Feedback between user & API

Hi guys. Long-time Maptool user here. Roll20 looks great, and now that you have vision-blocking, I'm seriously thinking about migrating my regular group over. However, I have a framework going in Maptool that really makes setting up and playing out encounters a lot easier. Details are unnecessary to spell out, but it involves converting the WTC .monster and .dnd4e XML files into tokens, which are automatically set up with macros for all the powers and whatnot. I've been looking at the Roll20 API to see how I could implement some similar kind of system, but I can't really see a way that it could work. It seems to me that the avenues for communication and feedback between the user and the API are very limited. To send info to the API, I basically have to use chat macros, or an event trigger. To have the API provide info to the user, it seems like I have no choice but to print it to chat. By contrast, in Maptool, you can create windows that contain arbitrary HTML contents, and that can pass info back to the API using HTML forms. So I can create character sheets with buttons for launching powers, or attack config windows where you can tick checkboxes for what effects apply to the attack, etc,  Plus, Roll20 macros seem to be linked to the player rather than the tokens, correct? That's fine for PCs, but for the DM it would be nice to get different sets of macros depending on what monster I'm controlling. If you can implement some kind of system where the API can control the contents of a window or floating DIV, and the user can return data back to the API from those windows, I'll join as a mentor! -r

You can put api chat events into macros... for example, in my D&D next game for my generic DM attack macro, I use: !attack ?{Attacker|An enemy} | ?{Attack|Bite}  | ?{AttackBonus|0} | etc...

Robb S. said: Plus, Roll20 macros seem to be linked to the player rather than the tokens, correct? That's fine for PCs, but for the DM it would be nice to get different sets of macros depending on what monster I'm controlling Macros are tied to the player (the GM can also create macros to be seen and used by multiple players), but abilities are tied to characters, and are identical to macros in every way except how they're executed. You can link tokens and character sheets, as well. While the API can post (almost) arbitrary HTML to the chat via the /direct chat command (/direct only works from the API), it cannot create new windows.