Tight List Markup Language (TLML)
Version 0.6
TLML
This is the language in which the prim-pages sent over
TLTP are coded. A prim-page is made of one or more prims, which have each their own TLML description. This description is called a TLML command, and is a single string composed of the following substrings:
Command Format:
| Field: | Description: |
| separator | char, defined here then used to parse the rest of the command |
| target part number | integer cast as string, representation of the target's link number for differentiating prims of a page |
| separator | same as above |
| URL | optional URL the prim should point at, see format here |
| separator | same as above |
| prim attribute mask | hex-integer cast into a string, contains bitflags indicating how to read the rest of the command, see below |
separator
parameters | 1 paramater for each entry in the mask that requires a paramater, if an entry uses multiple parmamaters they are TightLists |
| separator | same as above |
| face attribute mask | hex-integer cast into a string, contains bitflags indicating how to read the rest of the command, see below |
separator
parameters | 1 paramater for each entry in the mask that requires a paramater, if an entry uses multiple parmamaters they are TightLists |
TightList([prim_number, TLTP_command, prim_mask] + prim_mask_data + [face_mask_1] + face_mask_data_1 + ... [face_mask_n] + face_mask_data_n)
The server can also say a
special code instead of a target part number:
| Code | Meaning |
| -1 | Server unavailable |
| -2 | Server Error |
| -3 | Access Refused (if your server enforces access restriction on some pages) |
| -4 | Page Missing. Should provide the index of the default page. (404 here we are :)) |
| -97 | Wait. Should provide a positive float value, the browser will wait this much before processing the next line |
| -98 | Comment. Everything after this code is skipped by the browser |
| -99 | Page Clear. This will clear the display of the browser. |
Prim mask and parameters:
| Bit | Hex | Name | Description |
| 4 | 0x1 | BITPrimConfigMask | Mask, that defaults values or recycles them |
| 5 | 0x2 | BITShowOnCommand | Show On Command, string |
| 6 & 7 | 0xC | shape change | 0x0 = recycle, 0x40 = PRIM_TYPE TightList, 0x80 = SetPrimTypeChained TightList, 0xC0 = raw TightListType |
| 8 | 0x10 | BITSize | prim size (vector) |
| 9 | 0x20 | BITPos | prim position (vector) |
| 10 | 0x40 | BITCourners | prim corners TightList(vector,vector) |
| 11 | 0x80 | BITLocalRot | llSetLocalRot(euler-vector | rotation) |
| 12 | 0x100 | BITSetTextText | llSetText(string text) |
| 13 | 0x200 | BITSetTextAtrib | llSetText(<r,g,b> | (<r,g,b,a>)) |
| 14 | 0x400 | BITParticleSystem | llParticleSystem TightListType |
| 15 | 0x800 | BITTargetOmega | llTargetOmega TightList(vector axis, float spinrate, float gain) |
| 16 | 0x1000 | BITTextureAnim | llSetTextureAnim TightList(ta_mode, ta_face, ta_xf, ta_yf, ta_sf, ta_ef, ta_speed) |
| 17 | 0x2000 | BITXyText | XyTextMod See Table TightList |
| 18 | 0x4000 | BITSetURL | Not implemented, will eat 1 parmater |
Prim Config Mask:
| Bit | Hex | Name | Description |
| 0 | 0x1 | BITPrimDefaultShape | default box-shape |
| 1 | 0x2 | BITPrimDefaultLocalRot | set local rotation to <0,0,0,1> |
| 2 | 0x4 | BITPrimDefaultSetText_text | keep llSetText text |
| 3 | 0x8 | BITPrimDefaultSetText_atrib | keep llSetText color & alpha |
| 4 | 0x10 | BITPrimKeepParticle | keep llParticleSystem |
| 5 | 0x20 | BITPrimKeepTargetOmega | keep llTargetOmega axis, spinrate, gain |
| 6 | 0x40 | BITPrimKeepTextureAnim | keep llSetTextureAnim ta_mode, ta_face, ta_xf, ta_yf, ta_sf, ta_ef, ta_speed |
| 7 | 0x80 | BITPrimKeepXyText | keep XyTextMod, this doesn't do anything currently |
| 8 | 0x100 | BITPrimKeepURL | keep llSetPrimURL, this doesn't do anything currently |
Face mask and parameters:
| Bit | Hex | Name | Description |
| 0-3 | 0xF | face | face number, if ALL_SIDES face = 0xF |
| 4 | 0x10 | BITFaceConfigMask | Mask, that defaults values or recycles them |
