Command Links in WebUI

Authoring TADS
1

I’m trying to create a function that I can call from any text (most often, a room description) that will use the standard command hyperlink if the WebUI is not in use, and the <> method if the WebUI is in use. That way, I can decide later whether to make the game playable online.

It’s not easy for me to see how to set this up. Here’s what I have so far:

link(str) { #ifdef TADS_INCLUDE_NET "<<aHref(str)>>"; #else "<A HREF=str>"; say(str); "</a>"; #endif }
The idea being that, in the room description, I can write things like, "A brick path leads away to the <<link(‘north’)>>. "

This doesn’t work. I haven’t tried it with the WebUI yet, but in normal adv3 mode, TADS thinks the command on the command line is “str”, not “north”. I’ve tried stuffing extra single-quotes around it – that doesn’t work. I looked through the article on Strings in the manual, and didn’t spot anything helpful.

Has anyone tried this yet? What do I need to do?

2

My understanding is that aHref works for both WebUI and standard UI games, and a quick glance at the Library Reference Manual seems to back this up. Have you had problems using aHref with the standard UI?

3

Hadn’t thought of trying that. I’m fiddling with it. Probably user error.

Okay, the aHref tag works identically in both web and non-web delivery. All that seems to be needed is a function along these lines:

link(str) { "<<aHref(str)>>"; say(str); "</a>"; }
With this in place, the room description can say things like “…to the <<link(‘south’)>>, a brick path…” This is fairly tidy. It saves some typing. A bit more work would be needed to create links for object names so that they could be examined by clicking, but … hmm, maybe I’ll try that too.

Thanks!