Revision as of 13:05, 26 May 2022

Page Updated:   2022-05-26

This is related to Editing(coding) Character Sheets, which require Pro info to be able to use. Main Page: Building Character Sheets

This is a collection of more advanced Sheet Author Tips that currently doesn't fit on the other pages relating to character sheet creation & editing. Most of the suggestions & ideas are taken from the Roll20 forums, or discussions among Sheet Authors.

Sheet Author is a badge people who have created & submitted character sheets to Roll20 get.

Read the documentation

Give the Building Character Sheets-article a full read, as it contains lots of information on the specific quirks & pitfalls of how Roll20 character sheets works compared to default HTML/CSS/JavaScript. Even if you know how things work.

Some Highlights:

• Character Sheet Development/Tools - community recommendations
• Common Mistakes
• Best Practices
• Advanced Sheet Options

Sheet Sandbox

Using the Sheet Sandbox while editing/developing character sheets is much more effective and quicker than the normal Sheet Editor.

Alongside it, most authors use a text editor such as VS Code.

Recommended Plugin: Roll20 Autouploader -- browser plugin that can autoupload & update your sheet code in the sheet sandbox, so you don't have to do it manually each time. Can also do same for API scripts.

Tools

See Character Sheet Development/Tools for community recommendations on sheet dev tools.

Code Validation

It's a good idea to use a validator to check your code for mistakes in your code. Many IDE & text editors can install such extensions automatically, but given that Roll20 does a few things their own way, by default a HTML validator would complain about lot of things that aren't wrong, but just isn't accepted as standard HTML, such as <button type="roll"></button>.

• HTML: W3C's HTML Validator
  • initially give many warnings and errors on roll20-specific things, but you can filter away things that aren't wrong, and the list of error is quickly reduced to a manageable amount
  • Debugging HTML
• CSS: W3C's CSS Validator
  • [https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Lear==Roll20 Autouploader==

Main Page: Roll20 Autouploader

Roll20 API and Sheet Autouploader is a Chromium extension that will automate the uploading of code to your Sheet Sandbox, created by Scott C..

This streamlines Character Sheet Development, removing the need to manually upload the files when you want to test changes. The extension will eventually work with API Development as well.

• Install (Chrome Web Store)
• sourcecode: https://github.com/Kurohyou-Studios/R20AutoCode
• forum thread: Automatically upload your sheet code! (May 2022)
• Video of it in action!

It should work on all chromium browsers except for Brave, which has disabled the chromium features that the extension relies on. n/CSS/Building_blocks/Debugging_CSS Debugging CSS]

• JavaScript(for sheetworkers & API): Closure Compiler for JS
• JSON(for translation files & sheet.json: jsonlint.com

Frameworks

Beyond just using HTML/CSS directly, you could use some pre-processors, language extensions, or frameworks that can speed up the sheet development, instead of directly writing HTML/CSS. Here are a few suggestions, used by a good number of sheet authors, including Roll20's teams working on the official sheets.

Use PUG & SASS/SCSS & JavaScript to make sheets. PUG & SCSS are the two most useful things I've ever learned for sheet development. Character sheets which use to take hundred+ hours takes now 20-40 thanks to PUG which is a JavaScript based language to write HTML. You'll save yourself a lot of redundant work by just using the power of loops & variables if nothing else.

Troubleshooting becomes much easier when you need to fix just one line in a loop rather than a dozen copy/paste html snippets.

PUG and SCSS can be used to simply split up the HTML & CSS files into smaller, more manageable files, which can then simply be compiled into their end results when it's time to use the sheet in a game.

These are compiled languages so you'll need to do that. Easily done via terminal if your tech savy, or prepros.io if you're not.

PUG

PUG is a template engine for generating HTML, where you can use various features & tool to write code more efficiently, such as using variables and loops, and has a simpler syntax.

//- Comment that only appears in PUG
- var pages = ["character", "skills", "inventory", "magic", "familiar", "background", "campaign", "vehicle", "settings"];
div
  span Page selection
  select(name="attr_sheetTab")
    each tab in pages
      option(value=`${tab}`)= tab[0].toUpperCase() + tab.slice(1)

Result HTML:

<div>
     <span>Page selection</span><select name="attr_sheetTab">
        <option value="character">Character</option>
        <option value="skills">Skills</option>
        <option value="inventory">Inventory</option>
        <option value="magic">Magic</option>
        <option value="familiar">Familiar</option>
        <option value="background">Background</option>
        <option value="campaign">Campaign</option>
        <option value="vehicle">Vehicle</option>
        <option value="settings">Settings</option>
    </select>
</div>

