Commit 590955e1 authored by twanvl's avatar twanvl

Documentation of file format

parent e35fcc17
Heirarchical files
The actual MSE data is stored in heirarchical data files, these are usually files with no extension.
For example <tt>set</tt> or <tt>locale</tt>.
These are just ordinary text files, but they use an UTF-8 encoding, that means you need to use an editor that supports UTF-8.
Most modern editors support UTF-8, Notepad does on Windows XP.
--Syntax--
The files use a heirarchical structure and are made up of keys and values.
A value can be either a simple text string:
>game: magic
Or a block containing more keys and values:
>card:
> name: My Card
> type: Creature
Indentation is used to find out what belongs to what block. Indentation must be exactly one <tt>TAB</tt> per level, spaces are not allowed.
When the value is longer then a single line it can be written indented on the following lines:
>text:
> T: Draw a card
> WW: Gain 1 life
--Example--
For example, a [[type:set]] might look like this:
>game: magic
>style: new
>card:
> name: My Card
> type: Creature
>card:
> name: Another card
Data files
MSE uses several different types of [[file:format|data files]], usually organized into [[file:package]]s.
--File types--
The following types are stored in [[file:package]]s in the:
* [[type:game]]
* [[type:stylesheet]]
* [[type:symbol font]]
* [[type:export template]]
* [[type:locale]]
The following types are stored in [[file:package]]s that can be located anywhere:
* [[type:set]]
* [[type:installer]]
The following types are stored diractly in [[file:format|heirarchical files]], they can be located anywhere:
* [[type:symbol]]
--Data directories--
The data files that come with Magic Set Editor are stored in [[file:package]]s in the ''data directory'',
these are usually subdirectories of that directory.
There are two data directories, a ''global'' one with data files installed with the program,
and a ''local'' data directory for the current logged in user.
The latter is used for installing packages if the user doesn't have administrator priviliges.
The location of the global data directory is
! On windows <<<
| Location <tt><i>%MSE_DIR%</i>\data</tt>
| Usually <tt>C:\Program Files\Magic Set Editor 2\data</tt>
! On linux/unix <<<
| Location ???
The location of the local data directory is
! On windows <<<
| Location <tt><i>%USER_APPLICATION_DATA%</i>\Magic Set Editor\data</tt>
| Usually <tt>C:\Documents and Settings\<i>%USERNAME%</i>\Application Data\Magic Set Editor\data</tt>
Packages
Most files used by Magic Set Editor are stored in ''packages''.
A package is either a zip file or simply a directory.
A package has an extension to indicate its type, for example @"*.mse-set"@ is a [[type:set]] file and @"*.mse-symbol-font"@ is a [[type:symbol font]].
To open a zipped package using a program like winzip you may need to rename it to @"something.zip"@
--Contents--
A package always contains a [[file:format|heirarchical data file]] with the same name as the package type and no extension.
For example @"my-set.mse-set"@ contains a file called @"set"@.
A package can also contain other files like images.
--Examples--
The [[file:index|data directory]] contains packages in the form of directories.
Each of the subdirectories is a package.
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