While messing around with ecocreature's default.yml (their config.yml basically) as well as Heroes' class.yml, I desperately wanted to have a gui which would have drop down boxes with preset fields which would generate lines for the yml fields and save my having to write extensive and detailed config files with a likelihood of spacing errors or incorrect format. Basically, I was thinking how nice it would be to be able to just select all the variables, and the gui would generate the yml. Let me give you an example. Let's say that the plugin creator for ecocreatures wanted to make their plugin more approachable by making the process easier for users. The easier it is to go into detail, the more details users will use, and therefore they will more easily see the plugin in all the glory it was intended. Many of these plugins are glorious in thought, but in practice, they require so much setup, that only the surface is scratched by most users. So imagine this. Blaze: Drops: 'diamond_sword,damage_all.4:1:25' Coin_Minimum: 3.50 Coin_Maximum: 3.50 Coin_Percent: 50.0 Here is the mob table for ecodrops, for the blaze mob. All of this must be typed into the default.yml file. Take into note, this only lists one item, with a single enchantment, and then a cash reward. If someone wants to add another item possibility, and another enchantment, they must type in another set of stuff, for example Drops: 'diamond_pickaxe,durability.3:1:25;diamond_sword,damage_all.5:1:25;potion.2:1-1:25' There's two item possibilities upon killing that mob. See how much work that is? That and the fact that the person writing the file must remember all the item values, and enchantment values, and datavalues of potions, and whatever else. Now there are two ways we could streamline this process, each of them leading to standardization of the config process. Spacing seems to be unanimous amongst all yml files, so that part is done. Option one. plugin developers want to be involved in this project, so they also have a downloadable ini of some sort which tells our program the rules needed to generate the gui config maker. We open that file in the program, and suddenly we're given options, drop down boxes, check boxes, and text fields (to write in the name of a new class in heroes, or edit a message to players, for example) and the user only has to navigate the drop down menus, check the boxes, and fill in the fields. After which they click generate, and the file will be done. To make things much easier for both plugin devs and users, the gui could be set to leave any unaltered fields as default, so when the user clicks generate, if they haven't touched certain fields, they will just generate as the dev's preset. The other method could be that the plugin's variables are where the gui is generated from. To be honest, I am not sure how all of this is handled by a plugin, so I am not sure how difficult it would be to create a gui program which is able to querry the variables of a plugin and create gui fields which can then generate config files. I would imagine that if the plugin requires a yml file, then the way the plugin utilizes that config file would be sufficient for a program to generate options from. I hope that makes sense. -Caid.
