HTML5 Client Questions and Such

Orzaansyn

@Adioro I see. I am maybe wrong then.

Be careful of extra semicolons in your example though.

Adioro

Oh. Oops!

[spoiler]
if (flowerpot){

   return true;

}
else {

   return false;

}; 
[/spoiler]

Mishgul

i am getting an error. I removed the extra semi colon you put in, but i still get the same error. Same with Orzaansyn's examples. Same error all around.

Orzaansyn

Can you post the full function you are trying to use?

Mishgul

I've made a clan in game called html5 so I can spam for support on it if anyone want sin. (I am Carmain in game)

Mishgul

function haveFourLimbs() {

    if (!armsBroke && !legsBroke){

       return true;

    }

    else {

       return false;

    };  

}

Antonius

All of this if (some boolean condition) {return true;} else {return false;} code is making me want to weep.

If you're worried about issues with variable types, you can either do what Orzaansyn did with creating a Boolean or just do !!variable.

With these cheap lessons being available now I might make a little alt and do some scripting on the HTML5 client at some point. JavaScript I know, but there are oddities with the way the client handles things that I'm not familiar with.

Mishgul

i did do that, still did not work.

Jacen

I just can't help but feel this whole HTML5 client curing system thing is... missing the mark. 

Assuming the driving force behind this is the necessity of a browser based client that can provide mid-tier curing, why don't you make a server-side curing system, a la the first aid system in <some other IRE MUD>? Surely you can share code with them, though obviously it would have to be heavily modified. 

I suppose the only reason you wouldn't do this is lack of coders available and lack of money to hire another coder, which is perfectly reasonable; I just can't help but feel this is a mediocre solution to this problem.  

Antonius

@Jacen: There are other considerations about server-side curing.

The server always knows precisely what afflictions you have. I'm not against removing illusions from combat entirely (I thought it was a good idea 8 years ago, I haven't changed my mind) but as long as they are a part of it there isn't really a good way to handle that with the game essentially doing your curing for you.

Then there's considerations of latency. When people are trying to squeeze fractions of a second out of things, having the server curing immediately upon affliction gain/curing balance recovery as opposed to having to let triggers run then send the command back yourself, is potentially going to be a huge advantage.

Is a client-side, openly available curing system for the HTML5 client the best solution? Perhaps not. But it solves the problem reasonably quickly without introducing any new ones.

Mishgul

Alright, Orzaansyn is apparently good at this. All is wlel.

Sena

Adioro said:

No, the html5 puts everything inside the function because the script -is- the function. @Mishgul, try this:

Functions in the HTML5 client (the kind you use with run_function) aren't the same as functions in javascript (see Cromm's post in the first page of this thread). Return statements only work inside javascript functions.

Chaimra

Hey folks: I've tested the HTML5 client a bit and I'm here to offer some constructive criticism.  I'm hoping these comments will be of help to Crom or others working on the client. I want to like the HTML client.  Really, I do.  But I can't, and here's why (testing done with Firefox v 28.0 for Ubuntu and Chrome 32.0.1700.107 (might need updating; I barely use it), also on Ubuntu):

* Logging: I log everything.  I never know when I'm going to have an interesting conversation or bump into an interesting/deadly denizen.  So on Mudlet I log from the moment I connect to the moment I qq.  The way the HTML client handles logging leaves a great deal to be desired.  In Firefox, when I press the button to download the log, the button does nothing; it just sits there.  'Hi, I'm a button.  Please press me.'  I press the button again.  Maybe it didn't have focus or something.  The button sits there.  "Hi, I'm a button.  Please press me."  etc.  So I can't get my log.  In Chrome, the browser crashes on pressing the button (memory exceeded error), disconnecting my character and dumping all droppable items.  To make matters worse, I don't get my log.  I don't know how much of this can be laid at the feet of the browsers, but it is my primary problem with this client.

* Workflow: I like the side panels with room contents, inventory, tasks, etc.  But if there are tab stops for these things, I don't know how to activate them.  On a text game, I don't want to take my hands off the keyboard while I'm playing.  I should be able to use some kind of key combination to select the inventory or quests tab, then return to the input window.  Also, when using the option to display help files in a pop-up window, the only way to close the pop-up window is to click the 'x'.  Escape doesn't affect it.

* Scrollback is weird:  The scrollback has timestamps which pad the display and make it confusing as to how far back I need to page in order to find what I'm looking for.  There should be a way to disable this.  Also, the cursor stays at the end of the last command typed into the input window after returning from scrollback, so I sometimes get errors as I inadvertently send two commands stuck together.

Minor points:

* The font configuration options don't affect the input window.  I can touch type, but I tend to look at the keys occasionally. I'm old and getting near to blind as a bat, so I don't like having to squint at the input window because the font changes don't affect it.

