# misc.t | documentation

    #charset "us-ascii"

    /*
     *   Copyright (c) 2000, 2006 Michael J. Roberts.  All Rights Reserved.
     *   Adapted for adv3Lite by Eric Eve
     *
     *   adv3Lite Library - miscellaneous definitions
     *
     *   This module contains miscellaneous definitions that don't have a
     *   natural grouping with any larger modules, and which aren't complex
     *   enough to justify modules of their own.
     */

    /* include the library header */
    #include "advlite.h"

    /* ------------------------------------------------------------------------ */
    /*
     *   When a call is made to a property not defined or inherited by the
     *   target object, the system will automatically invoke this method.  The
     *   method will be invoked with a property pointer as its first argument,
     *   and the original arguments as the remaining arguments.  The first
     *   argument gives the property that was invoked and not defined by the
     *   object.  A typical definition in an object would look like this:
     *
     *   propNotDefined(prop, [args]) { ... }
     *
     *   If this method is not defined by the object, the system simply
     *   returns nil as the value of the undefined property evaluation or
     *   method invocation.
     */
    property propNotDefined;
    export propNotDefined;

    /* ------------------------------------------------------------------------ */
    /*
     *   We refer to some properties defined primarily in score.t - that's an
     *   optional module, though, so make sure the compiler has heard of these.
     */
    property calcMaxScore, runScoreNotifier;

    /* ------------------------------------------------------------------------ */
    /*
     *   The library base class for the gameMain object.
     *
     *   Each game MUST define an object called 'gameMain' to define how the
     *   game starts up.  You can use GameMainDef as the base class of your
     *   'gameMain' object, in which case the only thing you're required to
     *   specify in your object is the 'initialPlayerChar' property - you can
     *   inherit everything else from the GameMainDef class if you don't
     *   require any further customizations.
     */
    class GameMainDef: object
        /*
         *   The initial player character.  Each game's 'gameMain' object MUST
         *   define this to refer to the Actor object that serves as the
         *   initial player character.
         */
        initialPlayerChar = nil

        /*
         *   Show the game's introduction.  This routine is called by the
         *   default newGame() just before entering the main command loop.  The
         *   command loop starts off by showing the initial room description,
         *   so there's no need to do that here.
         *
         *   Most games will want to override this, to show a prologue message
         *   setting up the game's initial situation for the player.  We don't
         *   show anything by default.
         */
        showIntro() { }

        /*
         *   Show the "goodbye" message.  This is called after the main command
         *   loop terminates.
         *
         *   We don't show anything by default.  If you want to show a "thanks
         *   for playing" type of message as the game exits, override this
         *   routine with the desired text.
         */
        showGoodbye() { }

        /*
         *   Begin a new game.  This default implementation shows the
         *   introductory message, calls the main command loop, and finally
         *   shows the goodbye message.
         *
         *   You can override this routine if you want to customize the startup
         *   protocol.  For example, if you want to create a pre-game options
         *   menu, you could override this routine to show the list of options
         *   and process the user's input.  If you need only to customize the
         *   introduction and goodbye messages, you can simply override
         *   showIntro() and showGoodbye() instead.
         */
        newGame()
        {
            /*   Create an action context in case any startup code needs it */
            gAction = Look.createInstance();
            gActor = initialPlayerChar;

            /*
             *   Show the statusline before we display our introductory.  This
             *   will help minimize redrawing - if we waited until after
             *   displaying some text, we might have to redraw some of the
             *   screen to rearrange things for the new screen area taken up by
             *   the status line, which could be visible to the user.  By
             *   setting up the status line first, we'll probably have less to
             *   redraw because we won't have anything on the screen yet when
             *   figuring the layout.
             */
            statusLine.showStatusLine();

            /* show the introduction */
            showIntro();

            /* run the game, showing the initial location's full description */
            runGame(true);

            /* show the end-of-game message */
            showGoodbye();
        }

        /*
         *   Restore a game and start it running.  This is invoked when the
         *   user launches the interpreter using a saved game file; for
         *   example, on a Macintosh, this happens when the user double-clicks
         *   on a saved game file on the desktop.
         *
         *   This default implementation bypasses any normal introduction
         *   messages: we simply restore the game file if possible, and
         *   immediately start the game's main command loop.  Most games won't
         *   need to override this, but you can if you need some special effect
         *   in the restore-at-startup case.
         */
        restoreAndRunGame(filename)
        {
            local succ;

            /* mention that we're about to restore the saved position */
            DMsg(note main restore, 'Game restored.<.p>');

            /* try restoring it */
            succ = Restore.startupRestore(filename);

            /* show a blank line after the restore result message */
            "<.p>";

            /* if we were successful, run the game */
            if (succ)
            {
                /*
                 *   Run the command loop.  There's no need to show the room
                 *   description, since the RESTORE action will have already
                 *   done so.
                 */
                runGame(nil);

                /* show the end-of-game message */
                showGoodbye();
            }
        }

        /*
         *   Set the interpreter window title, if applicable to the local
         *   platform.  This simply displays a <TITLE> tag to set the title to
         *   the string found in the versionInfo object.
         */
        setGameTitle()
        {
            /* write the <TITLE> tag with the game's name */
            "<title><<versionInfo.name>></title>";
        }

        /*
         *   Set up the HTML-mode about-box.  By default, this does nothing.
         *   Games can use this routine to show an <ABOUTBOX> tag, if desired,
         *   to set up the contents of an about-box for HTML TADS platforms.
         *
         *   Note that an <ABOUTBOX> tag must be re-initialized each time the
         *   main game window is cleared, so this routine should be called
         *   again after any call to clearScreen().
         */
        setAboutBox()
        {
            /* we don't show any about-box by default */
        }

        /*
         *   Build a saved game metadata table.  This returns a LookupTable
         *   containing string key/value pairs that are stored in saved game
         *   files, providing descriptive information that can be displayed to
         *   the user when browsing a collection of save files.  This is called
         *   each time we execute a SAVE command, so that we store the current
         *   context of the game.
         *
         *   Some interpreters display information from this table when
         *   presenting the user with a list of files for RESTORE.  The
         *   contents of the table are intentionally open-ended to allow for
         *   future extensions, but at the moment, the following keys are
         *   specifically defined (note that capitalization must be exact):
         *
         *   UserDesc - descriptive text entered by the user (this should
         *   simply be the contents of the 'userDesc' parameter).  This is
         *   treated as ordinary plain text (i.e., no HTML or other markups are
         *   interpreted in this text).
         *
         *   AutoDesc - descriptive text generated by the game to describe the
         *   saved position.  This text can contain the simple HTML markups
         *   <b>..</b>, <i>..</i>, and <br> for formatting.
         *
         *   Return nil if you don't want to save any metadata information.
         *
         *   'userDesc' is an optional string entered by the user via the Save
         *   Game dialog.  Some interpreters let the user enter a description
         *   for a saved game via the file selector dialog; the descriptive
         *   text is separate from the filename, and is intended to let the
         *   user enter a more free-form description than would be allowed in a
         *   filename.  This text, if any, is passed to use via the 'userDesc'
         *   parameter.
         */
        getSaveDesc(userDesc)
        {
            /* create the lookup table */
            local t = new LookupTable();

            /* store the user description, if provided */
            if (userDesc != nil)
                t['UserDesc'] = userDesc;

            /* start our auto description with the current room name */
            desc = gPlayerChar.outermostVisibleParent().roomTitle + '; ';

            /* if we're keeping score, include the score */
            if (libGlobal.scoreObj != nil)
                desc += toString(libGlobal.scoreObj.totalScore) + ' points in ';

            /* add the number of turns so far */
            desc += toString(libGlobal.totalTurns) + ' moves';

            /* add the auto description */
            t['AutoDesc'] = desc;

            /* return the table */
            return t;
        }

        /*
         *   The gameMain object also specifies some settings that control
         *   optional library behavior.  If you want the standard library
         *   behavior, you can just inherit the default settings from this
         *   class.  Some games might want to select non-default variations,
         *   though.
         */

        /*
         *   The maximum number of points possible in the game.  If the game
         *   includes the scoring module at all, and this is non-nil, the SCORE
         *   and FULL SCORE commands will display this value to the player as a
         *   rough indication of how much farther there is to go in the game.
         *
         *   By default, we initialize this on demand, by calculating the sum
         *   of the point values of the Achievement objects in the game.  The
         *   game can override this if needed to specify a specific maximum
         *   possible score, rather than relying on the automatic calculation.
         */
        maxScore()
        {
            local m;

            /* ask the score module (if any) to compute the maximum score */
            m = (libGlobal.scoreObj != nil
                 ? libGlobal.scoreObj.calcMaxScore : nil);

            /* supersede this initializer with the calculated value */
            maxScore = m;

            /* return the result */
            return m;
        }

        /*
         *   The score ranking list - this provides a list of names for
         *   various score levels.  If the game provides a non-nil list here,
         *   the SCORE and FULL SCORE commands will show the rank along with
         *   the score ("This makes you a Master Adventurer").
         *
         *   This is a list of score entries.  Each score entry is itself a
         *   list of two elements: the first element is the minimum score for
         *   the rank, and the second is a string describing the rank.  The
         *   ranks should be given in ascending order, since we simply search
         *   the list for the first item whose minimum score is greater than
         *   our score, and use the preceding item.  The first entry in the
         *   list would normally have a minimum of zero points, since it
         *   should give the initial, lowest rank.
         *
         *   If this is set to nil, which it is by default, we'll simply skip
         *   score ranks entirely.
         */
        scoreRankTable = nil

        /*
         *   If this flag is true then room description listings and examine
         *   listings use a parenthetical style to show subcontents (e.g. "On the
         *   table you see a box (in which is a brass key)") instead of showing each
         *   item and its contents in a separate paragraph.
         */
        useParentheticalListing = nil

