CALYX2.ADL

    calyx2.adl is a file that contains many useful default definitions
and routines. To use calyx2.adl, simply put 'INCLUDE "calyx2.adl"' before
the rest of your program.

    Calyx2.adl is widely based on Ross Cunniff's standard.adl (as is this
documentation), but removed some of its errors and offers a lot more
predefined standards. It is unfortunately NOT compatible to standard.adl.
See section 6 for further information concerning this.

    Calyx2.adl defines six things: object properties, constants,
global variables, useful words, some normal verbs and their actions, and
some utility routines.

1.  Object properties

    The following object properties are defined in calyx2.adl. The ADL
    programmer using calyx2.adl is advised not to re-use these properties
    with different meanings, as strange and unusual things will happen.

   SEEN     = 16;
   OPENS    = 15;
   OPENED   = 14;
   TRANS    = 13;
   INCAP    = 12;
   ONCAP    = 11;
   LIGHT    = 10;
   FLAME    = 9;
   NOTAKE   = 8;
   ACTIVE   = 7;

   AllLink  = 29;
   SAVESENT = 28;

    This leaves boolean properties 1 through 6 and integer properties
    17 through 27 free for the programmer's definition and use. The above
    properties are used as follows:

    SEEN    The standard looking daemon sets this property of a room to
    TRUE whenever the player visits the room.

    OPENS    This property should be set to TRUE if it is possible to
    open or close the object (a treasure chest would be an example of
    this).

    OPENED    This property is set to TRUE if the object is already
    opened and FALSE if the object is closed. This is meaningful only if
    OPENS is TRUE.

    INCAP    This property is set to TRUE if an object has an "in"
    capacity, but cannot be opened or closed. A sink or a cup are good
    examples for this.

    ONCAP    This property is set to TRUE if the referred-to object has
    an "on" capacity, i.e. you can put other things on top of it.

      IMPORTANT:  At this time of standard, an object may only have
      EITHER an INCAP, OR an ONCAP!

    TRANS    This property should be set to TRUE if the object is
    transparent (a glass box or a bottle would be a good example of
    this).

    LIGHT    This property should be set to TRUE if the object gives off
    light (in the case of a transportable object like a flashlight) or if
    the object is intrinsically lit (like an outdoor location).

    FLAME    This property should be set to TRUE if the object is on
    fire.

    NOTAKE    This property should be set to TRUE if it is desired that
    "take" and "drop" ignore the object when "take all" or "drop all" are
    requested.

    ACTIVE    This property marks that an object is "active." This can
    mean that it is currently switched on, locked, or used in some other
    way.

    AllLink    This property is used by the PREACT and ACTION routines of
    the verbs "take" and "drop" and should not be used by anything else.

    SAVESENT    This property is used to hold the starting number of a
    block of six global variables in which to store a sentence for use
    with ActAction, below.


2.  Constants

    For convenience and readability, calyx2.adl defines the following
    constants:

   TRUE = 1;
   FALSE = 0;
   NULL = 0;
   ON = 1;
   OFF = 0;

    In addition, the following constants are defined for use as arguments
    to the $spec routine:

   DEBUG = 1;
   RESTART = 2;
   QUIT = 3;
   SAVE = 4;
   RESTORE = 5;
   EXEC = 6;
   PRESERVE = 7;
   SCRIPT = 8;
   HEADER = 9;
   MARGIN = 10;


    The following constants are defined for use as arguments to the
    Expect routine (described in section 10.6):

   NO_OBJ = 1;
   ONE_OBJ = 2;
   MULT_OBJ = 4;
   PLAIN_OBJ = 8;
   STR_OBJ = 16;


    The following global variables are declared by calyx2.adl for use by
    the ADL programmer:

   First,
   AllSeen,
   MultList,
   MyConj,
   NumSeen,
   IobjSave,
   Skip,
   Scripting,
   Cloak,
   Conts,
   Indent,
   LastVerb,
   LastNumd,
   LastConj,
   LastDobj,
   LastPrep,
   LastIobj,
   Dark,
   MyLoc,
   Verbose;


    The above globals are used as follows:

    First    is TRUE if the current Dobj is the first in the Dobj list.
    It is set to TRUE at the beginning of the game.

