getting info from mission.sqm

[d3nn16 3]

Hi

What are the possibilities in an SQF script to retrieve the list of markers placed in a map in the editor.

My CTF mission is a template and users that don't know much about scripting will mostly place markers in the editor (along with units and buildings). In my scripts I need to retrieve these markers.

For now I thought of 2 solutions :

#solution 1

- having standard named markers (game_area_1, game_area_2, etc) and a script that tests the existence of each marker in sequence (game_area_1, game_area_2, etc)

- the problem is that if there are many markers to place on the map and if a user forgets to place the game_area_2 marker then all the following markers are skipped (game_area_3, game_area_4, etc)

#solution 2

- also with standard named markers but with variable part after "game_area" keyword (game_areabla, game_area_bla1, etc)

- to get the list of markers I thought of reading the mission.sqm file (loadFIle) then transform the string to an array (toArray) and then loop through all characters and match the "name=game_area" sequence and grab the variable part

Is there a more convenient way of doing this ? I searched in the forum and in the wiki, apparently there isn't any other way. I tested some of the configFile entries but couldn't find any that held the list of markers placed through the editor in the mission.sqm file.

Thanks

[sbsmac 0]

- having standard named markers (game_area_1, game_area_2, etc) and a script that tests the existence of each marker in sequence (game_area_1, game_area_2, etc)

- the problem is that if there are many markers to place on the map and if a user forgets to place the game_area_2 marker then all the following markers are skipped (game_area_3, game_area_4, etc)

The way I worked around this in pvpscriptpack (and the following

) was just to search the namespace from marker_0 up to marker_99

to get the list of markers I thought of reading the mission.sqm file

It's possible but pretty tedious. In the end I decided it wasn't really worth the hassle.

Is there a more convenient way of doing this ?

VBS has a 'markers' command which gives a list of all marker names. You can vote for it to be ported over to ArmA here but don't get too excited - the request has been open for over two years :(

Edited July 17, 2011 by sbsmac

[.kju 3245]

ToRemove

[d3nn16 3]

Here is a function that returns markers which names start with BASE_WEST, BASE_EAST and GAME_AREA using the loadFile command. I need to test if there is a limit on the file size for loadFile.

f_get_markers =
{
// the mission.sqm file transformed into an array of numbers
_mission_sqm = toArray loadFile "mission.sqm";
_mission_sqm_last_idx = count _mission_sqm - 1;

// corresponding number arrays for: name="BASE_WEST, name="BASE_EAST and name="GAME_AREA strings
_base_west_str = [110,97,109,101,61,34,66,65,83,69,95,87,69,83,84];
_base_east_str = [110,97,109,101,61,34,66,65,83,69,95,69,65,83,84];
_game_area_str = [110,97,109,101,61,34,71,65,77,69,95,65,82,69,65];
_lookup_str_last_idx = count _base_west_str - 1;

_found_base_west_mrk = [];
_found_base_east_mrk = [];
_found_game_area_mrk = [];

// looping through all the mission.sqm characters in numeric format
for "_i" from 0 to _mission_sqm_last_idx do
{
	// the current character position must be at N characters from the end of the mission_sqm array
	// where N is the number of characters of the strings we are looking for
	if (_i + _lookup_str_last_idx <= _mission_sqm_last_idx) then
	{
		// cur_word contains the string starting from _i position to _i + N - 1 position
		// where N is the size of the strings we are looking for
		_cur_word = [];
		for "_j" from _i to _i + _lookup_str_last_idx do
		{
			_cur_word set [count _cur_word, _mission_sqm select _j];
		};

		// compare the current looked up string with the strings we are looking for
		_base_west_match = true;
		_base_east_match = true;
		_game_area_match = true;

		for "_k" from 0 to count _cur_word - 1 do
		{
			if (_cur_word select _k != _base_west_str select _k) then {_base_west_match = false};
			if (_cur_word select _k != _base_east_str select _k) then {_base_east_match = false};
			if (_cur_word select _k != _game_area_str select _k) then {_game_area_match = false};
			if (! _base_west_match && ! _base_east_match && ! _game_area_match) then {break};
		};

		// grab the variable part
		_var_part = [];
		if (_base_west_match || _base_east_match || _game_area_match) then
		{
			_m = 1;

			// insert all following characters until a double quote is found
			_next = _i + _lookup_str_last_idx + _m;

			// "34" is the double quote character
			while {_next <= _mission_sqm_last_idx && _mission_sqm select _next != 34} do
			{
				_var_part set [count _var_part, _mission_sqm select _next];
				_m = _m + 1;
				_next = _i + _lookup_str_last_idx + _m;
			};
		};

		if (_base_west_match) then
		{
			_marker = "BASE_WEST" + toString _var_part;
			// avoid duplicates - if another type of object has the same name as a marker
			// avoid objects that are not markers
			if (! (_marker in _found_base_west_mrk && markerType _marker != '')) then
			{
				_found_base_west_mrk set [count _found_base_west_mrk, _marker];
			};
		};

		if (_base_east_match) then
		{
			_marker = "BASE_EAST" + toString _var_part;
			// avoid duplicates - if another type of object has the same name as a marker
			// avoid objects that are not markers
			if (! (_marker in _found_base_east_mrk && markerType _marker != '')) then
			{
				_found_base_east_mrk set [count _found_base_east_mrk, _marker];
			};
		};

		if (_game_area_match) then
		{
			_marker = "GAME_AREA" + toString _var_part;
			// avoid duplicates - if another type of object has the same name as a marker
			// avoid objects that are not markers
			if (! (_marker in _found_game_area_mrk && markerType _marker != '')) then
			{
				_found_game_area_mrk set [count _found_game_area_mrk, _marker];
			};
		};
	}
	else
	{
		break;
	};
};

[_found_base_west_mrk, _found_base_east_mrk, _found_game_area_mrk]
};