        /*
         *   If this flag is true then room description listings will include a
         *   paragraph break between each set of subcontents listings (i.e. the
         *   listing of the contents of each item in the room that has visible
         *   contents). If it is nil the subcontents listings will all be run into a
         *   single paragraph. Note that the global setting defined here can be
         *   overridden on individual rooms.
         */
        paraBrksBtwnSubcontents = true

        /*
         *   Option flag: allow ALL to be used for every verb.  This is true by
         *   default, which means that players will be allowed to use ALL with
         *   any command - OPEN ALL, EXAMINE ALL, etc.
         *
         *   Some authors don't like to allow players to use ALL with so many
         *   verbs, because they think it's a sort of "cheating" when players
         *   try things like OPEN ALL.  This option lets you disable ALL for
         *   most verbs; if you set this to nil, only the basic inventory
         *   management verbs (TAKE, TAKE FROM, DROP, PUT IN, PUT ON) will
         *   allow ALL, and other verbs will simply respond with an error
         *   ("'All' isn't allowed with that verb").
         *
         *   If you're writing an especially puzzle-oriented game, you might
         *   want to set this to nil.  It's a trade-off though, as some people
         *   will think your game is less player-friendly if you disable ALL.
         */
        allVerbsAllowAll = true

        /*
         *   Should the "before" notifications (beforeAction, roomBeforeAction, and
         *   actorAction) run before or after the "check" phase?
         *
         *   In many ways it's more logical and useful to run "check" first.  That
         *   way, you can consider the action to be more or less committed by the
         *   time the "before" notifiers are invoked.  Of course, a command is never
         *   truly* committed until it's actually been executed, since a "before"
         *   handler could always cancel it.  But this is relatively rare - "before"
         *   handlers usually carry out side effects, so it's very useful to be able
         *   to know that the command has already passed all of its own internal
         *   checks by the time "before" is invoked - that way, you can invoke side
         *   effects without worrying that the command will subsequently fail.
         */
        beforeRunsBeforeCheck = nil

        /*
         *   Flag, should this game be in the past tense. By default the game is in
         *   the present tense.
         *
         *   For a wider selection of tenses override Narrator.tense instead.
         */
        usePastTense = nil

        /*
         *   The AGAIN command could be interpreted in two different ways. It could
         *   repeat the resolved action (using precisely the same objects as
         *   before), or it could act as if the player had retyped the command and
         *   then parse it again from scratch (which might result in a different
         *   interpretation of the command, or different objects being selected).
         *   The former interpretation is used if againRepeatsParse is nil; the
         *   latter if it's true.
         */
        againRepeatsParse = true

        /*
         *   Flag. If this is true the game attempts to switch the againRepeatsParse
         *   flag between true and nil to give the contextually better
         *   interpretation of AGAIN. This should be regarded as somewhat
         *   experimental for now.
         */
        autoSwitchAgain = true

        /*
         *   Is this game in verbose mode? By default we make it so, but players can
         *   change this with the BRIEF/TERSE command.
         */
        verbose = true

        /*
         *   Is this game in fast GO TO mode? By default we make it not, so that the
         *   GO TO command moves the player character only one step of the way at a
         *   time, but if this is set to true the GO TO command will keep moving the
         *   player until either the destination is reached or an obstacle is
         *   encountered.
         */
        fastGoTo = nil

    ;

    /* ------------------------------------------------------------------------ */
    /*
     *   Clear the main game window.  In most cases, you should call this
     *   rather than calling the low-level clearScreen() function directly,
     *   since this routine takes care of a couple of chores that should
     *   usually be done at the same time.
     *
     *   First, we flush the transcript to ensure that no left-over reports
     *   that were displayed before we cleared the screen will show up on the
     *   new screen.  Second, we call the low-level clearScreen() function to
     *   actually clear the display window.  Finally, we re-display any
     *   <ABOUTBOX> tag, to ensure that the about-box will still be around;
     *   this is necessary because any existing <ABOUTBOX> tag is lost after
     *   the screen is cleared.
     */
    cls()
    {    /* clear the screen */
        aioClearScreen();
    }

    /* ------------------------------------------------------------------------ */
    /*
     *   Determine if the given object overrides the definition of the given
     *   property inherited from the given base class.  Returns true if the
     *   object derives from the given base class, and the object's definition
     *   of the property comes from a different place than the base class's
     *   definition of the property.
     */
    overrides(obj, base, prop)
    {
        return (obj.ofKind(base)
                && (obj.propDefined(prop, PropDefGetClass)
                    != base.propDefined(prop, PropDefGetClass)));
    }

    /* ------------------------------------------------------------------------ */
    /*
     *   Library Pre-Initializer.  This object performs the following
     *   initialization operations immediately after compilation is completed:
     *
     *   - adds each defined Thing to its container's contents list
     *
     *   - adds each defined Sense to the global sense list
     *
     *   This object is named so that other libraries and/or user code can
     *   create initialization order dependencies upon it.
    // */
    adv3LibPreinit: PreinitObject
        execute()
        {

            /* set the initial player character, as specified in gameMain */
            gPlayerChar = gameMain.initialPlayerChar;

            /*
             *   Attach the command sequencer output filter, the
             *   language-specific message parameter substitution filter, the
             *   style tag formatter filter, and the paragraph filter to the
             *   main output stream.  Stack them so that the paragraph manager
             *   is at the bottom, since the library tag filter can produce
             *   paragraph tags and thus needs to sit atop the paragraph
             *   filter.  Put the command sequencer above those, since it
             *   might need to write style tags.  Finally, put the sense
             *   context filter on top of those.
             */
            mainOutputStream.addOutputFilter(typographicalOutputFilter);
            mainOutputStream.addOutputFilter(mainParagraphManager);
            mainOutputStream.addOutputFilter(styleTagFilter);
            mainOutputStream.addOutputFilter(cquoteOutputFilter);

            mainOutputStream.addOutputFilter(commandSequencer);

            /*
             *   Attach our message parameter filter and style tag filter to
             *   the status line streams.  We don't need most of the main
             *   window's filters in the status line.
             */
            statusTagOutputStream.addOutputFilter(styleTagFilter);

            statusLeftOutputStream.addOutputFilter(styleTagFilter);
            statusLeftOutputStream.addOutputFilter(cquoteOutputFilter);
            statusRightOutputStream.addOutputFilter(styleTagFilter);

        }

    ;
    //
    /* ------------------------------------------------------------------------ */
    /*
     *   Library Initializer.  This object performs the following
     *   initialization operations each time the game is started:
     *
     *   - sets up the library's default output function
     */
    adv3LibInit: InitObject
        execute()
        {
            /*
             *   Set up our default output function.  Note that we must do
             *   this during run-time initialization each time we start the
             *   game, rather than during pre-initialization, because the
             *   default output function state is not part of the load-image
             *   configuration.
             */
            t3SetSay(say);
        }
    ;

    /* ------------------------------------------------------------------------ */
    /*
     *   Generic script object.  This class can be used to implement a simple state
     *   machine.
     *
     *   We define Script in misc.t rather than eventList.t so that other parts of
     *   the library can safely test whether something is ofKind(Script) even it
     *   eventList.t is not present. The various types and subclasses of script are
     *   defined in eventList.t to allow them to be optionally excluded from the
     *   build if they're not needed in a particular game.
     */
    class Script: object
        /*
         *   Get the current state.  This returns a value that gives the
         *   current state of the script, which is usually simply an integer.
         */
        getScriptState()
        {
            /* by default, return our state property */
            return curScriptState;
        }

        /*
         *   Process the next step of the script.  This routine must be
         *   overridden to perform the action of the script.  This routine's
         *   action should call getScriptState() to get our current state, and
         *   should update the internal state appropriately to take us to the
         *   next step after the current one.
         *
         *   By default, we don't do anything at all.
         */
        doScript()
        {
            /* override to carry out the script */
        }

        /*
         *   Property giving our current state.  This should never be used
         *   directly; instead, getScriptState() should always be used, since
         *   getScriptState() can be overridden so that the state depends on
         *   something other than this internal state property. The meaning of
         *   the state identifier is specific to each subclass.
         */
        curScriptState = 0
    ;
    /* ------------------------------------------------------------------------ */
    /*
     *   Library global variables
     */
    libGlobal: object

        /*
         *   The current library messages object.  This is the source object
         *   for messages that don't logically relate to the actor carrying out
         *   the comamand.  It's mostly used for meta-command replies, and for
         *   text fragments that are used to construct descriptions.
         *
         *   This message object isn't generally used for parser messages or
         *   action replies - most of those come from the objects given by the
         *   current actor's getParserMessageObj() or getActionMessageObj(),
         *   respectively.
         *
         *   By default, this is set to libMessages.  The library never changes
         *   this itself, but a game can change this if it wants to switch to a
         *   new set of messages during a game.  (If you don't need to change
         *   messages during a game, but simply want to customize some of the
         *   default messages, you don't need to set this variable - you can
         *   simply use 'modify libMessages' instead.  This variable is
         *   designed for cases where you want to *dynamically* change the
         *   standard messages during the game.)
         */
        libMessageObj = libMessages

        /*
         *   The current player character. If it hasn't already been defined, we call getPlayerChar to
         *   identify it then set ourself to the value it returns.
         */
        playerChar()
        {
            /* Get our player character */
            local pc = getPlayerChar();

            /* Set ourself to the player character */
            playerChar = pc;

            /* Return the player character. */
            return pc;
        }

        /*   The name of the current player character */
        playerCharName = nil

        /*
         *   The global score object.  We use a global for this, rather than
         *   referencing libScore directly, to allow the score module to be
         *   left out entirely if the game doesn't make use of scoring.  The
         *   score module should set this during pre-initialization.
         */
        scoreObj = nil

        /*
         *   The global Footnote class object.  We use a global for this,
         *   rather than referencing Footnote directly, to allow the footnote
         *   module to be left out entirely if the game doesn't make use of
         *   footnotes.  The footnote class should set this during
         *   pre-initialization.
         */
        footnoteClass = nil

