Zugg Software :: View topic - [3.34 BUG] CMUD map link with object database for rooms

Apprentice Joined: 14 Apr 2008 Posts: 105

I'm trying to add items and characters and scripts to the object database for my map so they show in the Room Contents tab when I view the properties window of a room :(

What I did was:
1. View properties on a room
2. Click Room Contents tab (the four yellow squares together icon)
3. Clicked add, opened up the Database editor window and made a new database
4. Added fields then added to them with the Record tab then the New button at the top
5. Found out that nothing was happening when I selected the database record in the List tab then clicked at the top 'Actions' then 'Add To Room' (like the Map Properties' Room Contents tab says to, though that blurb says "from the database menu" which I could not find, I was guessing it may be out of date)
6. In the Database editor clicked 'Help' at the top and read in 'Advanced Database Usage' that the object database actually needs a field added manually for the Zone and Room name settings to work, and added these fields in my database and selected the special types. It worked when I selected Add To Room after that, it filled in the zone name and room number of the object :) BUT:
6. BUT: When I save the database close the window and look at the mapper, the list of objects in the room on the Room Contents tab is still empty. In the bottomleft of the room contents' window I notice it has the words "<my mudname> Map" (with my mudname there at the <>) and this is a clickable pull down list, I guess to select other databases? But the only other options are the session's name and "None". I think it might be an option for something else, I don't know. As far as I can see the map itself is a different type of database and can't be opened in the database editor for objects.

(if I do get this working, I am an imm on this mud and I'd quite like to get the mobs and scripts to show in a room contents too, but I'm not sure how to do this without a lot of spam to scroll through of empty fields etc since the fields that mobs and scripts have are different, and like with objects often have multiple lines of text especially room/object scripts)

Thank you for any help :)

Wizard Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 2320

You are correct that the map itself is a completely different type of database. The map (and in fact many other things in Cmud) are sqlite databases. The internal "database" that is retained to be backward compatible with Cmud is not even a true database; it is more like a limited spreadsheet. This old database is extremely hard to use, and very limited in capability. A complete replacement of this old database has always been on the TODO list for Cmud, but was a low priority. Now that there are some new Cmud commands that can interact with SQL databases, a proper replacement may never happen.

I'm afraid I don't have any solution for your specific problem. Perhaps someone else does.

However, I can tell you what I have done as an alternative. I put information like this into the map with %roomflags(). I believe this is displayed in the "Userstr" field in the room properties, but that isn't a convenient interface for doing what I want. The %roomflags() function can actually enter a database variable into this field! It will store it as a json string. So I copy the current %roomflags() into a variable, use %addkey() to add whatever key/value pairs I want, and put the revised variable into %roomflags() again. Since database variables can now have multiple levels, I can give it a string like:

objects="pile of garbage|sickly yellow puddle"|mobs="rat|rat|mangy dog"|roomsize="very large"|notes="Poke the garbage to get more rats|Don't drink the puddle"
(note: it wouldn't be formatted quite like this in the db variable, this is just an example)

If I want, I can use an onRoomEnter event to grab the %roomflags and display it in a fancy format in a separate window with #WINDOW.

Apprentice Joined: 14 Apr 2008 Posts: 105

That is not good for me, I am an imm and trying to make a database of the objects WITH the rooms, not just 'what objects are in what room' - the point of using the database is so I can store all the fields about the object too like short name, long name, weight, affects, the same with the detailed stats on characters/mobs(multiple line descriptions!) and scripts(multiple lines!) etc etc :(

The Add Object to room when you view the properties of a room and go to Room Contents seems like such a good system if it were to work, and like I said it does detect where the map is set to when I set an object to be in the room selected in the DB editor ... but for some reason it just won't update the Room Contents from where I clicked to add an object :(

oh by the way, I already capture room flags and vnums

Sorcerer Joined: 15 Apr 2011 Posts: 809

I think you want #call %roomnum(,%1), etc. As far as I know, #map set does nothing - it's not mentioned in the documentation anyway.

Wizard Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 2320

You do need to reconfigure the mapper after you create #TAG triggers, but you say you've done that. In addition, tagging only affects mapping. The mapper worries about #TAG commands only when it is creating a new room, or when you use the #LOOK command in an existing room, and in either case only when the mapper is in Mapping mode.

#MAP is a valid command, but it is used to create Paths, not to change values in the map. Essentially, what you were doing is adding the command "set" to your current Path, and incidentally also executing the %roomnum() function. Daern is correct that the way to set mapper values is to #CALL the appropriate map function, or some syntax where you make use of the return value. Also, note that "%roomnum(,%1)" will affect the room which is your current Location, not the currently selected room(s). To change the value of a room other than your current location, you have to specify the room number as the first parameter.

As for the the database problem, I wish I could help. I suspect that very few of the experienced Cmudders are still using it--it's ancient code, very creaky, and extremely limited in capability. If anyone else remembers the Zmud database, I hope they can speak up.

Perhaps you could use sqlite to create your database of objects. That way you have all the advantages of a proper relational database for creating your fields and cross-references. You can read and modify an sqlite database in Cmud with the %sql() command. You can store the keys for objects in a room with %roomflags, and have it automatically displayed in a window in the manner I suggested before.

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

Apprentice Joined: 14 Apr 2008 Posts: 105

MattLofton: Oh but like I said I did actually try %roomvnum before and it did not change the vnum of the room (in the room properties window when you view the properties of a room on the map, on the Other Properties, yeah, I know %roomid is the shortname/id) but %roomnum definitely works

Wizard Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 2320

No, I'm afraid there isn't any way to have an external database interact with the mapper the way the old internal database does with the room contents field. As I said, you would have to write your own code to do that. However, if you did, you would have access to a full relational database which is much better than the internal database, and can actually store all those relationships between objects, rooms, and mobs. It would take a fair amount of work but would not be technically difficult to write Cmud code to grab all of that mud output you describe and enter it into the database. I regularly grab similar amounts of data. You could write aliases to add objects to rooms and mobs, and even to edit the data and search for objects in the database. You could put all of your code into a package that you share with the other coders. But no, there isn't anything already in Cmud to do that for you with an external database, just the tools to do it yourself. And the internal database can't do most of what you want, even if you solved the particular problem you are having. It can't do relationships.

Apprentice Joined: 14 Apr 2008 Posts: 105

bleh I'm not a programmer :( I just write stuff, that's a big motivation to trying to get MUD contents more accessible to non-techy types to contribute to, because I know of quite a few good writers who are a lot worse than me (as I mentioned on the last paragraph) :(

Apprentice Joined: 14 Apr 2008 Posts: 105