InitTool 1.1 Development Release Build 0

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jay
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InitTool 1.1 Development Release Build 0

Post by jay »

The first build of Init Tool 1.1 is now available. Lots of big changes have been made;
  • User defined index cards. Create a form using Abeille setting the field names to match the property names. Load this form into the Combatant Categories tab of the Tools->Game Settings dialog and your new form will show up as the index card for that category of combatant. Look at the C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\.inittoolDbg\game\d20fantasy\monsterManual.jfrm for an example.
  • The property model is now a hierarchical tree of properties instead of a flat list. This makes it easier to layout your game's data so that it is easy to access.
  • Full Java 6 scripting support. You can create a script to provide the value of a property. You can also provide scripts to generate initiative or resolve ties. There will be a LOT more places to add scripts as they are defined. JavaScript and RPScripts that use giliath's parser are supported out of the box, but you can download your own scripting environments if you don't like those.
  • Lots of work to the D&D support to use the new features. Created an index card that looks like an entry from the monster manual. Any data in italics can be clicked to interact with the form. Right now scripts are provided for saving throws, ability checks, damage, healing, non-lethal damage and temporary hit points. Lots more work to be done here.
Note that this version requires Java 6 to run. These are very big changes so the tool may not be very stable in certain areas. Post any problems you have in the Init Tool form or here.

If somebody more talented than I at designing forms were to create some for use in Init Tool I'd be happy to use them. The ones that are included now are more to show functionality than to be delivered.

Change log:
  • IT-17 Added user defined index cards
  • IT-21 Added scripting support
  • Custom properties are now in a tree instead of a list
  • IT-18 New custom property types: NUMBER, BOOLEAN, MAP, LIST, SLOT, SCRIPT
  • IT-10 Added parser project and dicelib project support
  • New monster manual view for NPC combatants from the SRD
  • Tie resolution and initiative roll now handled by script.
  • Multiple script editor support.
  • Upgraded D&D support to handle hit points
  • Rearranged resources.

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RPMiller
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Post by RPMiller »

Jay, I mentioned before, I think, about the character creator that most of us use for HERO characters. It is a Java application with very strong exporting functionality built into it allowing pretty much any property with in the character to be retrieved. In fact the designer even made the properties and methods doc publicly available for people that want to build plug-ins or custom exports.

I'm not at all familiar with Abeille, but I am very familiar with forms design - I'm the reports expert at work - and I'm wondering if there is a way for Abeille to use XML data to fill in the data fields? Also, if I were to point you to the Java doc for HeroDesigner would you find that at all useful for getting some of it integrated into IT?

Here is the URL of the doc if you are interested: http://www.herodesigner.com/javadoc/
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Post by dorpond »

Hey, that is really neat! Love the way your pre-built creatures look! I like how I can click on their damage and healing areas and it keeps track - very cool stuff Jay!

I came across some things though that might be worth your while:

1. I did a lookup and was investigating the many columns of information. When I got the the very end (info), I noticed that column acted very strange and unreadable. InitTool got a bit choppy also.

2. I wanted to take a look at the creatures so I tried to order the lookup list by CR - InitTool stopped responding as did Java Console.

3. I loaded up a Chichimec and noticed it has an HD of 27d8+189 and its HP is (425) -- that HP is impossible even with max HP rolls (rolling 8's, 27 times). Not sure what that creature is though so I couldn't look it up to verify the information.

4. Scrolling in the Initiative card view area (where all the new scripted area is when loading up the creature) stopped when using the wheel on the mouse. Load up the Chichimec and when its initiative is up, move the mouse in the new area to the right with all the information (what can we officially call this window?) and roll the mouse wheel. The screen scrolls fine until it gets to that "notes" area - then it stops.

5. I would like to see a "source" column in the lookup. There are many creatures in there that I have no idea where they came from. It would be nice to know that THIS creature came from the Monster Manual 3 book and THAT one came from the the Monster Manual 5. The list can get pretty large after a while and organization is key.

Very cool stuff though Jay! Let me ask you - do you think 1.1 is stable enough for game or do you highly suggest sticking to 1.0 for right now? I really like the damage and HP tracker - that is really neat.

Does any of this stuff current HP and Damage stuff transfer to the token in Maptool by chance?

*Two Thumb Up!*

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Post by dorpond »

Noticed something else:

6. When I size the upper half and lower half of the main Init Card View screen so that the upper half is only large enough to show 10 or so lines of data - if I click on a script (italic's) towards the top, it scrolls the window down after the click. I clicked on HP and it does it and so do the saves.

