A little help with metis characters

[Micromecca]

some time ago now I came up with this method for replacing characters written by metis in txt files with the true character for example * instead of ∗

small vb script....

Code: [Select]

Const ForReading = 1
Const ForWriting = 2

strFileName = Wscript.Arguments(0)
strOldText = Wscript.Arguments(1)
strNewText = Wscript.Arguments(2)

Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set objFile = objFSO.OpenTextFile(strFileName, ForReading)

strText = objFile.ReadAll
objFile.Close
strNewText = Replace(strText, strOldText, strNewText)

Set objFile = objFSO.OpenTextFile(strFileName, ForWriting)
objFile.WriteLine strNewText
objFile.Close

executed by a batch file in metis....

Code: [Select]

cscript FixUsers.vbs "C:\Program Files\RoboMX\Plugins\UserGroups.xml" "∗" "*"

Can anyone tell me if its possible to perform these function in metis itself, and if so how?

thanks
 

[Bearded Blunder]

I'd need to understand better what the issue is you're trying to correct, when it occurs & how...

Also be careful what files you run this on, if for example run on usergroups.xml to correct miswritten wildcards at start of names to * be aware it will also convert them mid name where you wanted it to match an actual * rather than be a wildcard......

Metis is far less fussy in OUTput than input certanily to a room & passes these entities to files ok when captured in %PARAM% (apart from $ which causes trouble everywhere)....

Have you tried having it write using the * method rather than ∗ ?? although * is fine in OUTput anyway only in INput that it needs replacing..

[Micromecca]

I use a script which allows me (and other admins) to add users to usergroups 'on the fly' via a command.
The script reads the entire usergroup in question and pushes each line to a var, when it writes it back it replaces line 3 with the new entry (new user) and writes the rest of the usergroup back after that line.
Entries that contain wildcards, for example *user 001* are written back as ∗user 001∗ so the vb script scans the file and replaces each ∗ with *
Is it possible to overcome this with metis alone?

 

[Bearded Blunder]

well i'd try

Code: [Select]

<out type="push" extdata="linetowrite"><operator type="strrep" nvalue="$lineasread$" lvalue="&lowast;" rvalue="*"/></out>or similar, but that won't prevent problems with a user who's name is"St*RRy*Eyes" who would NEED to appear as "*St∗RRy∗Eyes*" in there..

does that approach not work?
 if the above code does do the trick, you could get fancy & script it only replacing ∗ at the ends of lines..

[Bide & Musique]

more easy  .....

    use metis  2.80 Beta 1 Modified 4  with  the option DisableXmlEntities   set to 1     
 

Metis 2.80  Beta 1 Modified 4   B&M 13-05-2007
*************************
- Fixed   invalid argument with the command /mxc load   

Metis 2.80  Beta 1 Modified 3    B&M 12-05-2007
*************************
- Fixed  command OnRename

- Added one option to disable the use of XmlEntities in memory 
 
usage  in file MXC.xml :
<DisableXmlEntities value="1"/>

if value = 1  XmlEntities in Memory are disabled
if value = 0  XmlEntities in Memory are enabled  ( Default )

enjoy       

[Micromecca]

i gave that ver a try a short while back and had no end of problems with usergroups 

[James420]

To write a * to a file in any version of Metis without it being stupid and writing the entity code. Just write the entity code instead. It'll replace it with the actual character, kinda reverse of what it's doing now. You could also just run the strrep operator like Blunder said, and replace all the * characters with the entity value. But in some versions of Metis, in order to read the * character in a variable. You have to look for it with the entity value (Don't ask, Metis is retarded when it comes to handling the text properly). But b1m4 you shouldn't have to do any of that as long as you add that enxtra line of code into your mxc file. Then it should write out all the characters just fine without replacing them with the entity value.

[Micromecca]

yep, thanks James, I've been down that road before, i actually flung a laptop across the room if i remember rightly 

It's now working perfect using B1M3, so I must have cocked something up last time !

thanks guys
 

[James420]

That's good to know, but I strongly suggest you update to b1m4 since it has a few important bug fixes.