[Space] System Generator

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Agemegos

HTML would be my first suggestion. Or a word processor format such as .doc or RTF. Even plain text. I would like something that I can modify at need, for instance by using the generator output to make an in-game document.

Oh. Missed that. Somehow I never learned how to save forms through HTML. In fact, I'm always annoyed when my browser, upon closure, forgets a half-finished reply I was writing to the fora. That's why I always open up vi to write down any ideas.

[Exxar]

I'd do it in html, javascript and xml (if required). Absolutely no worries about cross-platform compatibility - you just open it up in your browser.

Create the input form in html, where the user enters all the relevant data, and hits the Calculate! button. You could even enter only partial data, in which case after hitting Calculate! the program detects which input fields were left blank, fills them in randomly, and does the calcs. The output comes out in plain text, html or xml, depending on the user's choice.

Batch mode. Not hard to do, it's standard string processing. The user gives input in plain-text form (since it's the fastest to write up), with the list of all required data in a specified format (pipe delimited, tab delimited, whatever), and the program reads it and processes it in the same way as for a single system. Creates output in plain text, xml, single-page html or cross-linked multi-page html.

Since this thing is an automotion of a tedious task, you have to go for maximum funcitonality. It's a bit more work then just writing a simple script for single system generation with all the parameters supplied. The program should detect what is missing, and give the user a multitude of options for control over output format and other stuff, etc etc.

[Shrale]

I wrote a character generator for Rifts by using XML for each character database and automating MSIE for the screens. I used XSL files to take XML and then produce datascreens and for exports. it was my first attempt at XML/XSL and while it looks clunky now, it works and was decent for my first shot at it.

automating MSIE allowed me to do things like have clickable columns in HTML display tables, such that if I needed to "add all first level spells" I could double-click the column header and the program would add everything. Same with deleting, as it saved having to make 30 or 40+ clicks just to add or delete a group of items. HTML tables also allow you to disable portions like if a certain skill or power isn't available you can disable that particular item (or entire column) and work from there. You can pickup COM objects that do this, but then they have to be installed, etc, which may or may not be a pain.

HTML also allows dynamic sizing of DIVs and placing and hiding things very easily. CSS allows easy formatting.

The other thing was that at certain points, I had what amounted to a spreadsheet displayed on screen as it had 30+ rows, and 15 columns (representing each level) and a certain row (say saving throw vs Horror Factor) gets a 1 at 1st level, 1 at 5th level and 1 and 9th level and so on. This way you could enter a particular item freehand "Save vs Little Green Men" and then enter the bonuses as needed. Then the script would grab the HTML from the display, I'd run it thru HTMLTidy, turn it into XML and then query the 300+ inputs very quickly, to update the character database. Turning HTML into XML means you can do some impressive things, like only grab rows that don't contain all zeroes and not have to bother with inventoring each and every one every single time. HTMLTidy is a single DLL and my scripts could peek at the registry, tell if it wasn't already installed, to use regsvr32 and register it silently and then proceed to use it, all transparent to the user.

Sorry I could go on for hours. Anyway, MSIE is on most windows PC, and even if your user doesn't use it, you're only using it locally, not for Web-use and you can reap all the nice font and display uses from it. DHTML is pretty simple.