[Killershrike.com] Vancian Spell List Revamp

[Killer Shrike]

Vancian Spell List (http://www.killershrike.com/FantasyHERO/HighFantasyHERO/MagicSystems/VancianSpells/ActiveSpellsList.aspx)

Just finished with a complete recoding / rearchitecting of the Vancian (D&D style) Spell list on my site and updated all the links I could find within the site as well. This version is fully OOP and tied into the new nav system I switched over to last year, and also provides a much more solid foundation for me to build future functionality on top of (the original version thats been up for so many years is just a single big classic ASP spaghetti mess that's outlived its day and time).

Anyway, there is one downside to the new approach -- the old version has the advantage of simplicity and speed. The new approach has considerably more overhead. Performance is a concern. I invested some time into developing a respectable caching scheme for it, but I'm not sure how well it will scale -- ie, how many simultaneous users it will take before choking. Anyway, we'll likely find out soon.

This is very much a "beta" at this point; please let me know about any issues you encounter when using it.

Next on the agenda Im going to write some admin tools for me to make it easier to add and maintain spells, then I switch over to content -- I need to hunt down some bogus write ups that have been out there a long time and get them fixed, and I also have a pile of new material from a contributor to get pushed out to the masses.

Also assuming the Vancian Spells code proves to be successful, it will serve as a useful springboard for similar things in the future...

[mayapuppies]

I envy your work ethic! Good job, man.

[ghost-angel]

Pretty slick.

you must spread rep yada yada

[Sketchpad]

Most impressive!

[jaws]

You must spread rep... ugh!! it makes me sick! Great Work KS!!

[MorpheousXO]

Keep up the good work, KS, I love it when I CAN'T give you rep, means you're doing even more good things than usual :D

[Killer Shrike]

Glad people are finding it useful. Has anyone encountered any problems so far?

[MorpheousXO]

Not yet. :thumbup:

[jaws]

All working fine so far

[Edsel]

Am I the only one who read Vatican Spell List the first time I looked at this?

[Korvar]

Glad people are finding it useful. Has anyone encountered any problems so far?

The closest thing to a problem is if I click the "Wizardry Spells By Level" link, the spells aren't sorted in alphabetical order. Easy enough to get the CSV and sort it myself, and it's only a minor quibble, but as you were asking...

[Killer Shrike]

Good catch; they are being sorted by spellid. Ill take a look when i get a chance and correct.

[Killer Shrike]

The closest thing to a problem is if I click the "Wizardry Spells By Level" link, the spells aren't sorted in alphabetical order. Easy enough to get the CSV and sort it myself, and it's only a minor quibble, but as you were asking...


Ok, I looked into this and its actually sorting as intended -- its sorting by category, then spell.

[Killer Shrike]

I just added the ability to search by spell name for spells. I literally just wrote it and it seems to work, but I haven't subjected it to rigorous testing...so I'll let you guys hit it and hope for the best:

Spell List (http://www.killershrike.com/FantasyHERO/HighFantasyHERO/MagicSystems/VancianSpells/ActiveSpellsList.aspx)

NOTE: You need to type something in the search box and click the Submit link.

[Korvar]

Ok, I looked into this and its actually sorting as intended -- its sorting by category, then spell.

Would it be possible to add a "sort by name only" option? Not a biggie, it would just be a convenience.

[Killer Shrike]

Would it be possible to add a "sort by name only" option? Not a biggie, it would just be a convenience.

Possible in theory, but the spells are cached and the cache is in a specific order. Thus I would have to fetch from the cache and then implement a custom sorting process which would defeat a lot of the purpose of caching in the first place.

I could open up an uncached fetch, but I don't really want to eat the overhead on the site for uncontrolled uncached requests.

I wont say never, but its not something Id be enthused about adding.

[Killer Shrike]

Ok, I found a bug in the new search by name functionality; if you Export to CSV the data is emitted correctly to csv, but the filename is normally based on the in-place filter's label. There isn't one for the search by name set since its entirely custom, so the file streamed over is unnamed. Ill look in to proxying the search parameter value as the equivalent tomorrow.

[Doc]

Am I the only one who read Vatican Spell List the first time I looked at this?

:eek: No...!

[shadowcat1313]

more great work, and as far as Vatican Spell List goes

"You get down on your knees and fiddle with your rosaries, and bow your head with great respect... and genuflect... genuflect... genuflect" ... Tom Lehrer

[Killer Shrike]

Ok, I found a bug in the new search by name functionality; if you Export to CSV the data is emitted correctly to csv, but the filename is normally based on the in-place filter's label. There isn't one for the search by name set since its entirely custom, so the file streamed over is unnamed. Ill look in to proxying the search parameter value as the equivalent tomorrow.

Fixed.

I did notice that Opera and Safari (for Windows) get confused on the file type, but a) I'm setting the MIME type correctly and b) the data is intact so if you save it to disk and change the extension to csv or txt it opens properly. Annoying, but I've learned better than to waste time trying to overcome quirkiness in those two browsers so it'll just have to suffice.

[Killer Shrike]

more great work, and as far as Vatican Spell List goes

"You get down on your knees and fiddle with your rosaries, and bow your head with great respect... and genuflect... genuflect... genuflect" ... Tom Lehrer

I didnt announce it, but at the bottom I added by PROVIDER as well...and there you are. ;)

[tomd1969]

KS, very impressive; you've been repped. Bravo. :thumbup:

I do have one question, however: Could you give some information on what "Sortilege" is or where I could find a link with info?

[Killer Shrike]

It's one of the variants I provide for use with the Vancian Magic System on my site. Its 100% original material. Here is a link to its description:

Sortilege (http://www.killershrike.com/FantasyHERO/HighFantasyHERO/MagicSystems/sortilege.aspx)

[tomd1969]

Ooo, KS. Well done. :thumbup:

[Killer Shrike]

Ok, I looked into this and its actually sorting as intended -- its sorting by category, then spell.

I added functionality for this to now sort by level then spell in unfiltered lists. Seems more natural.

[Killer Shrike]

Added the ability to find all named Spells for a laundry list of famous casters as well as a number of ones of my own creation that I uss to "author" certain types of spells for conceptual purposes.

So if you're into Bigby or something you don't have to hunt for his spells anymore.