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Post by dorpond »

Holy Crap Jay!
I just loaded up a PC and I got a whole character sheet in view!!!
That is Sweet!

I did get this error though in Java after loading up a PC:
TinyLaF v1.3.03
'Default.theme' not found - using YQ default theme.
Jul 21, 2007 8:49:17 AM net.rptools.chartool.ui.charsheet.CharSheetController construct
WARNING: There is no property defined for the component named 'meleeAttack'. This component is ignored.
Jul 21, 2007 8:49:17 AM net.rptools.chartool.ui.charsheet.CharSheetController construct
WARNING: There is no property defined for the component named 'rangedAttack'. This component is ignored.
Jul 21, 2007 8:49:17 AM net.rptools.chartool.ui.charsheet.CharSheetController construct
WARNING: There is no property defined for the component named 'miscMelee'. This component is ignored.
Jul 21, 2007 8:49:17 AM net.rptools.chartool.ui.charsheet.CharSheetController construct
WARNING: There is no property defined for the component named 'miscRanged'. This component is ignored.
Jul 21, 2007 8:49:17 AM net.rptools.chartool.ui.charsheet.CharSheetController construct
WARNING: There is no property defined for the component named 'tempMelee'. This component is ignored.
Jul 21, 2007 8:49:17 AM net.rptools.chartool.ui.charsheet.CharSheetController construct
WARNING: There is no property defined for the component named 'tempRanged'. This component is ignored.


Questions that come to mind:

1. How can I get my PC's attack in that character sheet? Let's say he has a +3 Rapier or Frost, a +2 Composite Longbow (+3 Str) and a flask of acid?

2. Can I make the player view look like the monster view instead as a preference?

3. Do you suggest using the notes area for individual attack instead?

4. Should we be able to directly edit this sheet on the fly?

5. Did you know that filling in the Temp field (or the Misc field in skills) in that character sheet does not do the math?

Man this is really coming together nicely Jay! Very Awesome! Now, if I can just figure out how to script and modify stuff...

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Post by dorpond »

Oh, one more thing. Are there old settings that can be conflicting or that need to be pruned so that all the new 1.1 settings are loaded properly?

I guess what I am saying, I would love to be able to toss old stuff and load all new default settings. How would I do that?

The reason I ask is because I just read the Java error log. I notice now why attacks were not showing up - it says they are undefined. That makes me think that I need to reload all defaults again.

*WAIT I FORGOT ABOUT THE HELP-> RESET OPTION*
Let me try that first.

Nope, I still get this:
TinyLaF v1.3.03
'Default.theme' not found - using YQ default theme.
Jul 21, 2007 9:05:06 AM net.rptools.chartool.ui.charsheet.CharSheetController construct
WARNING: There is no property defined for the component named 'meleeAttack'. This component is ignored.
Jul 21, 2007 9:05:06 AM net.rptools.chartool.ui.charsheet.CharSheetController construct
WARNING: There is no property defined for the component named 'rangedAttack'. This component is ignored.
Jul 21, 2007 9:05:06 AM net.rptools.chartool.ui.charsheet.CharSheetController construct
WARNING: There is no property defined for the component named 'miscMelee'. This component is ignored.
Jul 21, 2007 9:05:06 AM net.rptools.chartool.ui.charsheet.CharSheetController construct
WARNING: There is no property defined for the component named 'miscRanged'. This component is ignored.
Jul 21, 2007 9:05:06 AM net.rptools.chartool.ui.charsheet.CharSheetController construct
WARNING: There is no property defined for the component named 'tempMelee'. This component is ignored.
Jul 21, 2007 9:05:06 AM net.rptools.chartool.ui.charsheet.CharSheetController construct
WARNING: There is no property defined for the component named 'tempRanged'. This component is ignored.

Also, did you know that when I loaded up InitTool the very first time (and also after a reset), the whole top portion of InitTool is so small that the upper portion of the window needs to be sized to see the combatants. At first I was like "this looks way different". It was just because the window sizing was off. Just thought I would mention that.

Interesting Note: The Temp fields now add after doing an InitTool Reset. I am curious if my other issues are resolved too? I will test.

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Post by dorpond »

No, the reset only really fixed the math issue in the character sheet.

Jay, here I sit now scratching my head. I have no idea where to start to fix that issue reported in the Java error log. How and where would I add those properties? These errors are coming up when I add a generic PC in the Add Combatants screen so my guess is that something inside InitTool needs fixing (since this is all default stuff we are talking about). I would like to manually try to figure this out but I come up with no ideas.

Where would I start?

