Table of Scenes & every possible story point on a single page

@bobRaskoph

Hi! I’d like to start by saying thank you for making such a useful tool, and I’ve used it to great success, but I’ve just today run into an issue with it.

A few weeks ago I used it to great success in Safari ver 6.0 (8536.25) on a Mac build, but when I tried bringing it up today, I got some exposed javascript; it misfires right before “var textBlob” is declared and prints the remainder to the screen. I’ve checked and javascript was indeed enabled when running; the graphic I’m providing to show the exposed javascript was taken from a different browser, though, for convenience of sharing. (I’ve put the graphic in a details tag here, so hopefully it doesn’t gum anything up). [details=Error]

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Now, I can get it to work in some Browsers, including Firefox and Chrome, but the output is missing the entire middle section. Image again in details tag. (Limited success in browsers Firefox 57.0.4 and Chrome 64.0.3282.167 on Windows 10). [details=Output]

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Thanks for your consideration.

To be completely honest, at this point I see two options for this thing:

  1. drop it entirely
  2. redo it entirely

and the first one seems way more appealing to me at the moment.

Why?

  • if I redid it, this would be the third time coding this thing. It’s simply not that interesting to rewrite code, especially since it isn’t a very interesting problem to solve in the first place: turn plain text into a table.
  • it involves parsing text (1) copy-pasted (2) from another software (3). That’s thee red flags in one sentence right there.
  • I will have to keep all common browsers in mind this time to avoid these annoying inconsistencies
  • When I first did this, I was unemployed and depressed. Doing anything useful at all was a change of pace. Now I have a job, and I code every single day.

I mean, there is also the third option of just leaving it as it is, but letting this garbage code rot in the void just seems kind of wrong.

I haven’t made my decision just yet. I will have to think about all of this further. I’ll let you folks know when the time comes.

I have a cached local copy that still seems to work*, though I wouldn’t be willing to distribute it without Bob’s permission (it’s his software).

@bobRaskoph – if the local copy works, does that mean it’s a problem with your hosting? Anyway, I support whatever you choose since I’m still in awe of the incredible effort you put into this thing to begin with!

* Tested with Windows 7: Chrome 64, Firefox 59, Firefox 53.

EDIT: a little while ago I was getting the same error as @Jaybird on the live site, but that error seems to have gone away – it’s working.

I totally understand, and I was a little worried (as a fellow programmer) about dragging you back in to something you only rarely touched.

No worries about the program. Whatever way you want to go with is fine.

@bobRaskoph please don’t trash it. I use it all the time when I storyform. It makes life so easy and for some of us who aren’t computer whizzes, its a godsend.

@bobRaskoph: I just discovered this tool at the end of last year, while I was doing NANOWRIMO. I can’t adequately express to you how useful it is to see the storyform all-in-one screen image. It’s since become a standard part of my creative process with all stories I write. Being able to chew on the holistic picture of the storyform while ideating, brainstorming, seeing relationships between elements, ping-ponging back and forth, it’s creatively inspiring. It’s a valuable and very useful tool, in my opinion, and if I haven’t adequately thanked you for it yet, then let me just say thank you very much @bobRaskoph for all your efforts putting this tool together, and I would surely miss it if it disappears. If there is anything I can do to help you update it, I would and will if so desired. I do not know programming. I can type. Tell me what to type, and I will do it if it is of any help.

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I just noticed this posting topic. I would like to try it out, but I just haven’t gotten to it, yet. You (or someone) could post what combination of computer and browser it does work with. Anyone using some very well known software programs that have gone subscription is very used to scrambling to make due, since upgrades make so many important programs we pay for not work with what we have done. Some of us keep older computers and earlier versions of software, previously purchased, just in case. just piping in, here, from the peanut gallery

@mlucas @decastell @Dan310 @Khodu @lant @jamjam1794 @Trevor @MiggsEye @Prish @Jaybird

Here’s how you can help me out:

  1. Go to this link with all your available browsers.
  2. Enter your Story Points Output and Plot Sequence Report (maybe copy it into a basic notepad, then copy that and paste into the website)
  3. See if it shows you the correct table
  4. See if it shows you a functioning Download Link (i.e. you can download the table, and the result is the table you see on the website)
  5. Repeat 2-4 with a few different Story Forms.
  6. Write here which browsers worked and which did not, and if it showed you an error message.

@mlucas you can share your local copy as much as you want. I don’t mind whatsoever.

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Hi @bobRaskoph . I just tried with Safari. I’ve always used Chrome and Firefox, but never Safari. AND IT WORKED!!! The Safari one worked like the eruption of a ripe pimple!(Bad simile I know…lol) But it worked and it’s better looking that the chrome one. The last one I used didn’t have this layout. Love it. It works beautifully.

There were issues with the storyform for The Sun Also Rises and Star Wars storyforms that come included in the software. I’ll attach an image of the error. It works with most of the others. I’m guessing perhaps it has to do with the age of those storyforms. They even seem different compared to the others. Like how all their storypoint choices are blue(attached an image for that as well).

. I’ll try to keep testing whenever I’m free or on break. Will try those in the chrome version to see.

Ok so I’m back. Adding the Chrome version. Still the same for the older storyforms.

So thats what I’ve found so far.

@khodu Could you send me the Plot Sequence Reports for your Star Wars and Sun also Rises per PM?

The reason the layout is different is because this is already the third version. I spend a few hours on Sunday to rewrite this thing.

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Great work @bobRaskoph . I love the new layout. And the options for customisation as well. Thanks for all your effort.

Looks awesome @bobRaskoph. Love being able to input the title (I used to modify the TITLE element in the HTML after exporting, but now I won’t have to!).

I tested with Chrome 64, Firefox 59, Firefox 53, all on Windows 7, with several different storyforms and using different variations of the options. They all worked great.

The only tiny suggestion I have is just to make your life easier… you could include a bit of help text near the top like this:

Using the Reports feature of Dramatica, export the Story Points Output and Plot Sequence reports to text files. Make sure the “Vocabulary” and “Storytelling” options are NOT selected. Then open those files and copy/paste their full text into the boxes below.

(I’m not sure if that’s entirely accurate for the Mac version of Dramatica, I was basing it on the PC version.)

It appears from the screenshots that the “Vocabulary” was included on those reports. I think that’s the problem – Bob’s tool needs the basic “clean” reports.

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@mlucas . It appears the problem is solved! Thanks guys. Excellent software , excellent community! .

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Sorry, I’m bit late to this. I’ve tested several storyforms from the Mac version of Dramatica in both Chrome 64 and Safari 11. All of them have worked perfectly. I love the new customization features available on the Safari version, especially Include Progress Boxes and Jim Hull’s Terms. The documentation and the option to include a title are very handy too. @bobRaskoph, thank you so much for giving your time to create and maintain this useful tool for Dramatica.

I’ve not used this before, but am going to look at it tonight. What would a clean PSR look like to you? Mine always has several paragraphs of description included by default. Do I put the whole thing in, or do I need to modify that first?

In the Mac version, there are some checkboxes at the top of each report. Uncheck “Show Vocabulary” and “Show Illustrations” to create a clean PSR report.

In the Windows version, there are some “pressed” buttons labeled “Vocabulary” and “Storytelling” at the top of each report. Uncheck them to create a clean PSR report.

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Pretty late to this thread, but if you’ll excuse the tardiness I wanted to pass on the good vibes and appreciation for the coding. This is super useful.
Thanks again

New Update after… two years?
Version 2.81

  • This should help with some text issues
  • I added more recent Terms of narrativefirst.com as well as the Ending

…and that’s it.

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