CONVERT2DA: Code and documentation mismatch for the parameters

[bmaupin]

I'm having a few problems with the command line parameters for convert2da.

I downloaded a few versions to test with:

wget https://github.com/xoreos/xoreos-tools/releases/download/v0.0.4/xoreos-tools-0.0.4-linux64.tar.gz
tar xvf xoreos-tools-0.0.4-linux64.tar.gz

wget https://github.com/xoreos/xoreos-tools/releases/download/v0.0.5/xoreos-tools-0.0.5-linux64.tar.gz
tar xvf xoreos-tools-0.0.5-linux64.tar.gz

wget https://github.com/xoreos/xoreos-tools/releases/download/v0.0.6/xoreos-tools-0.0.6-linux64.tar.gz
tar xvf xoreos-tools-0.0.6-linux64.tar.gz

0.0.4 works as expected. Starting with 0.0.5 (including 0.0.6) I observe the following behaviour:

1. The -o parameter doesn't work as advertised

   Here's the output of the help text:

   ./xoreos-tools-0.0.5-linux64/convert2da | grep output
    -o      --output  <file>    Write the output to this file

   Here's what happens when I try to use -o:

   $ ./xoreos-tools-0.0.5-linux64/convert2da ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/workshop/content/208580/485537937/override/appearance.2da -o appearance.csv
   ERROR: Failed reading GDA file
     Because: Failed reading GFF4 file
     Because: Not a GFF4 file

   I was able to do this as a workaround:

   $ ./xoreos-tools-0.0.5-linux64/convert2da ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/workshop/content/208580/485537937/override/appearance.2da > appearance.csv

2. Related to the previous point, the man page doesn't match the help text

   Here's a snippet of the output of running convert2da without any parameters:

           --2da               Convert to ASCII 2DA (default)
           --2dab              Convert to binary 2DA
           --cvs               Convert to CSV

   But the man page instead lists -a, -b, and -c:

   $ man xoreos-tools-0.0.5-linux64/man/convert2da.1 | grep -A 8 '\-a'
     -a
     --2da
           Convert the 2DA or GDA file into an ASCII 2DA file.  This is the default mode of opera‐
           tion.
     -b
     --2dab
           Convert the 2DA or GDA file into a binary 2DA file.
     -c
     --csv

   However, these options don't work any more:

   $ ./xoreos-tools-0.0.5-linux64/convert2da -a ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/workshop/content/208580/485537937/override/appearance.2da
   ERROR: Can't open file "-a"
   $ ./xoreos-tools-0.0.5-linux64/convert2da -b ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/workshop/content/208580/485537937/override/appearance.2da
   ERROR: Can't open file "-b"
   $ ./xoreos-tools-0.0.5-linux64/convert2da -c ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/workshop/content/208580/485537937/override/appearance.2da
   ERROR: Can't open file "-c"

3. --cvs should be --csv?

   $ ./xoreos-tools-0.0.5-linux64/convert2da | grep -i csv
   BioWare 2DA/GDA to 2DA/CSV converter
           --cvs               Convert to CSV

Thanks!

[DrMcCoy]

1.

$ ./xoreos-tools-0.0.5-linux64/convert2da ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/workshop/content/208580/485537937/override/appearance.2da -o appearance.csv

If you look at the help text, the usage is

convert2da [<options>] <files[...]>

I.e. the options have to come before the files to operate on. First all the options (including output format and output file), then the input file(s).

So the correct line for you would be:

$ ./xoreos-tools-0.0.5-linux64/convert2da -o appearance.csv ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/workshop/content/208580/485537937/override/appearance.2da

The examples in the manpage are wrong, though. I'll fix that, thanks!

---

2.

Technically, the man page doesn't list -a, -b, -c instead of the long versions, but in addition. I.e. you can use either -a or --2da, both are supposed to do the same. Just like -o and --output do the same.

But you're right, the short options for --2da, --2dab and --csv got lost in a refactor, and I didn't notice or forgot to change the man page. I'll add the short options back. Thanks!

---

3.

Yeah, that's a typo that got fixed in 9d66762. We didn't have a release since then, so there's unfortunately no release package with the fix, so you'll have to use --cvs for now. Sorry about that.

[DrMcCoy]

• Fixed the mission short options (2.) with fdc4e0ad389fceb17001d932d35c70cae5318eb4
• Fixed the wrong examples in the man page (1.) with 3203b5c398b08b46a7235c1a168b104162f3a071

[bmaupin]

I.e. the options have to come before the files to operate on. First all the options (including output format and output file), then the input file(s).

So the correct line for you would be:

$ ./xoreos-tools-0.0.5-linux64/convert2da -o appearance.csv ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/workshop/content/208580/485537937/override/appearance.2da

I forgot to mention it, but I remember seeing that in the usage and I tried it but it didn't work either:

$ ./xoreos-tools-0.0.5-linux64/convert2da -o appearance.csv ~/.steam/steam/steamapps/workshop/content/208580/485537937/override/appearance.2da
ERROR: Can't open file "/home/user/.steam/steam/steamapps/workshop/content/208580/485537937/override/appearance.2da"

[DrMcCoy]

$ ./xoreos-tools-0.0.5-linux64/convert2da -o foo.csv ~/projects/xoreos/data/nwn/2da/feat.2da 
$ file foo.csv 
foo.csv: ASCII text, with very long lines (546)

Works fine here. Are you sure you have the correct path there?

[bmaupin]

You're right! My apologies, it's failing because I'd since deleted the files I was using to test. I thought I'd tried that when I originally ran into issues but evidently I'm mistaken.