I think InitTool is getting to the point now where we need a How-To with examples and screen shots.

Exciting stuff though!

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Post by jay »

RPMiller wrote:I'm not at all familiar with Abeille, but I am very familiar with forms design - I'm the reports expert at work - and I'm wondering if there is a way for Abeille to use XML data to fill in the data fields? Also, if I were to point you to the Java doc for HeroDesigner would you find that at all useful for getting some of it integrated into IT?
Abeille does not except XML as input but IT does. We should be able to write a XSL script to convert from your Hero XML to a format that can be imported into Init Tool.

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Post by RPMiller »

jay wrote:Abeille does not except XML as input but IT does. We should be able to write a XSL script to convert from your Hero XML to a format that can be imported into Init Tool.
That would be very cool. ORPG has the ability to do that and an export format to do just that was created. It uses Python though so I don't think that would work here. That said, I would be happy to help in anyway I can. I've written many Export Formats for the program and should be able to provide help in some way just let me know.
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Post by jay »

dorpond wrote:1. I did a lookup and was investigating the many columns of information. When I got the the very end (info), I noticed that column acted very strange and unreadable. InitTool got a bit choppy also.
Info is hard to read because it contains the full description of the creature after the table of data in the SRD. I will hide that column since it isn't readable anyway.
dorpond wrote:2. I wanted to take a look at the creatures so I tried to order the lookup list by CR - InitTool stopped responding as did Java Console.
This is a bug.
dorpond wrote:3. I loaded up a Chichimec and noticed it has an HD of 27d8+189 and its HP is (425) -- that HP is impossible even with max HP rolls (rolling 8's, 27 times). Not sure what that creature is though so I couldn't look it up to verify the information.
I noticed that as well but it is the same as the data I read to get the values. It looks like a bunch of the Epic SRD monsters are this way.
dorpond wrote:4. Scrolling in the Initiative card view area (where all the new scripted area is when loading up the creature) stopped when using the wheel on the mouse. Load up the Chichimec and when its initiative is up, move the mouse in the new area to the right with all the information (what can we officially call this window?) and roll the mouse wheel. The screen scrolls fine until it gets to that "notes" area - then it stops.
This is what happens (on Windows anyway) when your mouse enters a second scrolling area. The focus for the wheel is the component that contains the mouse. The notes area and the info area underneath it are scrollable areas so they cause scrolling on the main window to stop. Not sure if I can do anything to stop this, but I can show the scrollbars to show where it's going to happen in the window.
dorpond wrote:5. I would like to see a "source" column in the lookup. There are many creatures in there that I have no idea where they came from. It would be nice to know that THIS creature came from the Monster Manual 3 book and THAT one came from the the Monster Manual 5. The list can get pretty large after a while and organization is key.
All of these monsters are from the SRD. The list includes the epic monsters as well. The data does keep track of the file that they came from in the SRD, I can add that if you want?
dorpond wrote:Very cool stuff though Jay! Let me ask you - do you think 1.1 is stable enough for game or do you highly suggest sticking to 1.0 for right now? I really like the damage and HP tracker - that is really neat.
I think it is, but it is difficult to be sure until its been tested more. I didn't make a lot of changes to the initiative code, but I did change its underlying data. I also can't promise that the save file format wont change. When it gets much more stable I'll write XSL to do the conversion, but I won't be able to do that for every build.
dorpond wrote:Does any of this stuff current HP and Damage stuff transfer to the token in Maptool by chance?
No, still no integration between MT and IT.
Last edited by jay on Sat Jul 21, 2007 9:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Post by jay »

dorpond wrote:Noticed something else:

6. When I size the upper half and lower half of the main Init Card View screen so that the upper half is only large enough to show 10 or so lines of data - if I click on a script (italic's) towards the top, it scrolls the window down after the click. I clicked on HP and it does it and so do the saves.
This is a bug that I can't seem to squash. It has something to do with the multiple line fields resizing for the new data, but I'm not sure what.

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Post by jay »

dorpond wrote:Holy Crap Jay!
I just loaded up a PC and I got a whole character sheet in view!!!
That is Sweet!

