Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Dedonus
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Dedonus Kai su teknon;

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For the last couple years, I have been tossing around an idea for a long-running RP that compiles a list of entries hyperlinked to individual posts for each character in the roleplay to give easy access to certain posts (e.g. easy reading order for new players or a convenient way to find a single post out 1000 IC posts).

When I first tried this, I just typed out the lists by "hand," so to speak. However, I quickly realized that the word document quickly became unwieldy and the process was time-consuming. I needed something a little more automated. I have tried messing with Excel and Microsoft Access to varying degrees of success, but both programs have their limitations. For instance, for both Excel and Access, I had to develop a system to sort the data in those programs and I had to keep entering that sorting data for each individual post entry.

So my question is does anyone have any ideas/suggestions for what's the best way to tackle this project? I would like it to look somewhat like my initial attempt at this project. My ideal optimization/automation would be being able to create only a single entry for each post and tag it with each character that appears in that post so that that single entry will populate each character's list.
Hidden 6 yrs ago 6 yrs ago Post by BrokenPromise
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BrokenPromise With Rightious Hands

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Oh, I have an idea that doesn't use any programs, depending on how computer savy your player base is.

Simply have guidelines for each player where when they make a new post. They would add a hyperlink to the post on their character sheet, which would be named after their character and the post number (like in your example) Then as often as you'd like you'd just have to click view raw, and paste over that portion of the post index.

If you wish for a system where you have full control, or don't want to burden your players, there aren't a ton of options. Perhaps if you explained your problem with the programs a bit better, I might be of more help. "data" is a small word that can mean a lot of different things.
Hidden 6 yrs ago Post by Dedonus
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Dedonus Kai su teknon;

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My biggest issue is transferring the compiled data (i.e. the entries for each post that lists which characters are featured in the post) into some sort of format where I can copy and paste automatically generated bbcode onto the forum or upload it to GoogleDocs/Sheets.

For Microsoft Access, I found a way to query the data into an organized list and exporting it to Microsoft Excel, but in order to sort all the entries, I had to assign each character a unique "code" (e.g. 'ara' for Arachne) and number the posts (e.g. ara1 for the 1st Arachne post). Furthermore, I had to repeat post entries for each character who makes an appearance in that post, which is less than idea.

For Microsoft Excel, I found a way with macros to filter the entries and copy them into individual tabs for each character. Then, this document can be uploaded to GoogleSheets. However, my concern is that, when I have over 500 entries, it might take a long time to run through the macro. Furthermore, I would have to figure out how to make an automatically generated table of contents (ideally with hyperlinks) and how to mark out where certain character/story arc begin and end.

Is there any way I could do this in C# programming? Maybe something like the following (obviously it is not code, but it should give a good idea what I am looking for.

//variables
character Character //each character in the roleplay (class)
post Post //each post in the roleplay (class)
postnum Postnum //the chronological order of each post. a value in the post class
charpres Charpres //what character is present in the post. a value in the post class If I cannot assign multiple charpres, then I could do an individual value of each character and have it true/false (default = false)

For each character, create a new list

For each post where character matches charpres(or true/false check), add to list

Sort post by postnum


If I could build in the bbcode, this might be the idea option.
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