    AllSeen    is TRUE if the player typed "all" in his sentence.

    MultList    This is the head pointer of the multiple object list.

    MyConj    records where "but" has been seen.

    NumSeen    NumSeen contains the number of Dobj's seen by "take" or
    "drop" so far.

    IobjSave    The Iobj is stored in IobjSave by the "take" and "drop"
    routines. If you want to mess around with these you should know
    exactly what you are doing. In most of the cases this makes sense
    only if you plan to (re)define something in calyx2.adl.

    Skip    Skip is used in preference to ($exit 1) or ($exit 2) inside
    Object ACTIONs if it is desired that the rest of the Object list be
    processed by the Verb ACTION of "take" or "drop" (see the discussion
    on TakeAct and DropAct below).

    Scripting    Set to TRUE while scripting to a file.

    Cloak    This is a flag that is used when you desire an object not to
    print the "xyz: taken" line when it is taken, or the appropriate
    lines when dropping or putting. This is particularly useful if you
    intend to print a special message when taking this object. If you
    wish to program similar verbs, make sure that Cloak is set to FALSE
    by your verb ACTION.

    Conts    Conts is TRUE if the "You can see:" message has been
    printed. You should set it to TRUE if you desire this message not to
    be printed to the screen.

    Indent    Indent should be set to TRUE if object descriptions are to
    be indented by two spaces before being printed. It works, as opposite to
    standard.adl's Indent.

    Dark    Dark is TRUE if it is currently  dark. This variable is set
    by the Looker routine if there is no light in the current location
    of .ME, and may also be set as the result of some other action.

    MyLoc    MyLoc is the location of the player at the outset of the
    previous turn. The routine  Looker checks to see whether MyLoc is the
    same as the location of the player. If so, the room description is
    printed. If not, no action is performed by Looker. MyLoc is
    initialized to -1 to force the printing of a room description at the
    beginning of the game.

    Verbose    Verbose should be set to TRUE if the player wishes that
    all room descriptions be verbose ones (i.e. long descriptions of the
    room and its  contents). If Verbose is false and the room has been
    visited previously, a short description will be printed.

    LastVerb    LastVerb, LastNumd, LastDobj, LastPrep, and LastIobj
    contain the values present in the sentence prior to the current
    sentence. These values are set in the standard looking daemon. The
    routine SaveSentence is provided for this purpose.


3.  Words

    The following words are defined to be a standard part of the ADL
    vocabulary:

    PREP    with, to, into, at, under, from, off, on;

    in = into;

    ARTICLE    the, a, an;

    NOUN    all, it;


4.  Verbs and their actions

    Calyx2.adl declares the following verbs, and initializes their PREACT
    and ACTION routines to (usually) fairly simply-minded defaults.

   n,  s,  e,  w, ne, se, nw, sw, up, down,
   enter, exit,
   get, put, take, drop,
   wear, remove,
   verbose, terse,
   open, close,
   lock, unlock,
   move, break, rub, touch,
   throw, read, burn,
   examine, look, inventory,
   quit, restart,
   save, restore, script,
   turn, douse, light,
   wait, again, go;


    The following verbs have special semantics and redefinition of their
    PREACT or ACTION routines should be avoided:

    NOVERB    NOVERB (which is predeclared by ADL) is the verb returned
    by the parser if the player's sentence contained no verb. Calyx2.adl
    initializes the PREACT of NOVERB so that appropriate requests for
    more information are generated.

    put    "Put" transforms itself into "drop" then calls the PREACT of
    "drop".

    get    "Get" transforms itself into "take" then calls the PREACT of
    "take".

    take    "Take" determines whether the sentence is one like "Take all
    but the sword and the shield". If it is then a list of objects is
    built up which are then taken. If not, the normal semantics apply. If
    the programmer wants an action to be performed by the "take" ACTION,
    the routine TakeAct should be defined.

    drop    "drop" may be used in sentences like "Drop all but the
    book." If it is so used, a list of objects is created which are then
    dropped. If the programmer wants an action to be performed by the
    "drop" ACTION, the routine DropAct should be defined.

    go     If "go" is used in a sentence like "Go north", the Verb is
    changed to "north" and the Dobj and Iobj are set to NULL. This only
    applies to the direction verbs "north", "south", "east", "west",
    "northeast", "southeast", "northwest", "southwest", "up", and "down".

    again    If the standard actor action is in effect, the Verb "again"
    will never be called or seen by Objects since it is replaced by the
    previous sentence.