I did get this error though in Java after loading up a PC:
This PC character sheet isn't as well defined as the NPC sheet. Those particular messages show up in the console whenever there is a field on the form that doesn't have a matching field in data. You can ignore them for now.
dorpond wrote:1. How can I get my PC's attack in that character sheet? Let's say he has a +3 Rapier or Frost, a +2 Composite Longbow (+3 Str) and a flask of acid?
That is something that I've not worked on yet. Look for it in the future.
dorpond wrote:2. Can I make the player view look like the monster view instead as a preference?
Yes, you can set the sheet to be used for each category in the Combatant Categories tab of the Tools->Game Settings dialog.
dorpond wrote:3. Do you suggest using the notes area for individual attack instead?
I'm not sure what you are asking.
dorpond wrote:4. Should we be able to directly edit this sheet on the fly?
Parts of it. Almost all of the areas marked TEMP should be editable. They allow you to enter bonus/penalty on a stat or skill then they automatically update the rest of the sheet that displays dependent data.
dorpond wrote:5. Did you know that filling in the Temp field (or the Misc field in skills) in that character sheet does not do the math?
That's a bug.
dorpond wrote:Man this is really coming together nicely Jay! Very Awesome! Now, if I can just figure out how to script and modify stuff...
Scripting can be done with giliath's parser which is very nice for the simple scripts like performing math on several fields to create another. It is also good for rolling the die. More complicated scripts need to be in JavaScript which is available in Java 6. There are a lot of other scripting languages you can use as well; look here for a list.

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Post by jay »

dorpond wrote:Oh, one more thing. Are there old settings that can be conflicting or that need to be pruned so that all the new 1.1 settings are loaded properly?
The 1.1 settings do not interfere with the 1.0 settings. They will be the same later but I didn't want to mess up anyone who had done a lot of customization.
dorpond wrote:The reason I ask is because I just read the Java error log. I notice now why attacks were not showing up - it says they are undefined. That makes me think that I need to reload all defaults again.
Nope, the attacks are not working because I've not got that far yet.[/quote]
dorpond wrote:Also, did you know that when I loaded up InitTool the very first time (and also after a reset), the whole top portion of InitTool is so small that the upper portion of the window needs to be sized to see the combatants. At first I was like "this looks way different". It was just because the window sizing was off. Just thought I would mention that.
I'll get this fixed.
dorpond wrote:Interesting Note: The Temp fields now add after doing an InitTool Reset. I am curious if my other issues are resolved too? I will test.
Well that's weird. I'll take a look and see if I can figure it out.

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Post by jay »

dorpond wrote:No, the reset only really fixed the math issue in the character sheet.

Jay, here I sit now scratching my head. I have no idea where to start to fix that issue reported in the Java error log. How and where would I add those properties? These errors are coming up when I add a generic PC in the Add Combatants screen so my guess is that something inside InitTool needs fixing (since this is all default stuff we are talking about). I would like to manually try to figure this out but I come up with no ideas.

Where would I start?

I think InitTool is getting to the point now where we need a How-To with examples and screen shots.

Exciting stuff though!
This is just a case of the form getting a little bit ahead of the code. I use the forms in my testing so they often have stuff in them that I'm not ready to release yet. But I will get to it, and now I can get everybody's input on how it should work.

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Post by jay »

dorpond wrote:1. I did a lookup and was investigating the many columns of information. When I got the the very end (info), I noticed that column acted very strange and unreadable. InitTool got a bit choppy also.
Since this column contains a large amount of HTML it isn't suitable to display in a table. I've hidden this column in the next build.
dorpond wrote:2. I wanted to take a look at the creatures so I tried to order the lookup list by CR - InitTool stopped responding as did Java Console.
I've fixed this in the next build
dorpond wrote:4. Scrolling in the Initiative card view area (where all the new scripted area is when loading up the creature) stopped when using the wheel on the mouse. Load up the Chichimec and when its initiative is up, move the mouse in the new area to the right with all the information (what can we officially call this window?) and roll the mouse wheel. The screen scrolls fine until it gets to that "notes" area - then it stops.
The Swing components make mouse wheel movement always apply to the scroll pane containing the cursor. So in the next build I turned on the vertical scroll bars in the notes and info fields so that the user can tell why the mouse wheel stops scrolling.
dorpond wrote:5. I would like to see a "source" column in the lookup. There are many creatures in there that I have no idea where they came from. It would be nice to know that THIS creature came from the Monster Manual 3 book and THAT one came from the the Monster Manual 5. The list can get pretty large after a while and organization is key.
I've added this in the next build.
dorpond wrote:5. Did you know that filling in the Temp field (or the Misc field in skills) in that character sheet does not do the math?
This is fixed in the next build.
dorpond wrote:Also, did you know that when I loaded up InitTool the very first time (and also after a reset), the whole top portion of InitTool is so small that the upper portion of the window needs to be sized to see the combatants. At first I was like "this looks way different". It was just because the window sizing was off. Just thought I would mention that.
This should be fixed in the next build.

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