DnCrg SR4 Character Generator (Early Dev)

DnCrg SR4 Character Generator (Early Dev), looking for comments, suggestions, help

Kyoto Kid View Member Profile	Oct 12 2006, 12:46 AM Post #26
Bushido Cowgirl Group: Members Posts: 5,782 Joined: 8-July 05 From: On the Double K Ranch a half day's ride out of Phlogiston Flats Member No.: 7,490	...definitely looking real good. I know this is a bit forward, but are there plans for a "Finalise Character" option (like the NSRCG had) so that you can apply karma to improving the character after they enter play? This is one a feature that the current Excel versions (at least the ones I downloaded) don't include.

thewolf View Member Profile	Oct 12 2006, 01:13 AM Post #27
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 313 Joined: 11-July 05 From: Kansas, USA Member No.: 7,493	@Kyoto Kid Yeah, definitely. That's probably a version 2 thing, as version 1 is focused on character creation. But just like NSCRG, it's really just some controls switching and different calculations to handle an existing character as opposed to a new one. My group never used that feature for SR3. We would just edit the html files to create a new sheet to print out. In SR4, character creation is much more calculation-intensive than the meager process of karma expenditure. I can see keeping track of contacts, nuyen, lifestyles, gear, etc as being a nice feature though.

Kyoto Kid View Member Profile	Oct 13 2006, 03:59 AM Post #28
Bushido Cowgirl Group: Members Posts: 5,782 Joined: 8-July 05 From: On the Double K Ranch a half day's ride out of Phlogiston Flats Member No.: 7,490	...that is what I do with the current Excel generators, but I have to hack the formulae to make it work so I don't get a lot of "red flags" for exceeding starting BP limits. BP costs are different than Karma costs for improving a charcater. This was one feature I really liked about the NSCRG. Because of rhumathoid [sp?] arthritis, I use a notebook computer display as my character sheet instead of hardcopy. My handwriting is so bad I could probably give a sample to a pharmacist and get a prescription.

thewolf View Member Profile	Oct 13 2006, 09:36 PM Post #29
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 313 Joined: 11-July 05 From: Kansas, USA Member No.: 7,493	@Kyoto Kid I totally understand the desire to use this as a full character management software. I'm just sure that will come after the character generation part of it is hopping along nicely. *Special Project Request* If someone would like to work on a rather decent sized part of this project, I think I have broken off a piece that can be done rather independently of all of the rest of the code. I have sort of decided that the program should print/export in three separate ways: 1) Text export of basics, meant for very quick sheets or forum posts 2) XHTML character sheet for printing purposes 3) XML SOAP serialization for interop with 3rd party programs Of course it still saves to a .sr4 file for use with this program. (1 and 3) are no problem, but if anyone would like to take my wonderful ugly hackjob of an XHTML character sheet and make it print and look pretty, that would be cool. I'm thinking you would want to do separate sheets, and keep the stuff that everyone will have on two pages and then extra pages for spells, adept powers, vehicles, etc. An example of a setup like that might be: Page 1: Basic Info, Attributes, Skills, Qualities, Condition Monitor, Dmg Resistance Page 2: Contacts, Background Page 3: Vehicles, Gear Page 4: Tradition, Mentor Spirit, Spells, Adept Powers, Magical Items Page 5: Commlink, Hacker/Technomancer Detail Page 6: Augmentations That way everyone will end up with a 4 page sheet probably. Thoughts, ideas?

thewolf View Member Profile	Oct 13 2006, 09:43 PM Post #30
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 313 Joined: 11-July 05 From: Kansas, USA Member No.: 7,493	I'm a dork. Forgot the link to the XHTML character sheet I was working on, badly at that. Avert your eyes: Character Sheet

DireRadiant View Member Profile	Oct 13 2006, 09:45 PM Post #31
The Dragon Never Sleeps Group: Admin Posts: 6,924 Joined: 1-September 05 Member No.: 7,667	If you output a basic XML data file with all the character data, it would allow anyone to create the xslt file they want to form any presentation they desire. Program outputs txt, xml files. For display and printing steps Select character Select XSLT -- Have a range of xslt that do the various archetypes and options Display\|Print Alternative. You can assign a default XSLT and make the Select XSLT an option outside of hte printing display step Advantage of this appraoch is that you can just have the program generate the xml data set, it will be the same for all xslt. Allows people to create XSLT for theri favorite character sheet display, and their own options. You can add a feature to allow for import or assignment of users XSLT. All you need to provide is the dataset schema to allow people to start designing XSLT for you.

