Data Files
Everything Candy Dialogue Creator stores is a file that can be copied, backed up and shared.
These files are in Candy Dialogue Creator's user folder, whose location on each system is stated in Installation.
The User Folder
Users/
<user>/
user_presets.txt
user_inserts.txt
Layouts/
<profile>/
ProfileSettings.txt
profile_presets.txt
profile_inserts.txt
Layouts/
Saves/
Manual_Saves/
Auto_Saves/
Quick_Saves/
Themes/
Fonts/
Translations/
Mods/
Documentation/
Databases/
Themes/
Backups/
Downloads.txt
News.txt
App_Settings.txt
Translation_Copies.txt
| File or folder | Contains |
| ProfileSettings.txt | A profile's settings: everything in the Settings window, the window layout, the shortcuts and the theme overrides. |
| user_presets.txt, profile_presets.txt | The Presets (see Presets). |
| user_inserts.txt, profile_inserts.txt | Your own inserts (see Inserts). |
| Layouts | Saved layouts, in a folder per kind (see Saved Layouts). |
| Saves | The saves of the Dialogue, unless other folders are set in the settings (see Saving and Loading). |
| Themes | Your own themes (see Themes). |
| Fonts | Your own fonts: for scripts the built-in fonts lack (see Translations), and to choose as the font of the interface or of a Speech Editor (see Theme). |
| Translations | Your own translations, and copies of the translations Candy Dialogue Creator ships with (see Translations). |
| Mods | Your mods (see Mods). |
| Documentation/Databases | The documentation: what was downloaded, and your own databases (see Documentation Databases). |
| Documentation/Themes | Your own documentation themes. |
| Documentation/Backups | Copies of the documentation files you modified that a download replaced. |
| Documentation/Downloads.txt | What was downloaded, and when GitHub was last checked. |
| News.txt | The news last downloaded for the landing screen. |
| App_Settings.txt | The settings shared by every user and profile: the language and Translate command names (see Language). |
| Translation_Copies.txt | Which built-in translations were copied to Translations, so that a copy you modified is never replaced. |
{
"name": "My Theme",
"values": {
"accent": Color(1, 0.55, 0.2, 1),
"font_size": 16
}
}
It looks like JSON, but it isn't: it can contain values such as Color(...), which JSON can't. Don't run these files through a JSON tool.
When editing one by hand:
- Retain the quotes around texts, and the commas between entries.
- Close every brace and bracket you open.
- Close Candy Dialogue Creator first when the file is one it writes itself, such as a profile's settings, so that your changes aren't overwritten.
Preset and insert files start with a few lines that begin with #: a header, which states what the file is.
A preset or insert file that can't be parsed is never overwritten by Candy Dialogue Creator, so a typo made by hand doesn't lose its content: correct the file, then open the profile again.
Only the documentation uses JSON: a database's database.json and the documentation themes. Translations are gettext files (.po, .mo).
Dialogue Files
An exported Dialogue has the same format, with a header:
# Exported By: Candy Dialogue Creator
# Creator Version: 1.2.0
# Dialogue Version: 1.2
{
"Meta": {
"Exported By": "Candy Dialogue Creator",
"Creator Version": "1.2.0",
"Dialogue Version": "1.2",
"Symbols": { "candy_ref_symbol": "¢", "role_symbol": "°", ..., "SHORTCUT_SYMBOLS": {}, "LOOKUP_SYMBOLS": {} }
},
"Dialogue": {
"Conversation_1": {
"Block_1": {
"Text": [
{ "Wait": { "Wait_Time": "1", "Meta": { ... } } }
]
}
}
}
}
Each Line is a dictionary with one key, the Command's name, containing the Command's keys. Every key a Command has is always written, even when empty, and every value is a text.
The format is described in the Candy Dialogue Engine documentation, under Dialogues.
A save file contains the same Dialogue, with information about the save around it.
Symbols lists the symbols the Lines are written with. Saves and preset files store them too, in a Symbols key of their own. Candy Dialogue Creator reads them to identify files written with other symbols than the profile's (see Updating Symbols).
Backing Up and Moving
| To | Copy |
| Back up your work | The Users folder. |
| Move everything to another computer | The whole user folder, to the same location there. |
| Share a profile with someone | The profile's folder, into the folder of one of their users. |
| Share a layout, Presets, inserts or a theme | The file, into the same folder on their side. |
