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<blockquote data-quote="Brent" data-source="post: 405459" data-attributes="member: 3468"><p>I appreciate all of the advice everyone has given! This is kind of long; so don't feel the need to respond. Judging by the programs I have seen from you guys, you are all pretty busy.</p><p></p><p>My mind is still trying to come to grips with all of this. Lets look as skills as an example. We have three XML files: SkillName1.xml, SkillName2.xml, CharacterName.xml and ClassName.xml:</p><p></p><p>Each of these files contains a copy of the OGL and/or D20 license.</p><p>ClassName.xml lists SkillName1 & SkillName2 as class skills with 8 ranks each.</p><p>CharacterName.xml lists ClassName as one of the characters classes.</p><p>SkillName1.xml lists SkillName2 as a synergy skill granting a +2 for 5 ranks.</p><p></p><p>All of this is in the data and can be seen by looking at the XML file or displayed in the program (including the copyright and license info for the class and skills).</p><p></p><p>The program has binary code that knows that CharacterName can have SkillName1 and SkillName2 because he has ClassName (so can anyone else by reading the files either directly or through the program).</p><p></p><p>The binary code also knows what a Synergy Bonus is and to apply the +2 bonus when CharacterName uses SkillName2 because he has 5 ranks of SkillName1. This part isn't in human readable format. Anyone who owns the PHB knows what a Synergy Bonus is, but you can't see it on screen.</p><p></p><p>Assuming the program is marked as OGC in the Help>About, is this a problem?</p><p>What if I show the calculation on screen?</p><p>What is I distribute a Class Library with the program?</p><p>What is the difference between doing this and distributing an Excel spreadsheet with a formula such as: Ranks + SynergyBonus?</p><p></p><p>I will definitely get touch with WotC one I have enough of a program so they can see what I am doing. Everyone keeps talking about scripts. My idea is not to use scripts but rather OOP utilizing the Microsoft .NET framework. I think it will allow the program to be fast and easy to use, but it requires non-human-readable binary code to implement, Although the data is stored in semi-human-readable XML files. This allows anyone to create style sheets to view data, or other programs that read the files for other purposes.</p><p></p><p>If another programmer wanted to write an adventure management, combat management or any other type of software that read my CharacterName.xml file they could. That is what XML is for. I don't have to export some delimited file from my program in some agreed upon format so that it can be imported into another program. If a standard set of tags were developed, any program could talk to any other program without having to know the structure of the data. All it needs to know is the meaning of the tags. This is where I think eTools falls short. All the data is stored in a Db with unknown structure or binary .chr files. I can't work with any of the data without opening it from eTools copy/pate into another program.</p><p></p><p>I am a very big fan of a number of the programs that the posters on this list have created. I just want to use them all without a lot of copy/paste, and allow other people to do the same.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Brent, post: 405459, member: 3468"] I appreciate all of the advice everyone has given! This is kind of long; so don't feel the need to respond. Judging by the programs I have seen from you guys, you are all pretty busy. My mind is still trying to come to grips with all of this. Lets look as skills as an example. We have three XML files: SkillName1.xml, SkillName2.xml, CharacterName.xml and ClassName.xml: Each of these files contains a copy of the OGL and/or D20 license. ClassName.xml lists SkillName1 & SkillName2 as class skills with 8 ranks each. CharacterName.xml lists ClassName as one of the characters classes. SkillName1.xml lists SkillName2 as a synergy skill granting a +2 for 5 ranks. All of this is in the data and can be seen by looking at the XML file or displayed in the program (including the copyright and license info for the class and skills). The program has binary code that knows that CharacterName can have SkillName1 and SkillName2 because he has ClassName (so can anyone else by reading the files either directly or through the program). The binary code also knows what a Synergy Bonus is and to apply the +2 bonus when CharacterName uses SkillName2 because he has 5 ranks of SkillName1. This part isn't in human readable format. Anyone who owns the PHB knows what a Synergy Bonus is, but you can't see it on screen. Assuming the program is marked as OGC in the Help>About, is this a problem? What if I show the calculation on screen? What is I distribute a Class Library with the program? What is the difference between doing this and distributing an Excel spreadsheet with a formula such as: Ranks + SynergyBonus? I will definitely get touch with WotC one I have enough of a program so they can see what I am doing. Everyone keeps talking about scripts. My idea is not to use scripts but rather OOP utilizing the Microsoft .NET framework. I think it will allow the program to be fast and easy to use, but it requires non-human-readable binary code to implement, Although the data is stored in semi-human-readable XML files. This allows anyone to create style sheets to view data, or other programs that read the files for other purposes. If another programmer wanted to write an adventure management, combat management or any other type of software that read my CharacterName.xml file they could. That is what XML is for. I don't have to export some delimited file from my program in some agreed upon format so that it can be imported into another program. If a standard set of tags were developed, any program could talk to any other program without having to know the structure of the data. All it needs to know is the meaning of the tags. This is where I think eTools falls short. All the data is stored in a Db with unknown structure or binary .chr files. I can't work with any of the data without opening it from eTools copy/pate into another program. I am a very big fan of a number of the programs that the posters on this list have created. I just want to use them all without a lot of copy/paste, and allow other people to do the same. [/QUOTE]
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