Additional Export Types

[rpoteat]

Hi Gary!

Hope you had a fantastic summer break. I've come up with another request for voice attack.

I hope you will be able to give us 2 more ways to export our profiles. While the export to html cheat sheet is workable, it can sometimes involve additional steps, and there is another factor I wish to bring up, hence I've come to you with this request.

The first export type is .pdf (adobe) format. This could allow us to create .pdf cheat sheets. Granted, we can do this now simply by converting the webpage, and I would understand if this were not possible to do.

The second is a bit more important to me. I would love to have the ability to export a profile in .csv (spreadsheet-compatible) format. for some of my coding, or references, I find that spreadsheets give me a few options voice attack doesn't (for example, I can sort on description, and then alphabetically by name within each description). this at times makes working with a profile, or creating command sheets much easier. The ability to have this feature would, I believe, be a welcome feature for everyone. (those in favor, please leave a comment) 

Now for the challenging part of this request. My understanding of the .vap files is that they are basically "specialized" .xml files. However from what I've understood, the serializer is very specific about formatting. In addition to this, a command's context can change depending on the command type. (Hope I'm saying that correctly). This makes it difficult to create an xml file in another program that would be compatible with voice attack. At least that is what I've found in my admittedly limited experience.

I'm wondering if, while creating an "export to csv" option, there is a way to create a "guide" or "list" of rules for .vap files? Having the rules for creating a voice attack compatible .vap file, could open up profile creation for other community developers. Currently, I'm invested in the game Elite Dangerous. Having a ruleset for .vap files for me means that it would be possible for applications such as ED Discovery, or ED Engineer to gain the option of exporting their data in vap format. It also means sites like Elite: Dangerous Star Map, INARA, and Elite: Dangerous Database would also have the option of exporting trade or exploration routes in vap format for use with voice attack.

Also, I lean a bit more to a "visual" style of programming. sometimes I have to use a flowchart creator to map out a profile before coding it in voice attack. knowing how to create a .vap file means I can do all the basics in my visual program, then export them in vap file format that would be compatible with voice attack, where I can then finalize any detailed scripting needed.

Now, I realize this could mean many hours, days, or even weeks going over code that's years old now, also it may not be used by a vast majority of users, nor could it bring in a host of new users. But what it would do is give the small minority of your fan base who do write huge amounts of code a tool we could use to bring more variety to voice attack. Additionally, it could open doors for you with indie developers that might not exist otherwise. This is part of the reason I'm asking (and I'd really love to be able to use ED Discovery to plot an exploration route, export it to .vap format, and then import that route into voice attack and have it work). 

Thanks for reading,
Lensman
 

[Gary]

I'm probably not going to have an, 'export as pdf', as you said the browser can do that.  While not terribly a big deal,  I would have to purchase and/or maintain another component that would have to ship and install for a very limited number of users.  Good idea, though.

I'll look into the .csv export, as that wouldn't require a component... it would just be text

In the meantime, while I was in fixing another issue, I've thrown in the ability to sort the column headers in the generated html with minimal overhead... just for those that may need to do that in a simple fashion (sans Excel/Libre).

As far as providing an api for generating .vap files, I'll add that to the research list