    In addition, there are some remarks to be made on the following verbs:

    enter,    As opposite to the standard.adl verbs of the same name,
    exit      these two now actually DO something. It is checked if the
    referred-to object is actually available, and then a "Silly" (see there)
    message is printed out.

    lock,     The predefined ACTION prints out a message like "You can't
    unlock    do that." If the programmer desire that an object can
    actually be locked, he has to define this in the appropriate object
    ACTION. The predefined property ACTIVE can be used as a flag.

    In addition to declaring the preceding verbs, calyx2.adl declares the
    following equivalencies:

   g    = again;
   z    = wait;
   x    = examine;
   i    = inventory;
   l    = look;

   u    = up;
   d    = down;
   north    = n;
   south    = s;
   east    = e;
   west    = w;
   northeast   = ne;
   northwest   = nw;
   southeast   = se;
   southwest   = sw;
   brief    = terse;

   put on   = wear;
   take off   = remove;
   turn on   = light;
   turn off   = douse;
   look at   = examine;


5.  Routines

    Calyx2.adl declares and defines the following Routines for use by the
    ADL programmer:

   StdInit,
   Reach,
   See,
   Lit,
   Avail,
   CheckAvail,
   Expect,
   Preact,
   Looker,
   Prompter,
   TakeAct,
   DropAct,
   ActAction,
   SaveSentence,
   Dwimmer,
   ClS,
   ObjCont,
   Silly;

    Their use is defined as follows:

    StdInit    (StdInit actor) should be executed in START if the
    programmer desires that ALL of the default routines be used. Actor
    should be the name of the primary interactive Actor in the scenario.

    Reach    (Reach object container) is TRUE if object is contained in
    container and if the player can reach the object. It is FALSE
    otherwise. Note that this also checks whether object is contained in
    something which is contained in container and so on.

    See    (See object container) is TRUE if object is contained in
    container and the player can see the object. It is FALSE otherwise.
    This also checks containers inside containers.

    Lit    (Lit) is TRUE if something is lighting the player's location
    and FALSE otherwise.

    Avail    (Avail object) is TRUE if the player can see object (either
    in the room or in the player's inventory) and can reach the object.
    It is FALSE otherwise.

    CheckAvail    (CheckAvail) checks to see whether the Dobj and Iobj
    typed by the player are available. If not, an appropriate message is
    printed and ($exit 1) is performed.

    Expect    Expect is typically called by the PREACT of a Verb. It
    looks at the current sentence to see whether it is of acceptable
    form. The two parameters to Expect define criteria for acceptability.
    The first parameter indicates what types of direct objects are
    acceptable and the second indicates what types of indirect objects
    are acceptable. Each parameter consists of one or more of the Expect
    flags $or'd together. The flag NO_OBJ indicates that it is acceptable
    that no object be present; ONE_OBJ indicates that it is acceptable
    that one object be present; MULT_OBJ indicates that it is acceptable
    that multiple objects be present; STR_OBJ indicates that it's OK for
    the object(s) to be strings; and PLAIN_OBJ indicates that it's OK for
    the object(s) to be normal ADL objects.

    Example:

  { "take" needs 1 to N Dobjs and 0 or 1 Iobjs }
  take(PREACT) =
   (Expect ($or MULT_OBJ PLAIN_OBJ)
    ($or NO_OBJ ONE_OBJ PLAIN_OBJ))
  ;
  { "quit" can accept no objects }
  quit(PREACT) =
   (Expect  NO_OBJ  NO_OBJ)
  ;
  { "unlock" needs exactly one Dobj and Iobj }
  unlock(PREACT) =
   (Expect ($or  ONE_OBJ  PLAIN_OBJ)
    ($or  ONE_OBJ  PLAIN_OBJ) )
  ;
  { "say" needs a string to say and possibly
    someone to whom to say it }
  say(PREACT) =
   (Expect ($or ONE_OBJ STR_OBJ)
    ($or NO_OBJ ONE_OBJ PLAIN_OBJ))
  ;


    Preact    Preact is the standard PREACT for Verbs. It checks to make
    sure that exactly one plain Direct Object was typed and that the
    Indirect Object is not a string. It also checks to see whether all of
    the named objects are available.

