Advanced Features
This section describes advanced features you can use to enhance your
Palace experience even further:
Standard user commands
The Palace software possesses a number of special commands allowing
you to personalize your experience online. All special commands consist of text typed into
the Input Box, and most of them begin with a single quote (' ).
Although the special commands available may vary from site to site,
you can see the standard list in the section Palace
Command Summary.
Creating and maintaining your own room
Sometimes, you will visit a Palace site where the operator lets you
create your own room. These member rooms exist only temporarily,
deleting themselves whenever (A) there is no one inside and (B) when their owners
disconnect from the current server. There are number of special commands associated with
member rooms. Like most special commands, these are typed directly into the Input Box, and
begin with a single quote (').
Member rooms have the following guidelines:
'newroom roomName
Creates a new room with a cloudy sky background. If you don't supply roomName,
the new room will be called "Jim's room" (or whatever your name is). When you
create a room you become its owner (similar to being a "channel op" on
IRC), and may use all of the special commands listed below within that room. If the room
empties out and you log off, the room will disappear.
'rdelete
Deletes the room. This command is rarely necessary, as the room will disappear of its
own accord anyway.
'rowner userName
Allows you to transfer ownership of the room to userName.
'rname roomName
Renames the room to roomName.
'rpicture filename
Allows you to specify a new background picture for the room. You may use any of the
default Palace pictures, (the bar, the study and the beach are the most
popular -- look in your Pictures folder to see the list). You can use a custom
picture of your own creation if you wish, but only people who have a copy of that graphic
will be able to see it; everyone else will see a black background.
'rkick userName
Kicks userName out of the room. The person will be
kept out for the remainder of their session, or until ownership is transferred.
NOTE: They can get around this by logging off. If you are having a real security
problem you can either use a password, close the room entirely with the rclose
command, or page a operator for assistance.
'runkick userName
Cancels the effects of an 'rkick command.
'rpassword yourPassword
Denies entrance to the room except to those who know yourPassword.
When someone tries to get in, the server will deny access and request that the person type 'password yourPassword to get in. For example, if you create
a room and type:
'rpassword mojo
Other users will be unable to enter your room unless they type:
'password mojo
'rclose
Closes (locks) the room, preventing access by anybody except the room owner. If
everybody inside leaves, the room automatically opens.
'ropen
Opens (unlocks) the room.
'rscripts on
'rscripts off
Determines whether or not user scripts can run within the room. Scripts are on by
default.
'rpainting on
'rpainting off
Turns painting on and off within the room. Painting (otherwise known as drawing) is
on by default. The owner can do some painting (to make a sign) and then turn
painting off to make a temporarily-permanent sign.
'rguests on
'rguests off
Denies access to guests (non-members).
'rhide on
'rhide off
Removes the room from the Room List (for all except operators and owners, who
can still see it).
'runhide
Cancels the effects of an 'rhide command. Same as 'rhide off.
Automating yourself with Iptscrae
As if you didn't already have enough to keep you happily
Palace-hopping for a long time, there are many more options available to you once you
begin to master the intricacies of Iptscrae, the Palace programming
language. Your initial introduction to Iptscrae will most likely be in the form of your
own cyborg.ipt file (or "Cyborg Script"), that
contains the routines used to automate aspects of your avatar's behavior online. This
section provides a cursory overview of the contents of the cyborg.ipt file,
and explains the operation of this file in its default state. For more information on
Iptscrae, see the Iptscrae Language Guide.
NOTE: Modifying the cyborg.ipt file requires a degree
of familiarity with Iptscrae that is beyond the scope of this guide. Since the same
commands and syntax are used to create Palace Server Scripts and Cyborg Scripts alike,
would-be authors will want to read the Iptscrae Language Guide.
Your cyborg.ipt file
This section describes your Cyborg.ipt file,
examining its structure and operation line-by-line. To make any changes desired, you'll
need to open this file with a text editor or word processor capable of saving in ASCII
("text only") format. Always remember to make a backup copy before editing your cyborg.ipt file.