DireRadiant View Member Profile	Oct 13 2006, 09:46 PM Post #32
The Dragon Never Sleeps Group: Admin Posts: 6,924 Joined: 1-September 05 Member No.: 7,667	Forgot to metion a small detail, but obviously the output xml file would need to reference the appropriate xslt.

thewolf View Member Profile	Oct 13 2006, 10:46 PM Post #33
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 313 Joined: 11-July 05 From: Kansas, USA Member No.: 7,493	@DireRadiant Yeah, that was my general direction. I am not familiar with using XSLT, only XML as a data storage format. It sounds like: 1. Program -> XML document 2. (Default XSLT document or User Customized XSLT document) + XML document -> XHTML output 3. User opens XML document in XSLT-compatible browser and prints XHTML output That looks fine to me. I checked out this XSLT Tutorial (which was where I was getting my CSS and XHTML info from) and it looks nice, I just suck at coding XHTML (or any webpage for that matter). Getting the XML schema for the SR4 character might take some time, as it is somewhat subject to change as I develop the program.

craigpierce

Oct 13 2006, 11:13 PM

Post #34

Moving Target

Group: Members
Posts: 398
Joined: 25-August 04
From: Denver, CO
Member No.: 6,599

QUOTE (thewolf)

Getting the XML schema for the SR4 character might take some time, as it is somewhat subject to change as I develop the program.

you can say that again...it'll always be changing, especially since SR4 is new and will be adding new things for awhile

hey, for what it's worth - i love xsl and if you have any specific questions about how to do something you can PM me...i'd be happy to help.

some initial things to note (if you care - otherwise, just ignore me :)

CODE

this is one good way of setting things like font size in one location...BTW, i designed this before i knew CSS, but it's still nice to know how to reference a variable from where only text should be using curly-brackets


<xsl:variable name="bodyTextSize">2pt</xsl:variable>


<font size="{$bodyTextSize}">This text is size 2px</font>

CODE

use 'copy-of' instead of 'value-of' if your variable is holding HTML or XML

<xsl:variable name="table">
<xsl:call-template name="makeTable">
</xsl:variable>

<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when test="$table" <> ''">
<xsl:copy-of select="$table" /> 
</xsl:when>
<xsl:otherwise>
<xsl:text>frag - table empty</xsl:text>
</xsl:otherwise>
</xsl:choose>

CODE

a template can call itself...very useful to know

<xsl:template name="replaceCharacter">
<xsl:param name="string"/>
<xsl:param name="characterToReplace"/>
<xsl:param name="newCharacter"/>
<xsl:choose>
<xsl:when test="contains($string, $characterToReplace)">
<xsl:variable name="before" select="substring-before($string, $characterToReplace)"/>
<xsl:variable name="after" select="substring-after($string, $characterToReplace)"/>
<xsl:call-template name="replaceCharacter">
<xsl:with-param name="string" select="concat($before, $newCharacter, $after)"/>
<xsl:with-param name="characterToReplace" select="$characterToReplace"/>
<xsl:with-param name="newCharacter" select="$newCharacter"/>
</xsl:call-template>
</xsl:when>
<xsl:otherwise>
<xsl:value-of select="normalize-space($string)" disable-output-escaping="yes" />
</xsl:otherwise>
</xsl:choose>
</xsl:template>

then the initial call to this template would look like this (to replace all hyphens in a given string with asterisks):

<xsl:call-template name="replaceCharacter">
<xsl:with-param name="string" select="$value" />
<xsl:with-param name="characterToReplace">
<xsl:text>-</xsl:text>
</xsl:with-param>
<xsl:with-param name="newCharacter">
<xsl:text>*</xsl:text>
</xsl:with-param>
</xsl:call-template>

thewolf View Member Profile	Oct 14 2006, 02:57 PM Post #35
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 313 Joined: 11-July 05 From: Kansas, USA Member No.: 7,493	@craigpierce Thanks for the info. I'm a noob when it comes to actually using XSLT's with XML, so I'm sure it will come in handy when I get there. Btw, I am a Windows Forms developer generally using C# and .Net 2.0. I looked at Jackpoint a few weeks ago, and I was blown away. Very impressive user interface.

craigpierce View Member Profile	Oct 14 2006, 05:32 PM Post #36
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 398 Joined: 25-August 04 From: Denver, CO Member No.: 6,599	:oops: i'm actually droping the UI for now...i'm rebuilding to make all of it function together the way i always intended it to - and to get it out in any kind of a timely manner i'm just going back to normal tabs and buttons...that kind of thing can always be upgraded later. how do you get the :nuyen: symbol into your program (if you're willing to share )

thewolf View Member Profile	Oct 15 2006, 05:13 AM Post #37
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 313 Joined: 11-July 05 From: Kansas, USA Member No.: 7,493	@craigpierce Just open up MS Word, do Insert Symbol and find the Yen symbol. Copy it in the Word doc and paste it into either the Designer properties or right into your C# code. Must be some nifty unicode support by Visual Studio 2005.

