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View Full Version : alonlinetools.net FGCharacterSheet no longer working with recent update?


Chadarius
February 22nd, 2021, 18:57
I often use https://www.alonlinetools.net/FGCharacterSheet.aspx to make PDF files for my players so they can reference their characters offline or if they don't have a PC/Mac to connect to the game with (sure would be awesome to get a web client just for chat and to roll dice!).

My players recently leveled up to 5. All of the new XML exports do not work at alonlinetools.net. All of the level 4 exports I did previously do work. Did something change with the XML format recently that would break this? The website is really quite a nice utility. I wish Fantasy Grounds had this capability built in to be able to take an xslt file template and export a character xml as a PDF.

Anyone else having the same issue?

I sent them an email but I thought it might be handy to post here as well.
Moon Wizard
February 22nd, 2021, 21:54
There is nothing in the XML format for characters that has changed recently.

Have you reached out to the person who made the tools to inquire?

Regards,
JPG
Chadarius
February 22nd, 2021, 22:42
Yes I emailed via their contact form. I'm really hoping I can figure it out. My daughters' group that I DM for has 3 remote 11 year old girls that need the PDFs because they only have an iPad or ChromeOS device. I've looked at two other PDF makers listed on the forums here. The Java one doesn't work on must of them, but the Windows one I found seems to be OK. Neither of them are nearly as good as this online version though. It prints out all the inventory and spell information in detail. Its very nice! :)
Ludd_G
February 22nd, 2021, 22:55
This may serve as an alternative? It's a paid program though, and only just released, but I think the developer is committed to maintaining and improving from feedback received. I own it, but haven't had time to put it through it's paces yet so can't comment directly on its efficacy:

https://www.dmsguild.com/product/347396/Fantasy-Grounds-Character-Manager?src=hottest_filtered&filters=0_0_0_0_0_0_45545_0_0

(if it's half as good as it looks, I think it'll be an amazing resource!)
Chadarius
February 22nd, 2021, 23:14
Oh wow that looks cool! I'm going to give it a try. :)
BaneTBC
February 24th, 2021, 04:39
Yeah, I recently picked that program myself, the developer has been great on helping with things or making changes\corrections. He also came up with a viable way to pull information from FG to be able to use when streaming to populate game stats.
Milmoor
February 24th, 2021, 17:06
I get a "file uploaded" at alonlinetools.net, older exports still work. I'll compare two recent exports this weekend to look for a difference. The Character Manager will be a good replacement though.
Chadarius
February 24th, 2021, 18:08
Yeah I get the "file uploaded" too.
pablomaz
March 5th, 2021, 23:25
This may serve as an alternative? It's a paid program though, and only just released, but I think the developer is committed to maintaining and improving from feedback received. I own it, but haven't had time to put it through it's paces yet so can't comment directly on its efficacy:

https://www.dmsguild.com/product/347396/Fantasy-Grounds-Character-Manager?src=hottest_filtered&filters=0_0_0_0_0_0_45545_0_0

(if it's half as good as it looks, I think it'll be an amazing resource!)

It works like a charm. Purchased it the other day.
Milmoor
March 6th, 2021, 18:08
I get a "file uploaded" at alonlinetools.net, older exports still work. I'll compare two recent exports this weekend to look for a difference. The Character Manager will be a good replacement though.
Not last weekend, nor this weekend, but will do someday. But please don't hold your breath for it.
Milmoor
March 19th, 2021, 15:15
It took a while, but I did find out what changed. It's the initial part of the XML which causes problems. The culprit is the second line. If you change that back to the old version, the site prints again. It probably doesn't recognize it as a character sheet any more. You'll have to do this in each export.

I had some other errors at creation of the sheet, but those disappeared by magic. My mending cantrip must have fixed it by accident.

Old
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
<root version="3.3" release="8|CoreRPG:4">

New
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<root version="4" dataversion="20201016" release="8.1|CoreRPG:4.1">

Something you might not know: if you create an account, you can upload character images. If you select a character, choose "Large Font", that image will be printed on the sheet.
Griogre
March 19th, 2021, 20:16
Ah the old XML one is for FGC and the new one for FGU.
Milmoor
March 19th, 2021, 22:01
Ah the old XML one is for FGC and the new one for FGU.

I'm not sure about timing. I switched to FGU this year and thought I had used it with that site, but I'm not certain. Thought it was a major general FG update which changed this myself, but could very well be wrong there.
Milmoor
March 19th, 2021, 22:30
Oh wow that looks cool! I'm going to give it a try. :)
I mix and match both tools at the moment. The site had a nicer looking sheet, with an image. The program has better looking reference material.
DM_BK
March 27th, 2021, 03:44
The site definitely worked with FGU as of a month-ish ago.
Milmoor
March 27th, 2021, 20:23
The site definitely worked with FGU as of a month-ish ago.
Thought so as well, but wasn't sure about the timing. So the character sheet was changed. A simple replacement of the second line in the XML will fix it.
Laerun
September 24th, 2021, 22:52
@milmoor thanks, you inspired me to test this out again and make this graphic!

49268
Milmoor
September 25th, 2021, 12:20
That might be useful for some. Did you know you can add a portrait to the sheet?
https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?22440-5E-Character-sheet-from-XML&p=553355&viewfull=1#post553355
Rylan Storm
September 28th, 2021, 13:35
Does anyone else know of a way to convert XML files to PDFs at the moment? I can't justify $10 at the moment. I've just paid for 2 new hardbacks, plus their digital equivalents and a bunch of tokens.
Milmoor
September 28th, 2021, 15:10
Does anyone else know of a way to convert XML files to PDFs at the moment? I can't justify $10 at the moment. I've just paid for 2 new hardbacks, plus their digital equivalents and a bunch of tokens.
How about this one: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?48045-Utility-FG-Print-Tool-(Print-campaigns-or-character-sheets)
And this may sound silly: printscreen and just capture the relevant pages of the FantasyGrounds sheet?