Suggestion: Character Sheet import/export

In the ongoing development it would be great to have a way to import export character sheets in xml so that char gen software can be more readily used to speed up GM and player prep time. The format does not have to be overly complex, just functional.

Definitely! Or have some readily available char sheet templates built in for popular formats. Honestly though, I don't think it'll be long before WoTC partners with R20 for DnD though. /fingerscrossed.

WoTC partnered with R20... we can always hope. I would pity the guy that got stuck with allowing importing of exel/pdf/scanned char sheets. The number of variables would be outrageous. the built in char sheets would rock though

The variables don't have to be outrageous, a simple xml for the basic structure with: <xml> <char-name>name</char-name> <journals> <player>name of player</player> ... </journals> <editable> <player>name of player<player> ... </editable> <attributes> <attribute> <name>name of attribute</name> <current>value</current> <max>value<max> </attribute> ... <attributes> <bio> html stuff here with limitations of the current bio </bio> <gm> html stuff here with limitations of the current gm notes </gm>   </xml> And really that is all it takes, the char gens can then export to this simple format. <edit> sorry the formatting seems to mess up when I hit save... but really not a hard thing to implement

agreed, I vote for this.

@ allen: I wasn't talking about the variables in the code (sry if I miss communicated). I was talking about things like locations of things relative to each other on the document your trying to convert. Even with commonly used excel char sheets for simular games, the formats are different enough that things can get very tricky. (to keep thread on topic, If you want to talk further about this to try to convince me I'm wrong or whatever then pls pm me).

I agree with And P. I think a more friendly way to do it would probably have built-in templates that you can potentially edit/play around with. Majority of the users use the D&D format anyways.  If WoTC partnered with R20, we could see a Chris Perkins weekly show! lol.

"I was talking about things like locations of things relative to each other on the document your trying to convert. Even with commonly used excel char sheets for simular games, the formats are different enough that things can get very tricky" So long as the format is just for import and export, it does not really matter what choices the makers of the char gen programs use.  And as to the partnership with WoTC... really it matters nothing to me, they have not made anything I am interested in since 3.5.  Currently I am using a "template" character that I copy then fill in, this is however still inefficient as players then have to type in their characters.  It is time consuming and there is much complaining, especially when we have char gen that can easily be adapted to the format (it is just a rejigging of a macro, hardly more than a few hours of coding one time).

+1

+100 Having a standard character sheet XML structure like Allen suggests would allow for devs to create converters and exporters from other formats, not to mention making it easy to duplicate large blocks of attributes and stats in one step instead of all the point-click-type-repeat that's necessary in the browser currently. You could, at it's most basic level, upload a pre-made xml template with skills, saves, stats, etc all at zeros and have your players go in to fill the numbers before game. Super handy for attribute based macros!

+1 for me as well. This would be very nice to have

+1 Good idea

Or at least a simple sheet creator in the program. Have just a scrolling box with numbers on the left. Then the next box is name of attribute. Third box is value. Fourth box is description.  Then have each name in box 2 be assigned as an attribute. Then each box 3 can be given a numerical value (1, 2, 3, etc) or you can put an equation with (=10+@dexmod+@armor+etcetc...). And for calculating modifiers you can use (=FLOOR((@dexterity-10)/2)) the function in the parentheses. The floor function (I don't know how to type floor brackets) makes 0.5 values round down. So 11 will become 0 and 12 and 13 are 1. This also makes 9 become -1 and not 0 (assuming coding for negative numbers is correct) due to -1 being considered less than 0. This may also work with a round down function but floor is prettier.

+1 for something that will handle the detail of a 6th Ed. Call of Cthulhu character sheet...

+1

+1 I support this idea.  For an idea of how xml based character sheets can be implemented, OpenRPG did a fairly decent job.  It even allows tabs to be used.  Given the structure of the xml, I was able to create an Excel macro that would export a character into a character sheet I could use in ORPG. 

I wouldn't want to see WotC partner with Roll20, they'd probably want to change the focus so it only plays D&D...

+1

+1 This is my GM and I support him :P This suggestion is saying that people  who know what they're doing can making it easier for people that don't but someone will always have to put in the work to make an importable document, but being able to export the information makes a person able to make a character and then import that document in a different campaign.

+1 I am interested in having this feature for character sheets and handouts.

I would be so happy if I could have character sheets imported and exported to Roll20. We currently use Myth-Weavers.com since it's so easy to edit and share the links but I would love one built within Roll20.

+1 cutting down on character sheet prep time... please

+1 would love to be able to import via xml or something similar.

First post, and I'm +1 on this :) 

+Over9000

+1

+1!

I support this idea which can be really usefull for my jpeg character sheet generator. Currently, users are forced to report each data from your site to mine.

+1

+1 on this (especially referencing xml import)

UP

+1, my group and I were discussing this earlier. The ability to import or design and character sheet template would be the ideal. In any business office that handles finance, files imported/exported from .pdf to .xls all the time. In my office we do imports directly into a DB which is view-able through a GUI using .csv files. Those .csv files get generated out of spread sheets from excel or access, Open Office works great as well. With enough funding, a customization GUI template could be developed, which would easy imports from properly designed .pdf forms or .xls sheet. Tell the GUI to pull data from the field labeled "Character Name" or "Strength" for example. I am sure the already existing DB architecture would support such a thing.