Bulk Topics

[RampagingHoardes]

Ok, So I took a break from my main world I am building from scratch as I have some folks that wanted me to run some modules. What I am finding is that it is very time consuming to get this information in.

Is there a way to create bulk topics? (not quick create that is still too slow) It seems that this would already be possible but I haven't found it in the documentation.

I am finding it quickest to build out the structure first and then go back and make the changes.


So Can I create say 30 topics at once? Place them in a desired container and then move on to the next section? This really would make so much easier.

I am now doing the 30 individually and then going back to each one When you have adventures that have 100+ locations for a smaller module this really is a necessity.

thanks

[MaxSupernova]

Something similar is here: http://forums.wolflair.com/showthrea...ultiple+select

There have been a few ideas hidden among other requests to allow selection and action on multiple items at once, but I'm not sure if there's a single feature request that really covers it.

[RampagingHoardes]

Originally Posted by MaxSupernova

Something similar is here: http://forums.wolflair.com/showthrea...ultiple+select

There have been a few ideas hidden among other requests to allow selection and action on multiple items at once, but I'm not sure if there's a single feature request that really covers it.

It looks like that is about editing but that is also a must. I haven't gotten to the point where I am screaming cause I can't do that but I have ran into some situations already where it would be very handy. The topic creation bottleneck though is really a killer at least for me. I plan on entering the top modules in greyhawk to run so that is a lot of material.

[rob]

If you're entering everything for a given area at the same time, the usage workflow is currently as follows:

1. Press <ctrl-Q> to bring up the Quick Create dialog.
2. Enter the topic name and configure the appropriate container and tags.
3. Confirm the create.
4. Press <ctrl-Q> to bring up the Quick Create dialog.
5. Enter the topic name - everything else defaults to its last setting, so nothing needs to be touched.
6. Press <Enter> to confirm the create.
7. Repeat steps 4-6 a bunch of times.

I'm not understanding how you could do the topic creation any faster than that via any other mechanism. So you'll need to provide me with some idea of what you're expecting here.

You have to enter the name of each topic, and this approach entails pressing <ctrl-Q>, entering the topic name, and then pressing <Enter>. Let's say you create 30 topics all named "Unnamed". In order to change the topic name for each of those, it will entail more work than the process using Quick Create. How does batch creation like you're requesting actually speed things up? What am I missing?

[Pollution]

You could also Create a topic, name it, and then duplicate it (make copies) until you have the ones you want.

So for Sandpoint NPCs, you'd create Individual in Sandpoint's container, don't enter stuff in, just make it.
Then you'd click the topic in the navigation pane and select duplicate topic in this category (or something like that).
It makes a copy named Unnamed (Copy) for instance.
Do it again, and again, and again, and again
Go back and rename them all
Enter their info one at a time, or section by section.
Say you have a generic NPC note, put that in the first, copy it and paste it whenever you need it in one go. ("The players have not met this NPC yet" for instance)

I find the duplicate topic's only issue is the very long names it comes up with after duplicating a lot Bob (Copy) (Copy) (Copy) (Copy) (Copy) (Copy) (Copy) for instance. But it CAN be faster than <ctrl-Q> You just need to put the cursor in the name, <ctrl-A> then type your new name to clear out all that garbage it makes.

[MaxSupernova]

I'm not sure how creating 30 topics named "UNNAMED" and then going back to edit them all to change the name is any faster than quick-creating a topic, entering a name and then quick-creating another one.

The difference between those two is that in one you go to your list of UNNAMED topics, click on one, click edit, enter a new name and start adding information.

In the other you hit CTRL-Q, enter a name, click edit and start adding information.

Where's the advantage to having pre-created a long list of empty unnamed topics?

[Teresa]

Building on Pollution's suggestion, if you know you are going to create a lot of topics with similar content, create a base-topic with the information before copying it as many times as needed - that way you don't need to re-enter the same information for each new topic.

[rob]

Originally Posted by Pollution

I find the duplicate topic's only issue is the very long names it comes up with after duplicating a lot Bob (Copy) (Copy) (Copy) (Copy) (Copy) (Copy) (Copy) for instance. But it CAN be faster than <ctrl-Q> You just need to put the cursor in the name, <ctrl-A> then type your new name to clear out all that garbage it makes.

This behavior is exactly the same as Windows and other programs. If you want to have the naming logic be improved, go back and start with the original topic. For example, create Bob, then duplicate it. Then return to Bob and duplicate it again. You'll get pretty good naming results that way. You can return to the previous topic easily because it's in the history. And the history is instantly accessible via the <alt+leftarrow> keyboard shortcut.

That being said, I'm in the same boat with @MaxSupernova in questioning the overall utility of the approach. But if that approach works better for you, then by all means use it!

[Pollution]

Originally Posted by rob

This behavior is exactly the same as Windows and other programs. If you want to have the naming logic be improved, go back and start with the original topic. For example, create Bob, then duplicate it. Then return to Bob and duplicate it again. You'll get pretty good naming results that way. You can return to the previous topic easily because it's in the history. And the history is instantly accessible via the <alt+leftarrow> keyboard shortcut.

That being said, I'm in the same boat with @MaxSupernova in questioning the overall utility of the approach. But if that approach works better for you, then by all means use it!

That's actually even better, yeah.

My point was that if you're setting up say....10 npcs for example, all belong to the same family, have the same Stats, have something in all of them that you're going to be reentering over and over, fill out the first, then duplicate it til you have enough.

And, good point on the duplicate Bob, not Bob Copy.

I've done this more than a few times, getting certain things in my realm the way I want them. Traps, spells, Scenes, etc... I like to format my text in weird ways, so a room with a trap, would have the trap entered as a 2x3 header for the name of the trap, the xp, the CR, or the HP, or whatever. Then under it, is formatted text saying Trigger, Caster Level, Effect, whatever as bolded text with details. Oh, and it's all indented and formatted nicely.

By duplicating a generic Trap room, you keep all the info you painstakingly entered exactly as you wanted, and only need to rename, fill out the description, any creatures in the room, etc...

This method probably saved me 2 hours when entering Missgivings for RotRL. Those Haunts needed to stand out, and I wanted the Target's X Player prominent so that I'd see it at a glance. I wanted consistency for the appearance. By duplicating, I saved a TON of time on spacing, fonting, coloring, creating tables, changing the background, changing the text color, etc.... I duplicate the image below now whenever I have a Haunt, and have similar snipits for traps that I reuse over and over.

[rob]

One of the zillion things on our todo list is to support templated snippets. When you define the snippet type on the category, it has an associated document. This document would typically be a structured form with a bunch of blanks to fill in. Whenever a new snippet of that type is added to a topic (or when auto-added on creation), the template document would be put into the snippet. Now all you need to do is edit the contents to put the pertinent bit of info in the right places. This would make it easy to setup the stuff that you're doing in your example and describing here.

I guess I should add this option to the horribly long list of stuff on the survey, since it sounds like a number of folks are duplicating topics to achieve the equivalent of this.

And I'm trying to pare the survey DOWN right now. Ugh.