BBCode RichTextLabel not working as expected

[MikeSchulze]

Godot version

v3.3.stable.official

System information

Windows 10

Issue description

I writing a markdown to BBCode converter and stuck on implementation because of tags not work as expected.
I take a look in the source code and the tags e.g. ul should work but it not works.

https://github.com/godotengine/godot/blob/3.3/scene/gui/rich_text_label.cpp

} else if (tag == "ul") {

			push_list(LIST_DOTS);
			pos = brk_end + 1;
			tag_stack.push_front(tag);
		} else if (tag == "ol") {

			push_list(LIST_NUMBERS);
			pos = brk_end + 1;
			tag_stack.push_front(tag);

I uses this example bbcode to test the tags

[u]test tag u [/u]

[s]test tag s [/s]

[p]test tag p [/p]

[color=red] test tag color[/color]

[bgcolor=red] test tag bgcolor[/bgcolor]

[fgcolor=green] test tag fgcolor[/fgcolor]

[outline_color=green] test tag outline_color[/outline_color]

[indent]test tag indent [/indent]

[ul]test tag ul[/ul]
[ol type=1]test tag ol=1[/ol]
[ol type=a]test tag ol=a[/ol]

The rendered text is:

I see also differenzes in 3.3 and 4.0 rich_text_label.cpp implementation.
e.g. i miss support of 'bgcolor' in 3.3

For me looks like the RichTextlabe BBCode support is right in a beta state and not production ready.

Best Regards
Mike

Steps to reproduce

• put the bbcode on a RichTextLabel

[u]test tag u [/u]

[s]test tag s [/s]

[p]test tag p [/p]

[color=red] test tag color[/color]

[bgcolor=red] test tag bgcolor[/bgcolor]

[fgcolor=green] test tag fgcolor[/fgcolor]

[outline_color=green] test tag outline_color[/outline_color]

[indent]test tag indent [/indent]

[ul]test tag ul[/ul]
[ol type=1]test tag ol=1[/ol]
[ol type=a]test tag ol=a[/ol]

Table support is also very bad

[table=2]
[cell]food[/cell]
[cell]gold[/cell]
[cell]500[/cell]
[cell]5000[/cell]
[/table]

And why Godot uses his own bbcode tags and not the official tags?

Minimal reproduction project

No response

[bruvzg]

Lists, bg/fgcolor and table cell borders/backgrounds are implemented only in the master branch.

[Calinou]

Lists, bg/fgcolor and table cell borders/backgrounds are implemented only in the master branch.

I guess we can print a warning message if unimplemented tags are used in 3.x.

[MikeSchulze]

But i see list is implemented in 3.3

godot/scene/gui/rich_text_label.cpp

Line 2227 in 64cfd5c

} else if (tag == "ul") {

If there a way to just merge the 4.0 version back to 3.3? I see no conflicts here.

Godot 4.0 is far away you should merge down such enhancments / feature complete back in Godot 3.3.
It is always a pain to strugle un such half gared implementations.

The Goal should be bring Godot 3.x in a good shape, i have the feeling the most manpower gooes to Godot 4.0 and Godot 3.x is a bit neglected.

An another question is why BBCode has his own tag definition?
BBCode has a standard and should also support this
https://www.bbcode.org/reference.php

e.g. the table tags are very specific and Godot and is not the standard.

[bruvzg]

But i see list is implemented in 3.3

The only implemented thing is push_list function (and reading tags to call it), rendering of the ItemList is not.

Godot 4.0 is far away you should merge down such enhancments / feature complete back in Godot 3.3.
It is always a pain to strugle un such half gared implementations.

It's non-trivial task, 4.0 RichTextLabel implementation depends on #41100 which introduce breaking core changes.

The Goal should be bring Godot 3.x in a good shape, i have the feeling the most manpower gooes to Godot 4.0 and Godot 3.x is a bit neglected.

That's the intended way 4.0 is the main focus of development, 3.4 get some new features backported (if it's not breaking changes and easy to port), 3.3 get only bug fixes. See https://docs.godotengine.org/en/latest/about/release_policy.html

An another question is why BBCode has his own tag definition?
BBCode has a standard and should also support this
https://www.bbcode.org/reference.php

We can change it in the 4.0, but this should be discussed in the proposal repository first. Again, it's a breaking change and not suitable for 3.x.

[MikeSchulze]

@bruvzg thanks for your answer.

I now it is hard to focus to bing Godot 4.0 in a stable position ;)
But it is hard to see Godot 3.x is only mainternace releases e.g. bug fixes.
Godot 4.0 is far away and i not expect that will production ready this year.

Let see ;)
regards
Mike

[Calinou]

Closing, as there is nothing actionable within this issue. Efforts to backport new RichTextLabel features in a backwards-compatible way to 3.x are welcome, but this won't be tackled by core contributors as most of them are now focusing their efforts on stabilizing 4.0.

Printing a warning on the use of unknown tags could be considered a breaking change, as some people may be using text [like this] without intending it to be treated as a BBCode tag.