[I7] Commands and Actions

[Ariiell]

Is there a way to get at a verb which can be used as a command for a given action?

IE:
the default command for taking -> take
a random command for taking -> get

Or something of the sort. I can’t seem to find anything to do with this in the documentation.

[dootdoot]

I hope I’m understanding what you mean, but this might be what you are looking for in the documentation: §17.2. New commands for old grammar

That being said, the standard rules already define:

Understand "get [things]" as taking.

[Ariiell]

Sorry, I was unclear.

I’m looking for something which I can use in this way:

The current verb is a verb that varies. Carry out doing something: let what we are doing be the action name part of the current action; now the current verb is the default command of what we are doing

The ‘default command of (action name)’ is the functionality I’m looking for.

I realize there are more than one command for each action. I’d be happy to be able to get at any one of them or a list of them. I could create my own relation for which one is default.

[Ariiell]

Oh, looks like I’ll have to teach inform by hand which verbs relate to actions.

Section 14.3 Example 245:

Mostly the Standard Rules use verbs adapted to finite forms (“he jumped”, “we take the hammer”, and so on). But Inform can also produce participles to describe actions that are ongoing: “he is carrying the fedora” or “taking the hammer…”

In this example, we give non-player characters actions to perform and then have Inform dynamically describe what they’re doing when the player chooses to look.

We start by establishing the idea that a verb can describe a particular action:

That may take a while.

[R2T1]

If you run your game and enter ACTIONS at the prompt, it will give you which action it is performing based on what you type.

[code]>actions
Actions listing on.

jump
[jumping]
You jump on the spot.
[jumping - succeeded]

get object
[taking the small object]
Taken.
[taking the small object - succeeded]
[/code]

Here JUMP just used JUMP but GET folded to TAKE.

This looks like what you may be after. I find it helps immensely when I am struggling to find the right approach to something.

[Ariiell]

Yes, but I would like to use the commands as verbs in my code. I have almost just finished a relation that will allow me to do so (as set up in the above example), but I’ve run into a weird error with it. I just posted a new topic to the forum describing it.

[Draconis (Daniel Stelzer)]

There isn’t an easy way to get the list of commands leading to the action, but it’s relatively simple to get the name of the action itself (jumping, taking, eating), and the extension Verbal Conjugation allows you to conjugate that into whatever form you want. (Note: I’ve never tested it with 6L02, so I’m not sure if there are any compatibility issues.)

[zarf (Andrew Plotkin)]

In your other thread, you’re mapping source-code verbs to action names. These are not going to line up very well. For example, there’s no verb that maps to the taking-inventory action. (The verb take is a bad choice, obviously.)

Does it make sense to use action names directly in your code, rather than trying to represent them as verbs?