Zugg Software :: View topic - [3.05] Feature Request: Regular expression search in the Package Editor

Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2009 4:46 pm

I absolutely love the find feature in the package editor. I live by it, using it all the time in editing my scripts. (Just to clarify I'm speaking of the one that searches through all triggers, not the individual window find feature)

One feature I'd love to see added to it is an option to search for a regular expression. I'm always searching for items and wishing I could use regular expressions to hone my search further. I've noticed you have regular expression search in the editor. Would it be possible to add it to the main Package Editor find as well?

Posted: Mon Apr 06, 2009 6:49 pm

Unfortunately, that is very difficult. The current search feature is implemented with a database SQL "LIKE" query and filter. The database I'm using internally doesn't support regular expression filters.

Since the text search feature (Edit/Find) *does* support regular expressions, you might want to select the main window or module and then click the XML tab and then use the text search feature to do what you want.

Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2009 4:53 am

I selected the main module (root item in the package editor) and switched it to xml. About 8 seconds later the processing was done and it displayed the xml. Then I tried to bring up the find dialog box but find wouldn't come up.

So the big issues with your suggestion:

1) My package is large enough that there is a very noticeable lag between selecting the module and going into xml mode (~8 sec on a decent computer with 3 GB of memory).
2) Find doesn't work on the root module. I'd have to go individually into each of my 25 sub-classes and search each one separately.
3) Searching through the xml doesn't give the same level of ease of navigation and editing that using the main window search gives.

Posted: Mon Apr 13, 2009 5:19 pm

Sorry that was all I could suggest. As I said, it is unlikely that I'll be able to add any regex support to the filter dialog since the database doesn't support it. Your only other option is to export the XML and open it in an editor that can handle the size of the file and the searching.

You could probably also write a Lua script that loops through all of your settings and looks for a regex match. Maybe someone else can help with the start of a Lua script to do this.

Wizard Joined: 17 Jun 2006 Posts: 1201

That is what I do too Reed. I just export to XML then use Notepad++ and can search regex, replace, or whatever I want. It's simpler than creating an Lua script, but hey if you got the time! Laughing

Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 4:44 am

Do you then reimport every time you make an edit? That sounds tedious.

Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 12:30 pm

Only the things that were actually changed, I'd guess.

Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 2:03 pm

Would anyone care to give me a few hints on how the Lua search might be done?

Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 4:18 pm

Well firstly, Lua doesn't support regex by default, so you'll want to get a PCRE library for it. I linked one back in the "Getting Lua to work in CMUD (or zMUD!)" thread from before Lua was native in CMUD, so that might be a place to start.

Then you'll want to use a loop from 1 to zs.numalias (or whatever) using zs.getalias(i) to return each alias. You can then check whatever property you want and change it. Repeat for any other setting types you want to look through.

Posted: Wed Apr 15, 2009 5:30 pm

You could probably even do it within normal zScript using the %sess.numalias and %sess.getalias COM functions. Then you can use %match to do a regex match, and once you find the name of the setting to edit, then you can use the #EDIT command to open the settings editor for the one you found.

SubAdmin Joined: 18 Nov 2001 Posts: 5182

I made a post some time back, in the CMud General Forum that used Lua and %subregex on settings. You should be able to dig it up and have a pretty good idea how to modify it for your needs.

Posted: Thu Apr 16, 2009 2:28 pm

http://forums.zuggsoft.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=31221&highlight=

This one? Did it ever get added to the toolbox? I didn't see it mentioned in the shared library.

SubAdmin Joined: 18 Nov 2001 Posts: 5182

That would be the script. I never did put it into the toolbox. If you hadn't guessed many other things are going on in my life and I haven't been able to spend any time with CMud for a while.