HTML5 Client Questions and Such

Rohai

Quick question - I'm curious about the feasibility of creating a limb counter for Nexus. Is this something someone with pretty limited JavaScript knowledge might be able to pull off with a bit of elbow grease? Just want to make sure it's possible before I start spinning my wheels on this.

Keneanung

If you know how limbcounters work i should be pretty straight forward to do. After all Nexus with JavaScript is no less powerful than Mudlet with Lua.

Rohai

I don't! But that's half the fun, right?

Aesi

Rohai said:

I don't! But that's half the fun, right?

steps to code anything:

• find an example of something open source (all mudlet code is! you can see it all)
• read it over
• try your own thing
• figure out what isnt working
• repeat

Congratulations!

Fianna

Um! I dunno if this is the right place for this, but I'm noticing an awful lot of places where the map viewport is displaying either a blank square, or a map of nowhere, while the MAP command shows a perfectly good map. This persists across multiple browsers, computers, and networks. Any idea what's up with that?

Keneanung

It might be that the map file that creates the viewport map is not in sync with the in game map.

Fianna

Hm, that doesn't seem like anything I can do anything about, huh?

Keneanung

Aye, nothing you can do about.

Antonius

@Fianna: If that is the issue, there's nothing you can do to fix it directly. You can, however, report where it's an issue so that the people who can fix it know there's an issue. File a BUG in game when you come across rooms/areas that have the issue.

Tael

Has anyone figured out how to select and highlight text without using the trigger GUI?

I'm trying to print a string and colour one word in the middle of the string red, but I'm not having any luck figuring out how to do that.

Since triggers don't fire on printed strings, the trigger GUI's highlighting function doesn't really help me, and notices don't seem to have a way to print substrings in different colours, only the whole notice.

Keneanung

Have a look at https://github.com/AchaeaBashingScript/Bashing.js/blob/master/Bashing.js#L70 It's a set of functions I use in the HTML5 port of my basher.

Harken

Hey Cromm, is there any way to download either the HTML5 or Nexus client as a specific PC Program? I try using things like Mudlet but I never get the GUI Which I like so much and I find programs much easier to handle. Do these downloads exist?

Tael

Harken said:

Hey Cromm, is there any way to download either the HTML5 or Nexus client as a specific PC Program? I try using things like Mudlet but I never get the GUI Which I like so much and I find programs much easier to handle. Do these downloads exist?

I'm not Cromm, but not really, no. The Nexus client (the HTML5 client is just the old name for the Nexus client) is a webpage, not a program. It's a bunch of HTML and JavaScript, like any other webpage and it needs a browser (like Chrome or Internet Explorer or whatever you use) to actually parse all of that and display it.

I'm not really sure in what sense it could be easier to handle, but if you wanted to be able to open it like a program, you can just make a shortcut (on Windows: right click desktop -> New -> Shortcut) pointed at http://client.achaea.com/

Tecton

If you're on a mac, you can use Fluid to make an app out of the client (http://fluidapp.com/) - not sure anything like that exists on windows though.

Eld

Harken said:

Hey Cromm, is there any way to download either the HTML5 or Nexus client as a specific PC Program? I try using things like Mudlet but I never get the GUI Which I like so much and I find programs much easier to handle. Do these downloads exist?

Tecton said:

If you're on a mac, you can use Fluid to make an app out of the client (http://fluidapp.com/) - not sure anything like that exists on windows though.

There used to be Mozilla Prism, but they stopped maintaining it in like 2011. Chrome lets you make desktop shortcuts for specific sites (More Tools -> Add to desktop in the Chrome menu), and it's probably possible to edit the shortcut file to have it load without all the browser chrome. By default, I think it will probably just open it in a new tab if you already have Chrome open, but if it's important to avoid that, you should be able to create a separate Chrome profile for it to launch in.

Fansy

Eld said:

Harken said:

Hey Cromm, is there any way to download either the HTML5 or Nexus client as a specific PC Program? I try using things like Mudlet but I never get the GUI Which I like so much and I find programs much easier to handle. Do these downloads exist?

