There are some very useful utilities which are console based and thus it is made difficult for some users to use them. I started making this Win Application to solve this problem and more over to unify in one interface all the current tools about startpos editing. These are my first steps in Visual Basic so I expect your feedback for possible problems or suggestions to improve it further.
You have to have jruby installed (http://jruby.org/download) for Taw's converters to run (http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=392712) and optionally notepad++ ( http://notepad-plus-plus.org/) for xml editing. The 3 esf editors are included.
Esf Total Editor
Esf Total Editor is an application that combines all the existing utilities for editing .esf files. With Esf Total Editor you can edit an .esf file, convert it to xml or search in which records a specific number is located.
Edit .esf:
Using Esf Total Editor, you can edit any .esf file. In Menu bar click Esf choose Editor and the version of the editor you want to use. I've included all three existing versions since they are all useful. The v. 1.4.3 is fast, stable but has no nodes, the v. 1.4.5 uses nodes but it is slow and in some rare occasions unstable, 1.5 beta is fast uses nodes but it is unstable and cannot save the changes. In Esf menu, Esf Folder you can have access in the files you've converted.
Tip: I usually work using more than one Editor, some time all three of them, for the same file. For example if I want to work on a region, I open the file first with v. 1.4.5, I find easily the region I want and I move it first in the list. Then open it with v. 1.4.3 to work with it knowing that my region is the first one in REGIONS list and the same time I have a copy of the esf opened with v. 1.5 beta, for finding fast infos like CAI IDs. You cannot open the same file with more than one editor so make copies of the file.
Conversions:
Esf to Xml
1. Browse for your esf you want converted (2)
2. Type the name for the output folder with the converted xml
3. Click Esf to Xml button (3)
You can adjust the xml_split.jb file to custom the xml(s). It is useful some times to have one xml to work the find/replace factions or a certain number of sub folders containing specific parts of startpos. To edit xml_split.jb, go in Menu bar, choose Xml, Xml Split, Edit. If you like to restore the original file choose Restore, but before keep a backup of your custom xml_split.jb because it will be overwritten.
Tip: To make the process faster you can first edit your esf file and using the Export function, export the part(s) of the esf you want to make your changes. In this way the file(s) will be small and the process faster.
Xml to Esf
1. Browse for the Xml folder that contains the xml(s) you want converted (4). By default Browser starts from Xml folder of the Esf Total Editor
2. Type the name for the output esf file with it's extension (e.g. myfile.esf).
3. Click Xml to Esf button (3)1.
You can access your xml folder in Menu bar, Xml, Xml Editor.
Tip: If you like, you can give a different name to your new esf file than the one that esf had before its conversion to xml.
Search for ID
1. Browse for the esf file you want searched. (7)
2. Type the name for the output text file that will have the results with its .txt extension (e.g. myfile.txt).
3. Enter the number of ID (10)
4. Click Search button (9)
You can search for any number ID, grid, etc. You can access your txt files in Menu IDs, IDs Folder.
Installation:
Download attached zip, unzip it and place Esf Total Editor wherever you like, it does not need installation. Launch the program running TEE.exe.
Credits:
Just
Koras123
Alpaca
Erasmus777
Taw