Joining the Data Team

Data Team Q&A

Welcome, you've decided to Join the PCGen Project and would like to join the illustrious Data Monkeys (Also known as Lst Monkeys). That's something we like to hear.  :)

QUESTION: I was wondering what would be required. How much time (per week) would be asked for example?

ANSWER: The amount of time you volunteer is strictly up to you. That's why it's called being a volunteer  ;) Give 10 minutes, or 12 hours, nobody logs your time, and nobody will hound you. Though from time to time we do check up on each other to see how things are going. If you need a break, or real life comes at you, then don't code. Above all else, family comes first. We understand. Again, do what you can, when you can.

QUESTION: Would I be required to buy a copy of the books being coded?

ANSWER: Buying the books - Well, that is a personal choice. In some cases, the publisher will give us a book (normally in pdf format) to use for the use of coding up the book for pcgen (This is pretty frequent, especially when the publisher wants a data set ready to go at release time, or wants to promote their book at an upcoming event). In other cases another user will buy a book for the data monkey to use to make the set (I've had this happen twice that I can recall for myself). If it's something you really want included, then naturally I'd expect you would already own the book. Again, it all boils down to what you want.

QUESTION: I can dedicate some time to coding. What would I be required to do?

ANSWER: Excellent. The other great thing about being a volunteer, you get to choose what you want to do.

For data monkeys the following are good choices to look for things to do or work on:

• Data Bug Fixing
• Data Feature Requests
• Data Wish list (User submitted requests for book inclusion in PCGen)
• Coding up a book you want to see included in PCGen.
  • (My personal favorite, you really get to be creative and make an entire book come together, though this is one of the more challenging tasks a data monkey takes on, both in time spent and figuring out how to make things work as the publisher intended)

If you need help, direction, guidance, or anything else, your best resources are Data Chimps, the really experienced monkeys. Additionally anyone on the data team can give tips, advice and get you started. Your current best resources are Eddy Anthony, Andrew Maitland, Tir Gwaith and Eric Smith (And numerous other monkeys that tend to remain hidden). Eric is an excellent resource since he's the Publisher Liaison, he's spot on when it comes to what books have been approved for inclusion, which ones we can't include and which publishers we need to contact. I suggest asking him first if you don't see a publisher listed before coding up a book for PCGen. For the list, you'll want to check out HERE

QUESTION: I have some coding/scripting experience with other things. Can I contribute to other teams?

ANSWER: Yes, as a volunteer project, you can choose which teams to be on and where to focus your efforts. Be mindful that different teams have different requirements to join, and rules... Check with the Silverback (The Team Leader) of the other team for more information.

Another Great Resource is our PCGenListFileHelp Yahoo Group. We have several helpful monkeys that hang around that list to give out advice and tips.

QUESTION: What should I begin working on?

ANSWER: Well, let me ask you this, is there anything you want to do? Cause if you stand around and say, 'hey, what can I do for you?' you'll get a full plate really fast. Beyond that, we can always scrounge up a few easier tasks to get your feet wet, if that is what you want to do.

Beyond that, never be afraid to ask questions. Others lurk and wait for someone else to ask questions so they can learn a thing or two.

Tools to make a Data Monkeys' Life Easier

Experienced Chimps are just like professional workers. They use tools to simplify their work and make things go along smoother. You should make your life easier, after all, we only have so much free time, might as well spend it wisely. :)

The first tool is a good text editor w/ syntax highlighting.

Some good choices out there:

• EditPlus (Shareware for 30 days I believe)
• Crimson Editor/Emerald Editor (Freeware)
• Kate
• CONText
• BBEdit
• jEDit
• PSPad
• Textpad
• UltraEdit
• vim

All of these have PCGen specific syntax highlighters. There are other good text editors, but you would need to create your own syntax highlighter.

Another handy tool is called PrettyLst. It cleans up the file, and is the first line debugger for catching mistakes and organizes your files into those clean columns.

Our greatest resource by far is the Lst Tag Index which is the repository for ALL the tokens we use in the lst files.

The Documents are your best friend. They also hold the basic standard settings you should use for any text editor

SVN client. Our code and data is stored in an excellent SVN repository. This allows mulitple people to edit the same files, and get all the correct changes, or see what was changed to any given file. It allows us to roll-back any changes that are detrimental.

There are good svn clients out there... The most popular are:

• TortoiseSVN
• SmartSVN
• SmartClipse (Part of the Eclipse Package) - This is an advanced tool, I recommend sticking with one of the others above, unless you are already familiar and competent with it.
• There are others, but ultimately your choice is based on system and preference.

Rules for new Lst Monkeys

It's best not to mess with any core set (SRD, RSRD, MSRD) unless you have prior approval from the Content Silverback. If you break a core set, that will affect all the supplement sets that rely on it.

Good Practices - You should test your changes. Run PrettyLst, then load it up in PCGen. PCGen itself is a great debugger tool, highlighting any potential problems you need to look at.

Ask if you have a question regarding code interactions. A simple change might have unintended consequences.

Don't fret if you accidentally break something. It happens to all of us. If you don't know how to fix it, let one of the other data monkeys know and they can either help you through it, or fix it.