        /* the total number of turns so far */
        totalTurns = 0

        /*
         *   flag: the parser is in 'debug' mode, in which it displays the
         *   parse tree for each command entered
         */
        parserDebugMode = nil

        /*
         *   Most recent command, for 'undo' purposes.  This is the last
         *   command the player character performed, or the last initial
         *   command a player directed to an NPC.
         *
         *   Note that if the player directed a series of commands to an NPC
         *   with a single command line, only the first command on such a
         *   command line is retained here, because it is only the first such
         *   command that counts as a player's turn in terms of the game
         *   clock.  Subsequent commands are executed by the NPC's on the
         *   NPC's own time, and do not count against the PC's game clock
         *   time.  The first command counts against the PC's clock because of
         *   the time it takes the PC to give the command to the NPC.
         */
        lastCommandForUndo = ''

        /*
         *   Most recent target actor phrase; this goes with
         *   lastCommandForUndo.  This is nil if the last command did not
         *   specify an actor (i.e., was implicitly for the player character),
         *   otherwise is the string the player typed specifying a target
         *   actor.
         */
        lastActorForUndo = ''

        /*   The text of the last command to be repeated by Again */
        lastCommandForAgain = ''

        /*
         *   Current command information.  We keep track of the current
         *   command's actor and action here.
         */
        curActor = nil
        curIssuingActor = nil
        curAction = nil

        /* The current Command object */
        curCommand = nil

        /* The last action to be performed. */
        lastAction = nil

        /* The previous Command object */
        lastCommand = nil

        /* the exitLister object, if included in the build */
        exitListerObj = nil

        /* the hint manager, if included in the build */
        hintManagerObj = nil

        /* the extra hint manager, if included in the build */
        extraHintManagerObj = nil

        /*
         *   The game's IFID, as defined in the game's main module ID object.
         *   If the game has multiple IFIDs in the module list, this will store
         *   only the first IFID in the list.  NOTE: the library initializes
         *   this automatically during preinit; don't set this manually.
         */
        IFID = nil

        /*
         *   Command line arguments.  The library sets this to a list of
         *   strings containing the arguments passed to the program on the
         *   command line.  This list contains the command line arguments
         *   parsed according to the local conventions for the operating system
         *   and C++ library.  The standard parsing procedure used by most
         *   systems is to break the line into tokens delimited by space
         *   characters.  Many systems also allow space characters to be
         *   embedded in tokens by quoting the tokens.  The first argument is
         *   always the name of the .t3 file currently executing.
         */
        commandLineArgs = []

        /*
         *   Retrieve a "switch" from the command line.  Switches are options
         *   specifies with the conventional Unix "-xxx" notation.  This
         *   searches for a command option that equals the given string or
         *   starts with the given substring.  If we find it, we return the
         *   part of the option after the given substring - this is
         *   conventionally the value of the switch.  For example, the command
         *   line might look like this:
         *
         *.    t3run mygame.t3 -name=MyGame -user=Bob
         *
         *   Searching for '-name=' would return 'MyGame', and searching for
         *   '-user=' would return' Bob'.
         *
         *   If the switch is found but has no value attached, the return value
         *   is an empty string.  If the switch isn't found at all, the return
         *   value is nil.
         */
        getCommandSwitch(s)
        {
            /* search from argument 2 to the last switch argument */
            local args = commandLineArgs;
            for (local i in 2..args.length())
            {
                /*
                 *   if this isn't a switch, or is the special "-" last switch
                 *   marker, we're done
                 */
                local a = args[i];
                if (!a.startsWith('-') || a == '-')
                    return nil;

                /* check for a match */
                if (a.startsWith(s))
                    return a.substr(s.length() + 1);
            }

            /* didn't find it */
            return nil;
        }

        /*
         *   The last location visited by the player char before a travel action.
         *   Noted to allow travel back.
         */
        lastLoc = nil

        /*
         *   A lookup table to store information about the destinations of direction
         *   properties not connected to objects (i.e. direction properties defined
         *   as strings or methods
         */
        extraDestInfo = static [ * -> unknownDest_ ]

        /*
         *   Add an item to the extraDestInfo table keyed on the source room plus
         *   the direction taken, with the value being the destination arrived at
         *   (which most of the time will probably be the same as the source, since
         *   in most cases where we create one of these records, no travel will have
         *   taken place.
         */
        addExtraDestInfo(source, dirn, dest)
        {
            if(extraDestInfo == nil)
                extraDestInfo = [ * -> unknownDest_ ];

            /*
             *   Record the extra dest info in the extraDestInfo table unless it's
             *   already set to nil, which is a signal that we don't want the
             *   pathfinder or other code to use this information.
             */

            if(extraDestInfo[[source, dirn]] not in (nil, varDest_))
               extraDestInfo[[source, dirn]] = dest;

        }

        /*
         *   Flag: do we want revealing something (through setRevealed or <.reveal> to update PC and NPC
         *   knowledge? By default we do, but games that want to strictly separate Player and Player
         *   Character knowledge may wish to set this to nil.
         */
        informOnReveal = true

        /*
         *   Mark a tag as revealed.  This adds an entry for the tag to the revealedNameTab table and to
         *   the informedNamedTab of the player character (who might, in principle, change during the
         *   course of the game). We simply set the table entry to 'true'; the presence of the tag in
         *   the table constitutes the indication that the tag has been revealed.
         *
         *   (Games and library extensions can use 'modify' to override this and store more information
         *   in the table entry.  For example, you could store the time when the information was first
         *   revealed, or the location where it was learned.  If you do override this, just be sure to
         *   set the revealedNameTab entry for the tag to a non-nil and non-zero value, so that any code
         *
         testing the presence of the table entry will see that the slot is indeed set.)
         *
         *   We put the revealedNameTab table and the setRevealed method here rather than on
         *   conversationManager so that it's available to games that don't include actor.t.
         */

        setRevealed(tag, arg?)
        {
            local val = revealedNameTab[tag];

            /* We don't want to overwrite an existing value by accident. */
            if(val == nil)
                /* Add the tag to our revealedNameTab */
                revealedNameTab[tag] = (arg == nil ? true : arg);

            else if(tag != nil)
                revealedNameTab[tag] =  arg;

            /* If we're in a conversation, update the last fact mentioned. */
            if(gPlayerChar.currentInterlocutor)
                lastFactMentioned = tag;

            /*
             *   Add the tag to the playerCharacter's informedNameTab, provided we want revealing to
             *   update PC and NPC knowledge.
             */
            if(informOnReveal)
                gPlayerChar.setInformed(tag, arg);
        }

        /*
         *   Do we want the getRevealed(tag) method to return only true or nil, or do we want it to
         *   return the value associated with tag in the revealedNameTab. By default we opt for the
         *   latter, but we provide the other option in case it's needed for backward compatibility.
         */
        revealedTrueOrFalseOnly = nil

        /*
         *   The same option is provided for getInformed(); by default we use the same value as for
         *   revealedTrueOrFalseOnly
         */
        informedTrueOrFalseOnly = revealedTrueOrFalseOnly

        /* Get the value associated with tag. */
        getRevealed(tag)
        {
            /* Obtained the value associated with tag in the revealedNameTab */
            local val = revealedNameTab[tag];

            /*
             *   Return eiher whether val is not nil, or val itself, according to the value of
             *   revealedTrueOrFalseOnly.
             */
            return revealedTrueOrFalseOnly ? (val != nil) : val;
        }

        /*
         *   Mark a tag as unrevealed.  This removes the entry for the tag from our
         *   revealedNameTab table.
         *
         *   We put the revealedNameTab table and the setRevealed method here rather
         *   than on conversationManager so that it's available to games that don't
         *   include actor.t.
         */
        setUnrevealed(tag)
        {
            revealedNameTab.removeElement(tag);

    //        local tab = gPlayerChar.informedNameTab;
    //
    //        if(tab)
    //            tab.removeElement[tag];

        }

        /*
         *   The global lookup table of all revealed keys.  This table is keyed
         *   by the string naming the revelation; the value associated with
         *   each key is not used (we always just set it to true).
         */
        revealedNameTab = static new LookupTable(32, 32)

        /*
         *   The symbol table for every game object.
         */
        objectNameTab = nil

        /* The thought manager object, if it exists. */
        thoughtManagerObj = nil

        /* The object last written on */
        lastWrittenOnObj = nil

        /* The object last typed on */
        lastTypedOnObj = nil

        /* The last (latest) topic mentioned in the current conversation. */
        lastTopicMentioned = nil

        /* The last fact mentioned in the current conversation */
        lastFactMentioned = nil

        /* The most recent reason a ConvAgendaItem was invoked. */
        reasonInvoked = nil

        /* The most recently active agendaItem */
        agendaItem = nil

        /*
         *   our name table for parameter substitutions - a LookupTable that we set
         *   up during preinit
         */
        nameTable_ = static new LookupTable()

        /*
         *   Flag determining whether inventory listing should be in the wide (nil) or tall (true)
         *   format. By default we start out with the wide format (inventoryTall = nil), although game
         *   code could override this.
         */
        inventoryTall = nil

        /*
         *   Flag: do we wish to present the player with an enumerated list of disambiguation options
         *   (e.g. "Which coin do you mean:(1) the gold coin or (2) the silver coin? to which they can
         *   simply reply 1 or 2). By default we do but game authors can disable this behaviour by
         *   setting this flag to nil.
         */
        enumerateDisambigOptions = true

        /*
         *   The current number of disambiguation options to choose from. This is for use by the
         *   DisambigPreparser to prevent acceptance of a number out of range.
         */
        disambigLen = 0

    ;

    /* object representing an unknown destination */
    unknownDest_: Room 'unknown'
    ;

    /* object representing a variable destination */
    varDest_: Room 'unknown'
    ;

