Input requested re: character list in CensusPlus

Post by **bringoutyourdead** » Thu Oct 24, 2013 9:18 pm

I'm very close to finishing the first updates of CensusPlus to handle the Connected realms. All the coding to display valid data under all the various selectors in the Character list window.

This part of the code hasn't work as originally intended since.. I haven't a clue... before WoW 2.3 the earliest version I've found.

Originally you would have seen: Character name, level, class, last seen
by 2.3 this list had morphed to: Character name, level, guild, last seen - except last seen by then had slipped from the code.
So what we saw before WoW 5.4 was: Character name, level, guild, UNKNOWN

The character list window can handle four data items per line.
The following data can be associated within the character list window: CharacterName, RealmName, faction, Race, Class, Guild, Level, GuildRealm, LastSeen.

CharacterName is required, Level probably also... which leaves two fields.

The Character List windows can be seen under the following selector conditions:
A) unselected realm (either single or connected superset realm), and any combination of race/class/level selectors.
B) selected realm (single or connected member realm), with guilds list active and any combination of race/class/level selectors.
C) selected realm and guild, and any combination of race/class/level selectors.

My thoughts are:
A) Character Name, level, Realm, LastSeen.(or maybe Guild)
B) Character Name, level, Guild, GuildRealm (or maybe LastSeen)
C) Character Name, level, Realm, LastSeen

My reasoning:
Race and Class aren't needed in this list as they can be determined by the selector options. Level since it only takes two places (later 3) might as well be in the list.
A) Realm is most useful since you can use that to determine which realm you want to select. Guild isn't that useful since we don't have room for the needed GuildRealm.
B) Guild and GuildRealm are the most useful here.
C) Now we are triggering from Guild out and not Realm out so we need Realm to see where the Character logs in on.

Can you see something I'm missing???

My B) might be a problem when both Realm and GuildRealm are long names.

1974ER · Post by **1974ER** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 1:54 am

In my opinion you are not missing anything vital, because there is basically only one safe option, which is to use: Character Name, level, Realm, LastSeen.

Those four are properties which by default all characters must possess to exist for our purposes. A significant portion of characters are not members of any guild, so anything guild related is secondary and it suffices that is correctly saved into the .lua upon logout.

FuxieDK · Post by **FuxieDK** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 6:47 am

I'm still debating with myself, if I understand all of it..

But, asuming I have understood correctly, the most important things to store is: Name, level, guild and date. These four are 100% crusial for data integrity..
Class, Race, Faction (damn pandas) and Realm are also important, but already stored at a higher level...

Post by **bringoutyourdead** » Fri Oct 25, 2013 6:16 pm

It isn't about storing.. instead it is about what do display in game.

Balgair · Post by **Balgair** » Sat Oct 26, 2013 5:27 am

No great opinion either way here, your suggestions seem to work well to me. Maybe LastSeen instead of Guildrealm on B; LastSeen is a pretty nice piece of info for people who keep census records for some time, and it's less likely to end up with a massive long line of text messing up the window

Post by **bringoutyourdead** » Sat Oct 26, 2013 5:19 pm

Here is a spacing screenshot... not a final layout.

the GuildRealm label will change as needed and the LastSeen will also change.
I widened the character sub-window and adjusted spacing to improve layout to allow header and tail data. I also widened the Guild/realm column.. I expect I'll do more of both to better accommodate last_seen/Guild/GuildRealm pending what gets put into that column.