    Looker    Looker is the standard looking daemon. It is intended to be
    executed every turn. To enable this, either of the statements ($sdem
    Looker) or (StdInit actor) must be executed (where  actor) is the
    primary actor).

    Prompter    Prompter is the standard prompting routine. To use it,
    either of the statements ($prompt Prompter) or (StdInit actor) must
    be executed.

    ActAction    ActAction is the standard Actor action. It checks to see
    whether the Verb "again" or the Object "it" was used and modifies the
    sentences appropriately. To use it, either of the statements ($setp
    .ME ACTION ActAction) or (StdInit actor) must be executed.

    TakeAct    TakeAct is called by the default action routine of the
    Verb "take" after the ACTION routines of all of the Direct Objects
    have been executed.

    DropAct    DropAct is similar to TakeAct, except that it is called by
    the ACTION routine of "drop".

    SaveSentence    SaveSentence should be called by the ADL programmer
    if it is desired that the Verb "again" and the Object "it" work as in
    ActAction  above. Looker calls SaveSentence every turn.

    Dwimmer    Dwimmer is the standard DWIMming routine. It checks to see
    whether an ambiguous object could possibly be the one the player
    meant. To use Dwimmer, include the statement (IF (Dwimmer %1) THEN
    ($return 1)) in DWIMI and/or DWIMD.

    ClS    Prints out 26 blank lines, which to my experience is enough
    for most screen formats to be utterly cleared. If this should not be the
    case, at least there'll be a proper spacing between texts.

    ObjCont    Called in an object ACTION, this routine checks if the
    current Dobj is openable, or has an in- or oncapacity and prints out
    its contents, if available. Everything is checked for that cause, so
    the programmer just has to call the routine. If an object doesn't
    define its own reaction to "examine", ObjCont is automatically
    called by the examine ACTION.

    Silly    Randomly prints out one of five messages equivalent to "That's
    silly."


6.  Converting standard.adl files to calyx2.adl files.

    To convert files, you have to reassign some object properties. LOCKS
    and LOCKED cannot be used now (they didn't make sense if you also want
    to check for a key; you'd have to define the appropriate verb ACTION
    anyway), so you have to reprogram objects using these (you can
    alternatively use ACTIVE). If you have objects that seem suitable for
    the new INCAP or ONCAP properties, feel free to add these.
    The internal program structure will not change. If you want old
    containers to show their contents when examined, you can simply put the
    ObjCont routine to their ($eq @Verb examine) part. You MUST do this if
    there are any objects that don't have a special routine for ($eq @Verb
    examine) implemented, because else the continuity will be seriously
    disturbed, as calyx2.adl assumes ObjCont to be executed in the
    predefined examine verb ACTION.

    Note that several routines that didn't work correctly with standard.adl
    (e.g."put cup into cup," or putting something into a closed container)
    will now work properly without you having to change anything there.


7.  Contacting the author and legal stuff.

    It's been a while since I have written calyx2.adl. Since I don't intend
    to work further on it, it is placed in the public domain. Please mention
    the original file, along with its version number, if you change the
    standard.
    If you have questions, you can contact me (as of this writing,
    1996/JAN/23) as:
       Miron Schmidt
       Eibischstr.9, 12357 Berlin, GERMANY
       Tel.: (+49 30) 661 79 25
       email: [email protected] (until at least 1998)
    I wrote all this for the Amiga version of ADL, and I don't know if there
    exist any differences to other ports.
    As I haven't coded ADL for a while, I cannot guarantee that I'll be able
    to help you, but you're invited to contact me anyway. :)

    Don't ask me about Calyx Corp. I founded Calyx in my late childhood,
    when I wanted to publish games for the C-64, and out of habit I keep
    using the name for my IF publications.

    Finally, I hope anybody can do anything with this. Taking the time of
    its writing into consideration, ADL is a fine piece of work, so I
    wouldn't be surprised if there were still any programmers using it out
    there.

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