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Magician Joined: 18 Dec 2006 Posts: 317 Location: Denmark

I just upgraded to 3.19d and found that nothing works anymore. Well, it seems there has been a change to a central function to my scripts. I hope you can help. I have an alias with three named parameters which puts a command (database record) on my command queue (string list). Unfortunately nothing comes on the queue anymore except some times an emty record. Can anyone explain whether there has been a change (and how I now use this functionality) or whether a bug was introduced?

Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 5:14 pm

If you read the Beta Forum, you'll see that there have been huge low-level changes to string lists and database variables. So yes, there are currently a lot of bugs that we need help tracking down.

In your above script, we need additional context information about how to use that script and what exactly isn't working. I just tried it with the command:

Magician Joined: 18 Dec 2006 Posts: 317 Location: Denmark

Funny. I tried deleting the setting and run the alias again and it created a new commandQueue. However, if I try executing the same doContinue funtion a few times I will not get the correct result. Either there will be added nothing or a blank line will be added. Try it out.

EDIT: So it seems to be a problem with only existing variables. By the way I have read the change list but I don't see anything that should support this new functionality as being anything but a bug. Unfortunately this one totally ruins my scripts making playing my mud impossible so I hope we can find a quick solution.

Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 7:14 pm

Magician Joined: 18 Dec 2006 Posts: 317 Location: Denmark

I came a little closer to the problem. It seems that the problem arises when you use empty input like "" or just not entering all parameters. For some reason it works fine if you enter all paramters but not if one or more is empty.

Try entering the following three times:

Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 8:23 pm

Confirmed. For other people playing with this, here is a simple test script to show the problem:

Magician Joined: 18 Dec 2006 Posts: 317 Location: Denmark

Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 8:44 pm

Personally, I keep old copies of CMUD setup files on my computer for cases like this. As far as backups, those are automatically generated (and you can see them under your package list in your CMUD folder).

Yes, CMUD has been in beta for so long. It's both a blessing and a curse, though; it's a blessing because it means that we get to see the new features before we have to pay for CMUD again (due to the 2 year agreement/major upgrade). It's a curse because Zugg is perpetually fixing bugs while adding new features at the same time to try to please everyone.

Betas have never been about 'the latest version with new bells and whistles!' but rather 'Okay, this is a test project. Locate bugs, fix them so that when made public, we don't have 200 posts in one day saying 'This is a bug!' from new people.'

Zugg mentioned it in another post: a lot of developers are treating Betas as the best thing to have, and they 'recommend' it over more stable versions, or put some disclaimer like 'You can use the beta, but it may not be fully stable yet.'

Just thoughts and observations.

Charneus

Magician Joined: 18 Dec 2006 Posts: 317 Location: Denmark

Well, if anyone have suggestions I'd like to hear. I really need my command queue to work. A workaround could be useful since there's hardly any prospect in staying with an older beta version and I guess there is no way to tell how fast this will be fixed now Zugg calls it obscure. To me it's not an obscure case anyway as it's how I've made my command queue...

Magician Joined: 02 Feb 2004 Posts: 364 Location: USA

Perhaps checking to make sure each variable isn't null, and if it is then don't bother adding it. Like this:

Posted: Tue Jun 15, 2010 9:34 pm

It's getting fixed later today, so don't waste time trying to kludge a workaround.

As far as beta policies, I've had the same policies for 13+ years. And if you don't know how to make backups of your files, then you shouldn't be using beta software.

Magician Joined: 18 Dec 2006 Posts: 317 Location: Denmark

Posted: Wed Jun 16, 2010 7:28 pm

It helps to come to the Beta Forum and read the release notes to see what kind of changes you are getting into in a new update. It also helps to look at the Version History. When you see a recent "Alpha" release and see that the Beta versions are lettered updates to an Alpha, that's usually an indication that more trouble than normal is in store for you.

But really it just takes a quick look at the Beta Forum to see what's been happening, and that's really something else all Beta Testers should be doing. You should never just "blindly" install a new beta version.