[Poll] Top five things you would love to see in the API....

I of course have no sway in this matter, just thought I'd get a discussion going on the subject. Here are mine in no particular order: 1. Roll20 dice mechanics, at the very least a function to roll one die so I don't have to use Math.random which I'm told is not very random compared to Roll20's routines. 2. being able to find out the currently selected token so the script can do things to that token 3. if pageid of an object was read/write then we could easily write a script that would teleport x tokens to another page.  No more copying and pasting, etc. 4. if we could create rollable tables and other objects we could write a script that would create tables.  Then other users wouldn't have to go through all the trouble.  It would sort of be like a export/import. 5. If we could pick the result of a rollable table.  Why?  Well one use would to be to write your own dice rolling code and then choose which of the items on the rollable table were rolled this would give us access to the graphics of a rollable table and help create easy to use custom dice and dice mechanics that would show up nicely in the chat window.  As it is now I had to simply output regular text to the chat window for my Edge of Empire Dice script. Well thats five that I can think of right now.  What about your top five list? PS: I've got a 6th. :)   6. If there was a way we could generate a popup window and ask the user for input.  I think that would be very useful! PPS: Jeez what part of top five don't I understand! :)  Here are two more 7. put a small graphic into the chat Window through the API.  Then we could make really nice custom dice rolls in the chat window. 8. Way for the API to Change the Z Order of Object.  This would help scripts be able to hide things behind other tokens without having to put them on the GM layer (which the GM still sees. :) and.. 9. able to start music through the API

There's no reason to copy /paste tokens between pages now that tokens can be linked to a journal entry and dragged onto the map.

HoneyBadger said: There's no reason to copy /paste tokens between pages now that tokens can be linked to a journal entry and dragged onto the map. But what if you don't want to link, don't have linked, or just want to teleport a group of tokens to a particular spot on another map?  You could setup one map page to hold a bunch of tokens.  And then at the press of a macro button they are on the current page you are on.  Yes you could put them on the gm layer, but that crowds the gm layer and makes it hard for the GM to see things sometimes.  Also there are uses we can't even think of.

Eh, it takes all ofnfive seconds to drag and drop characters to the map from the journal.

HoneyBadger said: Eh, it takes all ofnfive seconds to drag and drop characters to the map from the journal. I would like to be able to spawn the linked token and maybe to even create the linked token in the fist place. To teleport you would just store the tokens data then delete it and remake it on a difernt page.

I only see value with teleporting on the same page until we can send players to different pages.

HoneyBadger said: I only see value with teleporting on the same page until we can send players to different pages. Yes that is a minor problem.

create and destroy more objects like tokens and paths and text.  If we could create and destroy text we would have a way to talk to the user without having to output info to the chat window.

Create / Destroy Text Move objects toFront or toBack API command/function to advance the turn order API commands/functions to manipulate the turn order / initiative API commands/functions to manipulate card decks

HoneyBadger said: Create / Destroy Text Move objects toFront or toBack API command/function to advance the turn order API commands/functions to manipulate the turn order / initiative API commands/functions to manipulate card decks 4.  You know this gave me yet another idea. :)  There is an event that fires when there is a change in the turn order.  If you have a token (lets call it the Turn Order Marker) with the highest init, lets say 100.  We can access the turn order, I haven't looked at what this variable loos like yet, but from this we could find out how many tokens are in the turn order.  We could increment a variable everytime we cycled through everyone on the turn order list.  Then append the variable to the name of the turn order marker, this would be the round or turn you are currently on and in theory it would show up in the turn order window. Now of course everything would be so much easier if we could manipulate the turn order object, set initiatives, advance to the next in the list, etc., but work arounds are fine for now. :)

I don't agree with HoneyBadger about dragging and dropping tokens, not unless we don't have to assign all of the Bars and edit permissions every single time.  I'd like to see in the GM portion of the character sheet to set the token settings for dragging and dropping. :P Until that happens teleporting is really nice, even if it's only on the same map or to another.

Terratani said: I don't agree with HoneyBadger about dragging and dropping tokens, not unless we don't have to assign all of the Bars and edit permissions every single time.  I'd like to see in the GM portion of the character sheet to set the token settings for dragging and dropping. :P Until that happens teleporting is really nice, even if it's only on the same map or to another. If you create a token, assign all the proper permissions, set the bars, etc... and then make that token the default token for that character, no... you do not  have to set permissions or assign bars each time. It's simply drag and drop onto the map and the token is ready to go.

I'd like movement tracks/paths

Michael B. said: I'd like movement tracks/paths That's not something that's going to be added to the API, it could be made with the API once we can spawn tokens or draw lines.

Manage wounds and automatic penalties on the roll's result.

Daniel N. said: Manage wounds and automatic penalties on the roll's result. Good suggestion, but its a list for the top five things you would like to see in the API not the API do. :)  But no problem, I didn't word the subject as best as I could I think, it can be confusing. Now what you are suggesting might be kinda hard. I'd have to think about it a bit more.  You want when you roll damage to automatically subtract damage to a token I guess? 

Let me see if I can work out an answer to this question. 1. I don't understand API at all. On a scale of 1 to 10 of understanding, I'm a zero. The first thing I would like to see is a Wiki (Help & Docs) that can clearly and extensively, explain what API is about. What do you need to know or learn to use API? What can API do? What are things API cannot do? What ways can the Roll20 community share API? Would I be better served by simply using what Roll20 Dev team provides? I can't follow most conversations about API. I don't understand the language people use. Clearly there is a significant part of our community that has previous experience with API. Having said that, I'm not sure how much of the rest of my top 5 actually applies. 2. Time based events triggered by/on the Turn Order. Ex: I create a card deck with an explosion image. Before my game starts I set all the initiatives in the Turn Order. At the beginning of the third round I create a 'trigger', when the third round is 'toggled' the cad from the deck comes into 'view' and the jukebox plays a preset explosion. (I use the card decks for situations I 'spring' on my players. These decks only have 1 card.) Am I dreaming on something like this?  3. Well, let's say there isn't a 3 until I know more.

Scott P. said: Let me see if I can work out an answer to this question. 1. I don't understand API at all. On a scale of 1 to 10 of understanding, I'm a zero. The first thing I would like to see is a Wiki (Help & Docs) that can clearly and extensively, explain what API is about. Its not in the scope of the API development (or shouldn't be) to teach people how to program or specific programming concepts. What do you need to know or learn to use API? What can API do? What are things API cannot do? What ways can the Roll20 community share API? Would I be better served by simply using what Roll20 Dev team provides? I can't follow most conversations about API. I don't understand the language people use. Clearly there is a significant part of our community that has previous experience with API. If you don't understand what an API is then the API isn't for you, you can go out and learn the basics and then have a look at it again and see if you can understand. You will need a basic understanding of general programming concepts (like APIs, ie Google the word) and some basic understanding of JavaScript. It would be best if you just used what the roll20 team give you and anything that is posted at a later date for the API that has been designed to be used by an end user with instructions for installation and usage. 2. Time based events triggered by/on the Turn Order. Ex: I create a card deck with an explosion image. Before my game starts I set all the initiatives in the Turn Order. At the beginning of the third round I create a 'trigger', when the third round is 'toggled' the cad from the deck comes into 'view' and the jukebox plays a preset explosion. (I use the card decks for situations I 'spring' on my players. These decks only have 1 card.) Am I dreaming on something like this? This would be perfectly possible once the API gets a few more functions. But again as I have said this isn't a thread asking what you want made with the API, its what functionality you would like added to the API to help you make things.

Thanks for the advice. It's very helpful.