Stat Block generator - update

[CRGreathouse]

http://mwtools.thyle.net/sb_new.html

I'd like some feedback on this before I make it the only version - does it run on your computer? How is its speed? Are there any new bugs? Old bugs?

I *will* fix the weapon size portion of the program; it's a little time consuming, though, so don't expect it too soon.

 

[MJEggertson]

Works great in Explorer, but in Mozilla, the stat-block is not generated.

Nice tool though. I like how it looks up your race etc and gets info for it. Also, the race, alignment and hp inputs don't get filled in for the sample characters.

 

[CRGreathouse]

Works great in Explorer, but in Mozilla, the stat-block is not generated.

Yeah, that's what I figured. Mozilla is just harder to script for. Do you know of any good resources for what *will* work (JavaScript-wise) in Mozilla and Opera?

Nice tool though. I like how it looks up your race etc and gets info for it.

Thanks.

Also, the race, alignment and hp inputs don't get filled in for the sample characters.

Not filling in hit points was intentional (showing auto-calcualtion), but I thought it filled in race and alignment for all of them. Which didn't show up?

 

[MJEggertson]

Dromar's race works, but none of their alignments get filled in.

I'll take a look at your source code this weekend and see what you've done. I'll try to recommend something that is more w3c compliant.

The easiest solution may be to just stick the statblock in a read-only textarea. Guarunteed compatibility with all browsers.

 

[MJEggertson]

Ok, so I had a few minutes before lunch...something I noticed:

x = document.sbGen; // Supposed to get the main Form.
/* In explorer, this will query the document.all interface, which
 * is a Microsoft extention, and doesn't exist in other browser.
 * You need to query the document.forms interface. */
x = document.forms.sbGen; // This will work

That may be what's causing other browsers to hang.

I may also suggest your help use href's for the anchors, that way it's more obvious that there is a help.

<a href="javascript: helpOn('feats');">Feats</a>

This will cause the anchors to behave more normally and people that may not otherwise find the help may stumble across it.

edit: Man, Morrus needs to change the color of the code block font.

 

[CRGreathouse]

Ok, so I had a few minutes before lunch...something I noticed:

x = document.sbGen; // Supposed to get the main Form.
/* In explorer, this will query the document.all interface, which
 * is a Microsoft extention, and doesn't exist in other browser.
 * You need to query the document.forms interface. */
x = document.forms.sbGen; // This will work

Hmm, I'll look into this. I hope it helps with some 'obscure' (Opera, etc.) browsers - though it's not the problem with Netscape.

I may also suggest your help use href's for the anchors, that way it's more obvious that there is a help.

<a href="javascript: helpOn('feats');">Feats</a>

This will cause the anchors to behave more normally and people that may not otherwise find the help may stumble across it.

This, on the other hand, is harder. Many of the help items are context-specific - Items gives the PC/NPC baseline, and Feats gives the number of feats your character has earned, etc. As my host doesn't support ASP, I can't just send a ?cLevel=10 on the URL.

 

[theoremtank]

I like the generator but I have a question slightly off topic. Is there an official template for stat blocks designed by Wizards of the Coast or was the order of the stats just figured out by looking at official examples?

 

[CRGreathouse]

I like the generator but I have a question slightly off topic. Is there an official template for stat blocks designed by Wizards of the Coast or was the order of the stats just figured out by looking at official examples?

That's a complicated question. I'll use the SSBF's site to give examples, as I was one of the people who designed it.

The DMG has a sample stat block, along with simple instructions for its use. Example: http://www.d20statblock.org/standard/corerules.html
Guidelines: In the DMG.

The submission guidelines for Dungeon magazine give a different format. Example: http://www.d20statblock.org/standard/chronicle.html
Guidelines: http://www.wizards.com/dungeon/article.asp?x=submissions

The RPGA uses a standardized format for all events. Example: http://www.d20statblock.org/standard/guild.html
Guidelines: http://www.wizards.com/rpga/downloads/writguid.zip

A format was designed on these boards as a compromise and replacement. Example:
http://www.d20statblock.org/standard/d20standard.html
Guidelines: http://www.d20statblock.org/standard/styleguide.html

Most d20 companies have their own format; some publish their style guides online. THG's was at http://www.thunderheadgames.com/TGNPCStyleGuide.doc , but I don't think it's online anymore.

 

[Drew]

One of the things I liked best about your stat block generator was the ability to generate the Stat block to another window, choose "view source," and copy the HTML. There doesn't appear to be a way to do that with this program, which makes it less useful for posting characters to websites.

Is there any easy way to put that feature back in?

Otherwise, I LOVE the way this is set up. It looks great! Having the statblock at the top of the page makes it easy to make sure you are entering everything correctly.

Great work.

 

[CRGreathouse]

One of the things I liked best about your stat block generator was the ability to generate the Stat block to another window, choose "view source," and copy the HTML.

I'm glad you liked that feature. I tried hard to make the generated code as clean as possible.

There doesn't appear to be a way to do that with this program, which makes it less useful for posting characters to websites.

Is there any easy way to put that feature back in?

Yes, and it will be put back in soon. Actually, the copy on my computer does that now, though not the way you'd want (yet). If you were to look at the code, you'd see that it's designed to work both ways.

Hopefully, I'll have that feature and a few others done within a week.

B]Otherwise, I LOVE the way this is set up. It looks great! Having the statblock at the top of the page makes it easy to make sure you are entering everything correctly.

Great work. [/B]

I'm glad to hear that. I found it useful myself, both for noticing things I wouldn't otherwise, and for saving that extra button click.