debian_inform6-library/CHANGES-6.12.txt

Life and Times of the Inform Library Release 6/12
=================================================

This release of the Inform Library marks the first release of the Inform
6 library after custody was taken over by David Griffith.  This release
focuses mainly on bugs reported at
http://www.inform-fiction.org/patches/library.html.  A few significant
enhancements have been added as well.



New things added in Release 6/12
================================

First-person and third-person narrative voices are now natively
supported.  See voices_and_tenses.txt for information on how to use
them.

The default mode is now VERBOSE.

Added infglk.h for more convenient programming for the Glulx virtual
machine.

There is now a Global "no_infer_message" which can be used in the
ChooseObjects() routine to suppress an inference message for a
particular match.  This global is reset to false after the turn is
complete.

There is now a Global "no_implicit_actions" which can be used to tell
the library not attempt to do things that implicitly must be done.  For
example, the PC is holding a sack containing an apple and the command
"DROP APPLE" is typed.  With no_implicit_actions set to true, the
Library will complain instead of taking the apple out of the sack before
dropping it.  Once this global is set, it stays set.

If you add "Constant NO_INITIAL_LOOK;" to the beginning of your code,
the library will not do an initial LOOK at the beginning of your
program.

There is now an optional Epilogue() function.  This will execute when
the game ends.

TAKE ALL has been modified such that scenery or animate objects will not
be taken.  To revert back to traditional behavior, add "Constant
TRADITIONAL_TAKE_ALL;" at the beginning of your program.

If you want to use color in your game, you must add "Constant COLOUR;"
or "Constant COLOR;" to the beginnning of your code.  This was required
to fix L61105.

To deal with L61126, a new global has been introduced:
parser_inflection_func.  Whenever parser_inflection is set as a
function, parser_inflection_func must be set to true.  When the parser
is done with it, parser_inflection_func is set back to false.  Under the
Z-machine, it is possible to tell if a global is a common property or a
function.  This is not so with the Glulx VM.  This change goes for both
Z-machine and Glulx.  For background on how one might use
parser_inflection, see Section 35 of the DM4.


Issues addressed in Release 6/12
=========================================

Issue L61101
each_turn property causes runtime error.
Problem: An each_turn property with both a local routine and a routine
inherited from a Class causes a runtime error in Strict mode.
Status: Fixed

Issue L61102
GET IN now matches Compass object
Adding "in_obj.&name-->0 = '.ignore';" to Initialise() reverts back to
the previous behavior.
Status: Fixed

Issue L61103
"statusline time;" statement isn't recognized
Problem: When I compile Greystone with 6.30 and 6/11 my statusline time;
statement is seemingly ignored; the game runs by moves and not a clock.
If I revert back to 6.21 and 6/10 the statusline is indeed a clock again
and not a move counter.
Status: Unable to reproduce

Issue L61104
ListMaker doesn't support 'serial' commas
Problem: The WriteListFrom() listmaker doesn't support 'serial' commas
(aka Oxford or Harvard commas): Tom, Dick, and Harry.
Status: Fixed

Issue L61105
'Game uses colour' bit is always set.
Problem: Every game compiled with the 6/11 library has the 'game uses
colour' bit set in the Flags2 header word.
Fixed: From now on, if you want a game to use color, add "Constant
COLOUR;" or "Constant COLOR;" to the beginning of your code.
Status: Fixed

Issue L61106
Improvement to LibraryExtensions.RunUntil
Problem: The LibraryExtensions.RunUntil property (new at 6/11 and not
currently used by the library) should return simply true or false if it
does nothing.
Status: Fixed

Issue L61107
(The) with 'proper' should capitalise object name
Problem: In the case of an object with the 'proper' attribute and a
lower-case name (such as "your nose", "your corduroy trousers", "your
mother's purse"), the (The) print rule should capitalise the first
letter of the object name, so that library messages such as (The) x1, "
", (isorare) x1, " empty." correctly produce "Your mother's purse is
empty."
Status: Fixed

Issue L61108
indef_mode not restored
Problem: When printing an object with the proper attribute, the
functions IndefArt( ) and CIndefArt( ) temporarily modify -- but do not
restore -- the value of the global variable indef_mode (see lines 6305
and 6315 in parserm.h).
Status: Fixed

Issue L61109
Problem with 'Give reverse' grammar
Status: Fixed

Issue L61110
Inference message inconsistency
Problem: In a pile of several indistinguishable objects, taking them
from the floor does not generate an (inference) message, but it does
when the final one is taken. (See also Suggestion 48)
Status: Fixed

Issue L61111
Multiple AGAINs treated as one
Status: Fixed

Issue L61112
WITHOUT_DIRECTIONS causes compilation error
Problem: Version 6/11 of the Inform Library fails to compile if the
constant WITHOUT_DIRECTIONS is set and the objects 'u_obj' and 'd_obj'
aren't defined, because a few library routines expect those objects to
exist.
Status: Fixed

Issue L61113
Size of upper window not restored properly on UNDO
Problem: Compile and run a trivial game with Nitfol. When the game
begins, type WAIT and then UNDO. Nitfol displays the message [ERROR:
output]: illegal line for set_cursor (1) 46968 (1,1) This happens in
DrawStatusLine() and the reason is that the upper window has height 0,
but the Library tries to position the cursor at (1,1).
Comment: I couldn't get Nitfol to complain like this, but applied the
fix anyhow.
Status: Fixed

