Understanding XML

XML is the other language New Horizons uses for content.
XML files are usually passed straight to the game's code instead of going through New Horizons.

Syntax

XML is composed of tags, a tag can represent a section or attribute

<Person>
    <Name>Jim</Name>
    <Age>32</Age>
    <IsMarried/>
</Person>

Notice how each tag is closed by an identical tag with a slash at the front (i.e. <Person> is closed by </Person>).

If the tag has no content you can use the self-closing tag shorthand (i.e. <IsMarried/> doesn't need a closing tag because of the / at the end).

This XML could be written in JSON as:

{
    "name": "Jim",
    "age": 32,
    "isMarried": true
}

XML is a lot more descriptive, you can actually tell that the object is supposed to be a person by the name of the tag.

Structure

All XML files must have one top-level tag, this varies depending on what you're using it for (like how ship logs use a <AstroObjectEntry> tag).

Schemas

XML files can also have schemas, you specify them by adding attributes to the top-level tag:

<Person xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="Link goes here">
</Person>

In order to get schema validation and autofill you'll need the Redhat XML VSCode extension.

Uses

XML is used for the following:

• Ship log Entries
• Dialogue
• Translatable Text