Kyoto Kid

Oct 16 2006, 03:43 AM

Post #38

Bushido Cowgirl

Group: Members
Posts: 5,782
Joined: 8-July 05
From: On the Double K Ranch a half day's ride out of Phlogiston Flats
Member No.: 7,490

QUOTE (thewolf)

@Kyoto Kid
I totally understand the desire to use this as a full character management software. I'm just sure that will come after the character generation part of it is hopping along nicely.

Special Project Request
If someone would like to work on a rather decent sized part of this project, I think I have broken off a piece that can be done rather independently of all of the rest of the code. I have sort of decided that the program should print/export in three separate ways:

1) Text export of basics, meant for very quick sheets or forum posts
2) XHTML character sheet for printing purposes
3) XML SOAP serialization for interop with 3rd party programs

Of course it still saves to a .sr4 file for use with this program. (1 and 3) are no problem, but if anyone would like to take my wonderful ugly hackjob of an XHTML character sheet and make it print and look pretty, that would be cool. I'm thinking you would want to do separate sheets, and keep the stuff that everyone will have on two pages and then extra pages for spells, adept powers, vehicles, etc. An example of a setup like that might be:

Page 1: Basic Info, Attributes, Skills, Qualities, Condition Monitor, Dmg Resistance
Page 2: Contacts, Background
Page 3: Vehicles, Gear
Page 4: Tradition, Mentor Spirit, Spells, Adept Powers, Magical Items
Page 5: Commlink, Hacker/Technomancer Detail
Page 6: Augmentations

That way everyone will end up with a 4 page sheet probably.

Thoughts, ideas?

...no huge rush, was just wondering if this would eventully be a feature. Definitely am interested testing the core generator out when it is up & running. Wish I knew more about XML & such. Unfortunatley I come form the Stone Age of programming [Fortran, Cobol, Pascal, Basic etc...] when computers were something that took up the entire basement of the Math Research Building at our university (and were about as powerful as today's programable DVD players).

DireRadiant View Member Profile	Oct 16 2006, 01:57 PM Post #39
The Dragon Never Sleeps Group: Admin Posts: 6,924 Joined: 1-September 05 Member No.: 7,667	The XSLT templates are very useful. I would create a template for each section of a character sheet, or section of xml data. Initially I can envision a weapon template, cyberwear, bioware, drones and vehicles, commlink, programs, and a whole bunch of other ones. Then mix and match templates for your desired character sheet display.

thewolf View Member Profile	Oct 16 2006, 02:32 PM Post #40
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 313 Joined: 11-July 05 From: Kansas, USA Member No.: 7,493	This last weekend I didn't get a lot done, but I am optimistic about the XML character sheet format. I have most of a schema done, I just need to get the program to import and export in that format. Once I have that tacked down, I guess someone can work on XSLT transforms for me, or it can wait for later versions. I'm going to shoot for October 22nd as the date to release the next dev version with the changes I have made. Hopefully that will include: - XML character storage - Augmentation tab working and loaded with data - Qualities actually doing something - Various improvements and bugfixes from last dev version

Kyoto Kid View Member Profile	Oct 17 2006, 12:52 AM Post #41
Bushido Cowgirl Group: Members Posts: 5,782 Joined: 8-July 05 From: On the Double K Ranch a half day's ride out of Phlogiston Flats Member No.: 7,490	...excellent, I will be watching for it.

Eleazar

Oct 17 2006, 02:30 AM

Post #42

Moving Target

Group: Members
Posts: 398
Joined: 16-August 06
Member No.: 9,130

QUOTE (thewolf)

This last weekend I didn't get a lot done, but I am optimistic about the XML character sheet format. I have most of a schema done, I just need to get the program to import and export in that format. Once I have that tacked down, I guess someone can work on XSLT transforms for me, or it can wait for later versions. I'm going to shoot for October 22nd as the date to release the next dev version with the changes I have made. Hopefully that will include:

- XML character storage
- Augmentation tab working and loaded with data
- Qualities actually doing something
- Various improvements and bugfixes from last dev version

Awesome, I look forward to testing it and giving input.

