hitting the space key 4 times, if you'd prefer.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{Translations}}
+{{Translations}}<div style="float:right">{{:WML for Complete Beginners}}</div>
 ==Chapter 1: Syntax==
@@ Line 177: / Line 177: @@
 :Indenting tagsets and attributes into levels like this makes it much easier for you (and others) to read, fix and maintain your code. It is strongly recommended that you indent exactly four spaces for each new level, although you can also use tabs instead of hitting the space key 4 times, if you'd prefer.
-Next Chapter:
+{{Navigation|[[WML for Complete Beginners: Introduction|Introduction]]|[[WML for Complete Beginners: Chapter 2|'''Chapter 2'''<br>The Userdata Directory<br>and the Campaign Folder]]}}
 [[Category:WML_for_Complete_Beginners]]

@@ Line 63: / Line 63: @@
 :*'''Keys'''
-::Keys are sequences of lowercase alphabetic characters that tell the game what kind of information it is dealing with when it reads the attribute. Keys are case-sensetive (i.e., you can't use capital letters) and must be spelled correctly.
+::Keys are sequences of lowercase alphabetic characters that tell the game what kind of information it is dealing with when it reads the attribute. Keys are case-sensitive (i.e., you can't use capital letters) and must be spelled correctly.
 :*'''Values'''

@@ Line 112: / Line 112: @@
   -594.932
-::For all intents and purposes, you can treat numerical strings just as you would numbers in real life. You can add, divide, and otherwise mathematically employ them in mathematical computations (we'll go over this in-depth in chapter [FIXME HERE]). Just remember that if you include any characters other than numbers, decimal points, or minus signs, the string will cease to be a numeric string and will become a standard string, which means you won't be able to use it in mathematical calculations.
+::For all intents and purposes, you can treat numerical strings just as you would numbers in real life. You can add, divide, and otherwise mathematically employ them in mathematical computations (we'll discuss Variable Manipulation in chapter 7). Just remember that if you include any characters other than numbers, decimal points, or minus signs, the string will cease to be a numeric string and will become a standard string, which means you won't be able to use it in mathematical calculations.
 ::Directory paths are simply special strings that tell the game where to find a specific file or folder. Here is an example of a directory path:

@@ Line 80: / Line 80: @@
   "Everything in these double quotes is a single string. This is the number one: 1. Hooray! :) We are now coming to the end of this string."
-::Everything within the double quotes (including the colon and parenthesis emoticon) is considered to one long string by the game.
+::Everything within the double quotes (including the colon and parenthesis emoticon) is considered to be one long string by the game.
 ::Sometimes you will want to mark a standard string as translatable so that it can be translated into other languages. The only difference between a translatable sting and a non-translatable is that translatable strings are marked so that translators know that they need to translate that string, and non-translatable strings are not marked, so the translators know that they don't translate those strings.

← Older revision		Revision as of 03:58, 12 August 2017
Line 1:		Line 1:
−	{\| {~~{Prettytable}~~}	+	{{Translations}}
−	\|-
−	~~!\|其他语言：~~
−	~~[[WML_for_Complete_Beginners:_Chapter_1\|English]]~~
−	~~[[WML_for_Complete_Beginners:_Chapter_1/zh\|简体中文]]~~
−	\|}

	==Chapter 1: Syntax==		==Chapter 1: Syntax==

@@ Line 78: / Line 78: @@
 ::A standard string is simply a sequence of ASCII characters that is neither a numerical nor a translatable string. For example, this is a standard string:
+  grocery_store
 ::as is this:
-  blue
+  bread
-::If a standard string includes whitespaces, it must be enclosed within double quotes:
+::If a standard string is more than one simple identifier, it is better for it to be enclosed within double quotes:
   "Everything in these double quotes is a single string. This is the number one: 1. Hooray! :) We are now coming to the end of this string."

← Older revision		Revision as of 19:29, 16 March 2017
Line 1:		Line 1:
		+	{\| {{Prettytable}}
		+	\|-
		+	!\|其他语言：
		+	[[WML_for_Complete_Beginners:_Chapter_1\|English]]
		+	[[WML_for_Complete_Beginners:_Chapter_1/zh\|简体中文]]
		+	\|}
		+
	==Chapter 1: Syntax==		==Chapter 1: Syntax==

@@ Line 181: / Line 181: @@
 [[WML for Complete Beginners: Introduction]]
-Return to Contents Page:
+Return to Main Index:
 [[WML for Complete Beginners]]
 [[Category:WML_for_Complete_Beginners]]