Substantial documentation improvements

2019-06-07 18:29:09 -07:00
parent 0ed6c57c7f
commit 2a4ca21050
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--- a/docs/reference/sync-details.md
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+This page aims to describe how Rojo turns files on the filesystem into Roblox objects.
+
+[TOC]
+
+## Overview
+| File Name      | Instance Type       |
+| -------------- | ------------------- |
+| any directory  | `Folder`            |
+| `*.server.lua` | `Script`            |
+| `*.client.lua` | `LocalScript`       |
+| `*.lua`        | `ModuleScript`      |
+| `*.csv`        | `LocalizationTable` |
+| `*.txt`        | `StringValue`       |
+| `*.model.json` | Any                 |
+| `*.rbxm`       | Any                 |
+| `*.rbxmx`      | Any                 |
+
+## Limitations
+Not all property types can be synced by Rojo in real-time due to limitations of the Roblox Studio plugin API. In these cases, you can usually generate a place file and open it when you start working on a project.
+
+Some common cases you might hit are:
+
+* Binary data (Terrain, CSG, CollectionService tags)
+* `MeshPart.MeshId`
+* `HttpService.HttpEnabled`
+
+For a list of all property types that Rojo can reason about, both when live-syncing and when building place files, look at [rbx_tree's type coverage chart](https://github.com/LPGhatguy/rbx-tree#property-type-coverage).
+
+## Folders
+Any directory on the filesystem will turn into a `Folder` instance unless it contains an 'init' script, described below.
+
+## Scripts
+The default script type in Rojo projects is `ModuleScript`, since most scripts in well-structued Roblox projects will be modules.
+
+If a directory contains a file named `init.server.lua`, `init.client.lua`, or `init.lua`, that folder will be transformed into a `*Script` instance with the contents of the 'init' file. This can be used to create scripts inside of scripts.
+
+For example, these files:
+
+![Tree of files on disk](../images/sync-example-files.svg)
+{: align="center" }
+
+Will turn into these instances in Roblox:
+
+![Tree of instances in Roblox](../images/sync-example-instances.svg)
+{: align="center" }
+
+## Localization Tables
+Any CSV files are transformed into `LocalizationTable` instances. Rojo expects these files to follow the same format that Roblox does when importing and exporting localization information.
+
+## Plain Text Files
+Plain text files (`.txt`) files are transformed into `StringValue` instances. This is useful for bringing in text data that can be read by scripts at runtime.
+
+## JSON Models
+Files ending in `.model.json` can be used to describe simple models. They're designed to be hand-written and are useful for instances like `RemoteEvent`.
+
+A JSON model describing a folder containing a `Part` and a `RemoteEvent` could be described as:
+
+```json
+{
+    "Name": "My Cool Model",
+    "ClassName": "Folder",
+    "Children": [
+        {
+            "Name": "RootPart",
+            "ClassName": "Part",
+            "Properties": {
+                "Size": {
+                    "Type": "Vector3",
+                    "Value": [4, 4, 4]
+                }
+            }
+        },
+        {
+            "Name": "SendMoney",
+            "ClassName": "RemoteEvent"
+        }
+    ]
+}
+```
+
+It would turn into instances in this shape:
+
+![Tree of instances in Roblox](../images/sync-example-json-model.svg)
+{: align="center" }
+
+## Binary and XML Models
+Rojo supports both binary (`.rbxm`) and XML (`.rbxmx`) models generated by Roblox Studio or another tool.
+
+Support for the `rbxmx` is very good, while support for `rbxm` is still very early, buggy, and lacking features.
+
+For a rundown of supported types, check out [rbx-dom's type coverage chart](https://github.com/LPGhatguy/rbx-dom#property-type-coverage).