Tecton said:

If you're on a mac, you can use Fluid to make an app out of the client (http://fluidapp.com/) - not sure anything like that exists on windows though.

There used to be Mozilla Prism, but they stopped maintaining it in like 2011. Chrome lets you make desktop shortcuts for specific sites (More Tools -> Add to desktop in the Chrome menu), and it's probably possible to edit the shortcut file to have it load without all the browser chrome. By default, I think it will probably just open it in a new tab if you already have Chrome open, but if it's important to avoid that, you should be able to create a separate Chrome profile for it to launch in.

Chrome doesn't have the Add to desktop option in its menu by default any more.

Easiest way to accomplish what Harken wants is to make a regular shortcut to chrome, right click and select properties, and then in the Target box add this to the end of what is already there:

--app=http://client.achaea.com

Harken

Fansy said:

Eld said:

Harken said:

Hey Cromm, is there any way to download either the HTML5 or Nexus client as a specific PC Program? I try using things like Mudlet but I never get the GUI Which I like so much and I find programs much easier to handle. Do these downloads exist?

Tecton said:

If you're on a mac, you can use Fluid to make an app out of the client (http://fluidapp.com/) - not sure anything like that exists on windows though.

There used to be Mozilla Prism, but they stopped maintaining it in like 2011. Chrome lets you make desktop shortcuts for specific sites (More Tools -> Add to desktop in the Chrome menu), and it's probably possible to edit the shortcut file to have it load without all the browser chrome. By default, I think it will probably just open it in a new tab if you already have Chrome open, but if it's important to avoid that, you should be able to create a separate Chrome profile for it to launch in.

Chrome doesn't have the Add to desktop option in its menu by default any more.

Easiest way to accomplish what Harken wants is to make a regular shortcut to chrome, right click and select properties, and then in the Target box add this to the end of what is already there:

--app=http://client.achaea.com

I tried what you have said Fansy and it doesn't seem to work, would that be because I am a firefox user?   Also my main reason for my question was so I could open an application through programs like Steam,  It's alright though, Thanks people

Fansy

Harken said:
I tried what you have said Fansy and it doesn't seem to work, would that be because I am a firefox user?   Also my main reason for my question was so I could open an application through programs like Steam,  It's alright though, Thanks people

Yeah that's for Chrome, I don't know if Firefox has anything similar.

I just tested and you can actually add the Chrome app to Steam if you want using ADD A GAME... Add a Non-Steam Game... BROWSE... (Find and select Chrome) Open... ADD SELECTED PROGRAMS. Then in your game library right click Chrome and select Properties, change the name to Achaea or Nexus or whatever, give it a custom icon if you want, then SET LAUNCH OPTIONS... and put --app=http://client.achaea.com in the box and click OK then CLOSE.

You can then launch the Achaea Nexus app direct from Steam.

Tecton

Nice work, @Fansy!

Tuqo

hi, i was wondering if anyone could figure out why reflex is not working to disable/enable a group. i've wasted a day figuring this out and just couldnt see why it is not working. please help. thanks in advance

i wanted to create an alias to enable "squinting" group and disable "walking" group so that i can change the numpad from walking to squinting and here's a screenie of what i did but every time i send in the "sq" command it does not do anything... i even put in a say hi command to make sure my regex is valid and it is...

Kilian

With a new version I hope it's okay to necro this thread. Are the new functions for playing sounds or showing notifications available as functions we can call inside scripts, and if so, what's the syntax? Nothing on the wiki yet about it. If not, please can we have this?

