Squad XML Generator

[Zakun 10]

Hi guys,

I have recently finished a project which will make creating squads very easy for anybody to use.

The process is very simple.

To create the squad, simply fill in the correct information, submit the form, and a squad will be automatically generated, and hosted.

You will be provided with a link to put in your ArmA II profile, and then you're done.

You can also easily edit your Squad through the website.

All you have to do is:

Register to the website

Activate your account

Login

Create a Squad

Website: http://dtclan.co.uk

Contact: support@dtclan.co.uk

Edited August 15, 2013 by Zakun

[Zakun 10]

If anyone does use this, could you please post with your experience of it, and any suggestions or constructive criticism would be nice too, thank you =]

[Alpha-Kilo 36]

Zakun,

I have just tried your Squad XML Generator. Thank you very much for making this public. It works very well. Here are my suggestions:

- Currently the registration process does not seem to allow user names with characters such as dash or underscore. It would be nice to lift this restriction.

- You could update your web page to say that the squad XML also works with ArmA3.

- Probably not your fault, but my picture seems to be a little distorted. I guess this is because I used a rectangular picture for my test squad. I will find a square picture and try again.

[Zakun 10]

Thank you for the feedback, I'll see what I can do about lifting the restriction on usernames for certain special characters

Yeah, I was looking into making it so the website could make XML's for ArmA 3 last night, then realized it's the exact same format =]

And yeah, I tried letting it just scale the image to be a max length or width as 512, and letting it scale the other, but the game said it could only be 2*2 ratio for size, so now it just sets all images to 512x512

Thank you for the feedback :) I'll update the website and forum posts to say it's for ArmA 3 too

[Alpha-Kilo 36]

Zakun,

I have spent some more time with the Squad XLM Generator.

- A square picture works perfectly well. It may be helpful to tell users that they should provide square pics from the start, though you might think this is obvious.

- Is there a way to edit or change the picture? I had to delete my squad and create a new one when I wanted to replace the pic. For my 1-man test squad this was no big deal but imagine a full squad has to be deleted and started again just because they want to use a new pic.

- I haven't tried but can you edit the squad name and abbreviation in case you need to correct a spelling error or if you decide to rename the squad?

- The way you hide your compulsory donation system reminds of the business method of companies that trick customers into unwanted purchases. One squad of two members is free, if you want more, the donation system kicks in. There is no mention of this until you try to enter more than two squad members or a second squad. And you use the word "donation" but you charge a fee for a service, don't you? English is not my first language so forgive me if I am wrong but I understand "donation" as money you pay voluntarily and "fee" as a fixed price charged for a service. I think the amount of up to 10 USD depending on squad and member numbers is more than reasonable and I think it is OK to ask users to make contributions to the server cost but you should be more transparent about it. Perhaps I am overly sensitive? I would feel better if you stated on your front page that you ask for donations to help maintain your server. If you ask for voluntary donations the amount should be left to the user. Alternatively, you could put you price list on the front page and openly call it a price list. But if you officially charge money you have have a little business with certain responsibilities.

Anyway, I think that the Squad XML Generator is a great tool which allows a group of friends to play together in an organised fashion even if they don't have a game server at their disposal.

[Zakun 10]

Alpha-Kilo,

It does have a bit of text to the right of where you upload, explaining that it will be re-sized to 512x512

No, the image and squad info cannot be edited yet (The character info can however), though I am going to be adding this functionality

I can see what you mean with the donation system, but because of the way it's done, where you can select an amount to give is a better system, than having a set amount for purchases

This is because if you donate $1 for the 'bronze' package, and then want the silver package, on most websites you would have to pay the $4, on ours you only have to pay $3, because you already paid $1

I will try to think of a way to display that donations will allow you more players/squads to create in a tidy way

We didn't mean to try to hide it, we just couldn't think of a clean way to display it along side the squad creation, as we don't really have a homepage, it's just right into the squad generator

Thank you again for your feedback

Edited August 2, 2013 by Zakun

[Alpha-Kilo 36]

Zakun,

That sounds good. Our squad already has a server, but I will recommend your service to teams who don't and just want a squad XML.

