[WF-Scripting] Eidetic Temlates for Mason Data

[Oliver White]

Well finally! I've got my first ever atlas program running.

I've discussed the data format for mason with several key developers, 
and got some excellent advice. I think the way we should do things is to 
represent each table as a list of atlas objects of type 
Atlas::Message::Object::MapType.

Each object will represent a row in the table, and will be served up by 
eidetic as an Atlas XML file, to be loaded into Stage on start-up by the 
rims that need them. Demitar has cited security issues as the reason why 
we should go for rim based loading as opposed to client connection based 
loading.

So, what do I need from the entity team? Simply come up with an eidetic 
template to serve XML - a sample atlas map object is in order:

<map>
<string name="name">Cookie Monster Fur</string>
<string name="colour">blue</string>
<float name="density">2.91</float>
<int name="hairs_per_cm">100000</int>
</map>

This would correspond to something like this in SQL:

CREATE TABLE FUR_TYPES
(
    NAME            CHAR(50),
    COLOUR          CHAR(50),
    DENSITY         NUMERIC(10,3),
    HAIRS_PER_CM    INTEGER(10)
);

This should cover the vast majority of data. Note that in addition to 
strings, floats and integers, we can also have maps and lists within 
objects. I don't see how you would need that when representing single 
tables as atlas objects, but by all means give me a nudge if you need it 
and I'll come up with some templates.

Sorry this has taken so long, it's certainly been a learning experience 
for me, and at the very least I've found a few bugs in atlas which Al 
Riddoch has fix up for me.

 From here I'll be working with the stage team to develop the RIMs to 
load this data and run a game world.

Cheers!

--
Oli White