Disambiguation (adv3Lite)

Authoring TADS
1

This is an odd failure on the part of the parser. I have no idea how to fix it. I can’t blur the answer to the third command, as the forum interface doesn’t allow spoiler blurring within quoted blocks. I don’t think it’s a spoiler that Flogg and Grabby have desks, as that location is easy to find.

>look under desk
Which do you mean, Grabby’s desk or Flogg’s desk?

>flogg's
Phineas Flogg doesn’t appear to have any desk.

>look under flogg's desk
Mounted on the underside of the desktop is a small metal button.

What’s happening here is that “flogg’s desk” is understood, because there is definitely such an object in scope. But the disambiguation question/answer gives a bad output.

Normal disambiguation is one thing, but in this case I think something special may be needed. Suggestions would be welcome!

2

It’s only an hunch, but if the ancient “jill’s box” issue, harking back since the days of TADS 2.1, is acting up again ?

Best regards from Italy,
dott. Piergiorgio.

3

I don’t really know what’s going on under the hood in the parser, but it seems to work if you explicitly supply the owner with “owner = <insert NPC here>”, like this:

+ flogg: Actor 'Phineas Flogg'
;

+ grabby: Actor 'Grabby'
;

+ floggsdesk: Surface, Heavy 'Flogg\'s desk'
    "This is Flogg's desk. "
    owner = flogg
;

+ grabbysdesk: Surface, Heavy 'Grabby\'s desk'
    "This is Grabby's desk. "
    owner = grabby
;

Output:

>x desk
Which do you mean, Grabby’s desk or Flogg’s desk?

>flogg’s
This is Flogg’s desk.

3 Likes
4

Thanks. I’ll give it a try.