[Zakun 10]

Hey Alpha-Kilo

Thank you :) even if they have a server and want a squad, let 'em know about it ;)

Also, site has been updated so people can now fully edit their squad (Images can be changed, but I think it's a bit buggy yet, so we're gonna look more into it)

I'll update this thread when I know for sure that images can be changed

Thanks for your support

EDIT: Image changing is now fully working

EDIT 2: Usernames can now have - (hyphen) and _ (underscore) in them

EDIT 3: Added some text on the website to mention the limitations without donating. If you have donated, the message will change to let you know how many players and squads you can have

Edited August 3, 2013 by Zakun
Check EDIT 3

[Beldum 3]

Just used your XML generator.

Worked very well.

I will be donating for unlimited members soon o i can put my whole squad here.

~Nick VRG

[blacknite3d 3]

Hey Zakun,

I have did your unlimited option, but I am capped on the amount of people I could add, could you please fix that?

[Zakun 10]

Sincere apologies, was a slight overlooking of something on my part. This has been resolved :)

[Beldum 3]

Hey Zakun, could you please make your page compatible with .paa pictures?

I want our squad logo to go over the default vehicle texture like this

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y126/Bigtires79/xml.jpg (162 kB)

but .png files aren't able to be used in ArmA, however .paa files work like .png and ArmA can read them.

Currently just using a .jpg for the logo and it has a white background that looks horrible on vehicles

[Zakun 10]

Hi Nick103, I've been thinking the same recently, I'll add it to the allowed extensions, though I'm not sure it'd display properly on the website. I'll look into adding it

EDIT: PHP can't handle .PAA files, so they would not be able to be displayed or resized, so it would have to be uploaded as 512x512 else the game wouldn't accept the file.

Edited August 6, 2013 by Zakun

[Beldum 3]

I'll add it to the allowed extensions

Awesome, could you post here when/if you do that so i know when i can upload my .paa

though I'm not sure it'd display properly on the website. I'll look into adding it

If it doesn't display properly, maybe add an option for people to upload a .jpg version of the image so they at least know what it looks like.

[Zakun 10]

Awesome, could you post here when/if you do that so i know when i can upload my .paa

If it doesn't display properly, maybe add an option for people to upload a .jpg version of the image so they at least know what it looks like.

Yeah, I'll post here, and I'll see what can be worked out for this

I've registered on your site but when I log in nothing happens ?

What web browser are you using? Have you activated your account? What is your username?

[Zakun 10]

zFlash, your login should now be working

[zflash 1]

I've registered on your site but when I log in nothing happens ?

---------- Post added at 12:00 ---------- Previous post was at 11:12 ----------

Never mind it works fine now ...

[Zakun 10]

Squads can now have a .paa image, it will work in-game, but will not be displayed on the website

This can be done when creating, or editing a squad.

The recruiting system has also been improved

[Beldum 3]

Squads can now have a .paa image, it will work in-game, but will not be displayed on the website

This can be done when creating, or editing a squad.

Awesome news. Does the image have to be 512x512 like you said it might?

[Zakun 10]

It's not required, but I'm pretty sure if it's not 128x128, 256x256 or 512x512 then the game won't accept it

[[frl]myke 14]

I think this fits better in the "Community made utilities" forum.

[Zakun 10]

Myke;2462179']I think this fits better in the "Community made utilities" forum.

I must've missed this section when looking where to post it (I think I stopped looking after I found a squad section though)

Thank you :)

[Zakun 10]

I think this thread did better in the squads section :/

[blacknite3d 3]

I'm still tracking ;-)

EDIT: You think you can add the ability to change passwords? Also sub-managers/admin maybe?

Edited August 25, 2013 by Blacknite3d

[Zakun 10]

By sub-manages/admin, do you mean to allow other accounts that you choose to edit your squad? Or to allow one account make squads under your account?

-Zakun