DOL Class Editor

[Christopher]

Hello out there

the last week I've kept myself busy with some work on my class editor.
I've just achieved a version which I think is worth a first release to see what you people think about it.
This tool uses the new data career system so you can create your classes nearly by just using this little tool.
Features:
- Create and Edit Specializations
- Create and Edit Spelllines
- Create and Edit Spells

planned(near fututre):
- Create and Edit Abilities
- Create and Edit Styles
- Setup classes and link specializations to them

planned(longterm):
- Make a full Server Manager out of this with lots of more features
- Create Custom Playerclass Sourcefiles via this tool (no coding needed)

Please do tell me anything you would like to have improved and most important tell me what you dont like about it.
And yep, it is Java (I was born with it ).
You can download the program here:

DOL_Class_Editor.zip

(1.7 MiB) Downloaded 153 times

and here, have some screens I created while playing around with the tool

spells_screen.png (69.24 KiB) Viewed 6149 times

spelllines_screen.png (69.12 KiB) Viewed 6149 times

specialization_screen.png (56.48 KiB) Viewed 6149 times

[Leodagan]

Hello Christopher thanks for you work

Just to say, I'm a former PHP/Java Developer, C# have not been a "step stone" but a "salvation"...

Coming from Java "Too Much Constraints, Compiler is GOD !" and PHP "you can do any dirty code, it'll work !", I really like C# for offering mostly both approach !(and I'm not talking about weak or strong typing, but about lambda, anonymous methods, generics, properties, operator overload, class extensions, LINQ !! All these mostly don't exists in Java and especially their "False Generics")

Using Java to work around DOL is not a great idea,
- You'll have to rewrite mostly all the "base" DOL libraries to mimic server behavior, where most other "Compiled" Tools are linking to DOLBase.dll and GameServer.dll
- You won't be able to directly link to C# DLL to use existing methods or updated distribution, there is already a ServerManager Projet in C# that is getting too old to link to actual DOL DLL but it can be easily fixed by just updating method and function signatures, this won't be possible with a Java side-project...

[Christopher]

Hey Leodagan,

I'm currently working hard to get into C# (reading DOL Code, reading DOL Scripts, trying out selfwritten scripts, ..) and I really do like it. But it takes time . So I totally agree with you in many points.

To keep myself being productive I started the Class Editor project and I don't really get your point belonging to this.
All the program does is communicating with mySQL database of my server. So actually I'm not using anything related to DOL to modify the tables.

Am I doing something fundamentally wrong?

regards
Chris

[Leodagan]

No at all

Experiencing any kind of software using your favorite language is a great way to build meaningful projects

It's just that for me most kind of server editor should use the DOL libraries to be sure they match the server behavior, for example when you'll need to implement Master Level Editor or Champion Level Skills Editor, you'll have to implement the code from DOL in your own Java Project. And as I did wrote Data Career code I can tell you there is some "weirdness" in Master Levels and even more "weirdness" in Champion Level Skills...

There is so much "weirdness" in Champion Level Skills that I will mostly rewrite this code soon enough (especially since new Champion Level Live update have changed a lot of expected behavior from these skills !) and you may have to update all your own Java Code again...

I know this can be frustrating to lose productivity when learning a new language, that we can have some developer preference for specific language/framework/IDE (I didn't wanted to code for DOL at the beginning because of .NET technology, Hopefully Mono gave me a good result with even latest .NET implementation and allowed me to be sure I would still be able to run this project on my own long standing GNU setup !), and above all of this it's pain in the ass when you need 2hours to build something you would have done in 15 min using your "weapon of choice" language

But All this is just a strong Advice, I worked with a skillful PHP developer on Freyad, he used powerful abstraction framework and database search engine extension to build some light server editor project, he got stuck during display implementation, DOL had so much "weird" behavior that he needed to build specific data structure to hold constants matching these behavior and implementing specific code for all of them, on my side I was changing DOL code on a weekly basis, and he needed to change it's own PHP implementation most of time, he finally quit before implementing anything that would allow editing, leaving a well working DOL Object Search Engine (but totally not the expected result)

To sum up, use any language you like, but you should really try to "bind" on DOL libraries like GameServer.DLL (and doing this in any language could be much harder than just working in C#, but if you can bind DOL in an other language that would be a great job !)

[Graveen]

Ah ah i agree with Leodagan, especially his 1st post

Good work mate ! Anyway, did you give a look at existing tools such as ItemCreator & Spell Creator (Creator Suite from Merecs) available in the DOL SVN ?

Interested to continue the efforts on theses tools ? It lacks a SpellLine creator / Editor since Leodagan revamped it :p

[Christopher]

Hey,
yep I had a look on these. Ultimately I might really be interested to continue these tools - but with my current C# knowledge I wont be able to do that. But to be honest, it is more likely that I start my own C# Item/Class Editor because the reason I started this java project was that I didn't like the workflow of merecs tools (sorry, no offense - thats just my personal feeling about it).

Regards
Chris

[Leodagan]

Hey,
yep I had a look on these. Ultimately I might really be interested to continue these tools - but with my current C# knowledge I wont be able to do that. But to be honest, it is more likely that I start my own C# Item/Class Editor because the reason I started this java project was that I didn't like the workflow of merecs tools (sorry, no offense - thats just my personal feeling about it).

Regards
Chris

Hey Christopher,

If you'd like a different workflow you may be interested in some project I'm working on :

https://github.com/dol-leodagan/DOLNancyWeb

It's a DOL embedded web server using C# Nancy Framework, my current advancement allows Authentication against DOL Account Table, Model Viewers using "Scripted" HTML files, Static Content serving for JS/CSS/Img
It's kind of MVC (Model/View/Controller), Controller is your "Module" Subclass declaring Routes, Model is a Dynamic Object (Dictionary like) that can use Property Getters to run custom methods, View are HTML scripted Templates

I'll describe this Project Later in a dedicated Topic, I need to finish some security and find how to use Template that can include themselves (to have some kind of Master Page with Header/Menu/Footer Sub Models...)

[psyco]

This looks like a really awesome tool but I haven't been able to get it to successfully connect with my DB. I have no clue what I am doing wrong. I have attached screenshots of my dolconfig.exe the Dol class editor. for port i have tried 3306 10300 and 10400 just to be sure and have come to the same result every time. a little help would be greatly appreciated.

[Graveen]

Port is always 3306 for 3rd tools - this is the DB port.

Sadly i have never tested this tool, perhaps it is no longer compatible ?

++

[LugusSkye]

go to application events in control panel and see if any errors getting logged when you try to connect. that would help a lot. like Graveen says it is probably incompatible to current DOL DB, maybe it is looking for certain columns or table structure. application error log might give you that info. gl.

[LugusSkye]

*@forum_admin - tried posting here few times and none of my posts see the light of day*

i suggest you open applications logs under computer management and see if any errors occur while you open Class Editor and/or try to connect to DB. I have a feeling the problem lies in table structure being outdated and some column(s) might be missing or renamed. Do let us know if you see any errors in logs.

[Graveen]

@Lugusskye should be ok now you're correctly validated.

[LugusSkye]

@Lugusskye should be ok now you're correctly validated.

Thanks! I'll try to be a valuable contributor to this project.