Zugg Software :: View topic

Novice Joined: 18 Aug 2001 Posts: 43 Location: USA

New problem, sort of ;)

I use a MUD where only one command-per-carriage-return is allowed, and every now and then I've had problems with the ; character sending two or more commands at a time, when I didn't intend for it to.

I went ahead and disabled the character so I don't get in trouble on the MUD or anything, but now I have a problem with some of my alarm triggers.

It seems that when an alarm is created with multiple commands (on different lines) via a trigger, if the seperator character ( ; ) is disabled then the alarm will not be created properly.

Here's an example and what happens with me:
(Note: There are plus signs in front of the alarm patterns to designate them as temporary, I'm not sure how to get this forum to display a plus sign, however.)

Trigger Pattern:

You heal yourself completely.

Trigger Value:




#VARIABLE ShealVar unavailable


#VARIABLE HPvar @HPmax


#ALARM ShealAlarm +10:00 {


  #VARIABLE ShealVar available available Gauges


  #VARIABLE ShealMin 0 0 Gauges


  #VARIABLE ShealSec 0 0 Gauges %btnimage( ShealButton, PLUSR)


  } Gauges


#NOOP %btnimage( ShealButton, ABCM_SYSTEMCLOSE)

Now, if I have the ; character enabled, the alarm is created as this:

Alarm Name:

ShealAlarm

Alarm Pattern:

10:00

Alarm Value:

#VARIABLE ShealVar available available Gauges;#VARIABLE ShealMin 0 0 Gauges;#VARIABLE ShealSec 0 0 Gauges %btnimage( ShealButton, PLUSR)

Inside the settings editor, this appears as:

#VARIABLE ShealVar available available Gauges
#VARIABLE ShealMin 0 0 Gauges
#VARIABLE ShealSec 0 0 Gauges %btnimage( ShealButton, PLUSR)

... Just like it should, all on seperate lines, so all the commands are executed seperately.

However, if I disable the ; character again (which I prefer to do on my MUD), the same trigger will result in this alarm:

Alarm Value:

#VARIABLE ShealVar available available Gauges#VARIABLE ShealMin 0 0 Gauges#VARIABLE ShealSec 0 0 Gauges %btnimage( ShealButton, PLUSR)

That is how the pattern appears inside of the settings editor, everything is just wrapped around on one line.
I figured the small 'box' characters were supposed to function as a seperator, but the settings editor doesn't seem to interpret them as such, and when the alarm fires, it tries to do all the commands on one line, which doesn't work (I get a class called Gauges#VARIABLE created with the ShealVar variable inside of it when the alarm fires).

The main reason I disable the seperator character is because if I am typing a phrase that includes a semicolon, I will end up sending two commands to the MUD at once, which is something I could get in trouble for on the MUD.

I can't really think of any character to use for the seperator that would be less-likely for me to use in normal speech, and since the special characters cannot be a combination of 2+ characters, I was hoping this was either a bug that could be fixed, or there is some other way to make it work properly.

Thanks in advance.

MASTER Joined: 28 Nov 2000 Posts: 4817 Location: USA

Unless your MUD is employing highly sophisticated (and probably illegal) spyware to monitor your actual keypresses, it has no way of distinguishing a carriage return caused by zMUD interpreting a ; from a carriage return caused by your use of the ENTER key. Go ahead and reenable the ; character.

LightBulb
Advanced Member

Novice Joined: 18 Aug 2001 Posts: 43 Location: USA

I have no real desire to enable the ; key again, as it will cause problems if I try to use the ; character, both for myself and for the legal issues of the MUD's rules.
If I enter any phrase containing a ;, it messes it up, making things needlessly complicated for me.

Plus, the admins on my MUD have access to all input sent to the MUD, and from time to time the 'Law' admin will monitor specific people. It can be very plain to see that multiple lines are entered at the same time when a person says something which is immediately followed by a false command.

Example:

If I used the command:

say I didn't realize the problem; it wasn't apparent.

It sends the commands:

say I didn't realize the problem

And:

it wasn't apparent.

The first of which will go through, the second of which does not fit MUD syntax and will come back with a message of What? to me, the user.

The main reason I disabled the key was not simply for fear of getting in trouble, but because I didn't want my speech to be disabled. Just using certain smilies will result in problems, and that's kind of annoying in my opinion.

(Btw I think the example I used wasn't proper grammar, but that's not the issue ;)

Novice Joined: 26 Oct 2001 Posts: 38

You could swap the ; character with one you're less likely to use from "special characters" if it is interfering with other things, and that way you can leave the seperator character enabled.

MASTER Joined: 28 Nov 2000 Posts: 4817 Location: USA

You won't be able to create multi-line settings by script without a Separator character. You can change it to some other character as Lain suggested. Another option is to limit your script-created settings to a single line.

Replace your three-line alarm with three one-line alarms.

Toggle a permanent alarm instead of creating a temporary alarm.

Replace the three variable commands with a single alias which contains those three commands.

LightBulb
Advanced Member