I have created a new tool for reading and parsing the legend file. It was really put together as a my first ruby rails application. You can read about it on
http://stephenemo.wordpress.com/dwarfquery-ruby-on-rails-application-for-dwarf-fortress/
You can take a look on it with uploading your legend file by going to dwarfquery.cloudfoundry.com
Demo user is : testuser@gmail.com. Password is sammy1
To upload a file take a while..the legend files are quote big and then it has to sync it to dropbox as it is a free host i am using. The legend file is then parsed asynchronously after the upload. You should be emailed when it is completed.
Anyhow take a look. If I was to do it again it would be parsed via email. Uploading 100's of megabyte files is way too slow.
I am going to have to consider this... But I would really like to see some changes made.
#1 As always, I need a link to a forum post. Sometimes I consider letting it slide but with something that will generate so many questions in operation I am going to enforce it.
#2 This probably should be a stand alone thing and not done on a website. I am betting there is a good reason why it is done this way, but most browsers nowadays can handle running of code in them via java or something if it is necessary. Sending 100's of megs just seems like it is going to cause grief.
#3 it seems very complicated to get to work right, perhaps you can streamline some things. Particularly the upload process. Maybe have a button like the attachment button for the forums where someone can attach the legends file in text or zip format if they prefer.
There are some other small things but really the big one is #1, I would really like a forum post on this one... #2 and 3 I will bend on if you do not want to change things, but I do not think you are going to get a positive community response. The number of hoops they have to jump through, especially since there is already another couple legends parsers out there, makes this one seem kinda kludgey. (Course these are Dwarf Fortress players so maybe =)