| 5 | 0x20 | reserved | TightList or (To-Be-Determined), will eat 1 parmater |
| 6 & 7 | 0xC0 | fullbright | 0x0 = recycle, 0x40 = No Full Bright, 0x80 = reserved, 0xC0 = Full Bright |
| 8 | 0x100 | BITTexture | texture_key or TightList([notecard_texture_key, subgroup, notecard_line]) |
| 9 | 0x200 | BITColor | color <r,g,b> |
| 10 | 0x400 | BITAlpha | alpha |
| 11 | 0x800 | BITTexture_scale _scale | texture_scale |
| 12 | 0x1000 | BITTexture_offset | texture_offset |
| 13 | 0x2000 | BITTexture_rot | texture_rot |
| 14 | 0x4000 | BITShiny | shiny |
| 15 | 0x8000 | BITBump | bump |
Face Config Mask:
| Bit | Hex | Name | Description |
| 0 | 0x1 | BITFaceDefaultTexture | default texture to white |
| 1 | 0x2 | BITFaceDefaultColor | default color to <1,1,1> |
| 2 | 0x4 | BITFaceDefaultAlpha | default alpha to 1.0 |
| 3 | 0x8 | BITFaceDefaultTexture_scale | default texture_scale to <1,1,1> |
| 4 | 0x10 | BITFaceDefaultTexture_offset | default texture_offset to <0,0,0> |
| 5 | 0x20 | BITFaceDefaultTexture_rot | default texture_rot to 0.0 |
| 6 | 0x40 | BITFaceDefaultShiny | default shiny to none |
| 7 | 0x80 | BITFaceDefaultBump | default bump to none |
BITSetTextAtrib if RGB is set to 0,0,0 and A is not set then A will automaticly set to 1. If you don't want this, set a value for A. Detecting this situation isn't easy, because of size constraints we don't bother.
Multiple commands can be concatenated together, although it is more efficient to compress everything in one command (takes less characters for the same result). Multiple commands addressed to different prims can be joined on seperate lines (seperate them with a "\n" character).
Note: TLTP distinguishes between the various data types it can transport by prepending a letter. In the case of TLML, that letter is "T". If you pass multiple TLML lines you should prepend "T" to each line.
Example command:
| /0/U!Page!1!66864f3c-e095-d9c8-058d-d6575e6ed1b8/8201F/<1,1,0>/<.25,.25,0>/<.75,.75,0> |
- "/" = the command uses this character as seperator for the remainder of the command string.
- "0" = this command targets the first child prim of the browser client.
- U!Page!1!66864f3c-e095-d9c8-058d-d6575e6ed1b8 = URL of the page requested when the target child prim is clicked
- 8201F = 0x1+0x2+0x4+0x8+0x10+0x2000+0x80000 = bits 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 13 and 19 are set = the command contains a color and corners
- <1,1,0> = color parameter (yellow)
- <0.25,0.25,0.0> = lower left corner coordinates
- <0.75,0.75,0.0> = top right corner coordinates
This command thus turns the first child prim into a yellow centered opaque rectangle covering about half the screen.
Multiple formats may be chained together; just concatenate each format definition with its attributes, this is useful for setting different textures on different faces of a prim. This can be used to emulate the functionality of
XyText though there is an
XyText interface built in.
That's cool, but there still is a limit on the character number that can be passed in a chat line or an email...
Very true which is why this protocol wastes as little space as possible
If no server key is specified in the URL then the browser simply sends the request to the server that generated the prim.
Notecard texture key interface - The notecard texture key interface is a simple interface for using notecards to store lists of texture keys. While it could be given it's own script it has been merged into
XyTextMod script to keep the script count down. The details of the interface will be released shortly.
How does the new TLTP v0.3 transport layer affect this new interface ? If you need a seperate data type feel free to add it to the list on the TLTP page.
This format won't need a new codes but will need a new url code, the simplified notecard page format will need it's own code and url code
XyTextMod (XTM hence forth) is a unification between the two versions of
XyText and eliminates the need for remaps and escape codes.
