AdvTxt Editor

The AdvTxt Editor is a quickly-assembed app for editing AdvTxt rooms.

What follows is an off-the-cuff explanation of how to get things running, but it's probably incomplete. This editor is sort of nasty and is only provided to get the job at hand done, not to be pretty or friendly while doing it.

Get the Editor Running

Backend

The backend app is a Sails.js application that simply shuffles data to/from a MongoDB database; it exists to provide a cheap and easy REST API for the frontend to consume.

Warning: There is absolutely no security; this is meant to be run on a local machine only. If you run this in production you are a fool.

To get up and running:

1. Read the Sails.js MongoDB Docs on how to create a config/adapter.js for your Mongo database.
2. Install Sails with npm install -g sails.
3. Install the local modules by changing to the backend directory, and run npm install
4. Start the local server by running sails lift in that directory.

Then, it's time to start the frontend.

Frontend

The frontend is a KnockoutJS app that consumes the REST API from the Sails backend app. It's based on my Static Template so all of its rules apply there.

To get it running:

1. Install Grunt CLI with npm install -g grunt-cli.
2. Install Bower with npm install -g bower.
3. Change to the frontend directory, and install the local modules necessary with: npm install && bower install
4. From that directory, run grunt dev which will build the project's dev version, and start a local webserver on port 8002.

Visit http://localhost:8002 and you'll see the interface.

How it all Works

The room grid which is first displayed is a 21×21 grid, with [0,0] at the center. The size of the grid is hard-coded, and can trivially be increased in size.

Each room has attributes, with the following core types. Internally, everything is always lowercased before processing.

Note: Any fields with an (array) listed next to the label expects you to enter a JSON-style array in that field. There is no checking on the frontend; bizarre things may happen if you don't enter things correct.

Example: ["+item 1", "+item 2", "-item3"] or "+item 1" if only one item.

Core Room Attributes

• Exit
• Command

Each of these has some common sub-attributes. There is a special command for each room that should be set, called "enter". This command is executed each time the user enters the room.

Common Sub-Attributes

• Name — If it's an exit, this is the exit's name ("north", "door", etc…), if it's a command, this is the action word/words ("get", "jump", "push")
• Move — If passed, you move in the direction specified (8-way cardinal directions)
• Item — If passed, you get or lose these items. Gotten items are specified with a "+" in front, lost with a "-". Items are just string identifiers that are matched against with a Javascript === after being lowercased. For example: "+key" gives you an item called "key", "-key" takes that key away, if you have it. Any item without a "+" or "-" in front will be assumed to mean "+".

Availability Hierarchy

The availability hierarchy is how an exit, item, or command is determined to be available. You need at least one of these, or else your room attribute won't work.

The availability hierarchy is processed in order. The first one to pass is used and determines if the room attribute is available, and no further items in the hierarchy are processed. Each item in the hierarchy has the following attributes:

• Required Items — A comma-separated list of required items. All in the list are required.
• Messages — The message to be played on pass.
• Available — Boolean of whether this item makes the attribute available or not.

So you can build somewhat complex trees that flow down the line. Imagine a hierarchy list with these items:

Required Items	Message	Avl.
key,flashlight	"You turn on your flashlight, and use your key to open the door."	true
key	"You unlock the door, but it's entirely too dark to continue."	false
null	"The door appears to be locked."	false

You can imagine some pretty complex systems, especially since an item can be anything ("sunny disposition", "the flu", etc…).

Aliases

Aliases will be stored in the database, and are coming sometime soon.

The MIT License (MIT)

Copyright (c) 2014 Nathan Wittstock

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.