Marvel Character Database

Download the Program (1,154k) (Due to bandwidth concerns, this is from an FTP HTTP site over a cable modem. As such, the download will be slow.)

The latest Executable (420k) 3.1.2 (Due to bandwidth concerns, this is from an FTP HTTP site over a cable modem. As such, the download will be slow.)

For Upgraders from V2:
OK, the problem that Jason first got me worried about was the inability to work with a previous version of the Database. This file (13k) allows you to move information from the old database to the new one. It only needs to be run once.

5/26/01 - Well, I added an automatic calculation for Character Points. Also added a |CPoints| template field.

Well, here's a milestone.

Since the time I decided to let my XOOM, now NBCi, site whither on the vine, I have wanted to bring my most ambitious private program to the new digs. I've had the new Domain since September, and the program gets her in the middle of February.

One of the delaying factors was my desire to give it more modern 'guts' since I've never stopped learning new ways to do things in VB. After looking at the code, it would be easier to re-write the damned thing instead of modernizing it.  (That will be another project)

What I have done is to add the capability for the user (you) to create individual templates for the HTML output! I will supply more information about creating templates at a later date.  I have created two templates to demonstrate how they work.  These have extension of MCT (for Marvel Character Template) and are simply HTML pages with the location of each field or section defined.

The above image is the main DB Search window, select the type of data you are looking for in the Combo box and enter the information desired in the Text box, then press 'Search'. Double clicking on an item is the same as selecting it then clicking 'Selection/Edit'.

Editing an item, or creating a new character from the DB Search screen, will take you to this window. From here you can enter all the character information, or alternately, check out the 'Character' menu to see the random generation possibilities.

Clicking on 'Image' on the Character screen, will take you here.  Here is where you can select an image for the character (BMP, GIF, or JPG only). Closing the window will take you back to the Character screen.

On the Character screen, clicking on the File menu several options, not the least of which is printing your character. Most of the things on this page are self explanatory, except for the three values to the right of the Statistics section.  From the top is the maximum number of actions, based upon the higher of Fighting and Agility; The maximum movement rate of the character based upon Endurance; and Initiative Bonus. The program has been able to handle characters with a boatload of information, spanning onto extra pages if required.

From the DB Search from, clicking 'Templates' brings up the controls for the newest feature of the program. Here you can select which template to use, whether or not to use templates, and the definition of four special colors that the templates can use: PColor, TColor, AColor and BColor. Here you can also determine how each 'section' is defined on the web-page: If the program will automatically provide a Horizontal Rule <HR> or not. Note the button in the upper right, currently it reads 'No Template', this means that clicking the button will turn off the templates, and change the caption to 'Use Template'.  I know it sounds backwards.  Also, if templates are not disabled, and you do not have a template selected in the files list, clicking on 'OK' does nothing.

This is a sample output using the NEW.MCT template, note how similar this looks to the web pages found here on norse-man.net. To get this, after defining the template, on the Character screen's 'File' menu, there is an 'Export' item. This has two options: a Marvel Character (CHA) file is a text file that can be imported into other machines running this program; The other is a Character Page that will either be _T.HTM or .HTM (depending on if Templates are enabled)

Note also that I goofed, I forgot to position the secondary stats section. To do this, edit New.mct and add |VSecond| after the |VStats| element.  Note that the element names are within the Pipe character, which looks like an unusual colon ( : ) on the keyboard.

This page used the OLD.MCT template. This output is very similar to what you would get without Templates.  If you look in this template you will see the element |HSecond|, hence the style of the secondary stats.