PUGjs.org

• PUG - Getting Started
• PUG -> HTML online converter
• codingshala PUG tutorial
• A Sheet Author's Journey(Part 2) - Do the PUG!^(Forum) Feb 2022

Examples, Sheets, & Sheet template made with PUG:

• Example snippets of SCSS & PUG, by Andreas J.
• K-Scaffold - by Scott C.
• SheetTemplate by Cassie
• Aureyia's Roll20 Sheet Boilerplate - Uses PUG, Stylus(CSS) & Gulp
• Stargate RPG active sheet using some PUG & SCSS, by Andreas J.
• Genefunk 2090 sheet createed with PUG, by Scott C.
• there are several sheets in the sheet repository made using either or both, you can search through it to find more examples

SASS

SASS/SCSS is a widely used CSS extension language. It's CSS Compatible, so you can start using it by writing plain CSS first, and slowly including more SASS features, while keeping it familiar & looking mostly like CSS.

One of the things you can do it to nest your code, saving you from repeating yourself with things like needing to add .charsheet in from of every class.

/*-------------------------------------------*/
/*-----Main Settings and hide classes--------*/
// comments with two slashes won't appear in the resulting .css,  which is handy for writing extra comments thaat aren't relevant to the css.
// SCSS enables nesting of classes, saving time in writing, and making it easier to read/organize the CSS. There are also tother features,but this is the main one I've started to use, as it helps with reading the scss/css. One can start from pure css, and then bit by bit simplify/refactor it to use more scss features
.charsheet {
	.main-settings {
	    display: none;
		position: relative;
		margin-left: 0;
		
		.container {
			width: 850px;
		}
		.input-row {
			label {
				display: inline-block;
				width: auto;
			}
			input {
				margin-right: 30px;
			}
			select {
				width: 45%;
				margin-right: 15px;
			}
		}
	}
  input.main-options.options-flag + span,/*displays the cog icon*/
  input[type=radio]:checked ~ .master-container input.options-flag + span {
      font-family: pictos;
      font-style: normal;
  }
}

resulting CSS:

/*-------------------------------------------*/
/*-----Main Settings and hide classes--------*/
.charsheet .main-settings {
  display: none;
  position: relative;
  margin-left: 0;
}
.charsheet .main-settings .container {
  width: 850px;
}
.charsheet .main-settings .input-row label {
  display: inline-block;
  width: auto;
}
.charsheet .main-settings .input-row input {
  margin-right: 30px;
}
.charsheet .main-settings .input-row select {
  width: 45%;
  margin-right: 15px;
}
.charsheet input.main-options.options-flag + span,
.charsheet input[type=radio]:checked ~ .master-container input.options-flag + span {
  font-family: pictos;
  font-style: normal;
}

• Learn SCSS/SASS
• Online Compilers: sassmeister playground | cssportal.com
• Beginner's Guide to Using SCSS
• Basic SCSS Nesting
• The processor is called SASS,
  • SCSS is the more common syntax used, as it's compatible with pure CSS.
  • the SASS syntax doesn't use brackets(but is otherwise same as SCSS). SASS-syntax seems to be less used.
• Guides to SASS/SCSS should be interchangeable, apart from using or not using CSS's curly bracket syntax

Examples, Sheets, & Sheet template made with SASS:

• Example snippets of SCSS & PUG, by Andreas J.
• K-Scaffold - by Scott C.
• Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4e Official - well structured & modular scss
• SheetTemplate by Cassie
• Barbaric! sheet using only a bit of scss, by Andreas J.
• Stargate RPG active sheet using some PUG & SCSS, by Andreas J.
• there are several sheets in the sheet repository made using either or both, you can search through it to find more examples

Handlebars

Suggestion by Primal Zed

thread^(Forum)

Pros:

• Looks like HTML (or whatever file type you're templating), with handlebars blocks added in
• Inject data values anywhere directly into the HTML
• Can yield benefit with little effort - sheet authors can use as much or as little as they want
• Handlebars blocks have opening and close tags similar to HTML
• Easy to add new templates for re-use and organization

Cons:

• Involves new syntax to learn and helpers to understand
  • Built-In Helpers
  • For advanced use: Additional Helpers
  • For advanced use: Repeat Helper
• Requires Node.js installation and some command lines

Bootstrap

There are a number of sheets in the repository that have been built with Bootstrap, but using it for sheet development is a bit on the heavy side, and can have a higher bar to get started with than only using pre-prosessors like PUG and SASS.

Git/GitHub

• Beginner's Guide to GitHub(Roll20)
• Short Git Guide - A guide to using the command line version of Git to work on your computer, instead of GitHub Desktop

Install the Pull App to GitHub

Be sure to create separate branches on your fork for editing since the PULL bot might overwrite your master-branch when syncing with the Roll20 repository. Use at your own risk.