Kairo View Member Profile	Oct 17 2006, 05:47 PM Post #43
Target Group: Members Posts: 89 Joined: 9-August 06 From: The Sixth World Member No.: 9,060	Ditto. This is a really smooth interface. Nice job man. I look forward to seeing the next version.

thewolf View Member Profile	Oct 17 2006, 06:32 PM Post #44
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 313 Joined: 11-July 05 From: Kansas, USA Member No.: 7,493	@All Thanks for the positive feedback. I almost have the XML export/import completed. It is pretty slick. Once I get that done, I want to spend some time cleaning up and completing some stuff I left unfinished before, just generally making it a more functional release.

Tekumel View Member Profile	Oct 17 2006, 08:02 PM Post #45
Target Group: Members Posts: 80 Joined: 21-May 06 From: San Diego, CA Member No.: 8,581	Wow, I feel like a cool kid, being listed as a tester on the webpage. Now you just need to put out a new release so I can get back to testing :P

thewolf View Member Profile	Oct 18 2006, 02:04 PM Post #46
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 313 Joined: 11-July 05 From: Kansas, USA Member No.: 7,493	@Tekumel Righto, righto. Actually I've gotten a lot done this week, so if things keep up the next release could be pretty neat indeed. Also, dev website updated with new info. (Dev Site)

KeyMasterOfGozer View Member Profile	Oct 20 2006, 06:28 PM Post #47
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 239 Joined: 10-February 04 Member No.: 6,068	I am watching this program very closely. You are doing a great job. I wrote xslt for McMackie's program, and I will certainly help do that or anything else you need done for help. Be sure to post here if you need help with anything. I would like to mention one thing, on your Contacts tab, you give a short description of what the level numbers 1-6 mean for loyalty and connection. I think that is wonderful and it helps for people who want to design characters based on a character concept rather than a min-maxing, playing the numbers type of design. I would like to encourage you to include something like that for attributes and skills as well. I know that screen realestate can be a premium, though, I just think that it would help a lot. Once again, thanks for the effort, and let me/us know if you need any specific help.

thewolf View Member Profile	Oct 20 2006, 08:22 PM Post #48
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 313 Joined: 11-July 05 From: Kansas, USA Member No.: 7,493	@KeyMasterOfGozer Thanks for the support. I am working hard to get as much done as possible for this next release, hopefully it will be very cool. The text along with loyalty was from the book, but I had to make up the description for each connection level. Doing the same for skills and attributes isn't a bad idea, assuming I can squeeze the proper space out for it. Don't worry, I will be asking for help. I just want to get enough set up beforehand so work isn't constantly being redone as changes are added. That is what I am running into with the DAT files and the XML format. I don't want a bunch of field additions/changes after someone has done a lot of work on a part of the project.

thewolf View Member Profile	Oct 22 2006, 03:27 AM Post #49
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 313 Joined: 11-July 05 From: Kansas, USA Member No.: 7,493	10/21/2006 Early Development Release: Barbados Download Executable (ZIP, 114KB) Subject to License Agreement The long-awaited next preview release. New features of note: - XML serialization (format somewhat subject to change) - Lifestyle and nuyen integrated into Basic Info, now working - Qualities actually do something. Try it! - Augmentations is more/less complete. You can customize an item in your grid by right clicking on it and hitting "customize" for the Accessorizer - Grid control buttons (Move Up/Down, Delete) should work for all tabs - A few tab order/convenience items fixed Progress Things are looking good. Magic/Matrix tabs are awful, but are next on the list. A lot of little stuff still remains, and the finishing touches will take a while. In another 2-3 weeks, I'd like to have a feature complete program ready for things like input checking, error boxes, meaningful debugging, and the like. Bug reports are welcome, also I appreciate comments/suggestions for enhancing the application at all times. Enjoy,

Eleazar View Member Profile	Oct 22 2006, 09:32 PM Post #50
Moving Target Group: Members Posts: 398 Joined: 16-August 06 Member No.: 9,130	I like what I see so far. Just looked over it really quick. I like how the lifestyle works and the customization of the character on the first tab(Basic Info). I don't remember if you had this in the last one, but I like how the knowledge skills are sorted in the By Category view. Academic, Professional, Interests, and Street. I will give further input after I have had a chance to look over more of it. I also can confirm that the magician quality is working properly. One caveat so far is that the knowledge and language skills are getting sorted when I view the skills By Attribute. Meaning Intuition and Logic have all those skills listed. I think it would make sense to not have those sorted into that field.

« Next Oldest · Community Projects · Next Newest »