XML File Format Used By LOR2 to Save Sequences

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XML File Format Used By LOR2 to Save
Sequences The XML format used by LOR2 makes it
easier for users to view and edit a sequence file
outside of LOR with some level of
success. Editing of sequence files outside of
the LOR editor is not recommended by LOR and may
result in a corrupt file which is unusable. ! !
! BACK UP YOUR FILES BEFORE ATTEMPTING TO EDIT
THEM ! ! ! Note This information is valid for
LOR 2.9.4 (saveFileVersion 8)
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LOR1 used a binary data file to store sequences
etc. Binary format could be opened using other
applications (like Notepad) but most of the data
was not understandable and could not be
edited. Binary format was compact to achieve
smaller files sizes. Im not sure where
goopblip37 came from, but it was used throughout
the sequence file to divide sections of the file.
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LOR2 uses a XML file format to store sequences
etc. XML is a text-based format which can be
viewed and understood using simple text readers
(like Notepad). XML can be edited and saved using
simple text readers (if the correct syntax is
used).
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XML - Extensible Markup Language XML is similar
to the HTML format used to save web pages. XML
defines a basic syntax that is used to save and
share information. Along with using the XML
syntax, LOR2 uses a specific structure to store
the data (referred to as a schema). The LOR2
schema is not published, but it can be learned by
studying the files. XML format basics XML data
is stored in a tree type structure. The XML file
has one root element. The root element can
contain any number of child elements. Each
element is designated with a start-tag (lt_gt) and
a corresponding end-tag (lt/_gt). Each element can
contain additional child elements, values, and
attributes. Additional info on XML can be found
by searching the web for XML format.
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Example of XML data in LOR2 sequence file (viewed
using Notepad)
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XML Notepad is a great tool for understanding the
content of an XML file XML Notepad opens any XML
file into tree view. The elements of the tree can
be expanded or collapsed to navigate the
file. You can learn a lot about how a sequence
functions by viewing it in XML Notepad. XML
Notepad 2007 is available free from Microsoft.
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The XML declaration element lt?xml version"1.0"
encoding"UTF-8" standalone"no"?gt This should
not be edited. The start-tag of the root element
and its attributes (sequence start-tag and
sequence attributes) ltsequence saveFileVersion6"
author"RW" createdAt"2/1/2009 73048 AM"
musicFilename"C\1wertz\Lights\LorInfo\testsnd.wa
v"gt This marks the beginning of all the
information contained in the sequence. It also
defines sequence specific settings (file version,
music file etc.) ltsequence is the beginning of
the start-tag of the sequence. saveFileVersion,
author, createdAt, and musicFilename are all
attributes of the sequence. gt is the end of the
start-tag (and also encloses the attributes of
the sequence). The corresponding end-tag
(lt/sequencegt) occurs at the end of the file. The
saveFileVersion denotes different versions of the
structure of the file. Most updates to the
saveFileVersion simply indicate new features that
are not backward compatible. The official release
of LOR2 (2.3.4) changed the saveFileVersion from
5 to 6. This change was significant because they
moved the timings from within each track to a
separate holding area called timingGrids.
