Implemented Implement A Personnel Database System for the NDC

[Wes]

This suggestion is to see, based on the upvotes, if I should create a database system for NDC personnel similar to the one currently in use by the Star Army of Yamatai Personnel Command. What this entails is:

• Create a struct schema for NDC personnel with fields like rank, career status, assignment, etc.
• Assign the schema to character pages
• Optionally create support schemas to use for dropdown menus (for example, there's a stararmy_occupations schema and stararmy_ranks one)
• Assist NDC FMs and GMs with the implementation of struct tables to do things like automated personnel lists and automated plot rosters.

Notes: Some fields like employer, assignment, rank might be something we could consider adding to the general characters schema for general use by other factions instead of making them NDC specific.

The question is do you guys want this if so and what fields do you request?

@Jack Pine @Whisper

Q: Why NDC before Nepleslia?

A: NDC is the site's second largest faction and doing this for the NDC would therefore benefit more players. Also, NDC is a newer faction with significantly more character bios that are still in active use and can be self-tagged while Nepleslia has tremendous quantities of old bios that would need to be tagged with struct data by staff.

 

[hyralt]

I love the Yamatai personnel structured data, specifically how it lets you build lists that are automagically kept up to date. I think we should have structs schemas for anything that we want to list like that. I realize this might be a lot of work, though.

 

[raz]

I know it is the way it is right now because of standard alphanumeric ordering, but could the Star Army struct data boxes appear above the new NDC ones? Most new characters will always be in the Star Army, so having it go character>saoy>others is a better ease-of-use choice for new members.

 

[Wes]

I know it is the way it is right now because of standard alphanumeric ordering, but could the Star Army struct data boxes appear above the new NDC ones? Most new characters will always be in the Star Army, so having it go character>saoy>others is a better ease-of-use choice for new members.

No. Schemas can not be renamed and I don't have a way of sorting their display order.

Possible solutions:

• Just minimize the section
• I could create wiki user groups for factions and have the fields only editable by members so that you'd only see struct for the factions that you play in. This would require some user management overhead though.

 

[raz]

That's too bad. Never want to add extra work for the management. Just checked and minimizing sections follows a logged-in wiki account, so that's good enough for me.

Automated lists for everyone!

 

[Wes]

This suggestion is currently being implemented and is partly done.

So far, I've added a new schema: ndc_personnel

The schema has the columns:

• ndc_status (a dropdown list of things like Active Duty and Retired - currently the same as the Star Army one)
• ndc_jobcode (a dropdown list of all job codes as listed on the NDC rank page)
• ndc_rank (a dropdown list of all rank codes and ranks as listed on the NDC rank page)

So what else do we need? Branch of service? Current Assignment? (this would probably be an autocompleting wiki link field for all namespaces since there's not a unit/base namespace for the NDC that I know of).

@Jack Pine

Once we're done I'm going to help you make some auto crew rosters and personnel lists.

 

[Alex Hart]

So a quick update on some of the job codes themselves, IDK if you saw this morning, but last night I did a bunch of reorganization in response to your advise to consolidate some of them, so there's a bunch that are now inter-service as opposed to each branch having its own engineering job code, or technician job code etc.

I'm debating scrapping the current lettering and just assigning things alphabetically so that no job has the same letter.

In addition to job code changes, special forces ranks have been removed, as special forces are now (And should have been all along) using normal ranks. The following ranks have been removed. Sorry for not being around to talk when you were making these lists, as I was at work.

The following ranks have been removed, as they were artifacts of the old and much less focused ranking system.

R7 Reaper
R6 Apostle
R5 Spectre
R4 Shade
R3 Ghost 3rd Grade
R2 Ghost 2nd Grade
R1 Ghost
R0 Initiate
O7 Javelin
O6 Lance
O5 Spear 2nd grade
O4 Spear
O3 Arrow 3rd Grade
O2 Arrow 2nd Grade
O1 Arrow
O0 Initiate
V7 Harbinger
V6 Jackal 3rd Grade
V5 Jackal 2nd Grade
V4 Jackal
V3 Harvester 3rd Grade
V2 Harvester 2nd Grade
V1 Harvester
V0 Recruit

 

[Wes]

Okay, so here's the current lists in the format I need them to be in:

C1 Brigadeer General,C1 Commodore,C2 Major General,C2 Rear Admiral,C3 Field Marshal,C3 Vice Admiral,C4 Admiral,C4 Marshal,C5 Fleet Admiral,C5 Grand Marshal,E1 Cadet,E1 Recruit,E2 Trooper,E2 Voidhand Apprentice,E3 Trooper 2nd Class,E3 Voidhand,E4 Petty Officer 3rd Class,E4 Trooper 3rd Class,E5 Lance Corporal,E5 Petty Officer 2nd Class,E6 Corporal,E6 Petty Officer 1st Class,N1 Chief Petty Officer,N1 Sergeant 3rd Class,N2 Senior Chief Petty Officer,N2 Sergeant 2nd Class,N3 Master Chief Petty Officer,N3 Sergeant 1st Class,O0 Initiate,O1 Arrow,O1 Ensign,O1 Lieutenant 2nd Class,O2 Arrow 2nd Grade,O2 Lieutenant 1st Class,O2 Lieutenant 2nd Class,O3 Arrow 3rd Grade,O3 Captain,O3 Lieutenant 1st Class,O4 Lieutenant commander,O4 Major,O4 Spear,O5 Commander,O5 Lieutenant Colonel,O5 Spear 2nd grade,O6 Captain,O6 Colonel,O6 Lance,O7 Javelin,R0 Initiate,R1 Ghost,R2 Ghost 2nd Grade,R3 Ghost 3rd Grade,R4 Shade,R5 Spectre,R6 Apostle,R7 Reaper,V0 Recruit,V1 Harvester,V2 Harvester 2nd Grade,V3 Harvester 3rd Grade,V4 Jackal,V5 Jackal 2nd Grade,V6 Jackal 3rd Grade,V7 Harbinger,W1 Warrant Officer,W1 Warrant Officer,W2 Chief Warrant Officer 2nd Class,W2 Chief Warrant Officer 2nd Class,W3 Chief Warrant Officer 1st Class,W3 Chief Warrant Officer 2nd Class

A Armor Unit,A Pilot Aerospace,B Executive Officer,BC Bridge Comms,BH Bridge Helm,BN Bridge Navigation,BS Bridge Sensors,BW Bridge Weapons,C Captain,D Demolitions,E Engineer,E Engineering,F Pilot Frame,H Heavy,I Infantry,L Logistics,M Medic,M Medical Officer,N Light Infantry,Q Quartermaster,R Recon,S Security,S Sniper,T EVA and Maintenance,T Tech Specialist,X WRAITH,Z Mechanized

If you can edit those and give me updated versions I'll put them in the database system.

 

[Wes]

Well, I went ahead and did the updates myself. Let me know if anything needs to be corrected.

Also I added some new fields:

• Added ndc_branch
• Added ndc_assignment

Shouldn't vehicle operator be V?

 

[Wes]

We're starting to see this new system in action! I've added an automated character roster to the Ravenaca's Watch plot page:

See it here: https://wiki.stararmy.com/doku.php?id=plot:nds_ravenacas_watch

A tutorial example has been added to the Struct Guide.

 

[Alex Hart]

Took a look and saw how you implemented the job codes via the branch, I might tinker around and see if it's somehow possible to link the ranks to the branch as well.

 

[Alex Hart]

Scratch that, I was mistaken. I might look at the documentation to see if that's possible though.