Custom Output

[Movian]

Hey,
I just started looking through some of the custom outputs that hero lab offers as far as exporting your pathfinder character. After which i noticed that a few of the other formats have some nice features i would like on some of the other formats. So my question is what resources can people suggest for me to look at with regards to generating a custom output.

(essentially my short term goal is to generate a PDF output similar to the standard Hero Lab PDF but with the color coding of AncientOnesCustomizable Pathfinder sheet. It makes it so much easier to locate the specific numbers your looking for quickly, and when you at a PFS table time is limited so the faster i can get information the more likely we are to get through the whole session! )

 

[AncientOne]

Hey,
I just started looking through some of the custom outputs that hero lab offers as far as exporting your pathfinder character. After which i noticed that a few of the other formats have some nice features i would like on some of the other formats. So my question is what resources can people suggest for me to look at with regards to generating a custom output.

(essentially my short term goal is to generate a PDF output similar to the standard Hero Lab PDF but with the color coding of AncientOnesCustomizable Pathfinder sheet. It makes it so much easier to locate the specific numbers your looking for quickly, and when you at a PFS table time is limited so the faster i can get information the more likely we are to get through the whole session! )

To the best of my knowledge, there's no way to change the format of the standard Hero Lab output. I think you would need to create a custom output format which duplicates the standard output with the exception of whatever changes you're interested in. To create a custom output, you need to know/learn XSLT, HTML and CSS (at least). There's a starting guide in the Hero Lab help system.

However, as I understand it, the standard format doesn't derive from XML the way all of the custom formats do... which means that certain pieces of data that are available to the standard format aren't available to any custom format. That may or may not be a problem for you, depending on what features of the standard format you like.

(as always... feel free to let me know if there are features you would like to see in my sheet. I'm working on the next major update now, and will be including quite a few requests that have been made.)

 

[Movian]

Thanks for the info, and let me just say I really like your character sheet output! the color coding is an awesome feature, even with sheets i am familiar with im still looking around trying to find initiative, or my base attack bonus so i think that would really help. Also having the full ability descriptions and rules be able to print out too is a very nice touch.

I'm just USED to the look and feel of the standard HL sheets now though, so i was hoping to see if i could make a sheet that had the aesthetics i was after with the functionality you provide in yours that i liked!

I do know HTML, i know what CSS is and does but i don't have much practical experience with it and I'm presuming XSLT is similar to XML. Unfortunately on second thought for what i want the amount of learning and effort required is quite great.

Perhaps in the future you could have an option to more closely mimic the layout of the base HL sheets? but offer your extra functionality to it.

Again thanks for the great sheet design!