BOSS Metadata File Syntax

Contents

1. Introduction
2. Metadata File Structure
3. Data Structures
   1. Tag Data Structure
   2. File Data Structure
   3. Message Data Structure
   4. Plugin Data Structure
4. Condition Strings
   1. Functions
   2. The Negator & Junctors
   3. Order Of Evaluation
5. Language Codes
6. License

Introduction

As of BOSS v3, the metadata file syntax is what BOSS's masterlists and userlists are written in. If you know YAML, good news: the metadata file syntax is essentially just YAML 1.2. If you don't know YAML, then its Wikipedia page is a good introduction. All you really need to know is:

• How lists and associative arrays (key-value maps) are written.
• That whitespace is important, and that only normal spaces (ie. no non-breaking spaces or tabs) count as such.
• That data entries that are siblings must be indented by the same amount, and child data nodes must be indented further than their parents (see the example later in this document if you don't understand).
• That YAML files must be written in a Unicode encoding.
• That each key in a key-value map must only appear once per map object.

Some important points that are more specific to how BOSS uses YAML:

• Child data nodes should be indented two spaces from their parents. This isn't a strict requirement, but is the best trade-off between compactness and readability.
• Strings should be enclosed in single quotes if they contain any of the following characters: -?:,[]{}#&*!|>"%@`, unless they also contain any single quotes, in which case the string should be enclosed in double quotes instead. Any backslashes or double quotes within a double-quoted string should be escaped with a backslash, ie. " → \" and \ → \\.
• Strings are case-sensitive, apart from file paths, regular expressions and checksums.

These docs give all example syntax in YAML's least compact representation: you can also use a more compact representation, but it's better for the masterlist to be readable than compact.

Some properties of file paths as used by BOSS:

• They are evaluated as paths relative to the game's Data folder.
• They cannot reference a path outside of the game's folder structure, ie. they cannot contain the substring ../../.
• Regular expression file paths must be written in the POSIX Extended syntax.
• Only the filename of a regex file path may contain non-literal regex syntax, ie. if the filename part of the regex file path is removed, the remainder must be an exact folder path (though with the regex syntax special characters escaped). For example, given the regex file path Meshes\\Resources(1|2)\\(upperclass)?table.nif, BOSS will look for a file named table.nif or upperclasstable.nif in the Meshes\Resources(1|2) folder, rather than looking in the Meshes\Resources1 and Meshes\Resources2 folders.

Please test any changes you make before uploading them. One way of doing this is to run BOSS, another is to copy/paste what you've changed into an online parser such as this one, though it won't catch condition syntax errors or non-syntax errors such as having the same file both required and incompatible.

Metadata File Structure

The root of a metadata file is a key-value map. BOSS will recognise the following keys, none of which are required:

Other keys may also be present, but are not processed by BOSS. The message and plugin data structures are detailed in the next section.

An example metadata file: globals: - type: say content: You are using the latest version of BOSS. condition: 'version("BOSS", "3.0.0.0", ==)' plugins: - name: Armamentarium.esm tag: - Relev - name: ArmamentariumFran.esm tag: - Relev - name: 'Beautiful People 2ch-Ed.esm' tag: - Eyes - Graphics - Hair - R.Relations

Data Structures

While you could write whatever you wanted in a metadata file without problems, so long as it was valid YAML, it would be pointless as BOSS expects the metadata to be laid out using a certain set of data structures, described in this section.

Tag Data Structure

BOSS metadata files can contain suggestions for the addition or removal of Bash Tags, and this is the structure used for them. It has two forms: the first is a simple string, and the second is a key-value map. All values in the map are strings.

The simple form: tag

where tag is the Bash Tag, preceded by a minus sign if it is suggested for removal.

The map form:

Examples: Relations or name: -Relations condition: "file(\"Mart's Monster Mod for OOO.esm\") or file(\"FCOM_Convergence.esm\")"

File Data Structure

Not to be confused with the structure of the metadata file itself, this structure can be used to hold filenames. It has two forms: the first is a simple string, and the second is a key-value map. All values in the map are strings.

The simple form: filepath

where filepath is a file path relative to the game's Data folder.

The map form:

Examples: ../obse_loader.exe or name: ../obse_loader.exe condition: 'version("../obse_loader.exe", "0.0.18.0", >=)' display: OBSE v18+

Message Data Structure

Messages are given as key-value maps.

There are three message types:

The content data structure is a key-value map, with all values being strings:

BOSS handles messages and languages as follows:

1. If a message's content value is a string, the message will use the string as its content if displayed.
2. If a message's content value is a list of content structures, then the first structure with a language that matches BOSS's current language will be used as the message's content if displayed. If there are no matches, then the first structure in English will be used.

Examples (translations by Google): type: say condition: file("foo.esp") content: - lang: eng str: 'An example link: http://www.example.com' - lang: rus str: 'Это пример ссылки: http://www.example.com' - lang: ger str: 'Ein Beispiel-Link: http://www.example.com' would be displayed as

отмечать: Это пример ссылки: http://www.example.com

отмечать: An alternative example link, with no translations.

Plugin Data Structure

This is the structure that brings all the others together, and forms the main component of a metadata file. It is a key-value map.

Example: name: "Oscuro's_Oblivion_Overhaul.esm" tag: - Actors.Spells - Graphics - Invent - Relations - Scripts - Stats - name: -Relations condition: "file(\"Mart's Monster Mod for OOO.esm\") or file(\"FCOM_Convergence.esm\")" msg: - type: say content: 'Do not clean. "Dirty" edits are intentional and required for the mod to function.'

Condition Strings

Condition strings can be used to ensure that data is only acted on by BOSS under certain circumstances. They are very similar to boolean conditional expressions in programming languages such as Python, though more limited. Their EBNF grammar is: [ negator ], function, { junctor, [ negator ], function } ;

The [ negator ], function grammar is referred to as a condition, and two conditions joined by an operator, ie. condition, operator, condition is referred to as a compound condition.

Unlike previous versions of BOSS, BOSS v3 caches the results of condition evaluations, so performance is not really an issue. A regular expression check will still take longer than a file check though, so use the former only when appropriate to do so.

Functions

There are several conditions that can be tested for using the functions detailed in the table below.

The different types of variable used in the above functions are described in more detail below.

The Negator & Junctors

The negator, or logical negation operator, inverts the value of the function that follows it. Its inclusion is optional, and its syntax is simply: not

Below is a truth table for the negator.

There are two supported junctors, the logical conjunction (logical and operator) and the logical disjunction (logical or operator), that operate on the expressions to their left and right.

The following is a truth table for the junctors:

Order Of Evaluation

When a condition string is evaluated, its constituent parts are evaluated according to the standard precedence rules of operator logic, ie.

1. Function
2. Negator
3. Logical and
4. Logical or

Below is a table that lists some combinations of conditions, showing for each the order of evaluation by explicit bracketing. To make it easier to read, the negator function pair is shortened to C after the first example.

You can also explicitly enclose any condition in brackets to override the evaluation order, eg. C and ( C or C ) is evaluated as C and ( C or C ), in contrast to the unbracketed string above.

Language Codes

BOSS supports the following languages and language codes:

License

This document is part of the BOSS documentation.
Copyright (C) 2012–2013 WrinklyNinja
See the file BOSS ReadMe.html for copying conditions.