Tenian's Parser - Version 4.1.1.1+ Beta

[primarch]

Hi!

The issue is the rarity tags added. Thus the error when attempting to parse items.

Until the parser is updated the item parts of the scrape wont be accessible.

Hopefully well hear some news after the holidays.

Peter

First of all thanks for the effort you have put into this very handy bit of software.

I am however having trouble...

When I attempt a Compendium Scrape of the Player's Handbook I get an error:

"The remote server returned an error: (500) Internal Server Error."

The last few lines displayed on the Processing Results window are:

14/12/2011 8:09:07 PM : Setting up Items
14/12/2011 8:09:07 PM : Epic Destinies scrape Complete!
14/12/2011 8:09:07 PM : Outputting powers to C:\Program Files\4EParser\Documents\Actual\Input\PHB\powers.t xt
14/12/2011 8:09:06 PM : Processing <EpicDestiny> - Deadly Trickster
14/12/2011 8:09:04 PM : Processing <EpicDestiny> - Eternal Seeker

Any tips or advice welcome.


P.S. I've included the stack trace:
--------------------------------
System.Net.WebException: The remote server returned an error: (500) Internal Server Error.
at System.Net.HttpWebRequest.GetResponse()
at Parse4E.Scrape.TopScrape(Int32 iType, Int32 iSourceID, String strDir, Boolean& booPowers, String txtEmail, String txtPassword, MetaList[]& MetaData, String[]& DynamicTokenList, Boolean booAppend, Boolean& booMonsters)
at Parse4E.Scrape.StartScrape(String strName, String strEmail, String strPass, String[]& DynamicTokenList, String& strDir, Boolean booScrapePower, Boolean booScrapeMonster, Boolean booScrapeFeat, Boolean booScrapeRace, Boolean booScrapeParagon, Boolean booScrapeEpic, Boolean booScrapeItem, Boolean booScrapeRitual, Boolean booScrapeTrap, Boolean booAppend, Boolean booScrapeMeta, Boolean booScrapeBackground, Boolean booScrapeFamiliar)
at Parse4E.frmPHBParse.ScrapeToolStripMenuItem_Click( Object sender, EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.RaiseEvent(Obje ct key, EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripMenuItem.OnClick(Eve ntArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.HandleClick(Eve ntArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.HandleMouseUp(M ouseEventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.FireEventIntera ctive(EventArgs e, ToolStripItemEventType met)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripItem.FireEvent(Event Args e, ToolStripItemEventType met)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStrip.OnMouseUp(MouseEven tArgs mea)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripDropDown.OnMouseUp(M ouseEventArgs mea)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmMouseUp(Message& m, MouseButtons button, Int32 clicks)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.WndProc(Mes sage& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStrip.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ToolStripDropDown.WndProc(Mes sage& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.O nMessage(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.W ndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)

[EugeneZ]

Yeah, sorry guys, I have only had a spare hour here and there to work on this. I've got the issue nailed down and fixed, just need to do the legwork on testing and creating the binary. I'm on a brief vacation this weekend but I really hope to get this fix out in 2011, which gives me two weeks. Sounds doable.

[primarch]

Yeah, sorry guys, I have only had a spare hour here and there to work on this. I've got the issue nailed down and fixed, just need to do the legwork on testing and creating the binary. I'm on a brief vacation this weekend but I really hope to get this fix out in 2011, which gives me two weeks. Sounds doable.

Hi!

No worries EugeneZ, have a good time on your vacation. We'll be patient and await the good stuff.

Primarch

[Griogre]

I just re-parsed a bunch of modules and came across a bug I'd thought I'd mention that no one else has.

Apparently not all monsters have a space between the end of the Perception and the + or -. IE Balor is Perception+27 and not Perception +27 - while this doesn't crash the parser it does push the perception value down into special defenses.

[EugeneZ]

I noticed a problem with perception but didn't chase down the reason why. Thanks for that, I'll fix that in the next update. (Which is IMMINENT, I swear!)

[primarch]

Hi!

Any news on the update?

Thanks!

Primarch

[daumnation]

Getting the Items fixed is really important for this. This program is so crucial to my use of FG2 that Snmiteworks should try to aquire the code and include it as part of the program. However in the meantime, I'm hoping its not a done for.

[EugeneZ]

I thought I had the thing in the bag, but after running a few more test parses I noticed why the fix for items I put into my most recent build wasn't always working. Still a little work left to do. Coming soon, coming soon...

As for Smiteworks aquiring the code, that's up to Tenian, not me. However, a few things I'd like to point out:

• Tenian's code is NOT written to be maintained by other developers. This thing is tens of thousands of lines of code across over a dozen files, all very function-driven. Long story short, I don't think ANYONE except for Tenian would want to seriously maintain this codebase. If Smiteworks was interested in obtaining this code, I think everyone involved would be better off if they just wrote their own parser from scratch (possibly using Tenian's code as a reference for edge cases -- but frankly I'm not sure it would be a good resource for that either).
• The scraper component of the parser (which this thread indicates is its primary use-case) relies completely on the Compendium. With WotC starting playtests for DnD Next, there is the very serious question of whether the 4e content will even be available via the Compendium in the future.
• Along the same lines, when DnD Next is released, even if WotC decides to keep the 4e Compendium around, demand for this scraper will drop. Solutions will be needed for Next content instead.

The reality is that this next patch to the parser that I will release will likely be the last. My interest in maintaining the code was entirely motivated by my own desire to fix the handful of issues it had/has for my own use. Once this patch is released, the scraper will work enough for my purposes (and hopefully the purposes of most of its users). Tenian has no desire to continue working on it (or play DnD in general, at the moment). So for any further work to continue on the parser, there would need to be someone out there interested in making changes (see my first point above for why this is unlikely) AND Tenian would need to be okay with them having his code. I believe both are extremely unlikely.

[Griogre]

EugeneZ brings up some good points about DDI. For those of you who are less familiar with development you should make sure you have the scrapped data files from each 4E resource you use to allow you to continue to play 4E as long as you wish. I believe a lot of people toss or reuse their scraped data files.

For those of you scraping this means you should really get and keep all the scrape data for each resource. This is not urgent but it will allow you to make any changes to the individual resource and parse it even if you can't get the data from DDI.

As 4E winds down there will be fewer and fewer errata updates which means the few updates will be easy to do by just changing a line or two in the scrapped data files - but only if you *do* have those data files.

[primarch]

Hi!

I constantly update my scrapped data files, so the point is well taken. At some point this year the files will assume their "last" form and those are the ones to get and archive.

My Thanks to Eugenez for working on the final update, since that one will permit us to get and archive the latest updates.

Thanks!

Primarch