Need help with a project
 

I'm not sure if this should go here or in internet, but here goes:

I'm playing Everquest 2, which has a pretty complex crafting system.

Each "recipe" has components which are made of "refined" materials, which is, in itself, a recipe, requiring other components.

Example: (*) indicates that this is a raw component and needs no processing.

To make a piece of rawhide armor, I need the following components:
Rawhide Hide Plate
Generic Pattern
Rawhide Cord
Filament (*)

Rahwide Hide Plate requires the following components:
stretch of rawhide
chloro oil
filament (*)

Stretch of Rawhide requires the following components:
Sullied Pelt (*)
Chlorowash
filament (*)

Chlorowash and chloro oil each require the following components:
Raw Root (*)
liquid (*)
candle (*)

Etcetera.

My question is this:
How do a make a system by which I enter in what I want to make, and it gives me an ingredients list, broken down into raw ingredients and the refined items to make from them?

It's been done for dark age of camelot spellcrafting, so I know it can be done, but EQ2 is so new that there isn't anything like this out yet, and I really need it if I'm going to get good at this.

Can anyone help?

Sounds like you need a recipe filing database. (I'm not joking--I have seen ones where you put it the menu and it collates the recipes to provide a "shopping list" of what raw ingredients you need to make the stated menu.)

Are you talking about making a database for your own personal use?

I've got something along those lines for the craftable stuff in Ultima Online.

Yes, just for me (and Arimoose -my husband- and Hawkwind -his best friend) but not for dissemination.

The multilevel nature of it would be best suited to a decent DB and SQL and a frontend involving a few lines of code, it's not a cut and paste jobbie. Off the top of my head you'd need a database of every item in the game and then you enter an item, the query returns a list of ingredients, checks if any are non-raw then runs queries to get those ingredients...

The only other solution would be to find a constructive way to fill your time rather than evercrack

I run mine with Access just fine.

Hey, I can quit any time I want.

Cyber, how do you have access set up?

It's doable in access but it does involve a little coding to get the multi-level acspect to work automatically.

For all of the details, I'd have to be at home to look at it...I built it a couple of years ago. But the quick, "easy" version is this:

I have Table A set up with all of the various components, things that do and don't need processing to create, each with its own primary key. Then I have Table B with all of the various craftables that I make, linked to Table A. Each record in Table B lists by name the craftable item, then has as attributes the primary key of all the components necessary to create it, as well as an attribute for the tool(s) needed to create an item.

For example, I search Table B for "bread" and get a return listing for "dough" as the item and "oven" as the tool. And since I know the "dough" also has to be crafted, I can then search "dough" and end up with "flour" and "pitcher of water".

On my To-Do list is to add some kind of indicator to show which returned items are things that need to be crafted. I know them already but with the new expansion coming out, there's new things to craft and I know I'm going to forget pretty quick.

Is something like that basically what you want?

well, to be honest, I'm completely lost. Gah.

Haha! Nerds.

... Back to refreshing the World of Warcraft forums for more information on tradeskills.

Lost you at 'For all of the details...', did I? :)

Ok, simpler version:

My Access database matches ingredients to craftable items.

tee hee. the problem inherent is not your explaination, rather, my lack of understanding on how access (or any other database) works.

ah well, if you're willing to manually do the recursive searches....I was working on the assumption you wanted something automated.