Window Woes

Authoring Inform 7
1

I’m trying to make a really simple window object, where “look at window” and similar gives a fixed description of what is inside. (primitive, I know)

[code]mywin is a kind of thing. mywin is usually scenery.
Instead of entering mywin, say “You can’t enter - it has been locked.”
Instead of opening mywin, say “It is locked.”.

Understand “look inside/in/into/through [mywin]” as looking at [mywin].[/code]

However, the last line of code don’t work … there is something wrong with looking at [mywin].

2

I’m no expert but I happen to be awake right now and I’d have written that last line without the final ‘[mywin]’ and replaced the initial ‘[mywin]’ with ‘[something]’ like so…

Understand "look inside/in/into/through [something]" as looking at.

That way whenever you look inside anything it’s the same as looking at. I don’t think you can substitute individual objects for ‘something’ in an ‘Understand’ statement, or at least, I never used it that way in my own code.

3

Thanks! Aw dammit, it still give the same error. Maybe it is because looking is such a basic command?

By the way, I have tried Understand “look inside/in/into/through [mywin]” as taking. so it looks like I’m able to use individual objects in an ‘understand’ statement.

4

There is no “looking at” action. When you command >LOOK AT at the prompt, it translates into the “examine” action.

Understand "look inside/in/into/through [something]" as examining.

(You could use [mywin] instead of [something] but then looking inside/in/etc any other object would give “That noun didn’t make sense in this context” which may not be what you want.)

5

Okay, that makes sense. I tried this:
Understand “look inside [something]” as examining.

No error, but it don’t seem to have any effect:

look at window
Inside you see a cute fish.

look inside window
You find nothing of interest.

… But Understand “look inside [mywin]” as examining. did work, perhaps because it is more specific:

look at window
Inside you see a cute fish.

look inside window
Inside you see a cute fish.

I just found this thread: [url]I7 - Capturing The "look in" command. - #3 by Harvey]
“you will find that “look in/inside” is understood as the Searching action.”

6

The Standard Rules define it like this.

Understand "look inside/in/into/through [something]" as searching.

So there are quite a few variations already there.

Hope this helps.

7

Thanks, I think I better get at bit more familiar with the Standard Rules … !

8

No, it’s more important to get familiar with the index! All this information is available there. :slight_smile:

9

Thanks for the index tip – I just needed that to figure out yet another error!

10

That’s true! It’s also shown under the searching action in the index. I usually end up diving directly into The Standard Rules. It’s a habit I guess! :laughing: