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Apprentice Joined: 12 Apr 2004 Posts: 134 Location: USA

So I have a database with many many members. In this data base each member has a name and interaction command, I set it up this way rather then have hundreds of aliases, and I have other information stored on each member. What I am having trouble with is matching and retrieval. Lets say one of the members is
Name: "A banker is here" and his interaction command is
IntCmd: "Deposit Gold"

What I am trying to set up is a trigger so that when I enter a room, the database will be queried and the value that would be returned to the client is the interaction command. Currently when I run my trigger and enter the room I can #QUERY the database, but get the whole record as a return. How can I either isolate the desired portion of returned string, and pass it to the client, or get the specific data by it self?

GURU Joined: 23 Dec 2000 Posts: 4834 Location: USA

Use %query(). This will return the record number, and from there you can use the @record.field syntax to refer to just that field.

Apprentice Joined: 12 Apr 2004 Posts: 134 Location: USA

Perfect, thank you.

Apprentice Joined: 12 Apr 2004 Posts: 134 Location: USA

Is there anyway I could get a generic syntax example, I am still having trouble retrieving just field and having it posted to the mud.

A Banker is standing here.

should result in

deposit 1000 gold. (the second member of that record)

But instead I get

141 A Banker is standing here. deposit 1000 gold. town name, zone name, ect....

GURU Joined: 23 Dec 2000 Posts: 4834 Location: USA

@141##.field

## = the first two letters of the name of the database file (for example, if your file were areas.db then it'd be 141ar)
field = name of the column you want to refer to

Apprentice Joined: 12 Apr 2004 Posts: 134 Location: USA

Thank you Matt, but that does not quite do it. Ok let me get more specific, I want all of this to be triggered when I walk into a room. Before when I used zmud I had a massive list of npc's and their interactions. like so

Trigger Class: MatchNPC
pattern: *({@npcList})*
#var npc %lower({%1}){_nodef}{Interact};#-t MatchNPC

Trigger Class: Interact
#t+ MatchNPC
#if (@npcList) {interact @npc}

So when I walked into a room if an npc matched the one only my master npcList, the npc would be added to another temp list npc, then I had a list of alias that had for example
interact A Banker is standing here.
deposit 1000 gold.

Since for some reason or another my scripts did not want to transfer from zmud to cmud I thought I would updated the whole thing, and make it more compact and smooth. So I created a database with all of my NPC's in it, and their interaction commands, but I am having trouble getting my triggers to interact with the database.

I figured I could #query the database when I enter a room to see if any of the NPCs match the ones on my list, like the structure above

#if (#query databse for matching name)
@(recordNumber)np.interaction

also now that I am only using one trigger to do all of the work, what do you think would be the best way to toggle it on and off?

Wizard Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 2320

Matt has already given you the tools you need. %query() will give you a list of record numbers that match your input. If it returns a single value, you can grab the value of the interaction field from that record, and execute it. I personnally would use %db() to grab the record rather than the syntax Matt suggested, because it avoids creating the awkward ###ar format. But that is a matter of choice. I assume the interactions are commands to be sent to the mud, rather than Cmud aliases.

I haven't played much with the internal Cmud database, so I may not get this quite right. There are numerous ways to grab the right record. It would look something like this:

Wizard Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 2320

Actually, I just realized, using #DBGET, it's even easier:

Apprentice Joined: 12 Apr 2004 Posts: 134 Location: USA

So I have gotten it to work, sort of. The above code results in the interaction command for the first member of the database to be sent for every match. I have tried to take a look at the script editor, but it does not let out everything that is going on.

** I don't know if this affects things but I noticed that $keys withing the if statement is not highlighted blue, does that mean it is no longer a variable within score?

Apprentice Joined: 12 Apr 2004 Posts: 134 Location: USA

After playing with the code and doing a lot of testing yesterday which included moving around members of both the database and the match list I discovered that regardless of what match is made from the trigger only the first member of the database is ever sent to the mud. This is the abridged version of what I am working with.

variable
Name: npcList
A banker is here counting his money
Merlin is here
A shop keeper is here

Trigger:
Pattern *({@npcList})*
$keys = %query(&Name=%1);
#IF (%numitems($keys)>0)
{
#DBGET $keys;
#SEND &Interaction;
}

And the data base is
Name Interaction
A banker is here counting his money deposit 100 gold
Merlin is here list merlin
A shop keeper is here list keeper

If I move the shop keeper to the top of the database list, then when there is a match for any npc in the npcList, then the interaction for a shop keeper is sent, ie list keeper. If the bank is at the top, then all matches send deposit 100 gold. I have moved the names around in the npcList as well, but that has no affect. In the debug screen %1 is always a correct match. I also tried the code

$keys = %query(&Name=%1)
#IF (%numitems($keys)=1) {
#DBGET $keys
$interaction = %db(%rec,interaction)
#SEND $interaction
}

but the result is the same.

Apprentice Joined: 10 Apr 2009 Posts: 145

Try without the *s in your pattern, and with "repeat within line" enabled.

Apprentice Joined: 12 Apr 2004 Posts: 134 Location: USA

The pattern still matches without the *'s in the there, and I am not sure what "repeat within line" did, but nothing changed as far as the results still being the first member of the database. If there is not a match, then nothing is sent, but regardless of what the match is if there is one, the first interaction command is sent. So even if there is a match for record 10 lets say, the interaction command for record 0 will be sent. I know this to be the case because I have moved the records around in the database, and its always record 0's interaction command that is sent.

Wizard Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 2320

Hm. The documentation says that #DBGET should set the %rec value, but it sounds as if it is not being set in your test. I haven't actually used #DBGET or similar commands, so I'm afraid I can't help much more. Hopefully someone else can?

Apprentice Joined: 12 Apr 2004 Posts: 134 Location: USA

I just upgraded to the beta because I have a little bit of sql experience, so I am hoping to figure this out that way. Thank you for the time you put into it Rahab.