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The channels element and individual channel
elements contained for each channel ltchannelsgt ltch
annel name"Unit 01.1" color"12615744"
centiseconds"87" deviceType"LOR" unit"1"
circuit"1" savedIndex"0"gt lteffect
type"intensity" startCentisecond"0"
endCentisecond"10" intensity"100"/gt lteffect
type"intensity" startCentisecond"50"
endCentisecond"60" intensity"100"/gt lt/channelgt lt
channel name"Unit 01.2" color"12615744"
centiseconds"87" deviceType"LOR" unit"1"
circuit"2" savedIndex"1"gt lteffect
type"intensity" startCentisecond"0"
endCentisecond"10" intensity"100"/gt lteffect
type"intensity" startCentisecond"20"
endCentisecond"30" intensity"100"/gt lteffect
type"intensity" startCentisecond"60"
endCentisecond"80" intensity"100"/gt lt/channelgt lt
/channelsgt This defines the channel settings
(name, color etc.) and the lighting
effects. ltchannelsgt is the start-tag for the
element that contains the group of channel
elements. ltchannel is the beginning of the
start-tag for a individual channel. channel name,
color, centiseconds, deviceType, unit, circuit,
and savedIndex are all attributes of the
channel. gt is the end of the start-tag for the
channel (and also encloses the attributes of the
channel). The savedIndex is how LOR references
the channel. It does not control the order they
are displayed. The lighting effects for the
channel are listed next. lteffect type"intensity"
startCentisecond"0" endCentisecond"10"
intensity"100"/gt /gt is the end-tag for the
effect. effect is not needed because / occurs
before the closing angle bracket. This is an
empty-element. It contains no other elements,
just attributes Cool Trick - To reduce the
intensities in a sequence, do a replace of
intensity"100" with intensity"50"
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The tracks element and individual track elements
contained for each track This defines which
channels are displayed in each track. lttracksgt ltt
rack totalCentiseconds "87" timingGrid"0"gt ltchan
nelsgt ltchannel savedIndex"0"/gt ltchannel
savedIndex"1"/gt ltchannel savedIndex"2"/gt ltchanne
l savedIndex"3"/gt lt/channelsgt ltloopLevels/gt lt/tra
ckgt lt/tracksgt
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The animation element This defines the animation
picture, the dimensions of the animation grid,
and which cells are assigned to which
channels ltanimation rows"40" columns"60"
image"" hideControls"false"gt ltrow
index"14"gt ltcolumn index"24" channel"0"/gt ltcolu
mn index"25" channel"0"/gt lt/rowgt ltrow
index"16"gt ltcolumn index"24" channel"1"/gt ltcolu
mn index"25" channel"1"/gt lt/rowgt lt/animationgt T
he end-tag of the root element (sequence) lt/seque
ncegt
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Editing the LOR2 sequence file using Notepad -
Part 1 Make a backup copy of the sequence file
in case your changes mess up the sequence
file. Open Notepad program Open the LOR2
sequence file (File / Open / Files of type All
Files) Make any necessary changes to the
file Save the file Find and Replace are the
simplest and safest changes Be sure you are
replacing only the data you are looking for and
you put valid data in its place. Intensity change
would be a common change. But notice that the
attribute intensity is capitalized differently
than the word Intensity in the attributes
startIntensity and endIntensity. Changing this
capitalization could cause LOR to crash when it
opens the file. Find and Replace can be done on
a specific section of the sequence. Place the
cursor at the beginning of the area to be
effected and replace until the end of the area is
reached.
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Editing the LOR2 sequence file using Notepad -
Part 2 Adding channels is significantly more
complicated. A channel element must be added to
both the channels element and one of the track
elements. The savedIndex must be in line with the
existing savedIndexes. (The savedIndex does not
correlate with the displayed order in the
program) If you are modifying multiple sequence
files, the savedIndexes will likely be different
in each file. Fixing missing musicFilename LOR
used to have an issue that made it possible for a
music sequence to act like an animation sequence
and disable the ability to assign a music
file. If a music sequence was saved without the
music file set to a valid file, LOR would remove
the musicFilename attribute in the sequence
element. Once this happened the only way to
recover the file was to edit the musicFilename
attribute back into the sequence file.
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Using Excel to extract a sortable copy of the
channel configuration Part 1 (This is how it
works in Excel 2003) To avoid affecting any LOR
files, export a new copy of your channel
configuration. In Excel choose File /
Open. Change Files of type to All Files. Open the
configuration (.lcc) file.
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Using Excel to extract a sortable copy of the
channel configuration Part 2 You may have to
choose Open XML As an XML list.
You may have to choose OK when told Excel will
create a schema.
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Using Excel to extract a sortable copy of the
channel configuration Part 3 Look for the
columns labeled unit (or possibly
/channels/channel/_at_unit) and circuit (or
possibly /channels/channel/_at_circuit). Scroll
down till you see info in theses columns. Copy
the info to a fresh Excel workbook. Then you can
sort, save, etc.
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• Using Excel to extract a sortable copy of the
  channel configuration Part 4
• Notes
• Any channel that is copied to another track will
  appear multiple times. To avoid confusion, you
  can remove any entries from your sort list that
  do not belong to track 1.
• Unit numbers are saved as a decimal value in the
  configuration file. This value has to be
  converted to Hexadecimal in order to compare it
  with the settings in the sequence and on the
  controller.