    /* ------------------------------------------------------------------------ */
    /*
     *   FinishType objects are used in finishGameMsg() to indicate what kind
     *   of game-over message to display.  We provide a couple of standard
     *   objects for the most common cases.
     */
    class FinishType: object
        /* the finishing message, as a string or library message property */
        finishMsg = nil
    ;

    /* 'death' - the game has ended due to the player character's demise */
    ftDeath: FinishType finishMsg = BMsg(finish death, 'YOU HAVE DIED');

    /* 'victory' - the player has won the game */
    ftVictory: FinishType finishMsg = BMsg(finish victory,'YOU HAVE WON');

    /* 'failure' - the game has ended in failure (but not necessarily death) */
    ftFailure: FinishType finishMsg = BMsg(finish failure, 'YOU HAVE FAILED');

    /* 'game over' - the game has simply ended */
    ftGameOver: FinishType finishMsg = BMsg(finish game over, 'GAME OVER');

    /*
     *   Finish the game, showing a message explaining why the game has ended.
     *   This can be called when an event occurs that ends the game, such as
     *   the player character's death, winning, or any other endpoint in the
     *   story.
     *
     *   We'll show a message defined by 'msg', using a standard format.  The
     *   format depends on the language, but in English, it's usually the
     *   message surrounded by asterisks: "*** You have won! ***".  'msg' can
     *   be:
     *
     *.    - nil, in which case we display nothing
     *.    - a string, which we'll display as the message
     *.    - a FinishType object, from which we'll get the message
     *
     *   After showing the message (if any), we'll prompt the user with
     *   options for how to proceed.  We'll always show the QUIT, RESTART, and
     *   RESTORE options; other options can be offered by listing one or more
     *   FinishOption objects in the 'extra' parameter, which is given as a
     *   list of FinishOption objects.  The library defines a few non-default
     *   finish options, such as finishOptionUndo and finishOptionCredits; in
     *   addition, the game can subclass FinishOption to create its own custom
     *   options, as desired.
     */
    finishGameMsg(msg, extra)
    {
        local lst;

        /*
         *   Explicitly run any final score notification now.  This will ensure
         *   that any points awarded in the course of the final command that
         *   brought us to this point will generate the usual notification, and
         *   that the notification will appear at a reasonable place, just
         *   before the termination message.
         */
        if (libGlobal.scoreObj != nil)
        {
            "<.p>";
            libGlobal.scoreObj.runScoreNotifier();
        }

        /* translate the message, if specified */
        if (dataType(msg) == TypeObject)
        {
            /* it's a FinishType object - get its message property or string */
            msg = msg.finishMsg;

            /* if it's a library message property, look it up */
            if (dataType(msg) == TypeProp)
                msg = gLibMessages.(msg);
        }

        /* if we have a message, display it */
        if (msg != nil)
            DMsg(show finish msg, '\b*** {1} ***\b\b', msg);

        /* if the extra options include a scoring option, show the score */
        if (extra != nil && extra.indexWhich({x: x.showScoreInFinish}) != nil)
        {
            "<.p>";
            libGlobal.scoreObj.showScore();
            "<.p>";
        }
        gActor = gPlayerChar;

        /* start with the standard options */
        lst = [finishOptionRestore, finishOptionRestart];

        /* add any additional options in the 'extra' parameter */
        if (extra != nil)
            lst += extra;

        /* always add 'quit' as the last option */
        lst += finishOptionQuit;

        /* process the options */
        processOptions(lst);
    }

    /* finish the game, offering the given extra options but no message */
    finishGame(extra)
    {
        finishGameMsg(nil, extra);
    }

    /*
     *   Show failed startup restore options.  If a restore operation fails at
     *   startup, we won't just proceed with the game, but ask the user what
     *   they want to do; we'll offer the options of restoring another game,
     *   quitting, or starting the game from the beginning.
     */
    failedRestoreOptions()
    {
        /* process our set of options */
        processOptions([restoreOptionRestoreAnother, restoreOptionStartOver,
                        finishOptionQuit]);
    }

    /*
     *   Process a list of finishing options.  We'll loop, showing prompts and
     *   reading responses, until we get a response that terminates the loop.
     */
    processOptions(lst)
    {
        /* keep going until we get a valid response */
    promptLoop:
        for (;;)
        {
            local resp;

            /* show the options */
            finishOptionsLister.show(lst, 0);

            /*
             *   update the status line, in case the score or turn counter has
             *   changed (this is especially likely when we first enter this
             *   loop, since we might have just finished the game with our
             *   previous action, and that action might well have awarded us
             *   some points)
             */
            statusLine.showStatusLine();

            /* read a response */
            ">";
            resp = inputManager.getInputLine();

            /* check for a match to each of the options in our list */
            foreach (local cur in lst)
            {
                /* if this one matches, process the option */
                if (cur.responseMatches(resp))
                {
                    /* it matches - carry out the option */
                    if (cur.doOption())
                    {
                        /*
                         *   they returned true - they want to continue asking
                         *   for more options
                         */
                        continue promptLoop;
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        /*
                         *   they returned nil - they want us to stop asking
                         *   for options and return to our caller
                         */
                        return;
                    }
                }
            }

            /*
             *   If we got this far, it means that we didn't get a valid
             *   option.  Display our "invalid option" message, and continue
             *   looping so that we show the prompt again and read a new
             *   option.
             */
            DMsg(invalid finish option, '<q>{1}</q> was not one of the
                options.<.p>', resp);
        }
    }

    /*
     *   Finish Option class.  This is the base class for the abstract objects
     *   representing options offered by finishGame.
     */
    class FinishOption: object
        /*
         *   The description, as displayed in the list of options.  For the
         *   default English messages, this is expected to be a verb phrase in
         *   infinitive form, and should show the keyword accepted as a
         *   response in all capitals: "RESTART", "see some AMUSING things to
         *   do", "show CREDITS".
         */
        desc = ""

        /*
         *   By default, the item is listed.  If you want to create an
         *   invisible option that's accepted but which isn't listed in the
         *   prompt, just set this to nil.  Invisible options are sometimes
         *   useful when the output of one option mentions another option; for
         *   example, the CREDITS message might mention a LICENSE command for
         *   displaying the license, so you want to make that command available
         *   without cluttering the prompt with it.
         */
        listed = true

        /* our response keyword */
        responseKeyword = ''

        /*
         *   a single character we accept as an alternative to our full
         *   response keyword, or nil if we don't accept a single-character
         *   response
         */
        responseChar = nil

        /*
         *   Match a response string to this option.  Returns true if the
         *   string matches our response, nil otherwise.  By default, we'll
         *   return true if the string exactly matches responseKeyword or
         *   exactly matches our responseChar (if that's non-nil), but this
         *   can be overridden to match other strings if desired.  By default,
         *   we'll match the response without regard to case.
         */
        responseMatches(response)
        {
            /* do all of our work in lower-case */
            response = response.toLower();

            /*
             *   check for a match the full response keyword or to the single
             *   response character
             */
            return (response == responseKeyword.toLower()
                    || (responseChar != nil
                        && response == responseChar.toLower()));
        }

        /*
         *   Carry out the option.  This is called when the player enters a
         *   response that matches this option.  This routine must perform the
         *   action of the option, then return true to indicate that we should
         *   ask for another option, or nil to indicate that the finishGame()
         *   routine should simply return.
         */
        doOption()
        {
            /* tell finishGame() to ask for another option */
            return true;
        }

        /*
         *   Flag: show the score with the end-of-game announcement.  If any
         *   option in the list of finishing options has this flag set, we'll
         *   show the score using the same message that the SCORE command
         *   uses.
         */
        showScoreInFinish = nil
    ;

    /*
     *   QUIT option for finishGame.  The language-specific code should modify
     *   this to specify the description and response keywords.
     */
    finishOptionQuit: FinishOption
        doOption()
        {
            /*
             *   carry out the Quit action - this will signal a
             *   QuittingException, so this call will never return
             */
            throw new QuittingException;
        }
        listOrder = 100

    ;

    /*
     *   RESTORE option for finishGame.
     */
    finishOptionRestore: FinishOption
        doOption()
        {
            /*
             *   Try restoring.  If this succeeds (i.e., it returns true), tell
             *   the caller to stop looping and to proceed with the game by
             *   returning nil.  If this fails, tell the caller to keep looping
             *   by returning true.
             */
            if (Restore.askAndRestore())
            {
                /*
                 *   we succeeded, so we're now restored to some prior game
                 *   state - terminate any remaining processing in the command
                 *   that triggered the end-of-game options
                 */

                abort;
            }
            else
            {
                /* it failed - tell the caller to keep looping */
                return true;
            }
        }

        listOrder = 90
    ;

    /*
     *   RESTART option for finishGame
     */
    finishOptionRestart: FinishOption
        doOption()
        {
            /*
             *   carry out the restart - this will not return, since we'll
             *   reset the game state and re-enter the game at the restart
             *   entrypoint
             */
            Restart.doRestartGame();
        }

       listOrder = 10
    ;

    /*
     *   START FROM BEGINNING option for failed startup restore.  This is just
     *   like finishOptionRestart, but shows a different option name.
     */
    restoreOptionStartOver: finishOptionRestart
    ;

    /*
     *   RESTORE ANOTHER GAME option for failed startup restore.  This is just
     *   like finishOptionRestore, but shows a different option name.
     */
    restoreOptionRestoreAnother: finishOptionRestore
    ;

    /*
     *   UNDO option for finishGame
     */
    finishOptionUndo: FinishOption
        doOption()
        {
            /* try performing the undo */
            if (Undo.execAction(nil))
            {

                gPlayerChar.outermostVisibleParent().lookAroundWithin();

                /*
                 *   Success - terminate the current command with no further
                 *   processing.
                 */
                throw new TerminateCommandException();
            }
            else
            {
                /*
                 *   failure - show a blank line and tell the caller to ask
                 *   for another option, since we couldn't carry out this
                 *   option
                 */
                "<.p>";
                return true;
            }
        }
        listOrder = 20
    ;

