STAR TREK 2d20
  1. #1

    Tool to help design character sheets?

    I am just starting to delve into coding for fantasy grounds. I've been doing little things like modifying existing things in CoreRPG just to start to understand (hopefully) how it works.

    I thought I would try making my own character sheet. It does not seem complicated (setup the frame, define locations of your text, etc) but I have never had an eye for UI design. So, I was hoping there may be a tool where I could mock up my character sheet with boxes, places for values, images, etc. and have it output all my x,y,offset values, etc? Or, do you do the placement by trial and error: make changes, /reload then view the changes, rinse and repeat?

    Just want to make sure I am not missing out on any tools. I'm using Eclipse for my editor/project manager which helps make sure I did not forget an XML element and some intellisense for XMl and LUA, along with collapsing of code to reduce the clutter, etc.

    Thanks.

  2. #2
    damned's Avatar
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    As FG is the tool that will display your output these other tools may or more likely not be able to display the xml in visual format - they dont know what all the tags mean.
    Use the code editing tool that works for you - one that does XML validation would be useful.
    One that does Find in Files is very useful.
    The simplest tool that does all of these is probably notepad++ or any of the many similar editors.
    A dedicated IDE tool will also work well.

    Anything you build should be built on top of CoreRPG or built on top of another CoreRPG ruleset like 5e.
    You should build it as either an extension or as a ruleset.

    There are some benefits to forking a ruleset over layering but layering is generally the better situation more often and its a different topic altogether.

    Most CoreRPG based character sheets have a record_char.xml and one or more record_char_something.xml files.
    These are the files you want to start with.

  3. #3
    Thanks, damned. I figured there was nothing specific but was hoping there might be a generic tool that may help. If I come up with some method that seems faster to me, I will post.

    Fortunately, Eclipse has plugins that allow for various file types, syntax checking/highlighting, etc. Also it is easy to make a "project" to include everything inside a folder so I can unzip a PAK file and add that folder as a project so I can search all files,view images, etc. I've never really used Eclipse before but it has been pretty useful so far.

    Thanks for the guidance. My journey shall continue..

  4. #4
    damned's Avatar
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    Dont worry about packing everything back up into an EXT or PAK again until its ready for sharing.
    FG will read the unpacked files just fine.

    type /reload into chat and drag it to the first hotkey and drag /console to the second and if you are doing char creation create a blank toon and drag it to the third slot.

    make a change in the code, hit f1 for a fast reload
    hit f2 to see your debugging in action
    hit f3 to fire up the toon with a few less clicks

    With Char Sheet changes - some changes wont affect existing characters so if you are scratching your head - why did that change not show - there are no errors - create a new one and check.

  5. #5
    Dont worry about packing everything back up into an EXT or PAK again until its ready for sharing. FG will read the unpacked files just fine.
    Sorry I meant I take existing ext or pak files and extract them so I can add them to the project and take a look at how they do things, etc.

    Thanks for the shortcut tips! I completely forgot about doing that sort of thing.

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