There are two ways to configure XTM through the TLTP feature_mask and though XTM own interface. XTM must be first setup though TLTP (setting XyText_key, XyText_line, XyText_BlockPosition) then with further configuration though XTM (font, version, fading). The format for the two methods of configuration are identical, the only difference is that some attributes can only be set with a particular interface. XyTextMod uses XyTextMod Protocall (XTMP hence forth).
| Bit | Hex | TLML | XTMP | Effects | Description |
| 0,1,2 | 0x7 | Yes | Yes | XyText_version | Version Number (0x1 is 3 letters per prim, 0x2 is 4 letters per prim) |
| 3 | 0x8 | Yes | No | XyText_key | If bit 4 is not set, use the current pages URL |
| 4 | 0x10 | Yes* | Yes | XyText_key | XyText_key is used to restrict a XTM block to a specific page |
| 5 | 0x20 | Yes | Yes | XyText_line | This allows for multiple independant lines of text on a page |
| 6 | 0x40 | Yes | No | XyText_BlockPosition | This tells the prim which block of text it should display from the string |
| 7 | 0x80 | Yes | Yes | XyText_font | The font texture to use. |
| 8 | 0x100 | No | Yes | XyText_fading | Enables fade in and fade out |
| 9 | 0x200 | No | Yes | XyText_fade_delay | Period before text should fade out |
| 10 | 0x400 | Yes | Yes | XyText_max_alpha | Sets the Alpha & Max Alpha used when fading |
| 11 | 0x800 | Yes | Yes | XyText_color | Sets the color |
| 12 | 0x1000 | Yes | Yes | Full Bright | Sets full bright on the xytext faces, this takes a paramater |
| 16,17 | 0x30000 | Yes | Yes | XyText Text | Sets the text on the prims |
| Version | Description |
| 0 | Recycle |
| 1 | 4 characters per face |
| 2 | 5 characters per face |
| 3 | 8 characters per face |
| 4 | 10 characters per face |
| 5 | reserved |
| 6 | reserved |
| 7 | reserved |
About bits 3 & 4:
When a XTMP command is recieved first check is to see if the prim is a part of the group that message is inteded for via XyText_key, XyText_key is the source url for the page the message originated from. After that it checks XyText_line to see if they match; if they do it executes the command.
About bits 12 & 13:
- When an XTM command is sent via TLML and is bridged to XTM:
- Bit 12 tells XTM that it's a group of text and it is to use it's BlockPosition to get it's text.
- If Bit 13 is also set along with Bit 12 then XTM propogates that text to all other prims in the group.
- If just Bit 13 is set then XTM ignores BlockPosition and displays the first block of text in the string
- When an XTM command comes from the TLTP parser for a group it acts just like above except Bit 13 does not propogate the message.
Example XTMP config:
llMessageLinked(LINK_SET, 3100, ",0x411,471a92ff-50f4-2858-2f36-deab4cc50276:next,0.5", "471a92ff-50f4-2858-2f36-deab4cc50276:home")
This allows the page next write text into home and also sets the max alpha to 0.5.
Because the scripts have grown in size and quantity, the scripts have been split across multiple pages.
exchangeTLTPBrowser
exchangeTLMLRenderer
exchangeTLMLGenerator
Changes between TLML 0.5 & 0.6:
- Mask split into two two masks, prim and face.
- Buggy recycle code thown out, totaly rewriten, defaulting is much cleaner.
- TLML -99 cleans up more efficiantly (the script is reset and calls "|-|+|1F|+")
- BITSetTextAtrib no longer supports two paramaters, either a vector <r,g,b> or rotation <r,g,b,a>
- if the vector form is used, the alpha is recycled. At clear it is set to <1,1,1,1>.
- Lots of stuff
While writing TLML and it supporting scripts i've been driven to make TLML as efficiant as possible. With the creation of the the generator scripts and it's subsequant updates a glaring problem exists in TLML. Because of the design flaw, TLML should be reworked as it will aid in speeding up the script and making TLML more user friendly.
The problem is in how the data is transmitted. With 0.5 (and previous versions) BITprim_type & BITprim_type_chained are close to last to be applied. This is a problem. Take for example that the prim starts out as a basic sphere and the user wants to apply a texture to face 2. A basic sphere only has one face. The command will be ignored. I propose in 0.6 that BITprim_type & BITprim_type_chained be moved to the front. Another issue is we are running out of BITs (currently there are 28 or 32 allocated). The current method for allocating BITs isn't scalable. Most flags make little sence to repeat more then once. Who really needs to call BITprim_type or BITparticle more then once?
TLML 0.6 Proposal B
Proposed Command Layout
This proposal forces all values that require multiple paramaters to use TightLists. This will result in a few characters of extra overhead but will overall reduce errors when writing TLML pages (a good thing, no more weird notecard errors). After more consideration i've rekindled the idea of a config/recycle mask. The reason for this is to keep the main masks clog free.