    /*
     *   FULL SCORE option for finishGame
     */
    finishOptionFullScore: FinishOption
        doOption()
        {
            /* show a blank line before the score display */
            "\b";

            /* run the Full Score action */
            FullScore.showFullScore();

            /* show a paragraph break after the score display */
            "<.p>";

            /*
             *   this option has now had its full effect, so tell the caller
             *   to go back and ask for a new option
             */
            return true;
        }

        /*
         *   by default, show the score with the end-of-game announcement when
         *   this option is included
         */
        showScoreInFinish = true
        listOrder = 30

    ;

    /*
     *   Option to show the score in finishGame.  This doesn't create a listed
     *   option in the set of offered options, but rather is simply a flag to
     *   finishGame() that the score should be announced along with the
     *   end-of-game announcement message.
     */
    finishOptionScore: FinishOption
        /* show the score in the end-of-game announcement */
        showScoreInFinish = true

        /* this is not a listed option */
        listed = nil

        /* this option isn't selectable, so it has no effect */
        doOption() { }

        listOrder = 40
    ;

    /*
     *   CREDITS option for finishGame
     */
    finishOptionCredits: FinishOption
        doOption()
        {
            /* show a blank line before the credits */
            "\b";

            /* run the Credits action */
            versionInfo.showCredit();

            /* show a paragraph break after the credits */
            "<.p>";

            /*
             *   this option has now had its full effect, so tell the caller
             *   to go back and ask for a new option
             */
            return true;
        }

        listOrder = 50
    ;

    /*
     *   AMUSING option for finishGame
     */
    finishOptionAmusing: FinishOption
        /*
         *   The game must modify this object to define a doOption method.  We
         *   have no built-in way to show a list of amusing things to try, so
         *   if a game wants to offer this option, it must provide a suitable
         *   definition here.  (We never offer this option by default, so a
         *   game need not provide a definition if the game doesn't explicitly
         *   offer this option via the 'extra' argument to finishGame()).
         */
       listOrder = 60
    ;

    firstPersonObj: Thing
        person = 1
        name =  BMsg(first person pronoun, 'I')
        globalParamName = 'fpo'
    ;

    /* -------------------------------------------------------------------------- */
    /*
     *   Utility functions
     */

    /*
     *   Try converting val to an integer. If this results in an integer value,
     *   return it, otherwise return nil.
     */

    tryInt(val)
    {
        /*
         *   If the value passed to the function is neither an integer nor a string
         *   nor a BigNumber, return nil, since there can be no valid integer
         *   representation of it.
         */
        if(dataType(val) not in (TypeInt, TypeSString, TypeObject)
           || (dataType(val) == TypeObject && !(val.ofKind(BigNumber))))
            return nil;

        /* Try converting val to an integer. */
        local res = toInteger(val);

        /*
         *   If val is a string then res is a valid number if val is a string that
         *   contains one or more zeroes perhaps preceded by + or -.
         */

        if(dataType(val) == TypeSString)
        {
            /*
             *   Strip out all the spaces from val.
             */
            val = val.findReplace(' ', '').trim();

            if(val.match(R'(<plus>|-)?<digit>+$'))
                return res;

        }

        /*
         *   If val is a BigNumber or an integer, this is also a valid result, so
         *   return it. Note that we need only test for whether val is an object,
         *   since if it was any other kind of object than a BigNumber, this
         *   function would have returned nil at the first test.
         */
        if(dataType(val) is in (TypeInt, TypeObject))
            return res;

        /*
         *   We can't find a valid interpretation of val as a number, so return nil.
         */
        return nil;
    }

    /*
     *   Try converting val to a number (integer or BigNumber); return the number if
     *   there is one, otherwise return nil.
     */
    tryNum(val)
    {
         /*
         *   If the value passed to the function is neither an integer nor a string
         *   nor a BigNumber, return nil, since there can be no valid numerical
         *   representation of it.
         */
        if(dataType(val) not in (TypeInt, TypeSString, TypeObject)
           || (dataType(val) == TypeObject && !val.ofKind(BigNumber)))
            return nil;

        /* If val is already a BigNumber, return it unchanged. */
        if(dataType(val) == TypeObject && val.ofKind(BigNumber))
            return val;

        /*
         *   If val is a string then test whether it matches a valid numerical
         *   pattern.
         */
        if(dataType(val) == TypeSString)
        {
            val = stripQuotesFrom(val.findReplace(' ',''));

            /* Try converting val to a number */
            local res = toNumber(val);

            if(val.match(R'(<plus>|-)?<digit>+$'))
                return res;

            if(val.match(R'(<plus>|-)?<digit>*<dot><digit>+$'))
                return res;

            if(val.match(R'(<plus>|-)?<digit>+(<dot><digit>+)?[eE]<digit>?+$'))
                return res;
        }

        /* Otherwise use the tryInt() function to return the result */
        return tryInt(val);
    }

    /*
     *   nilToList - convert a 'nil' value to an empty list.  This can be
     *   useful for mix-in classes that will be used in different inheritance
     *   contexts, since the classes might or might not inherit a base class
     *   definition for list-valued methods such as preconditions.  This
     *   provides a usable default for list-valued methods that return nothing
     *   from superclasses.
     */
    nilToList(val)
    {
        return (val != nil ? val : []);
    }

    /*
     *   val to list - convert any value to a list. If it's already a list, simply
     *   return it. If it's nil return an empty list. If it's a singleton value,
     *   return a one-element list containing it.
     */
    valToList(val)
    {
        switch (dataType(val))
        {
        case TypeNil:
            return [];
        case TypeList:
            return val;
        case TypeObject:
            if(val.ofKind(Vector))
                return val.toList;
            else
                return [val];
        default:
            return [val];
        }
    }

    /*
     *   Set the mentioned property of obj to true. If obj is supplied as a list,
     *   set every object's mentioned property in the list to true. This can be used
     *   in room and object descriptions to mark an object as mentioned so it won't
     *   be included in the listing.
     */
    makeMentioned(obj)
    {
        foreach(local cur in valToList(obj))
            cur.mentioned = true;
    }

    /*
     *   partitionList - partition a list into a pair of two lists, the first
     *   containing items that match the predicate 'fn', the second containing
     *   items that don't match 'fn'.  'fn' is a function pointer (usually an
     *   anonymous function) that takes a single argument - a list element -
     *   and returns true or nil.
     *
     *   The return value is a list with two elements.  The first element is a
     *   list giving the elements of the original list for which 'fn' returns
     *   true, the second element is a list giving the elements for which 'fn'
     *   returns nil.
     *
     *   (Contributed by Tommy Nordgren.)
     */
    partitionList(lst, fn)
    {
        local lst1 = lst.subset(fn);
        local lst2 = lst.subset({x : !fn(x)});

        return [lst1, lst2];
    }

    /*
     *   Determine if list a is a subset of list b.  a is a subset of b if
     *   every element of a is in b.
     */
    isListSubset(a, b)
    {
        /* a can't be a subset if it has more elements than b */
        if (a.length() > b.length())
            return nil;

        /* check each element of a to see if it's also in b */
        foreach (local cur in a)
        {
            /* if this element of a is not in b, a is not a subset of b */
            if (b.indexOf(cur) == nil)
                return nil;
        }

        /*
         *   we didn't find any elements of a that are not also in b, so a is a
         *   subset of b
         */
        return true;
    }

    /*
     *   Find an existing Topic whose vocab is voc. If the cls parameter
     *   is supplied it can be used to find a match in some other class, such as
     *   Thing or Mentionable.
     */
    findMatchingTopic(voc, cls = Topic)
    {
        for(local cur = firstObj(cls); cur != nil; cur = nextObj(cur, cls))
        {
            if(cur.vocab == voc)
                return cur;
        }

        return nil;
    }

    /*
     *   Set the player character to another actor. If the optional second parameter
     *   is supplied, it sets the person of the player character; otherwise it
     *   defaults to the second person.
     */
    setPlayer(actor, person = 2)
    {
        /* Note the old player character */
        local other = gPlayerChar;

        /* Note the name of the actor the pc is about to become */
        local newName = actor.theName;

        /* Change the player character to actor */
        gPlayerChar = actor;

        /* Change the player character person to person. */
        gPlayerChar.person = person;

        /* Change the person of the previous player character to 3 */
        other.person = 3;

        /*
         *   Change the names of both actors involved in the swap to nil, so that
         *   they can be reinitialized.
         */
        other.name = nil;
        gPlayerChar.name = nil;

        /*
         *   Reinitialize the names of both actors, so that the player character can
         *   become 'I' or 'You' as appropriate, and the previous PC acquires
         *   his/her third-person name.
         */
        other.initVocab();
        gPlayerChar.initVocab();

        /*   Note the name (e.g. 'Bob' or 'Mary') of the new player character */
        libGlobal.playerCharName = newName;

        /*   Make the current actor the new player character */
        gActor = gPlayerChar;
        gCommand.actor = gPlayerChar;

        /*
         *   Reset the familiarity of rooms in regions familiar to the new actor, if its knownProp
         *   differs from that of the previous player character.
         */
        local prop = actor.knownProp;

        if(prop != other.knownProp)
        {
        for(local reg = firstObj(Region); reg != nil;  reg = nextObj(reg, Region))
            reg.setFamiliarRooms(prop);
        }

        /*
         *   If the new player character defines its own ThoughtManagr object, set this up on libGlobal,
         *   so that any ThinkAbout commands will use the Thoughts belonging to the new Player
         *   Character, otherwise leave it unchanged,
         */
        if(actor.myThoughtManager)
            libGlobal.thoughtManagerObj = actor.myThoughtManager;

        /* Return the (third-person) name of the new player character */
        return newName;