Tuqo, when I have had something inside a package that enabled or disabled reflexes, it never worked unless I did it by scripting. The quick-script function doesn't let you specify the package, and the client isn't smart enough to realize to look inside its own package. So replace those with an Execute Script that looks like this:

var tTriggerGroup= reflex_find_by_name("group","walking",false,false,"Numpad");
<br><span style="font-family: "lucida grande", "Lucida Sans Unicode", tahoma, sans-serif; line-height: 19.2px;">reflex_disable(tTriggerGroup);
<br></span><span style="font-family: "lucida grande", "Lucida Sans Unicode", tahoma, sans-serif; line-height: 19.2px;">tTriggerGroup= reflex_find_by_name("trigger","squinting",false,false,"Numpad");
<br></span><span style="font-family: "lucida grande", "Lucida Sans Unicode", tahoma, sans-serif; line-height: 19.2px;">reflex_enable(tTriggerGroup);</span>

and it should work.

Kiskan

I was just reading the Mushclient thread, and some of the discussion about Mudlet (I don't disagree that I am NOT liking Lua now that I am actually getting deep enough into the client to really have to fuss with it).  

Is there any chance whatsoever that the webclient could be done in something like Python?  Which is a language a lot of people seem to know (or want to learn, or have to learn, or both) - and don't seem to hate.  I saw some snippets of the JavaScript and just wanted to cry.  It's great that they're adding more ways to get around in the client without having to actually do JavaScript, but it seems like anyone serious is going to end up having to delve into the client's actual language, and JavaScript seems INCREDIBLY intimidating.  

But back to the Mushclient thread.  The reason it would be nice to have the webclient become sort of the standard, is that half the reason I stick with mudlet is because there are more people I can ask questions.  If I were using something like Mushclient, there is pretty much one dude I could bug in my game (and he's a pretty busy dude).  Other clients that were once popular but have fallen by the wayside seem to be even harder to get guidance on.  Standardization just makes it so much easier to help and get help - which is a lot of what makes mudlet so appealing (it's currently the standard, really).  But Lua... ugh.

Keneanung

Kiskan said:

I was just reading the Mushclient thread, and some of the discussion about Mudlet (I don't disagree that I am NOT liking Lua now that I am actually getting deep enough into the client to really have to fuss with it).  

Is there any chance whatsoever that the webclient could be done in something like Python?  Which is a language a lot of people seem to know (or want to learn, or have to learn, or both) - and don't seem to hate.  I saw some snippets of the JavaScript and just wanted to cry.  It's great that they're adding more ways to get around in the client without having to actually do JavaScript, but it seems like anyone serious is going to end up having to delve into the client's actual language, and JavaScript seems INCREDIBLY intimidating.  

But back to the Mushclient thread.  The reason it would be nice to have the webclient become sort of the standard, is that half the reason I stick with mudlet is because there are more people I can ask questions.  If I were using something like Mushclient, there is pretty much one dude I could bug in my game (and he's a pretty busy dude).  Other clients that were once popular but have fallen by the wayside seem to be even harder to get guidance on.  Standardization just makes it so much easier to help and get help - which is a lot of what makes mudlet so appealing (it's currently the standard, really).  But Lua... ugh.

Making the web client in something like Python is probably not going to fly for a number of reasons. We can try to explore them in another thread if you like, but JavaScript was probably the result of some business requirements. I have an idea about them, but to avoid further derailment, I won't post them in this thread.
In the end, it's down to user preference, which scripting language they prefer, so if the client was in Python, other people would complain about that as well.

Antonius

Keneanung said:

Kiskan said:

I was just reading the Mushclient thread, and some of the discussion about Mudlet (I don't disagree that I am NOT liking Lua now that I am actually getting deep enough into the client to really have to fuss with it).  

Is there any chance whatsoever that the webclient could be done in something like Python?  Which is a language a lot of people seem to know (or want to learn, or have to learn, or both) - and don't seem to hate.  I saw some snippets of the JavaScript and just wanted to cry.  It's great that they're adding more ways to get around in the client without having to actually do JavaScript, but it seems like anyone serious is going to end up having to delve into the client's actual language, and JavaScript seems INCREDIBLY intimidating.  

But back to the Mushclient thread.  The reason it would be nice to have the webclient become sort of the standard, is that half the reason I stick with mudlet is because there are more people I can ask questions.  If I were using something like Mushclient, there is pretty much one dude I could bug in my game (and he's a pretty busy dude).  Other clients that were once popular but have fallen by the wayside seem to be even harder to get guidance on.  Standardization just makes it so much easier to help and get help - which is a lot of what makes mudlet so appealing (it's currently the standard, really).  But Lua... ugh.