Pull App is a GitHub bot that can automatically watch and pull in Roll20's upstream default master-branch to your fork using hard reset every few hours. You can also manually trigger it anytime.

Failure to keep your GitHub fork in sync with the master repo can create merge conflicts causing a pull request to be rejected or delayed. The Pull App can help automate this process and keep your fork in sync with Roll20's master-branch.

While the Pull App will sync in the background every few hours, it is recommended that you manually run the bot before creating a branch for editing to ensure your fork's master-branch is in sync with Roll20's most current master-branch.

Use Branches in GitHub

Do not make changes to your GitHub master-branch. Instead make a branch from master to do all upgrades there. Submit pull request to the Roll20 repo directly from a branch. This is a safe way to do version control and will improve the integrity of your work.

Pattern Libraries & Components

Main Page: Character Sheet Development/Pattern Libraries

• K-Scaffold - A Roll20 sheet framework - by Scott C.
  • Examples & Demo^(Forum)
  • Sheet Author's Journey - a sheet dev tutorial using K-Scaffold
• Roll20 Snippets - Char sheet & API code snippets - maintained by Scott C.
• Roll20Async - framework to support for asynchronous code in Roll20 Sheetworkers
• The Aaron Sheet - A facade for Sheet Worker Tasks and Utility Functions, including stylized console.log messaging.
• RepeatingSum - sheetworker snippets to make it simple to sum up info on repeating sections
• Cassie's pattern library - various HTML/CSS/JS snippets & design patterns. Feb 2020, LCS

• Roll20 Sheet Dev (VS Code Extension) - contains some code snippets for common roll20 sheet components - by Andreas J.

Advanced Sheet Features

Statblock Importer

Some sheets have integrated options to import sheets to Roll20, such as for plaintext or .json statblocks.

Existing Sheets with integrated import functions:

• Mutants & Masterminds 3E Official -herolab importer
• Pathfinder Community Sheet - herolab importer
• Official Savage Worlds - json importer
• Shadowrun5thEdition
  &
  Shadowrun5th
  both have Chummer importers
• GeneFunk2090 statblock importer
• Mythras
  json importer

Some sheets have instead a separate API for this purpose.

GM Screen

Sometimes just an NPC sheet isn't enough, and it would be beneficial for the GM to have a GM Screen built into the sheet.

Changelog and Update Notification inside Sheet

The GURPS sheet displaying the latest sheet update notice.

If you a lots of changes to a sheet, or want to make sure that all users of the sheet are informed of the updates, you could integrate the sheet changelog & notification into the sheet, so next time they open a sheet their sheet they seem the update notice, & can dismiss them at will.

Alternatively, the changelog could be placed on a separate tab, such as folded it into the Settings-tab

The team behind the GURPS character sheet is a great example of incorporating a comprehensive changelog into the sheet, with a collapsible notice of the latest update/message from the sheet authors, and is non-obstructive even when not dismissed.

• GURPS 4E sourcecode
• https://app.roll20.net/forum/post/10732652/notifying-users-of-changes-to-sheet

Sharing code/collaboration

If you need to share larger parts of a sheets code with others on the Roll20 forums or somewhere else quickly, using GitHub Gist to share the full sheet is a smart alternative to Dropbox/Google Drive/Pastebin.

The "Revisions" tab of a gist shows clearly code changes between revisions, so tracking what have changed makes things easier for you and others.

• hilite.me can be used to convert your code to pretty html-formatted code that's very clear when copypasted to the forums. (Trick by The Aaron)

Related Pages

• Sheet Sandbox – the better editor to use when you code your character sheets
• Javascript:Best Practices
• Sheet Author's Journey - tutorial
• Andreas Guide to Sheet Development - general advice & mentions of things to consider when developing sheets
• Building Character Sheets - main article
  • CSS Wizardry - List of Tips & Tricks on how to create a variety of effects on your character sheet
  • Designing Character Sheet Layout - tips on how to best design the broad strokes of a character sheet
  • Default Sheet Settings - Customize default settings and values of new character sheets added to a campaigns
  • List of all pages related to "Character Sheet Creation"
• Reusing Rolls - Recent macro-related discovery that have uses for character sheet rolls

See Also

• Community
  • Roll20 Forums - Character Sheets & Compendiums^(Forum) - Best place for discussing Sheets with other Sheet Authors, and to get clatest info
  • Unofficial Roll20 Discord - The Discord server have two channels for discussing Character Sheet Creation, and many active Sheet Authors are present.
• Google's HTML/CSS Styleguide
• css-tricks.com Style Guides collection
  • is() pseudo-class
• Sheet Templates/Examples
• PT1 coding a Roll20 Character Sheet 40min (April 2021)