* I like the piece of music that plays in the client, but there's only the one.  I turned it off after a while because it got repetitive.  It would be nice to have two or three pieces that would rotate.

Achimrst

I didn't check if this was answered tell me, but my willpower bar moved like one line down and idk how that happened. I reset the UI but idk how to move it back

Tecton

Chaimra said:

Hey folks: I've tested the HTML5 client a bit and I'm here to offer some constructive criticism.  I'm hoping these comments will be of help to Crom or others working on the client. I want to like the HTML client.  Really, I do.  But I can't, and here's why (testing done with Firefox v 28.0 for Ubuntu and Chrome 32.0.1700.107 (might need updating; I barely use it), also on Ubuntu):

Thanks for the awesome feedback, I'll bring it up with the team at our next meeting!

Re: logging - how long of a session are you playing for when you get the errors with the log file?

Re: Music - There should be about 5 pieces of music that it rotates through (admittedly, they're not long), I'll make sure that the rotation is all working as intended.

Chaimra

I hadn't  kept track of how long the session ran  before I got the 'your log is getting really full - you better save it before we start eating it from the top of the file' message, so I did another session and it was about 45 minutes with brief room descriptions.  Typically I use verbose ones, so I imagine that would take less time to fill the buffer/hit the limit.  I made sure everything was put away this time (:)) and then tried to get the log, with similar results.

I meant to listen closer to the music, but for some reason the client stopped playing the music after a few minutes.  How short are the pieces, anyway?  Next time I go a-testin' I'll pay closer attention to the music.

Azalia

First off, this thread is amazing. I'm limited to the client due to the fact that my only working computer is currently a Chromebook, so support for this thing is beautiful. I'm looking forward to scripting out some of the basics, and with curing available system side my Chromebook no longer seems like such a disadvantage.

However, I am concerned that once I click yes on loading reflexes, I have a good 20 seconds or more after logging in where I'm just stuck waiting for those to load. I'm not sure if that's the client or my Chromebook, but I'm afraid to add more to it currently because of that delay. 

Is this normal for everyone else, or just me?

Araeus

What is the wildcard character for the Html client? I am working on antitheft. specifically I would like to know the character to use for a general amount of gold. such as You get X gold from a canvas backpack. with x being whatever amount of gold you have. I did not see anything in the settings that had a manual but I may have missed it.

Orzaansyn

@Azalia: It may be long to dowload, but once downloaded, I do not believe it will affect your performances.

@Araeus: Just do a usual regex: ^You get \b+ gold from a canvas backpack.$

Antonius

It's \d (a digit), not \b (a word boundary).

Orzaansyn

Sorry, typo.

Araeus

@Orzaansyn Thank you. I 'll give that a try.

Khaavren

I am curious I would like to set a variable in a function equal to the output of a system command

so var whoAwake = (client.send_direct("who"); 

but that doesn't seem to work. Any suggestions on what I need to do 

Teghaine

I am wanting to set up a system that tracks my voice balance.

For example, if I use epic, it would take note that my voice is off balance, and then when I regain balance, it updates that I have balance again. I know I would need to make it check for every skill I have, that doesn't really daunt me, but I have no idea how to go about doing it.

It is quite ambitious, as I am not great with programming, but I have figured a several things out so far with relative ease.

I have SVO on Mudlet, so I can look at that and see how it goes about tracking voice balance, but I can't really understand it just yet.

Sena

You can make it a lot simpler by just putting voice balance in the prompt (look at HELP PROMPT to see how to set up a custom prompt), and then having a prompt trigger to track whether or not you currently have voice balance. I don't remember if GMCP includes class-specific balances (I think it does), but if it does that would be even easier than the prompt. Either way, there's no need to match every voicecraft ability.

Khaavren

so I am curious how do I know the format of objects like gmcp.char.items?  I'd like to see to the info stored in the object but not sure how I access it. 

thanks

Khaavren

Is it possible to call GMCP directly outside of the onGMCP fucntion and does someone have a sample of it? 

Khaavren

or can I call onGMCP for a specific call? and how do you do that

Teghaine

Might be a very... very silly though. This might actually be impossible, but I have no idea, so I am going to ask anyway.

Lots of people -really- like the html5 client, but it is not ideal because of how it is integrated into a browser which has it's own features that might mess with the features  of the client or the features you want. As a quick example, my hunting attack is ctrl+2, but if I am not giving it my full attention my finger slips and I hit ctrl+W, which attempts to close the whole browser.

I know it's not the best example, but it is there. What I would like to know, is if it is possible to code a very simple browser which has the only purpose of accessing the html5 client.

Feel free to thwap me if this is really easy, or really hard.

Tecton

If you're on a Mac, you could use something like Fluid (fluidapp.com) to turn the HTML5 client into its own application. I'm not sure if a windows equivalent exists. The only downside of doing that is you may not be using the most current version, so you'd want to redo it every so often so you're up-to-date.