    }

    /* ------------------------------------------------------------------------ */
    /*
     *   Add some methods to the base Object that make it *somewhat*
     *   interchangeable with lists and vectors.  Certain operations that are
     *   normally specific to the collection types have obvious degenerations
     *   for the singleton case.  In particular, a singleton can be thought of
     *   as a collection consisting of one value, so operations that iterate
     *   over a collection degenerate to one iteration on a singleton.
     */
    modify Object
        /* mapAll for an object simply applies a function to the object */
        mapAll(func)
        {
            return func(self);
        }

        /* forEach on an object simply calls the function on the object */
        forEach(func)
        {
            return func(self);
        }

        /* create an iterator */
        createIterator()
        {
            return new SingletonIterator(self);
        }

        /*
         *   create a live iterator (this allows 'foreach' to be used with an
         *   arbitrary object, iterating once over the loop with the object
         *   value)
         */
        createLiveIterator()
        {
            return new SingletonIterator(self);
        }

        /*
         *   Call an inherited method directly.  This has the same effect that
         *   calling 'inherited cl.prop' would from within a method, but allows
         *   you to do this from an arbitrary point *outside* of the object's
         *   own code.  I.e., you can say 'obj.callInherited(cl, &prop)' and
         *   get the effect that 'inherited c.prop' would have had from within
         *   an 'obj' method.
         */
        callInherited(cl, prop, [args])
        {
            delegated cl.(prop)(args...);
        }
    ;

    /*
     *   A SingletonIterator is an implementation of the Iterator interface for
     *   singleton values.  This allows 'foreach' to be used with arbitrary
     *   objects, or even primitive values.  The effect of iterating over a
     *   singleton value with 'foreach' using this iterator is simply to invoke
     *   the loop once with the loop variable set to the singleton value.
     */
    class SingletonIterator: object
        /* construction: save the singleton value that we're "iterating" over */
        construct(val) { val_ = val; }

        /* get the next value */
        getNext()
        {
            /* note that we've consumed the value */
            more_ = nil;

            /* return the value */
            return val_;
        }

        /* is another item available? */
        isNextAvailable() { return more_; }

        /* reset: restore the flag that says the value is available */
        resetIterator() { more_ = true; }

        /* get the current key; we have no keys, so use a fake key of nil */
        getKey() { return nil; }

        /* get the current value */
        getCurVal() { return val_; }

        /* the singleton value we're "iterating" over */
        val_ = nil

        /* do we have any more values to fetch? */
        more_ = true
    ;

    /*
     *   Add some convenience methods to String.
     */
    modify String
        /*
         *   Trim spaces.  Removes leading and trailing spaces from the string.
         */
        trim()
        {
            return findReplace(trimPat, '');
        }

        /* regular expression for trimming leading and trailing spaces */
        trimPat = R'^<space>+|<space>+$'

        /* get the first character */
        firstChar() { return substr(1, 1); }

        /* get the last character */
        lastChar() { return substr(length()); }

        /* remove the first character */
        delFirst() { return substr(2); }

        /* remove the last character */
        delLast() { return substr(1, length() - 1); }

        /* leftmost n characters; if n is negative, leftmost (length-n) */
        left(n) { return n >= 0 ? substr(1, n) : substr(1, length() + n); }

        /* rightmost n characters; if n is negative, rightmost (length-n) */
        right(n) { return n >= 0 ? substr(-n) : substr(n + length()); }
        ;

    /* A string is empty if it's nil or if when trimmed it's '' */
    isEmptyStr(str) {  return (str == nil || str.trim() == ''); }

    /*
     *   Add a couple of handy utility functions to Vector
     */
    modify Vector
        /* is the vector empty? */
        isEmpty() { return length() == 0; }

        /* clear the vector */
        clear()
        {
            if (length() > 0)
                removeRange(1, length());
        }

        /* get the "top" item, treating the vector as a stack */
        getTop() { return self[length()]; }

        /* push a value (append it to the end of the vector) */
        push(val) { append(val); }

        /* pop a value (remove and return the value at the end of the vector) */
        pop()
        {
            local l = length();
            if (l > 0)
            {
                /* get the last value */
                local ret = self[l];

                /* remove the element */
                removeElementAt(l);

                /* return it */
                return ret;
            }
            else
            {
                /* intentionally cause an out-of-bounds error */
                return self[1];
            }
        }

        /* unshift a value (insert it at the start of the Vector) */
        unshift(val) { prepend(val); }

        /* shift a value (remove and return the first value) */
        shift()
        {
            local l = length();
            if (l > 0)
            {
                /* get the first value */
                local ret = self[1];

                /* remove the element */
                removeElementAt(1);

                /* return it */
                return ret;
            }
            else
            {
                /* intentionally cause an out-of-bounds error */
                return self[1];
            }
        }

        /*
         *   Perform a "group sort" on the vector.  This sorts the items into
         *   groups, then sorts by an ordering value within each group.
         *
         *   The groups are determined by group keys, which are arbitrary
         *   values.  Each group is simply the set of objects with a like value
         *   for the key.  Within the group, we sort by an integer ordering
         *   key.
         *
         *   'func' is a function that takes two parameters: func(entry, idx),
         *   where 'entry' is a list element and 'idx' is an index in the list.
         *   This returns a list, [group, order], giving the group key and
         *   ordering key for the entry.
         */
        groupSort(func)
        {
            /* note our length */
            local len = length();

            /*
             *   set up a lookup table for the group keys - we want to assign
             *   each one an arbitrary integer value so that we can sort by it
             */
            local groups = new LookupTable(16, 32);
            local gnxt = 1;

            /* decorate each entry with its group index and ordering key */
            for (local i = 1 ; i <= len ; ++i)
            {
                /* get this element */
                local ele = self[i];

                /* get the group info via the callback */
                local info = func(ele, i);

                /* look up or assign this group key's number */
                local gnum = groups[info[1]];
                if (gnum == nil)
                    groups[info[1]] = gnum = gnxt++;

                /* store the group number and sorting order in the list */
                self[i] = [gnum, info[2], ele];
            }

            /* do the sort */
            sort(SortAsc, new function(a, b) {
                /*
                 *   if the groups are the same, sort by the order within the
                 *   group; otherwise sort by the group number
                 */
                if (a[1] == b[1])
                    return a[2] - b[2];
                else
                    return a[1] - b[1];
            });

            /* remove the extra information from the list */
            for (local i = 1 ; i <= len ; ++i)
                self[i] = self[i][3];
        }

        /* find a list element - synonym for indexOf */
        find(ele) { return indexOf(ele); }

        /* shuffle the elements of the vector into a random order */
        shuffle()
        {
            /*
             *   The basic algorithm for shuffling is that we put all of the
             *   elements into a bag, and one by one we withdraw an element at
             *   random and add it to the result list.  To withdraw a random
             *   element, we simply pick a random number from 1 to the number
             *   of items left in the bag.
             *
             *   With a vector, we can do this without allocating any more
             *   memory.  We partition the vector into two parts: the "result"
             *   part and the "bag" part.  Initially, the whole vector is the
             *   bag, and the result part is empty.  We next pick a random
             *   element from the bag, and swap it with element #N.  This
             *   effectively deletes the chosen element from the bag and fills
             *   in the hole with the bag element that was formerly at slot #N.
             *   (If we chose the element at slot #N, that's fine - it just
             *   stays put.)  Slot #N is now part of the result set, and the
             *   bag is now slots #1 to #N-1.  We next pick a random element
             *   from the bag - 1..N-1 - and swap it with slot #N-1.  Now slot
             *   #N-1 is in the result set, and the bag is from #1 to #N-2.
             *   Repeat until we've chosen slot 2.  (We don't have to
             *   explicitly pick anything for slot 1, since at that point we're
             *   down to a single element in the bag, and it's already at the
             *   proper position to just redefine it as a result.)
             */
            for (local len = length(), local n = len ; n > 1 ; --n)
            {
                /* the bag is slots 1..n - pick a random element in that range */
                local r = rand(n) + 1;

                /* swap the random element with element #n */
                local val = self[r];
                self[r] = self[n];
                self[n] = val;
            }

            /* in case the caller wants the shuffled object, return self */
            return self;
        }
    ;

    /* ------------------------------------------------------------------------ */
    /*
     *   Add some utility methods to List.
     */
    modify List
        /*
         *   Check the list against a prototype (a list of data types).  This
         *   is useful for checking a varargs list to see if it matches a given
         *   prototype.  Each prototype element can be a TypeXxx type code, to
         *   match a value of the given native type; an object class, to match
         *   an instance of that class; 'any', to match a value of any type; or
         *   the special value '...', to match zero or more additional
         *   arguments.  If '...' is present, it must be the last prototype
         *   element.
         */
        matchProto(proto)
        {
            /* compare each value against the prototype */
            local plen = proto.length(), vlen = length();
            for (local i = 1 ; i <= plen ; ++i)
            {
                /* get this prototype element (i.e., a type code) */
                local t = proto[i];

                /* if this is a varargs indicator, we have a match */
                if (t == '...')
                    return true;

                /* if we're past the end of the values, it's no match */
                if (i > vlen)
                    return nil;

                /* get the value */
                local v = self[i];

                /* check the type */
                if (t == 'any')
                {
                    /* 'any' matches any value, so this one is a match */
                }
                else if (dataType(t) == TypeInt)
                {
                    /* check that we match the given native type */
                    if (dataTypeXlat(v) != t)
                        return nil;
                }
                else
                {
                    /* otherwise, we have to match the object class */
                    if (dataType(v) not in (TypeObject, TypeList, TypeSString)
                        || !v.ofKind(t))
                        return nil;
                }
            }

            /*
             *   We reached the end of the prototype without finding a
             *   mismatch.  The only remaining check is that we don't have any
             *   extra arguments in the value list.  As long as the lengths
             *   match, we have a match.
             */
            return plen == vlen;
        }

        /* toList() on a list simply returns the same list */
        toList() { return self; }

