.DT Messages $MUDNAME$ Creator Help Messages Name .SI 5 Messages - Processing the messages sent to an interactive .EI Description .SP 5 5 Messages sent to an interactive are stored and then processed by /global/events before being finally seen. This allows the grouping together of similar messages (for example, when three people enter a room in the same manner, you see a single message rather than three messages) and for descriptions to be dependent on the observer (for example, with sufficient perception, you can make out the true identity of the man in the mask whereas others can only see "a masked man"). There is a chain of functions which are called, both before and after a call_out (in order to allow message grouping), and a number of control codes are used to control processing. .EP Processing Functions .SP 5 5 The processing functions used by the message system will very rarely need to be understood in any detail as they should only need to be used internally. The most useful of the functions is convert_message, which should be used whenever a message is stored for later retrieval. .EP void add_message( string message, mixed *things ) .SP 5 5 Whenever any message is submitted to a player (except via printf), this function is used. Generally this will only be used internally, as the hook to the message system for write, say, tell_object, tell_room and various events. It uses reform_message and then attempts to group the message with others if possible, making a call_out to print_message if one has not been made already. .EP mixed *reform_message( string message, mixed *things ) .SP 5 5 Another function for internal use, this is called by add_message to perform a certain amount of preprocessing. First relative direction references are processed, then references to multiply grouped objects and finally references to individual objects. .EP void print_messages() .SP 5 5 In order, this function processes the internal list of stored messages with evaluate_message, using show_message to finally show them to the interactive. This is called internally via the call_out submitted in add_message. .EP string evaluate_message( mixed *stuff ) .SP 5 5 This function is internally called to take the information for a message and calculate the short descriptions of objects mentioned in the message and the correct forms of their associated verbs. .EP void show_message( string message ) .SP 5 5 This function first uses fit_message to perform the last stages of processing and then, if the message is to be paged, use the pager to show the message to the player, otherwise submitting it directly using the tell_object efun - note that tell_object, like write, say and tell room, is a simul efun so that messages can be diverted into this system. .EP string fit_message( string message ) .SP 5 5 This function is responsible for capitalising, indenting and wrapping it, taking into account, as far as possible, the space taken up by colour codes. This can be called externally for this purpose, although the need for this will probably be limited to the notify_fail simul efun. .EP string convert_message( string message ) .SP 5 5 This function is only used externally and exists for the purpose of processing a message sufficiently so that if it is stored, it no longer refers to objects which will cease to exist at the next shut down. This would be used, for example, if a room description was to be stored as part of a picture. The function simply processes the message using reform_message and then evaluate_message. .EP Control Codes .SP 5 5 There now follows a list of the control codes used by the messaging system and their meanings. .EP $<number>$ .SP 5 5 This code refers to a certain group of objects for the message and represents those objects' short descriptions. It is largely used internally, being substituted for the short description codes by reform_message and then replaced by the lists of short descriptions by evaluate_message. .EP $<string>_short:<string>$ .SP 5 5 This code represents a particular form of an object's short, the first string being one of "a", "one", "poss" or "the" and the second string is the object's file name. .EP $A<number>$ .SP 5 5 This code is used internally by fit_message to keep track of colour codes. .EP $C$ .SP 5 5 This code causes the character following to be capitalised. Messages are automatically capitalised, but capitalisation may be desired later in the message when capitalize cannot be used, for example, when a observer dependent description appears at the start of a sentence. .EP $I$<number>= .SP 5 5 This code means that all lines of this message after the first are to be indented by a certain number of spaces. This does not reset at a carriage return, so it is necessary to use $I$0= to return to no indentation. .EP $M$<string>$M$ .SP 5 5 This code is usually produced by query_multiple_short. It signifies that the string is a list of short descriptions which are to be, once short descriptions have been processed, placed in a nice list (commas between consecutive items except for the last pair which are separated by "and"). .EP $P$<string>$P$ .SP 5 5 This code should be placed at the start of a message to signify that it should be paged, with the status line being marked with the string. For example, the "look" command uses $P$Look$P$ at the beginning to page the output. .EP $R$<string>$R$ $R$+<string>$R$ $R$-<string>$R$ $R$[<string>]<string>$R$ $R$[<string>]+<string>$R$ $R$[<string>]-<string>$R$ .SP 5 5 This code is responsible for the replacement of a direction by a relative direction (for example, of "west" by "left" if the interactive is facing north). There are three forms of a given relative direction that can be used as specified by the first three forms of the control code. The first refers to the static relative direction (in front of you, to your right), the second refers to the entering relative direction (up ahead, the right - think of putting "from" before these) and the third refers to the leaving relative direction (forward, right) which is also the simple name for the relative direction. If another word is provided in square brackets, that word is also used if the direction is not relative; for example, part of an arrival message could consist of $R$[the ]+north$R$ which is replaced by "up ahead" if the north exit is relative and the interactive is facing north or by "the north" if the north exit is not relative. .EP $V$<number>=<string>,<string>$V$ .SP 5 5 This code allows a verb to be conjugated correctly depending on the number of objects there are in a certain group of objects for this message. The first string is the singular form of the verb while the second is the plural form. This is mostly used internally for dealing with exit and entrance messages. .EP See also .SI 5 write, say, tell_object, tell_room a_short, one_short, poss_short, the_short, query_multiple_short .EI