Issue L61114
Numbers in the name property
Problem: Code such as this would cause "GET 1" to not match the box:
  Object  -> box1 "box marked 1"
    with  name 'box' 'marked' '1//',
    description "It's a wooden box marked with the number 1.";
  Object  -> box2 "box marked 2"
    with  name 'box' 'marked' '2//',
    description "It's a wooden box marked with the number 2.";
Status: Fixed

Issue L61115
'multiheld' can match unholdable objects
Problem: Contrary to the DM4, multiheld sometimes matches objects that
are not held. This would be OK if the objects were then implicitly
taken, like they are for held, but they are not.
Status: Fixed

Issue L61116
Poor response from WAVE SELF
Problem: The message produced by WAVE SELF -- "But you aren't holding
you" -- makes little sense.
Status: Fixed

Issue L61117
Problem with <action> statements in Infix
Status: Fixed

Issue L61118
'thedark.initial' is never called
Problem: The library thoughtfully provides thedark.initial, but it is
never called unless you are diabolical enough to make thedark contained
by some location, which I'm sure is not what it was meant for. The DM is
a bit contradictory about the purpose of thedark.initial, but the
functionality that makes the most sense is that it is called at the
transition from lighted to darkened. This makes up a gap in
functionality: NewRoom() is called on light-to-light and dark-to-light;
DarkToDark() is called on dark-to-dark, but absolutely nothing is called
on light-to-dark.
Status: Fixed

Issue L61119
TRACE should distinguish matched and inferred tokens
Problem:  When the parser partially matches a phrase, the TRACE command
should not say "token resulted in success" for terms that it did not
match but sucessfully inferred; instead it should state that those
terms were inferred. This would avoid the phrase "token resulted in
success" phrase meaning two different things -- actually matching and
inferring.
Status: Won't fix.  Maybe will fix in 6/13.

Issue L61120
Preposition parsing is too simplistic
Status: Fixed (by way of L61127)

Issue L61121
add_to_scope of parentless object causes error
Problem: Consider an object which has no parent, and is brought into
scope by an add_to_scope property. An attempt to take that object causes
error messages:
  [** Programming error: tried to test "has" or "hasnt" of nothing **]
  [** Programming error: tried to test "has" or "hasnt" of nothing **]
  That's hardly portable.
Status: Fixed

Issue L61122
Conflict between 'describe' and 'initial' properties
Problem: This object displays its 'initial' message even though it has a
'moved' attribute; this is because of the presence of the 'describe'
property, even though it returns false.
Status: Fixed

Issue L61123
Minor problem with parse_name
Problem: A (rather minor) error with the parse_name routine. On page
209, the DM4 states: ...
Status: Fixed

Issue L61124
Spurious space with 'articles' property
Problem: The rarely-used articles property defines an array of strings.
(The property is provided for non-English languages where irregular
nouns may have unusual vowel-contraction rules with articles.) The DM4
gives an example appropriate for a French game, with three strings in
the array:
Object  "haricot"
    with  name 'haricot' 'legume',
          articles "Le "   "le "   "un ",
          ... ;
Note that each string includes its individual trailing space, if
appropriate. This is important, because a definite article like l' must
be followed immediately by the object's name, without any intervening
space. However, in fact a space does appear.
Status: Fixed

Issue L61125
match_list and match_scores over-run
Problem: The problem is that match_list-->number_matched is being
accessed, when match_list has length only number_matched (that is,
entries 0..number_matched-1). In particular this causes errors when the
match_list is of full length (64 entries). Similarly for match_scores.
Status: Fixed

Issue L61126
parser_inflection requires common properties in Glulx
Problem: Glulx cannot distinguish between a global that is a function or
a common property.  They must be addressed differently.  Code has been
introduced to require the author to explicity declare if
parser_inflection is a function or a common property.
Status: Fixed

Issue L61127
Improve multiexcept look-ahead
Problem: When the parser processes a grammar line that uses multiexcept
or multiinside, it jumps ahead to match the second noun in order to
provide context for the first one. However, in doing so, it skips over
all the prepositions in the input, without caring whether they match the
prepositions in the grammar line. If the second noun is ambiguous, this
means the player may be asked a disambiguation question for a grammar
line that has no chance of succeeding, whereas the grammar line that
eventually succeeds might not even need disambiguation (thanks to a
different token type or ChooseObjects).
This also fixes L61120
Status: Fixed
I have also applied a fix submitted by Nathan Schwartzman at
http://inform7.com/mantis/view.php?id=636.

Issue L61128
OOPS sometimes changes wrong word
Problem: The OOPS command doesn't necessarily change the faulty word. In
the examples below, 'ZZZ' should be corrected to 'RUBY'. This happens in
the first example, but not the second.
Status: Fixed

Issue L61129
Results from 'grammar' property are misplaced.
Problem: An animate or talkable object's grammar property can return 1
to mean (quoting from DM4) "you can stop parsing now because I have done
it all, and put the resulting order into the variables action, noun and
second". However, the library code to handle this return value does not
work correctly.
Status: Fixed



Other bugs fixed in Release 6/12
================================

WAVE AT has been improved.
Handling of ambiguous orders given to NPCs has been improved.
Fixed a problem with misparsing caused by incomplete orders.