INI Buddy: Config Editing Done Easy

[Jeckel]

Similar to others, I find it odd that xml is becoming the standard file format for storage of non-complex data and believe a human readable format like ini to be more useful for this task. However, like any plain-text storage method, at some point around three pages of text, it gets cumbersome to edit the file by hand and that is where specialized text editing applications come in to the picture.

There are several applications on the internet that allow editing of ini files in a more efficient manner, but the good ones cost money and the freeware/shareware ones are not sufficient for any but the simplest tasks. The INI Buddy application was created to solve the lack of a decent, full featured ini editor available free-of-charge. The interface is kept simple and the underlying ini reader was designed around a standard published by Vinland Solutions Organization, the Game INI Format v1.000.

The Features and Drawbacks lists in the second post and the screen shots in the third post are both taken from the Readme file linked below. Additional screen shots and more detailed information can be found in that document.

Application: INI Buddy

Publisher: Vinland Solutions

Copyright: Copyright © 2008, 2009, 2010 Vinland Solutions

License: Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives v3.0 US

Language: C++/Win32/wxWidgets

Version: 2.001 Release BETA (2.001.1.1)

Release Date: Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Readme: Readme - INI Buddy.pdf

Download: INI_Buddy_v2001RB_Setup.zip

Source: Not Released Yet

Discussion: Main Forum

Problems: Bug Forum


Note: The 1.xxx versions are no longer supported.

 

[Jeckel]

Features:

• Can be used in windowed or fullscreen mode
• Almost all actions can be performed from the Menu Bar, with keyboard commands, and through right-click menus.
• Built-in ability to take screenshots of the current view
• Keeps track of the most recently opened files
• Application settings stared in configuration file
• Many settings saved when the application is closed
  • Window size and position
  • Directories of last file opened and last file saved
  • Directory of last screenshot file saved
  • Various syntax highlighting colors
• Both the input and output text can be viewed
  • Text views have optional line numbering
  • Text views have the option of configurable syntax highlighting
  • Text views have Find, Find Next, and Go To Line implemented
• INI data can be manipulated in a simple table view
  • Both Sections and Options are displayed in their own tables
  • Items can be added to the end or inserted at a specific index
  • Section Tags, Option Tags, and Option Values can be edited.
  • Section Tags, Option Tags, and Option Values can have the clipboard text pasted into them
  • Section Tags, Option Tags, and Option Values can have their text copied to the clipboard
  • Sections and Options can be moved up or down in their lists
  • Sections and Options can be deleted
  • Tables have Go To Index implemented
  • Tables have Find and Find Next implemented

Drawbacks:

• Doesn't currently handle files larger then about half a megabyte
• INI Comments can not be added, deleted, or edited, yet
• Can not select, add, delete, or edit more then one INI item at a time

EDIT: 2/10/2010: Version 1.xxx development update removed. Version 2.xxx Features and Drawbacks lists added.

 

[Jeckel]

Data List View



Output Text View



Input Text View



EDIT: 2/10/2010: Version 1.xxx development update removed. Version 2.xxx screen shots added.

 

[Zuul]

How many final versions will you have?

 

[Jeckel]

I am happy to announce that my first C++ program has be rewritten from the ground up and is now better then ever before. I first created INI Buddy a little over a year ago to deal with the cumbersome INI files in Civ4. Due partly to the tools I was using, but mostly to my lack of knowledge relating to C++, that first attempt didn't come to much and lacked fundamental features like editing Section and Option Tags.

I've spent the past year doing nothing but working exclusively in C++, and a few months ago I again had need to deal with larger then average INI files. Taking that as an opportunity, I began work on a new version of the INI Buddy application.

I started at the most basic level and wrote a Standards document covering the formatting rules for the input and output texts. I then took that document and wrote a parsing engine in C++ that read the INI data in, manipulate it, and write it back out. Then, using the wxWidgets library, I wrote an application to provide an interface to the parsing engine.

While it is still in the Beta stage, and there are most likely a few bugs, it is a huge improvement over the initial versions. See the second post for lists of the Features and Drawbacks of the newest version. The application is currently locked from the addition of new features so that all efforts can go towards removing any bugs that exist and making the current features more stable.

If any problems are found, you can post in this thread, send me a private message here at CFC, or start a thread in the official INI Buddy Bug Form linked in the opening post. I am usually unable to spend as much time as I would like debugging the freeware applications, and even if I could no developer can test a program as fully as an actual user. So if you find a bug, glitch, typo, etc in the program or the documentation, please report it in one of the places mentioned.

Lastly, I've had a lot of fun over the years playing and modding Civ4, not mention the fun I've had being part of the CFC community. Civ4 and CFC are the playgrounds where I learned Python, C++, and practical programing application in general. If this application can help anyone in their modding, then I'm glad I could give back.

 

[The_J]

Welcome back Jeckel .