Cardset Editor

[GandoTheBard]

I originally had something to that effect. However it didn't make a lot of sense to me, because it's really just a matter of unchecking the rarity - the count only has meaning if a rarity is selected. And there's nothing stopping you from checking off more than one rarity.

There is nothing stopping you but common sense you mean? lol I mean rarity serves a purpose. As I said above it should be boolean.

Also if you have to uncheck the rarity then presumably you have to recheck it for each card you want to add...an additional chore...check rarity then add (1) to count. Imho this is waayyy too much work to add to the rarities files though I do appreciate the idea behind it.

Currently I am doing just that by the way...starting from scratch (empty rarity files) to build Forge a small set. Not too happy with this chore. I have to remember each rarity when some are just obscure and the cards aren't always helpful.

[GandoTheBard]

Is it possible to enable some basic keyboard controls for this like the arrow keys? It is nearly impossible to navigate quickly through the list using the mouse alone.

[Rob Cashwalker]

Hey, that discreet "Enabled" column was in there for a month, while I was trying to figure out how to make use of it correctly, before realizing it was sort of redundant... don't want to "enable" the card? deselect the rarity. It was such an epiphany, and I had to run around through the code, changing column numbers....Now that I'm thinking about it, an "enabled" column might be more along the lines of a "delete from cards.txt" indicator....

The tricky thing about deleting a card from cards.txt, is that the app reads the current cards.txt for the base set of cards. Then reads each rarity file and card-pictures. You would have to add cards back manually, unless I figure out a way of tracking a master list of available cards, which goes right along with being able to track when cards have been added so that rarity for them can be assigned. Which is why I haven't done that part yet....

Sure, keyboard navigation, once the grid has focus shouldn't be difficult. Up and Down arrows with toggle keys (C)ommon, (U)ncommon and (R)are? Press any single numeric key for the count. But if you click on any of them, the grid loses focus, so the keys wouldn't work until you clicked back to the grid.

BTW, Yes, the rarity should be boolean... I didn't think about that until much later on when I realized that you could select two rarities.... Then I thought about it, and if the user did select two rarities.. then so what? It's flexible....

Somewhere you mentioned that if the picture was already present, then don't highlight it in red... it's highlighted because it's an error in the cardset. If someone else took the cardset as is, they should be able to download all the pics through MTGForge... or the editor... both will require the URL to be specified. When I get to figuring out new cards vs old cards, I'll highlight them in green or something....

[GandoTheBard]

Well apparently I just wasted the last 2.5 hours of my life attempting to make a set from the Card Set Editor and instead getting a mishmosh of everything but what I selected though some cards did show up in the draft that I did select. This is extremely frustrating.

[GandoTheBard]

In fact this is worse than what would have resulted of me just doing it on my own without any "help" from this program. Not only did it not save the right rarities but it also didnt save the right set information. I deliberately saved both the Rarities and the Set Profile...both ended up being useless.

[Rob Cashwalker]

In fact this is worse than what would have resulted of me just doing it on my own without any "help" from this program. Not only did it not save the right rarities but it also didnt save the right set information. I deliberately saved both the Rarities and the Set Profile...both ended up being useless.

Could you expand on what you tried to do? The profile just saves the current state of the cardset, it's not useable to MTGForge. Don't forget that it makes a backup of every game file it changes before it writes out a new one, so you never lose where you started from.

[GandoTheBard]

In fact this is worse than what would have resulted of me just doing it on my own without any "help" from this program. Not only did it not save the right rarities but it also didnt save the right set information. I deliberately saved both the Rarities and the Set Profile...both ended up being useless.

Could you expand on what you tried to do? The profile just saves the current state of the cardset, it's not useable to MTGForge. Don't forget that it makes a backup of every game file it changes before it writes out a new one, so you never lose where you started from.

