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Beginner Joined: 16 Sep 2008 Posts: 20

This is probably silly, and listed somewhere, but I can't for the life of me seem to find it anywhere.

Currently converting from zMUD to CMUD, and I've got my code changes worked out for pretty much everything except an issue with database records. Please forgive any incorrect terminology.

In zMUD, you could modify the value of a key like an independent string list. For instance, (#additem database.key value) worked. in CMUD I can get numerical math functions to work on the value, I can add text as a lump ad rewrite it, but can't figure out if/how I can modify text strings. I know I could just use string lists, but the easy modification or even complete deletion and recreation of keys was handy for cross-referencing, without having a large number of string list variables floating around. Not to mention it would be nice to make use of the added database speed increases this way.

Can someone point me to the related commands, preferably with usage examples, or did this go away entirely?

Thanks!

Wizard Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 2320

#addkey database key value

This existed unde zmud as well.

Beginner Joined: 16 Sep 2008 Posts: 20

Unless I'm mistaken, #addkey will replace the key/value completely. I'm looking to modify a text value similarly to a string. The ability to add text in, and pull it back out, without disrupting or even needing to reference the remainder of the value.

Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 11:02 pm

you can manipulate it as a string, just use the shortcut to the value

%concat(@dbVAR.key, " has been extended")

Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2008 11:09 pm

ahhh string list as the value... this can be donw as well, though you will want to make use of local vars as well

i believe CMUD treats a stringlist value for a DB var as just a string with |'s in it, however if you did something like

$Var=@dbVar.Key

then $var would be the stringlist you wanna manipulate, the way you normally would, then when your done manipulating it

#ADDKEY dbVar key $var

Beginner Joined: 16 Sep 2008 Posts: 20

Ahh... perfect, that was the step I was missing.

Odd how you can get the whole "I used to approach it this way...." stuck in your head and sometimes not notice the alternate path.
Was a bit bummed the first time I tried an additem/delitem directly on a value. The workaround has been eluding me for a few days now.

Thanks a lot, Shalimar!

Beginner Joined: 16 Sep 2008 Posts: 20

After playing around with the database records a bit more, I've noticed that most commands listed for use with string lists do work on the values of the database record keys. For example, these work and react with the values like they would on string lists, as long as the pipes are in the right places.

#Forall {@database.key}
#Show %numitems(@database.key)
#Show %additem("value",@database.key)
#Show %delitem("value",@database.key)

These seem to be exceptions:

#Additem database.key
#Delitem database.key

Is this intentional, possibly to be released later or maybe even overlooked? I am using ver. 2.36. Just seems odd that most, even %additem/%delitem would work, but not #additem/#delitem.

For a useful example, the following is used in a few places in zMUD to synchronize records.

#loopdb @database1 {#forall {%val} {#if (%iskey(@database2, %i)) {#delitem database1.%key {i}}}

This wouldn't work quite so well with the local variable extraction workaround, I don't think.

Wizard Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 2320

I don't know whether it is a bug. However, in your #loopdb example from zmud, you could use %delitem().

Beginner Joined: 16 Sep 2008 Posts: 20

With the differences in usage and duplicate handling, I've never been able to get %delitem() to work in this instance. Here's exactly the zMUD effect I'm looking to duplicate......

#addkey database1 key {val1|val2|val1|val3}
#addkey database2 {val1=1|val2=1}
#loopdb @database1 {#forall {%val} {#if (%iskey( @database2, %i)) {#delitem database1.%key {%i}}}}
#show @database1.key

This shows "val3" in zMUD, and "val1|val2|val1|val3" in CMUD.

Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2008 1:16 am

does it work when you define it to a local var?

Beginner Joined: 16 Sep 2008 Posts: 20

Not that I can figure out. I use this type of system in quite a few places. A lot of information in the databases, and constantly being moved in, out, and around, so brevity and speed are an issue.

Each database could have any number of keys. Maybe something using %numkeys to determine the number of local vars used, an incrementing local var creator extracting all the value strings, then comparing them all to the other database, adding or removing as needed, then storing them all back in. If it was only one key, easy enough, but even with the speed of local vars, still moving all the information in and out of the database, rather then just the subject ones would be nasty, I'd think.

That'd be the only thing I could come up with, and it seems like an inordinate amount of code with a serious speed penalty with the larger databases.

SubAdmin Joined: 18 Nov 2001 Posts: 5182

For whatever reason the use of nesting a string list within a record variable doesn't work with the Dot Notation and #ADDITEM/#DELITEM. If it did work as you have it written, using a local variable will still likely be faster in your script, becuase it reduces the complexity of lookups and writes.

Beginner Joined: 16 Sep 2008 Posts: 20

Ahh... Put the local variable creation there. I missed the obvious. Beautiful... Thank you. I'm one of those I need to actually see it before I can adapt it.

Tested it, and that route does work. Thank you all for the help.