The cyborg.ipt file is a script, written
in Iptscrae. Scripts contain handlers, which respond to events.
These handlers are themselves contain short programs called atomlists.
An atomlist could also be called a subroutine. To get a clearer
understanding of what this means, let's take a look at your default
cyborg.ipt file.
The INCHAT handler
The first block of statements in your file is your INCHAT handler (as indicated by the words ON INCHAT
and the open curly bracket in the first line):
ON INCHAT
{
; expressive prop changes - in response to what others say
{ "Lightbulb" DONPROP { DOFFPROP } 120 ALARMEXEC } CHATSTR
"you genius" == IF
...
INCHAT is where you store atomlists that
respond to words you hear others say; atomlists in this handler
are triggered by any CHAT event. You'll notice lots of curly
brackets throughout the script. These curly brackets indicate additional atomlists.
Subject to syntax requirements, atomlists can contain other atomlists, but each must be
opened and closed with the corresponding curly bracket. You can tell when a script has
reached its end by counting and pairing the open curly brackets with the closed ones.
You'll notice that the first open-curly bracket above has no partner. More on that soon...
The line starting with a semicolon (;) is a comment.
The software ignores everything on the line after the semicolon. Commenting your code is
good programming practice, and it will save you a lot of time when you come back to this
file several months after editing it.
The functional stuff is contained in the IF
statement that follows the comment. This statement causes your avatar to don a lightbulb
prop for 120 ticks (a tick is about 1/60th of a second, so this
is about 2 seconds) and then remove it, provided someone says the trigger phrase appearing
in quotes ("you genius").
This sample lends itself to fairly easy editing. Without altering
the structure of the statements or atomlists involved, you can easily edit this IF statement, or duplicate it to have your avatar don different props
in response to different trigger statements. Be sure your new prop names refer to actual
props in your satchel, or your script will do nothing. You can also change the number of
ticks between donning and doffing the prop.
FINGER information. We know the INCHAT handler isn't done yet, because our first open-curly bracket in
the cyborg.ipt file hasn't been matched with a close-curly
bracket. The next section, therefore, is also executed on response to INCHAT...
; this is your FINGER information - replace the stuff in quotes
with
; information about yourself.
{
"^<insert name>x0d"
"<insert e-mail>x0d" +
WHOCHAT PRIVATEMSG
} CHATSTR "finger" == CHATSTR ";finger" == OR
WHOCHAT WHOME == NOT AND IF
}
As the comment tells us, this routine allows you to provide others with
some information about you when they select you for whisper mode and say
"finger". To edit it, simply replace <insert name>
and <insert e-mail> (including the angle brackets) with
whatever information you want to put there. If you want to add additional information
lines, copy the format of the "<insert e-mail>x0d" +
(including the plus sign at the end). Unless you're an Iptscrae expert, you should
probably leave the rest of this structure alone.
The OUTCHAT handler
If you pair up the curly brackets here you will find that the last
one is an extra; we now know that we have reached the end of our INCHAT
handler. The next block of statements comprise the OUTCHAT
handler.
ON OUTCHAT
{
; more expressive prop changes (in response to what YOU say)
{
{ "Lightbulb" DONPROP { DOFFPROP } 120 ALARMEXEC } 30
ALARMEXEC
} CHATSTR "a.* idea" GREPSTR IF
This is the beginning of your OUTCHAT handler,
which contains atomlists that execute whenever you say something. The IF
statement is very similar to the one encountered in the INCHAT
handler. In this example, the IF statement evaluates each of
your outgoing messages to see if it matches the specified target condition (the "a.* idea"), and executes a don/doff routine if it does.
The "a.* idea" target condition
looks for the letter a, followed by anything, followed by the
word idea, anywhere in the outgoing message (GREPSTR
instead of SUBSTR). Phrases like a
good idea and I have an insane idea, man meet this
criteria, and will trigger the Lightbulb prop routine.