This might be where things got screwy at first. not sure.
step by step.
1. Spent 2.5 hours changing the rarities then adding 1s to cards that I wanted in the set. (it would have been alot quicker to just check a box here as well as clicking a radio button for rarities)
2. Saved the Rarities using the button.
3. Saved the Profile under "Gando" (I figured if something was wrong with the rarities files then at least the Set Editor would retain the info I made.)
4. closed the Set Editor.
5. Ran MTG Forge saw immediately on the first draft that all wrong cards were in it except a few instances and the rarities were completely wrong.
6. checked the rarities file and had a minor heart attack.
7. opened the Set Editor and freaked even more.
8. closed the Set Editor and deleted the rarities files and restored the ones I made into backups earlier. But some how those were corrupted as well. (I renamed them "oldcommon.txt" etc. But apparently the Set Editor still edited them.)

Honestly I was and still am shocked at this turn of events. I really did not expect it to randomize the rarities as it seemed to have.

[Rob Cashwalker]

Honestly I was and still am shocked at this turn of events. I really did not expect it to randomize the rarities as it seemed to have.

Lets start simple.. backup your rarity files (if you actually want to) then open each one and delete all the cards listed. Then open up the set editor. Now each card should not have a rarity check mark. Start selecting a few rarities and bumping the counts. Then save the rarity and the profile. Open it up in MTGForge and see if the changes take hold correctly.

[GandoTheBard]

Honestly I was and still am shocked at this turn of events. I really did not expect it to randomize the rarities as it seemed to have.

Lets start simple.. backup your rarity files (if you actually want to) then open each one and delete all the cards listed. Then open up the set editor. Now each card should not have a rarity check mark. Start selecting a few rarities and bumping the counts. Then save the rarity and the profile. Open it up in MTGForge and see if the changes take hold correctly.

That is a really bad idea imho. Particularly since adding the rarities is what took me so long last night. 1100+ cards is alot to go through. And I did start with blanks last night. So that part will change nothing. if you want to investigate this bug go ahead but I have already reported a reliably reproducable bug set. I do not wish to spend another couple hours doing this again. For now I will stick to doing it by hand.

[Rob Cashwalker]

I've identified the bug. And switching to radio buttons won't fix it. In fact, it's a very bad bug that wasn't ever fixed until VB.net, which I haven't touched with a 10 foot pole. And that bug is that when the grid selection changes, it changes the value of the checkbox. This causes a click event to fire in the checkbox, which results in the card array getting changed behind the scenes. Apparantly the same bug is present in the radio button control.

I've worked out a solution to this and will post a new download with this fix plus a switch to radio buttons - the same fix applies to both. Hopefully only a couple days.

In the meantime,
DO NOT USE THIS

I apologize for the hassle.

[GandoTheBard]

Glad you figured out what it was. And that makes perfect sense. Good luck with the rewrite.

[mtgrares]

Rob Cashwalker, sorry about the bugs being a hassle. Hopefully they aren't too hard to squash. I really like the user interface, it is simple and easy. I tried to come up with a simple UI but nothing really looked right in my mind (I'm a horrible UI designer, lol. It is like me reading a book about auto repair, I just don't get it.)

[Rob Cashwalker]

See, the funny thing about me is that I just like the process of creation. I'm horrible in actual art... like drawing... but I've got a great picture in my head of how things should look but I can't ever really describe them. My mom is the same way, but she can draw! I build stuff, I fix things, I write software... I have been known to dabble in auto repair.... These are all alternative outlets for creativity. My number one rule in problem solving is thinking creatively.

The bugs have been squashed, and I can finish up integrating the mini-card picture generator.

[GandoTheBard]

Rob while it is true that genetics does play a part in artistic ability so does training and practice. If you really wanted to you could draw as well as most people. Certainly as well as me. I have been drawing my whole life but I have very little actual talent for it. I just work very hard at it. My skill is 99% sweat driven.

[mtgrares]

Rob, your design for a set editor inspired me, I should have it done by Friday. Tomorrow I posted a short article about it on my blog. My user interface looks about the same as yours.