        /* find a list element - synonym for indexOf */
        find(ele) { return indexOf(ele); }

        /*
         *   shuffle the list: return a new list with the elements of this list
         *   rearranged into a random order
         */
        shuffle()
        {
            /*
             *   Since a list is immutable, we can't shuffle the elements in
             *   place, which means we have to construct a new list.  One way
             *   would be to use the Vector.shuffle algorithm, appending each
             *   element chosen from the bag to a new result list under
             *   construction.  That would construct length()-1 intermediate
             *   lists, though, so it's pretty inefficient memory-wise.  The
             *   easier and more efficient way is to create a Vector with the
             *   same elements as the list, shuffle the Vector, and then
             *   convert the result back to a list.  This creates only the one
             *   intermediate value (the Vector), and it's very simple to code,
             *   so we'll take that approach.
             */
            return new Vector(length(), self).shuffle().toList();
        }

        /* Determine whether this list has any elements in common with lst */
        overlapsWith(lst)
        {
            return intersect(valToList(lst)).length > 0;
        }

        /*  Returns the ith member of the list if there is one, or nil otherwise */
        element(i)
        {
            return length >= i ? self[i] : nil;
        }

        /*
         *   Compare two lists of strings using the cmp StringComparator; return
         *   true if all the corresponding strings in the two lists are the same
         *   (according to cmp) and nil otherwise.
         */
        strComp(lst, cmp)
        {
            if(lst.length != length)
                return nil;

            for(local i in 1 .. lst.length)
            {
                if(cmp.matchValues(self[i], lst[i]) == 0)
                    return nil;
            }
            return true;
        }
    ;

    /* Add a method to Date as a workaround for a library bug */
    modify Date
        /*
         *   Get the Hours, Minutes, Seconds and Milliseconds of the current time as
         *   a four-element list; Date.getClockTime() is meant to do this, but
         *   doesn't work properly.
         */
        getHMS()
        {
            local hh = toInteger(formatDate('%H'));
            local mm = toInteger(formatDate('%M'));
            local ss = toInteger(formatDate('%S'));
            local ms = toInteger(formatDate('%N'));

            return [hh, mm, ss, ms];
        }

    ;

    /* ------------------------------------------------------------------------ */
    /*
     *   Library error.  This is a base class for internal errors within the
     *   library.
     */
    class LibraryError: Exception
        construct()
        {
            /* do the inherited work */
            inherited();

            /*
             *   As a debugging aid, break into the debugger, if it's running.
             *   This makes it easier during development to track down where
             *   errors are occurring.  This has no effect during normal
             *   execution in the interpreter, since the interpreter ignores
             *   this call when the debugger isn't present.
             */
            t3DebugTrace(T3DebugBreak);
        }
        display = "Library Error"
    ;

    /*
     *   A generic "argument mistmatch" error.  The library uses this for
     *   functions that use matchProto() to handle multiple argument list
     *   variations: when none of the allowed argument lists are found, the
     *   function throws this error.
     */
    class ArgumentMismatchError: LibraryError
        display = "Wrong arguments in function or method call"
    ;

    /* ------------------------------------------------------------------------ */
    /*
     *   LCS - class that computes the Longest Common Subsequence for two lists
     *   or vectors.
     *
     *   The LCS is most frequently used as a differencing tool, to compute a
     *   description of how two data sets differ.  This is at the core of tools
     *   like "diff", which shows the differences between two versions of a
     *   file.  The LCS is the part of the two sets that's the same, so
     *   everything in one of the sets that's not in the LCS is unique to that
     *   set.  The standard diff algorithm computes the LCS, then generates a
     *   list of edits by specifying a "delete" operation on each item in the
     *   "new" set that's not in the LCS, and an "insert" operation on each
     *   item in the "old" set that's not in the LCS.  Merge and sort the two
     *   edit lists and you have basically the standard Unix "diff" output.
     *   (Some diff utilities make the report more readable by combining
     *   overlapping edit and insert operations into "update" operations.  But
     *   it's really the same thing, of course.)
     *
     *   The constructor does all the work: use 'new' to create an instance of
     *   this class, providing the two lists to be compared as arguments.  The
     *   resulting object contains the LCS information.
     *
     *   Note that you can use this class to generate a character-by-character
     *   LCS for two strings, simply by using toUnicode() to convert each
     *   string to a list of character values.
     */
    class LCS: object
        construct(a, b)
        {
            local i, j, ka, kb;

            /* get the input list lengths */
            local alen = a.length(), blen = b.length();

            /* set up the length array, alen x blen, initialized with 0s */
            local c = new Vector(alen+1).fillValue(nil, 1, alen+1);
            c.applyAll({ ele: new Vector(blen+1).fillValue(0, 1, blen+1) });

            /* set up the arrow array, alen x blen */
            local arr = new Vector(alen+1).fillValue(nil, 1, alen+1);
            arr.applyAll({ ele: new Vector(blen+1).fillValue(nil, 1, blen+1) });

            /* apply the standard LCS algorithm */
            for (i = 1 ; i <= alen ; ++i)
            {
                for (j = 1 ; j <= blen ; ++j)
                {
                    if (a[i] == b[j])
                    {
                        /* up-left */
                        c[i+1][j+1] = c[i][j] + 1;
                        arr[i+1][j+1] = 3;
                    }
                    else if (c[i][j+1] >= c[i+1][j])
                    {
                        /* up */
                        c[i+1][j+1] = c[i][j+1];
                        arr[i+1][j+1] = 2;
                    }
                    else
                    {
                        /* left */
                        c[i+1][j+1] = c[i+1][j];
                        arr[i+1][j+1] = 1;
                    }
                }
            }

            /* build the LCS list */
            local la = new Vector(alen), lb = new Vector(blen);
            for (i = alen+1, j = blen+1, ka = alen, kb = blen ; i > 0 && j > 0 ; )
            {
                if (arr[i][j] == 3)
                {
                    la[ka--] = i-1;
                    lb[kb--] = j-1;
                    --i;
                    --j;
                }
                else if (arr[i][j] == 2)
                    --i;
                else
                    --j;
            }

            /* save the LCSs, truncating the used portions */
            lcsA = la.toList().sublist(ka+1);
            lcsB = lb.toList().sublist(kb+1);
        }

        /* the LCS, as lists of character indices into the respective strings */
        lcsA = nil
        lcsB = nil
    ;

    /* ------------------------------------------------------------------------ */
    /*
     *   Change the case (upper/lower) of a given new string to match the case
     *   pattern of the given original string.
     *
     *   We recognize four patterns:
     *
     *   - If the original string has at least one capital letter and no
     *   minuscules, we convert the new string to all caps.  For example,
     *   matchCase('ALPHA-1', 'omicron-7') yields 'OMICRON-7'.
     *
     *   - If the original string has at least one lower-case letter and no
     *   capitals, we convert the new string to all lower case.  E.g.,
     *   matchCase('alpha-1', 'OMICRON-7') yields 'omicron-7'.
     *
     *   - If the original string starts with a capital letter, and has at
     *   least one lower-case letter and no other capitals, we capitalize the
     *   first letter of the new string and lower-case everything else. E.g.,
     *   matchCase('Alpha-1', 'OMICRON-7') yields 'Omicron-7'.
     *
     *   - Otherwise, we match the case pattern of the input string letter for
     *   letter: for each upper-case letter in the original, we capitalize the
     *   letter at the corresponding character index in the new string, and
     *   likewise with lower-case letters in the original.  We leave other
     *   characters unchanged.  E.g., matchCase('AlPhA-1', 'omicron-7') yields
     *   'OmIcRon-7'.
     */
    matchCase(newTok, oldTok)
    {
        /*
         *   If the old token is all lower-case or all upper-case, it's easy.
         *   Only assume all upper-case if the original token has at least two
         *   capitals - for something like "I" we can't assume we want an
         *   all-caps word.
         */
        if (rexMatch(R'<^upper>*<lower>+<^upper>*', oldTok) != nil)
            return newTok.toLower();
        if (rexMatch(R'<^lower>*<upper>+<^lower>*<upper>+<^lower>*', oldTok) != nil)
            return newTok.toUpper();

        /* another common and easy pattern is title case (initial cap) */
        if (rexMatch(R'<upper><^upper>*<lower>+<^upper>*', oldTok) != nil)
            return newTok.firstChar().toUpper() + newTok.delFirst().toLower();

        /* do everything else letter by letter */
        local ret = '';
        for (local i = 1, local len = newTok.length() ; i <= len ; ++i)
        {
            local cn = newTok.substr(i, 1);
            local co = oldTok.substr(i, 1);

            if (rexMatch(R'<upper>', co) != nil)
                ret += cn.toUpper();
            else if (rexMatch(R'<lower>', co) != nil)
                ret += cn.toUpper();
            else
                ret += cn;
        }

        /* return the result */
        return ret;
    }

    /* ------------------------------------------------------------------------ */
    /*
     *   Static object and class initializer.
     *
     *   During startup, we'll automatically call the classInit() method for
     *   each class object, and we'll call the default constructor for each
     *   static object instance.  ("Static" objects are those defined directly
     *   in the source code, as opposed to objects created dynamically with
     *   'new'.)  This makes it easier to write initialization code by making
     *   the process more uniform across static and dynamic objects.
     *
     *   The first step is to call classInit() on each class.  We call this
     *   method only each class that *directly* defines the method (i.e., we
     *   don't call it on classes that only inherit the method from another
     *   class).  We cycle through the objects in arbitrary order.  However,
     *   you can control the relative order when there's a dependency by
     *   setting the 'classInitFirst' property to a list of one or more classes
     *   to initialize first.  When we encounter a class with this property,
     *   we'll call the listed classes' classInit() methods before calling the
     *   given class's classInit().
     *
     *   The second step is to call constructStatic() or construct() on each
     *   regular (non-class) object.  We only call this on *static* objects:
     *   objects defined directly in the source code, as opposed to created
     *   dynamically with 'new'.  As with classInit(), we visit the objects in
     *   arbitrary order.  You can control dependencies using the
     *   'constructFirst' method: set this to a list of objects to be
     *   initialized before self.
     *
     *   If an object defines or inherits a constructStatic() method, we'll
     *   call it instead of construct().  Otherwise, if it defines or inherits
     *   a construct() method with no arguments, we'll call it.  Otherwise
     *   we'll do nothing.
     *
     *   Note that it's possible for a base class to have a compatible
     *   zero-argument constructor, but for a subclass to override this with a
     *   constructor that takes arguments.  In this case, we'll search the
     *   class tree for an inherited zero-argument constructor.  If we find
     *   one, we'll call the inherited constructor.
     *
     *   We can only call zero-argument construct() methods because we have no
     *   basis for providing other arguments.
     */
    libObjectInitializer: PreinitObject
        execBeforeMe = []
        execute()
        {
            /* build the reverse symbol table (indexed by object value) */
            local gtab = t3GetGlobalSymbols();
            local otab = new LookupTable(128, 256);
            gtab.forEachAssoc({ key, val: otab[val] = key });