ZAP routine. Your OUTCHAT
handler also contains a ZAP routine:
; Zap somebody by positioning the mouse and then say
"zap"
{ "!)fazein Zap!" MOUSEPOS SAYAT
255 0 0 PENCOLOR 2 PENSIZE
POSX POSY MOUSEPOS LINE
PAINTUNDO
"" CHATSTR =
} CHATSTR "zap" == IF
This zap routine listens for you to say zap,
whereupon it quickly performs a series of related actions:
- It plays the fazein audiofile and places the word Zap! in a spiky balloon at the position of the mouse pointer ( "!)fazein Zap!" MOUSEPOS SAYAT ).
- It sets the system pen to bright red (255 red, 0 green and 0 blue), and makes it two
pixels wide ( 2 PENSIZE ).
- It draws a line (using the pen's current color and size) from your avatar's position ( POSX POSY ) to the mouse pointer's position (
MOUSEPOS ). This creates a laser beam effect.
- It erases the line ( PAINTUNDO ).
- It removes your "zap" statement from the CHAT
string, so no one sees it
( "" CHATSTR = ).
There have been so many variations on this script that it would take a
good-sized document to list them all. The Zap script is probably the most heavily-edited
atomlist in the Iptscrae annals. For starters, you might want to experiment with changing
the target message and the audiofile played, or the color and size of the pen.
Cleaning your room. The next atomlist is
useful when a room gets too cluttered to see what's going on.
; clean the room by saying "clean"
{
CLEARLOOSEPROPS
PAINTCLEAR
} CHATSTR "clean" == IF
This atomlist waits for you to say clean, and
then removes all loose props from the current room ( CLEARLOOSEPROPS )
and deletes all painted lines on the screen (PAINTCLEAR ).
Spoofing. The next statement is a spoofing
atomlist.
; spoof somebody by positioning the mouse on their mouth
; and then typing "msay blah blah"
{ "$1" GREPSUB chatter =
chatter MOUSEPOS SAYAT
"" CHATSTR =
} CHATSTR "^msay (.*)$" GREPSTR IF
If you're into spoofing people (putting words in their mouths), this
atomlist makes it a lot easier than using the *X,Y function. It
waits for you to say anything that starts with the word msay.
When you do, everything after the word msay is sent to a cartoon
balloon that magically appears at your cursor's position. It then sets the CHAT string to (nothing) so that no one sees your original utterance.
This is such a useful routine that you should probably keep it just the way it is.
Final OUTCHAT atomlist. Here is the final
atomlist in your OUTCHAT handler:
; give another user a prop
{ "$1" GREPSUB who = "$2" GREPSUB prop =
prop who WHOPOS ADDLOOSEPROP
} CHATSTR "^give (.*) (.*)$" GREPSTR IF
}
We can tell this is the last statement because of the extra closed-curly
bracket at the end of the sample (which matches the one we encountered on the first line
of this handler). The routine waits for you to say anything matching the structure of give person prop. The first word after give is called and passed to a symbol called who,
while the final word is called $2 and is passed to a symbol
called prop. A copy of prop is then
added to the screen at the position of who. This cannot be used
to place a prop on a person, but rather puts it right next to them.
NOTE: If the user specified is not present in the room or the prop named is not
in your prop file, this routine will not work.
SIGNON handler
Finally, we come to the last handler in your
cyborg.ipt file:
ON SIGNON {
"*64,64 !It's " USERNAME + SAY
1 MACRO
}
This is your ON SIGNON handler, which consists
of only one atomlist. When you first enter any Palace site, this routine does two things.
First it causes you to say
It's your_name! in a spiky balloon at position 64 x 64 on the
screen. Next it runs "macro" number 1, setting your initial appearance (this is
equivalent to selecting the first avatar from the Avatars window, or
pressing the F1 key).
You'll notice that the syntax and special characters used to
indicate the location and style of the announcement are the same as those used in the
Input Box to create special talking effects. By experimenting with these text-based
functions (and the others available via the Input Box) you can edit this script to trigger
complex strings of text, sound and avatar actions whenever you enter a Palace site.
