We used the Elder Library deck building tool for many years to design our V:TES decks. While it had its issues, in general it served us well. However, as its author no longer updates it and V:TES continues to change, we decided to take a stab at a replacement.
Vamp is not intended to do everything that the Elder Library does. In particular we have limited interest in making collection-tracking software. Our focus is primarily deck design.
Vamp is designed to get its V:TES card information from a single text file which may be local or read from a web site. That source file is expected to be in the format White Wolf has been using in their http://www.white-wolf.com/vtes/downloads/Cardlist.txt document. Vamp gets its data this way to allow you to easily update it yourself whenever new cards are released. It also supports an override file which allows you to add additional cards and correct or replace existing ones; the override file can be used to add support for new sets as soon as spoilers become available on the Internet.
The Vamp user interface has four main sections. The Configuration panel allows you to specify alternate sources of card data and where Vamp will look first for its local files. The Crypt and Library panels are for deck design. These panels operate separately from each other with the exception of the Output Selected Deck As button, which combines selected cards from both panels into a single output file.
You use the Crypt and Library panels to design V:TES decks. During design you may find it useful to preserve intermediate results in a separate window using the Peel Off Current Results button. You can always select cards from such intermediate results and drag them back into your main results. When you are done you can save the filters that produced your results, or you can output your results to a file in any of several formats. Please note that Vamp has two types of filters, one used for crypt cards and one for library cards; to save filters for a complete deck you will have to use the Save Current Filter As buttons on both the Crypt and Library panels.
In general, Vamp's filtering controls are additive. Vamp uses Java's regular expression package java.util.regex for most of its card filtering behavior. If Vamp doesn't supply the kind of filtering mechanisms you want, you can enter your own regular expressions in the Regexp field. Your expressions will be applied to the Text column of each card.
If you want some cards to stick around even while you dramatically alter your current filter, use the pushpin column. If you are preparing a deck for output, use the # column to select how many copies of each card you want. Both pushpin and card count settings are saved in Vamp's filters.
Fially, the Inventory panel is used to manage your card inventory and keep track of cards that you need. The inventory information you set on that panel is displayed on the Crypt and Library panels, but not editable there.
Vamp automatically saves its state on exit, reapplying the last filters you used. Note that if your data source has changes between Vamp invocations this will not necessarily restore the exact card results, as your saved filters will be applied to the new card data.
There are other things we'd like to do with Vamp, ranging from user interface adjustments and performance improvements to totally new functionality. How much additional work goes into Vamp will probably depend on how useful you, the V:TES community, finds it. Please let us know what works and what doesn't work for you in rec.games.trading-cards.jyhad. To help us locate comments about Vamp, please include [VampComment] in your post's subject.