            /* save it in the PreinitObject class */
            PreinitObject.reverseGlobalSymbols = otab;

            /* create a lookup table tracking which objects we've initialized */
            _initedTab = new LookupTable(256, 1024);

            /* call classInit() on all classes */
            for (local o = firstObj(TadsObject, ObjClasses) ; o != nil ;
                 o = nextObj(o, TadsObject, ObjClasses))
            {
                /* if this class directly defines a classInit() method, call it */
                if (o.propDefined(&classInit, PropDefGetClass) == o)
                    callConstructor(o, &classInit, &classInitFirst);
            }

            /* call construct() or constructStatic() on all object instances */
            for (local o = firstObj(TadsObject, ObjInstances) ; o != nil ;
                 o = nextObj(o, TadsObject, ObjInstances))
            {
                /*
                 *   Only call static objects - these will all have
                 *   sourceTextOrder properties assigned by the compiler.
                 *
                 *   Note that modified objects will inherit sourceTextOrder
                 *   from a class - they're the only objects that do this,
                 *   since the compiler only assigns sourceTextOrder initially
                 *   to ordinary objects, but then class-ifies the base object
                 *   when modifying it.  The only way that an object can
                 *   inherit sourceTextOrder from a class is that the class is
                 *   the original modified object, and the instance is the
                 *   modifier.
                 */
                local cl = o.propDefined(&sourceTextOrder, PropDefGetClass);
                if (cl == o || cl != nil && cl.isClass())
                {
                    /*
                     *   It's a static object.  If it has a constructStatic()
                     *   method, call that.  Otherwise, if it has a construct()
                     *   method, call that.
                     */
                    if (o.propDefined(&constructStatic))
                    {
                        /* it has constructStatic() */
                        callConstructor(o, &constructStatic, &constructFirst);
                    }
                    else if (o.propDefined(&construct))
                    {
                        /* call construct() */
                        callConstructor(o, &construct, &constructFirst);
                    }
                }
            }

            /*
             *   done with the lookup table - explicitly remove it so that it
             *   doesn't take up space in the final compiled image
             */
            _initedTab = nil;

            /* likewise the reverse global symbol table */
            reverseGlobalSymbols = otab;
        }

        /* call the given object's constructor */
        callConstructor(obj, conProp, preProp)
        {
            /* if obj has already been initialized, skip it */
            if (_initedTab[obj])
                return;

            /*
             *   mark this object as visited (do this first, before handling
             *   prerequisites, to break circular dependencies: if a
             *   prerequisite of ours lists us as a prerequisite, we'll see
             *   that we've already been initialized and stop the loop)
             */
            _initedTab[obj] = true;

            /* call constructors on any prerequisites */
            if (obj.propDefined(preProp))
            {
                foreach (local p in obj.(preProp))
                    callConstructor(p, conProp, preProp);
            }

            /*
             *   if the given constructor is zero-argument constructor, call it
             *   directly; otherwise, look for an inherited constructor
             */
            if (obj.getPropParams(conProp) == [0, 0, nil])
            {
                /* call the constructor */
                obj.(conProp)();
            }
            else
            {
                /*
                 *   Search the class tree for an inherited version of the
                 *   constructor that takes zero arguments.
                 */
                for (local cl = obj.propDefined(conProp, PropDefGetClass) ;
                     cl != nil ;
                     cl = obj.propInherited(conProp, obj, cl, PropDefGetClass))
                {
                    /* if this is a zero-argument version, call it */
                    if (cl.getPropParams(conProp) == [0, 0, nil])
                    {
                        /* invoke it */
                        obj.callInherited(cl, conProp);

                        /* we're done looking */
                        break;
                    }
                }
            }
        }

        /* table of objects we've already initialized */
        _initedTab = nil
    ;

    /*
     *   Our static object and class initializer should generally run before
     *   any other initializers.
     */
    modify PreinitObject
        /* execute the basic library initializer before any other initializers */
        execBeforeMe = [libObjectInitializer]

        /*
         *   class property: reverse lookup symbol table (a version of the
         *   global symbol table keyed by value, yielding the name of each
         *   global object, function, etc)
         */
        reverseGlobalSymbols = nil
    ;

    emumTabInitializer: PreinitObject
        execute()
        {
            local gTab = t3GetGlobalSymbols();

            local lst=gTab.keysToList();

            foreach(local key in lst)
            {
                local value = gTab[key];
                if(dataType(value) == TypeEnum && enumTabObj.enumTab[value] == nil)
                    enumTabObj.enumTab[value] = key;
            }
        }
    ;

    /*
     *   Service function primarily intended for use with the symcomm extension to facilitate the use of
     *   a string template, defined in advlite.h, allowing a string to vary by room. The arg parameter
     *   should be supplied as a list of strings (symcomm expects a list of two, bur other uses could do
     *   something different).
     *
     *   We need the function because a string template can't directly be defined in relation to a
     *   method, so the byRoomFunc() function calls the byRoom() method on the object that invokes it.
     */
     byRoomFunc(arg)
    {
        /*
         *   We meed to get at the effective self object by using the stack frame. First obtain the
         *   stack frame one level back from us.
         */
        local frame = t3GetStackTrace(2, T3GetStackDesc).frameDesc_;

        /* Then get the self object in that stack frame. */
        local obj = frame.getSelf();

        /* Then call and return the byRoom() method on that object. */
        return obj.byRoom(arg);
    }

    /* Service function to determine whether obj is ofKind cls when obj might not be an object. */
    objOfKind(obj, cls) { return dataTypeXlat(obj) == TypeObject && obj.ofKind(cls); }

    /* Failsafe Function to get the player character object */
    getPlayerChar()
    {
        /*
         *   If gPleyarChar is not nil, return gPlayerChar, otherwise if gameMain.initialPlayerChar is
         *   not nil, return gameMain.initialPlayerChar, otherwise call the findPlayerChar() function
         *   and return whatever that comes up with.
         */
        return (gameMain.initialPlayerChar) ?? findPlayerChar();
    }

    /*
     *   The findPlayerChar() function is intended for internal library use only, to be called by
     *   getPlayerChar() nothing else has yet defined the player character. The findPlayerChar()
     *   function first iterates through every Thing defined in the game until it finds one that defines
     *   isInitialPlayChar =  true. If it finds one it sets gPlayerChar to this value and returns the
     *   player char object. Otherwise it creaates a new Player object, moves it into the first room it
     *   finds, sets gPlayerChar to the new Player object, issues a warning to the game author that no
     *   player char object has been explicitly defined in game code, and returns the new Player object.
     *   This enaures that the calling function, getPlsyerChar(), will always be able to return a
     *   non-nil object.
     */
    findPlayerChar()
    {
        /* Start by looking at objects of the Player class, and if that fails, look through Things. */
        for(local cls in [Player, Actor, Thing])
        {
            /* loop over every Thing till we find the one that defines isInitialPlayerChar = true */
            for (local obj = firstObj(cls) ; obj != nil ; obj = nextObj(obj, cls))
            {
                /* If we've found the initial player character */
                if(obj.isInitialPlayerChar)
                {
                    /* Store the PC's identity in gameMain */
                    gameMain.initialPlayerChar = obj;

                    /* Set the player char to the objec we've found. */
    //                gPlayerChar = obj;

                    /* Return our player char object. */
                    return obj;
                }
            }
        }

        /* If all else fails, create a new player character object */
        local pc = new Player;

        /* Find a room */
        local loc = firstObj(Room);

        /* But not the dummy locations unknownDsst_ and varDest_ defined in the library. */
        while(loc is in (unknownDest_, varDest_))
            loc = nextObj(loc, Room);

        /* Move our new player character into that room */
        pc.moveInto(loc);

        /* Set gPlayerChar to our new player character. */
    //    gPlayerChar = pc;

    #ifdef __DEBUG
        say('<.p><FONT COLOR=RED><b>WARNING!</b></FONT> No Player Character Defined.<.p>
            The library has defined a Player Character object and placed it in <<loc.roomTitle>>.<.p>');
    #endif

        /* Return our new player character */
        return pc;
    }

    /* Determine whether str is a valid identifier */
    isValidIdentifierName(str)
    {
        /*
         *   First, strip out any underscores, since these can appear anywhere in valid identifier name.
         */
        str = str.findReplace('_', '');

        /*
         *   If there are any non-alphanumeric characters in what's left, str is not a valid identifier
         *   name.
         */
        if(str.find(R'<^AlphaNum>'))
            return nil;

        /* If str starts with a digit, it's not a valid identifier name */
        if('1234567890'.find(str.substr(1,1)))
           return nil;

        /* If we reach this far, str has passed all the tests for being a valid identifier name. */
        return true;
    }

Adv3Lite Library Reference Manual
Generated on 02/05/2024 from adv3Lite version 2.0