[I7]Suppressing standard responses

[The_One-Armed_Badger]

I’m having two problems implementing a button on a control panel:

1. When the button is examined, the story prints my text and some standard text. I only want it to print my text.

x red button
The PREP button is dark and unlit.

The red button is currently switched off.

2. I also need to divert pushing or pressing the button to a switching on/off action. I’ve tried a couple of things (which haven’t worked) and looking up ‘divert’ in the documentation hasn’t helped either. (I know I’m dense.)

[code]The red button is part of the LCB control panel. The red button is a device. The description of the red button is “[if switched on]The red telltale glows vivdly, indicating this series of life capsules has been brought on line.[otherwise]The PREP button is dark and unlit.”

After switching on the red button:
now the ruby button is switched on;
say “You hear the sounds of the life capsule being brought on line, punctuated by a low undercurrent of computer bleeps and burbles. The red button lights up, indicating success.”

After switching off the red button:
now the ruby button is switched off;
say “The light in the red button goes out as the capsule’s independent systems are taken off line.”[/code]

N.B. The code refers to the ‘ruby button’ as I needed two red buttons that could do the same thing (from inside the capsule and from the outside). Switching on the red (outside) button also changes the status of the ruby (inside) button so their states are matched.

[matt_weiner (matt w)]

1. The rule that produces that text is called the “examine devices rule.” (You can find out things like this by typing “rules” before trying your action–this will give you the names of all the action-processing rules that are running.) So you can try this:

The examine devices rule does nothing when examining the red button.

2. Try this:

Instead of pushing or pressing the switched on red button: Try switching off the red button. Instead of pushing or pressing the switched off red button: Try switching on the red button.

[The_One-Armed_Badger]

Thanks Matt. That fixed the issue with the synonyms. It also fixed the “double description” problem for the off/on state, but it still persists when the button is examined:

PRESS RED BUTTON
You hear the sounds of the life capsule being brought on line, punctuated by a low undercurrent of computer bleeps and burbles. The red button lights up, indicating success.

X RED
The red telltale glows vivdly, indicating the life capsule has been brought on line.

The red button is currently switched on.

I only want it to say “The red telltale glows vivdly, indicating the life capsule has been brought on line.” The standard “The red button is currently switched on” is superfluous. I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong as I haven’t had this problem with other buttons.

Using the rules command, I can see Inform is running through these steps: (The button is off in this example, but the problem is the same.)

X RED
[Rule “declare everything initially unmentioned rule” applies.]
[Rule “announce items from multiple object lists rule” applies.]
[Rule “set pronouns from items from multiple object lists rule” applies.]
[Rule “before stage rule” applies.]
[Rule “can’t act in the dark rule” applies.]
[Rule “instead stage rule” applies.]
[Rule “investigate player’s awareness before action rule” applies.]
[Rule “player aware of his own actions rule” applies.]
[Rule “check stage rule” applies.]
[Rule “carry out stage rule” applies.]
[Rule “standard examining rule” applies.]
The PREP button is dark and unlit. ← my text, which is all I want to show.

[Rule “examine directions rule” applies.]
[Rule “examine containers rule” applies.]
[Rule “examine supporters rule” applies.]
[Rule “examine devices rule” applies.]
The red button is currently switched off. ← Inform text. I want to suppress this.

[Rule “examine undescribed things rule” applies.]
[Rule “after stage rule” applies.]
[Rule “investigate player’s awareness after action rule” applies.]
[Rule “report stage rule” applies.]
[Rule “report other people examining rule” applies.]
[Rule “last specific action-processing rule” applies.]
[Rule “A first turn sequence rule” applies.]
[Rule “every turn stage rule” applies.]
[Rule “A last turn sequence rule” applies.]
[Rule “notify score changes rule” applies.]

[matt_weiner (matt w)]

Hmm, I’m not sure why that isn’t working. Here’s my code–I added in as little as possible to make it compile:

[code]Lab is a room. An LCB control panel is in Lab.
Foyer is a room. A ruby button is a device in Foyer.

The red button is part of the LCB control panel. The red button is a device. The description of the red button is “[if switched on]The red telltale glows vivdly, indicating this series of life capsules has been brought on line.[otherwise]The PREP button is dark and unlit.”

After switching on the red button:
now the ruby button is switched on;
say “You hear the sounds of the life capsule being brought on line, punctuated by a low undercurrent of computer bleeps and burbles. The red button lights up, indicating success.”

After switching off the red button:
now the ruby button is switched off;
say “The light in the red button goes out as the capsule’s independent systems are taken off line.”

The examine devices rule does nothing when examining the red button.

Instead of pushing the switched on red button: Try switching off the red button.
Instead of pushing the switched off red button: Try switching on the red button.[/code]

Results:

[code]Lab
You can see a LCB control panel here.

press red button
You hear the sounds of the life capsule being brought on line, punctuated by a low undercurrent of computer bleeps and burbles. The red button lights up, indicating success.

x red
The red telltale glows vivdly, indicating this series of life capsules has been brought on line.

[/code]

Is it possible that you’ve got the red button called something different somewhere in the source code?