Making the web client in something like Python is probably not going to fly for a number of reasons. We can try to explore them in another thread if you like, but JavaScript was probably the result of some business requirements. I have an idea about them, but to avoid further derailment, I won't post them in this thread.
In the end, it's down to user preference, which scripting language they prefer, so if the client was in Python, other people would complain about that as well.

Sarapis has said repeatedly that he doesn't want people to feel like they have to download or install extra things to play Achaea (or, I'd assume, any of the other IRE games), which is why the clients they've provided have always run in the browser itself. That sort of means JavaScript as your scripting language since you can be sure that all browsers will understand it.

Ahmet

#VivaLaActionScript

Kiskan

Antonius said:

Keneanung said:

Kiskan said:

I was just reading the Mushclient thread, and some of the discussion about Mudlet (I don't disagree that I am NOT liking Lua now that I am actually getting deep enough into the client to really have to fuss with it).  

Is there any chance whatsoever that the webclient could be done in something like Python?  Which is a language a lot of people seem to know (or want to learn, or have to learn, or both) - and don't seem to hate.  I saw some snippets of the JavaScript and just wanted to cry.  It's great that they're adding more ways to get around in the client without having to actually do JavaScript, but it seems like anyone serious is going to end up having to delve into the client's actual language, and JavaScript seems INCREDIBLY intimidating.  

But back to the Mushclient thread.  The reason it would be nice to have the webclient become sort of the standard, is that half the reason I stick with mudlet is because there are more people I can ask questions.  If I were using something like Mushclient, there is pretty much one dude I could bug in my game (and he's a pretty busy dude).  Other clients that were once popular but have fallen by the wayside seem to be even harder to get guidance on.  Standardization just makes it so much easier to help and get help - which is a lot of what makes mudlet so appealing (it's currently the standard, really).  But Lua... ugh.

Making the web client in something like Python is probably not going to fly for a number of reasons. We can try to explore them in another thread if you like, but JavaScript was probably the result of some business requirements. I have an idea about them, but to avoid further derailment, I won't post them in this thread.
In the end, it's down to user preference, which scripting language they prefer, so if the client was in Python, other people would complain about that as well.

Sarapis has said repeatedly that he doesn't want people to feel like they have to download or install extra things to play Achaea (or, I'd assume, any of the other IRE games), which is why the clients they've provided have always run in the browser itself. That sort of means JavaScript as your scripting language since you can be sure that all browsers will understand it.

Hrm, that's tough.  I've seen a couple of examples of JavaScript that did pretty simple things.  They were ugly, kind of scary looking.  Our "coder" type guys thought they were ugly and weren't particularly enthused about operating in JS themselves.  And of course, they consider JS to be super unfriendly to non-coder types (a main target audience for the webclient).

I guess it really depends on how robust they plan on making the "you don't have to learn horrible JS and you can still make what you need" portion of the webclient, and how feasible it really is for them to do that.  I do think the lack of utility for the non-professional coder holds the webclient back from becoming a "go to" client (but thanks for the explanation of the rationale, I can see how it is the way it is).

EDIT:  I mean, the result is that I don't have to download anything, sure, but at some point I am going to go "oh shi...".

Keneanung

JS is not more or less horrible than other languages. It's a little different at places, which leads to people not understanding and complaining instead. But if you understand it, those unusual constructs are quite powerful.

Kiskan

Sorry man, spoken like a true coder.  I am sure it is VERY powerful.  In fact, one of the critiques basically boiled down to "you wrote this amazing client, that a proficient coder would swoon over, but is basically terrifying nonsense to anyone else" (paraphrasing).

Keneanung

With the simple scripting it's still more non-coder friendly than anything else I know.

Kiskan

Yeah, like I was saying, if they are going to stick with the JS, I guess it really depends on how robust that is/gets/can get.